History of European Morals From Augustus to Charlemagne Volume II Part 48

583 There is ample evidence of this in Athenaeus, and in the Dialogues of Lucian on the courtesans. See, too, Terence, _The Eunuch_, act v.

scene 4, which is copied from the Greek. The majority of the cla.s.s were not called hetaerae, but p???a?.

584 Plutarch, _De Garrulitate_; Plin. _Hist. Nat._ x.x.xiv. 19. The feat of biting out their tongues rather than reveal secrets, or yield to pa.s.sion, is ascribed to a suspiciously large number of persons.

Menage cites five besides Leaena. (_Hist. Mulier. Philos._ pp.

104-108.)

585 See, upon Bacchis, several of the letters of Alciphron, especially the very touching letter (x.) on her death, describing her kindness and disinterestedness. Athenaeus (xiii. 66) relates a curious anecdote ill.u.s.trating these aspects of her character.

586 Xenophon, _Memorab._ iii. 11.

587 On the Flamens, see Aulus Gell. _Noct._ x. 15.

588 Capitolinus, _Maximinus Junior_.

589 Pliny, _Hist. Nat._ vii. 36. There is (as is well known) a similar legend of a daughter thus feeding her father. Val. Max. Lib. v. cap.

4.

590 This appears from the first act of the _Stichus_ of Plautus. The power appears to have become quite obsolete during the Empire but the first legal act (which was rather of the nature of an exhortation than of a command) against it was issued by Antoninus Pius, and it was only definitely abolished under Diocletian.

(Laboulaye, _Recherches sur la condition civile et politique des femmes_, pp. 16-17.)

591 Aul. Gell. _Noct._ x. 23.

592 Val. Maximus, ii. 1, -- 4; Aul. Gellius, _Noct._ iv. 3.

593 Ammia.n.u.s Marcellinus, xxviii. 4.

594 Tacitus, _De Oratoribus_, xxviii.

595 See Aulus Gellius, Noct. ii. 24.

596 "More inter veteres recepto, qui satis pnarum adversum impudicas in ipsa professione flagitii credebant."-Tacitus, _Annal._ ii. 85.

597 Aul. Gell. iv. 3. Juno was the G.o.ddess of marriage.

598 Ibid. iv. 14.

599 The well-known superst.i.tion about the lion, &c., becoming docile before a virgin is, I believe, as old as Roman times. St. Isidore mentions that rhinoceroses were said to be captured by young girls being put in their way to fascinate them. (Legendre, _Traite de l'Opinion_, tome ii. p. 35.)

600 Pliny, _Hist. Nat._ xxviii. 23.

601 Ibid. vii. 18.

602 "Quem enim Romanorum pudet uxorem ducere in convivium? aut cujus materfamilias non primum loc.u.m tenet aedium, atque in celebritate versatur? quod multo fit aliter in Graecia. Nam neque in convivium adhibetur, nisi propinquorum, neque sedet nisi in interiore parte aedium quae _gynaecontis_ appellatur, quo nemo accedit, nisi propinqua cognatione conjunctus."-Corn. Nepos. praefat.

603 Val. Max. ii. 1, -- 6.

604 Liv. viii. 18.

605 See Val. Max. ii. 1.

606 "Nuptiae sunt conjunctio maris et feminae, et consortium omnis vitae, divini et humani juris communicatio."-Modestinus.

607 Livy, x.x.xiv. 5. There is a fine collection of legends or histories of heroic women (but chiefly Greek) in Clem. Alexand. _Strom._ iv.

19.

608 Tacitus, _Annal._ ii. 85. This decree was on account of a patrician lady named Vistilia having so enrolled herself.

609 Dion Ca.s.sius, liv. 16, lvi. 10.

610 "Si sine uxore possemus, Quirites, esse, omnes ea molestia careremus; sed quoniam ita natura tradidit, ut nec c.u.m illis satis commode nec sine illis ullo modo vivi possit, saluti perpetuae potius quam brevi voluptati consulendum."-Aulus Gellius, _Noct._ i. 6. Some of the audience, we are told, thought that, in exhorting to matrimony, the speaker should have concealed its undoubted evils. It was decided, however, that it was more honourable to tell the whole truth. Stobaeus (_Sententiae_) has preserved a number of harsh and often heartless sayings about wives, that were popular among the Greeks. It was a saying of a Greek poet, that "marriage brings only two happy days-the day when the husband first clasps his wife to his breast, and the day when he lays her in the tomb;" and in Rome it became a proverbial saying, that a wife was only good "in thalamo vel in tumulo."

611 Friedlander, _Hist. des Murs romaines_, tome i. pp. 360-364. On the great influence exercised by Roman ladies on political affairs some remarkable pa.s.sages are collected in Denis, _Hist. des Idees Morales_, tome ii. pp. 98-99. This author is particularly valuable in all that relates to the history of domestic morals. The _Asinaria_ of Plautus, and some of the epigrams of Martial, throw much light upon this subject.

612 See the very remarkable discussion about this repeal in Livy, lib.

x.x.xiv. cap. 1-8.

613 Legouve, _Hist. Morale des Femmes_, pp. 23-26. St. Augustine denounced this law as the most unjust that could be mentioned or even conceived. "Qua lege quid iniquius dici aut cogitari possit, ignoro."-St. Aug. _De Civ. Dei_, iii. 21-a curious ill.u.s.tration of the difference between the habits of thought of his time and those of the middle ages, when daughters were habitually sacrificed, without a protest, by the feudal laws.

614 Plutarch, _Cicero_.

615 Tacit. _Ann._ i. 10.

616 Plutarch, _Cato_; Lucan, _Pharsal_. ii.

617 Senec. _Ep._ cxiv.

618 Val. Max. vi. 3.

619 Plutarch, _Paul. aemil._ It is not quite clear whether this remark was made by Paulus himself.

620 Sen. _De Benef._ iii. 16. See, too, _Ep._ xcv. _Ad Helv._ xvi.

_ 621 Apol._ 6.

_ 622 Epig._ vi. 7.

623 Juv. _Sat._ vi. 230.

_ 624 Ep._ 2.

625 Sueton. _Aug._ Charlemagne, in like manner, made his daughters work in wool. (Eginhardus, _Vit. Car. Mag._ xix.)

626 Friedlander, _Murs romaines du regne d'Auguste a la fin des Antonins_ (trad. franc.), tome i. p. 414.

627 Much evidence of this is collected by Friedlander, tome i. pp.

387-395.

628 Plutarch, _Pompeius_.