§2.25.1ὁ δὲ Ῥωμύλος οὔτε ἀνδρὶ κατὰ γυναικὸς ἐγκλήματα δοὺς φθαρείσης ἢ τὸν οἶκον ἀδίκως ἀπολιπούσης οὔτε γαμετῇ κατʼ ἀνδρὸς αἰτιωμένῃ κάκωσιν ἢ ἄδικον ἀπόλειψιν οὔτε περὶ προικὸς ἀποδόσεως ἢ κομιδῆς νόμους θεὶς οὔτε ἄλλο τῶν παραπλησίων τούτοις διορίσας οὐδʼ ὁτιοῦν, ἕνα δὲ νόμον ὑπὲρ ἁπάντων εὖ ἔχοντα, ὡς αὐτὰ τὰ ἔργα ἐδήλωσε, καταστησάμενος εἰς σωφροσύνην καὶ πολλὴν εὐκοσμίαν ἤγαγε τὰς γυναῖκας.
But Romulus, neither giving a husband the right to bring charges against a wife who had been unfaithful or had unjustly left his home, nor giving such a right to a married woman accusing her husband of abuse or unjust desertion, nor establishing laws concerning the return or recovery of a dowry, nor defining any other such matter at all, but by establishing one law in place of all, which was excellent as the facts themselves proved, led women to temperance and great decorum.
§2.25.2ἦν δὲ τοιός2δε ὁ νόμος· γυναῖκα γαμετὴν τὴν κατα γάμους ἱεροὺς συνελθοῦσαν ἀνδρὶ κοινωνὸν ἁπάντων εἶναι χρημάτων τε καὶ ἱερῶν.
And the law was of this kind: that a married woman who had come together with her husband by sacred marriage should be a sharer of all his possessions and sacred rites.
ἐκάλουν δὲ τοὺς ἱεροὺς καὶ νομίμους οἱ παλαιοὶ γάμους Ῥωμαϊκῇ προσηγορίᾳ περιλαμβάνοντες φαρραχείους ἐπὶ τῆς κοινωνίας τοῦ φαρρός, ὃ καλοῦμεν ἡμεῖς ζέαν.
And the ancients called these sacred and lawful marriages by a Roman designation, comprehending them as "farreus" from the sharing of "far", which we call "zea".
αὕτη γὰρ ἦν ἀρχαία καὶ μέχρι πολλοῦ συνήθης ἅπασιν αὐτοῖς ἡ τροφή· φέρει δὲ πολλὴν καὶ καλὴν ἡ Ῥωμαίων γῆ.
For this was their ancient and, for a long time, customary food; and the land of the Romans bears much of it and of fine quality.
καὶ ὥσπερ ἡμεῖς οἱ Ἕλληνες τὸν κρίθινον καρπὸν ἀρχαιότατον ὑπολαμβάνοντες ἐπὶ τῶν θυσιῶν κριθαῖς καταρχόμεθα οὐλὰς αὐτὰς καλοῦντες, οὕτω Ῥωμαῖοι τιμιώτατόν τε καρπὸν καὶ ἀρχαιότατον εἶναι νομίζοντες τὰς ζέας διὰ τούτων ἁπάσης ἐμπύρου θυσίας κατάρχονται.
And just as we Greeks, supposing barley-grain to be the most ancient, begin our sacrifices with barley, calling them "oulai", so the Romans, believing "zea" to be both the most precious and the most ancient grain, begin all sacrifices by fire with these.
μένει γὰρ ἔτι καὶ οὐ μεταπέπτωκεν εἰς πολυτελεστέρας ἀπαρχὰς τὸ §2.25.3ἔθος.
For this custom still remains and has not changed into more costly offerings of first-fruits.
τὸ δὴ κοινωνοὺς τῆς ἱερωτάτης τε καὶ πρώτης τροφῆς γενέσθαι γυναῖκας ἀνδράσι καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ ὅλῃ συνελθεῖν τύχῃ τὴν μὲν ἐπίκλησιν τῆς κοινωνίας τοῦ φαρρὸς εἶχεν, εἰς σύνδεσμον δʼ ἀναγκαῖον οἰκειότητος ἔφερεν ἀδιαλύτου, καὶ τὸ διαιρῆσον τοὺς γάμους τούτους οὐδὲν ἦν.
Now, for women to become sharers with their husbands in this most sacred and primary food, and to come together for their whole fortune, had indeed the name of the sharing of "far", but it led to an inevitable bond of indissoluble intimacy, and there was nothing that could dissolve these marriages.
§2.25.4οὗτος ὁ νόμος τάς τε γυναῖκας ἠνάγκασε τὰς γαμετάς, οἷα δὴ μηδεμίαν ἐχούσας ἑτέραν ἀποστροφήν, πρὸς ἕνα τὸν τοῦ γεγαμηκότος ζῆν τρόπον, καὶ τοὺς ἄνδρας ὡς ἀναγκαίου τε καὶ §2.25.5ἀναφαιρέτου κτήματος τῆς γυναικὸς κρατεῖν.
This law forced married women, as having no other refuge, to live according to the single character of their married husbands, and husbands to rule over their wives as an indispensable and inalienable possession.
σωφρονοῦσα μὲν οὖν καὶ πάντα τῷ γεγαμηκότι πειθομένη γυνὴ κυρία τοῦ οἴκου τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ἦν, ὅνπερ καὶ ὁ ἀνὴρ, καὶ τελευτήσαντος ἀνδρὸς κληρονόμος ἐγίνετο τῶν χρήματων, ὡς θυγάτηρ πατρός, εἰ μὲν ἄπαις τε καὶ μηδὲν διαθέμενος ἀποθάνοι πάντων οὖσα κυρία τῶν ἀπολειφθέντων, εἰ δὲ γενεὰν ἔχοι τοῖς παισὶν ἰσόμοιρος γινομένη.
Accordingly, a wife who was temperate and obedient in all things to her married husband was mistress of the house in the same manner as her husband, and upon the death of her husband became the heir of his property, as a daughter of her father; if he died childless and intestate, she was mistress of all that was left, but if he left offspring, she obtained an equal share with the children.
§2.25.6ἁμαρτάνουσα δέ τι δικαστὴν τὸν ἀδικούμενον ἐλάμβανε καὶ τοῦ μεγέθους τῆς τιμωρίας κύριον.
But if she committed any error, she received the injured party as her judge and the master of the severity of her punishment.
ταῦτα δὲ οἱ συγγενεῖς μετὰ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἐδίκαζον· ἐν οἷς ἦν φθορὰ σώματος καί, ὁ πάντων ἐλάχιστον ἁμαρτημάτων Ἕλλησι δόξειεν ἂν ὑπάρχειν, εἴ τις οἶνον εὑρεθείη πιοῦσα γυνή.
And the relations judged these matters together with the husband; among which was the corruption of her body and, what would seem to the Greeks to be the least of all errors, if any woman was found to have drunk wine.
ἀμφότερα γὰρ ταῦτα θανάτῳ ζημιοῦν συνεχώρησεν ὁ Ῥωμύλος, ὡς ἁμαρτημάτων γυναικείων αἴσχιστα, φθορὰν μὲν ἀπονοίας ἀρχὴν νομίσας, μέθην δὲ φθορᾶς.
For Romulus permitted them to punish both of these with death as the most shameful of female errors, regarding unfaithfulness as the beginning of folly, and drunkenness as the beginning of unfaithfulness.
§2.25.7καὶ μέχρι πολλοῦ διέμεινε χρόνου ταῦτʼ ἀμφότερα παρὰ Ῥωμαίοις ἀπαραιτήτου τυγχάνοντα ὀργῆς.
And for a long time both of these remained among the Romans as meeting with inexorable wrath.
μάρτυς δὲ τοῦ καλῶς ἔχειν τὸν περὶ τῶν γυναικῶν νόμον ὁ πολὺς χρόνος.
And the long period of time is a witness to the excellence of this law concerning women.
ὁμολογεῖται γὰρ ἐντὸς ἐτῶν εἴκοσι καὶ πεντακοσίων μηδεὶς ἐν Ῥώμῃ λυθῆναι γάμος· κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἑβδόμην ἐπὶ ταῖς τριάκοντα καὶ ἑκατὸν ὀλυμπιάσιν ὑπατευόντων Μάρκου Πομπωνίου καὶ Γαΐου Παπιρίου πρῶτος ἀπολῦσαι λέγεται τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γυναῖκα Σπόριος Καρουΐλιος ἀνὴρ οὐκ ἀφανής, ἀναγκαζόμενος ὑπὸ τῶν τιμητῶν ὀμόσαι τέκνων ἕνεκα γυναικὶ συνοικεῖν ʽἦν δʼ αὐτῷ στείρα ἡ γυνήʼ, ὃς ἐπὶ τῷ ἔργῳ τούτῳ καίτοι διʼ ἀνάγκην γενομένῳ μισούμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου διετέλεσεν.
For it is agreed that within five hundred and twenty years no marriage was dissolved in Rome; but in the one hundred and thirty-seventh Olympiad, in the consulship of Marcus Pomponius and Gaius Papirius, Spurius Carvilius, a man of distinction, is said to have been the first to divorce his own wife, being compelled by the censors to swear that he would cohabit with a wife for the sake of children (now his wife was barren), who, on account of this action, although done of necessity, continued to be hated by the people.