by Horatius Piscinus on Wed Nov 27, 2002 4:32 am
Salvete
In ancient Rome marriage arrangements took various forms. Some were no more than a contractual arrangement, while a special type of ceremony, called a confarreatio, involved a solemn ritual. For the most part, marriage involves a family?s property rights, or its patrimony, with a consideration that has to do with inheritance. Roman children were under the authority of their father. At a certain age, usually at fourteen, boys would leave childhood in a ritual donning of the toga libera or toga virilis of manhood and along with his father he would make his first appearance in public as a man by offering sacrifice at a temple. The toga praetexta, with its purple edge, that he wore as a child was offered to Juventus in the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. For many men this sacrifice took place around Liberalia on 17 March (Ovid Fasti 3.771-88) Women, however, remained as children until marriage. It was not unusual for a girl of around age sixteen to be given in her first marriage to a man in his late twenties or early thirties. The woman?s husband took over the role of her father, with marriage being more a transmission of parental authority than a bonding. A ceremonial aspect of marriage involved the bride packing her childhood toys that were then carried in her procession. Afterward she would become a matron, wearing a distinctive attire, and was addressed as the ?lady of the house? (domina) even by her husband. Her transition from childhood to adulthood was symbolized most in a marriage ceremony by her husband presenting her with the keys to his house.
An early form of Roman marriage, known as usus, involved the transfer of a father?s authority (manus) over a woman to her husband and did not require any ceremony. The woman was simply given by her father to a man quite literally ?to use,? although the arrangement was usually made with the woman?s consent. All that was required from the husband was a statement of honorable intent to marry (adfectus maritalis) and the man and woman would then cohabit. After a full year of cohabitation the couple were considered married, where as a woman might end the arrangement at any time during that first year by remaining away for three consecutive night. If the woman did remain, she was still regarded to be under her father?s authority, which may have afforded her some protection against her husband. An arrangement of usus involved the payment of a bride?s dowry. Among the poorer classes a woman?s dowry might be no more than her household utensils. A wealthier woman might instead have a dowry of property that would be paid in three annual installments. Upon the death of the woman?s father, his manus was then transferred to her husband, along with control over any property she might have. If the husband should later divorce her, a portion of her property would remain with the husband, another portion with the woman, and a third went to the goddess Ceres. A woman might also be given to a man to use as a concubine (praelex), basically sold to the man without adfectus maritalis, in which the arrangement was not regarded to be a marriage. If in an arrangement of usus the bride was herself given as a dowry, it was still considered to be a legal marriage, although it brought great shame to the woman as she was little more than a concubine in that case. A special situation arose in a usus marriage where a father might put into his will that a daughter would be free of his authority upon his death; she became suae iuris. This form of marriage had certain advantages for a woman, in that she retained a right to manage her own property rather than her husband, and she could initiate divorce. By the end of the Republic the usus had become an obsolete arrangement and was replaced by a more formal form of marriage.
The coemptio formalized the arrangements of a usus. This form of Roman marriage involved a written agreement (tabula legitima). The agreement was made between those who held authority over the bride and groom, thus either between the two fathers, or else between the husband and bride?s father. It involved a legal contract that provided for the dowry and other arrangements. Around the signing of the agreement a ceremony grew, since it involved making a sacrifice with the gods called to witness and auspices were taken to see if the gods approved of the arrangement. Unlike in the augury of the cultus civile where auspices were taken on behalf of the state only under the authority of Jupiter, private auspices were regarded to come from Picumnus, Pilumnus, Feronius, Vesta or other deities (Fest. 197a; Non. Marc. 518.). Birds that were not considered as auspices in state augury, such as swans or doves, could be regarded as auspices in private auguries (Serv. Ad Aen. 3.241). The direction from which birds flew could have the opposite meaning in private auguries than is generally stated for state auguries (Gell. 7.6 quoting Nigidius Figulus). Each family kept their own books on auspices, with their own traditional form of private augury. The bride would be called forward to give her formal consent. The groom would have to purchase his bride, paying for the transfer of the manus from her father. This nummus usus later became a token payment of a single copper coin to the bride?s father, although there is also mention of aurei, or coins given by the groom to the bride that she would later deposit in the lararium of her husband?s house. A coemptio required five witnesses to sign the agreement before it could be considered a legal contract and a legitimate marriage.
A still more formal form of marriage was the confarreatio. This involved a religious ceremony that required the presence of ten witnesses, including the Pontifex Maximus, flamen Dialis and his wife, the flamenica Dialis. Its name is derived from that portion of the ceremony where the bride and groom were seated together and shared a special far cake. Both bride and groom had to remain seated together throughout the ceremony. Otherwise, if the groom would rise from his seat during the ceremony, the rite was negated, the wife saying, ?The king has departed from his arrangement (Serv. Ad Aen. 4.374).? The ceremony was concluded with a solemn prayer and sacrifice. Unlike all other forms of Roman marriage, divorce was not allowed when a confarreatio had been performed since it was a sacred bond that was contra ius to willingly separate. Where Tellus was invoked for a coemptio, and Ceres played a prominent role in common forms of marriage, Juno was invoked to safeguard the vows of a confarreatio so that the couple would ?everafter be intermingled like the abundant clouds.? This sacred ritual was considered to be ?superior and certain unto posterity extended? (Serv. Ad Aen. 4.339, 4.374). Even on the death of one partner, the survivor was still bound from taking a new spouse by a confarreatio. In the case where the flamenica Dialis would die, her surviving spouse would have to resign from his office as flamen Dialis since it was required of this priest of Jupiter to be married, and married by a rite of confarreatio, which he could not repeat with another partner.
Valete
Moravius Piscinus
M Horatius Piscinus
Sapere aude!