Marriage For Young Girls example essay topic

The Roman institution of marriage has been lauded as being the first purely humanistic law of marriage, one that is based on the idea of marriage being a free and freely dissolvable union of two equal partners for life. (Schulz, 1951; 103) This is quite a simplistic view, as there were many differing forms of marriage in Rome, from the arranged marriages of the elite to the unions of slaves and soldiers. As we shall see, the Romans' actual expectations of married life and the gains they envisioned they would receive from the experience depended greatly on their age, sex and social status. Unlike our contemporary society, no specific civil ceremony was required for the creation of a marriage; only mutual agreement and the fact that the couple must regard each other as husband and wife accordingly. (Gardner, 1986; 47) Although not a legal necessity, some weddings, usually the first marriage of elite couples was accompanied by much revelry and song, as featured in one of Catullus' poems. It describes the celebration of the marriage with dancing, singing and the brandishing of torches.

Ribald jokes are shouted at the bride and nuts are scattered as she makes her way towards her husband's house. The groom arrives before the bride so that he can personally invite her to come and share his home. Now married, what does the couple expect to gain from the experience? The young bride is most probably in her early teens, as is the girl described in Catullus' poem with the words, 'Young boy, release the little girl's small smooth arm'. After marriage she will be transformed from a 'little girl' into a respected wife. Elsewhere Catullus assures his readers that young daughters are unloved by their parents until they are married.

'If, when she is ripe for marriage, she enters into wedlock, she is ever dearer to her husband and less hateful to her parents... ' (Catullus, Poems 62.57-65) If we are to take this at face value, then marriage for young girls gains them the affection of their parents. A similar sentiment is found in the funeral eulogy from Rome for a woman named Murdia. It speaks of her dealing with her arranged marriage with obedience and propriety and 'as a bride to become more beloved because of her merits... '. (Reading 139, Lefkowitz and Fant, 1982; 135) Marriage, for both males and females granted them a larger network of family members and the security that came with it, and for the woman, her husband's social status.

(Gardner, 1986; 67) During Rome's early history, the wife passed from the manus of her father to that of her husband, so becoming a virtual blood relative, though this practice was phased out for no completely clear reasons. One reason was the need to keep the dowry of the bride in the bride's family, especially if it was property. In later years the father of the bride could intervene between the husband and wife. (Treggiari, 1987; 1344) The groom benefited from the extended family after marriage. One of the most important functions they performed for upper class men was to campaign and support him through his political offices. (Pliny the Younger, Letters, 1: 14) One of the most considerable gains for a married woman was the respect and status that came with being a wife and mother, a 'Matrona'.

She held a position of respect and responsibility in the household and had a role in public worship. She was in charge of the keys of the house and the domestic staff, as well as organising and making the clothing for the family. (Treggiari, 1987; 1350) Epitaphs abound proclaiming the skill with which women kept their houses and the virtues that they possessed, or were alleged to possess. It was in this way only that women were to be remembered, by their honour and loyalty to their husband and their competence at household chores. In the same inscription for Murdia (139) she is described by her son as deserving great praise, for in'... modesty, propriety, chastity, obedience, wool working, industry and honour she was on a equal level with other good women, nor did she take second place to any woman in virtue, work and wisdom in times of danger. ' It was the examples set by famous women, such as Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi and Arria, wife of Cae cina Pae tus that Roman women were supposed to follow.

Cornelia took the care of the household all upon herself, as well as the education of the children. She was a discreet and noble hearted woman. (Plutarch Life of Tiberius Gracchus 1.2-2) Arria, when hearing of her husband's ordered suicide, was said to have grabbed the sword from his hand and, plunging it into her chest, reassured her husband that it did not hurt. (Pliny the Younger, Letters 3.16.

3-6) It was Arria's loyalty and fidelity to her spouse that was praised. By having children, the wife could only increase her status in society; on epitaphs alongside her conjugal virtues came a listing of the number of children she had borne. (Readings 134,141, 1982; 137) More respected was the woman who looked after her children personally, as did Athenodora whose relatives inscribed this for her.'s he bore children and nursed them when they were infants. Earth took this young mother and keeps her, though the children need her milk. ' (144) Women in the Augustan age had an added incentive to bear children. Once a woman had three offspring, she was released from all guardianship and was free to conduct business by herself.

For a slave woman the quota was four children. (Dio Cassius, Roman History 54.16. 1-2) There were incentives for men to have larger families as well, such as the decree by Augustus that priority would be given, not to the consul who was older, but to the one with most children. (Reading 33, Shelton, 1988; 29) In most marriages, whether arranged or of the participants' own choice, free or freed, both the bride and the groom hoped to gain companionship, happiness, security and love. Roman society was one in which a couple might have common interests outside the sphere of children and family. (Dixon, 1992; 84) In an epitaph from Roman France, a husband bemoans the loss of his young wife who was eighteen years old and compels the reader to bathe in the baths of Apollo as he wishes he still could with his wife.

(Reading 56, Shelton, 1988, 47) Another from Rome itself is erected by a mourning wife who claims,' When we were still boy and girl, we were bound by a mutual love as soon as we met... I therefore beg, most sacred Manes, that you look after the loved one I have entrusted to you and that you will be well disposed and very kind to him during the hours of the night... ' (Reading 59, Shelton, 1988; 48) Granted these inscriptions are of freed Romans and the experience of the upper classes, with their seemingly unfeeling political and financial arrangements and easy divorce, might differ dramatically. But the evidence from the writings of some of the equestrian and senatorial class men suggests marriages in which thrive not only companionship but also genuine romantic love. Pliny the Younger (Letters 7.5) writes to his young wife Calpurnia about how much he misses her and how he is haunted by her image. He wanders lovesick to her room only to discover she is not there.

It is safe to say that one of the gains from marriage for both partners was sexual satisfaction, even if certain men did look outside the marriage bed occasionally. Were the Roman's expectations of marriage likely to be met? The foremost function of marriage, the production of children, was likely to be met by most marriages. Having those children survive and succeed you as heirs or to look after you in old age was another matter. Cornelia bore twelve children of whom only three survived. In an age of high mortality, in which both childbirth and military campaigns were a factor, it could be difficult to establish a lasting partnership, the ideal Roman marriage of one partner for life.

It is recorded on the tombstones of the long dead that indeed these marriages did exist, and even if it is but a literary cliche, it is still a testament of their devotion to one another. ' Python son of Hicesius set up this common memorial to himself and to his wife Epicydilla daughter of Epicydes. He was married at eighteen and she at fifteen, and for fifty years of life together they shared agreement unbroken... '.