month.  Still, allowing for the natural exaggeration of satirists, we are yet reasonably sure that divorce had reached great heights in the upper classes.  Whether it was as bad among the middle classes is very improbable.  There was one kind of marriage which, originally at least, did not admit of dissolution.[101] This was the solemn marriage by confarreatio, already described, which qualified the husband and wife for the special priesthood of Jupiter.  Women soon grew to value their freedom too highly to enter it; as early as 23 A.D. the Senate had to relax some of the rigour of the old laws on the matter as a special inducement for women to consent to enter this union.[102]

We may now observe what became of the wife’s property after divorce and what her rights were under such circumstances.  If it was the husband who had taken the initiative and had sent his wife a divorce, and if the divorce was not the fault of the woman, she at once had an action in law for complete recovery of her dowry; on her own responsibility if she was sui iuris, otherwise with the help of her father.[103] But even the woman still under guardianship could act by herself if her father was too sick or infirm or if she had no other agent to act for her.[104] For the offence of adultery a husband had to pay back the dowry at once; for lesser guilt he might return it in instalments at intervals of six months.[105] If, now, the divorce was clearly the fault of the woman, her husband could retain certain parts of the dowry in these proportions:  for adultery, a sixth part for each of the children up to one half of the whole; for lighter offences, an eighth part; if the husband had gone to expense or had incurred civil obligations for his wife’s benefit or if she had removed any of his property, he could recover the amount.[106]

A year and six months must elapse after a divorce before the woman was allowed to marry again.[107] If at the time of the divorce she was pregnant, her husband was obliged to support her offspring, provided that within thirty days after the separation she informed him of her condition.[108] She could sue her former husband for damages if he insulted her.[109] Whether the children should stay with the mother or father was left to the discretion of the judge.[110]

[Sidenote:  Property rights of widows and single women.]

The married woman had, as I have shown, complete disposal of her own property.  Let us see next what rights those women had over their possessions who were widows or spinsters.

Roman Law constantly strove to protect the children and laid it down as a maxim that the property of their parents belonged to them.[111] A widow could not therefore, except by special permission from the emperor,[112] be the legal guardian of her children, but must ask the court to appoint one upon the death of her husband.[113] This was to prevent possible mismanagement and because “to undertake the legal defence of others is