The invited guests now sweep inside and there is more elbowing while Statilia produces three silver coins; one of these she gives to her husband as emblem of her dowry; one she lays on the altar for the Lares of her new home; one she casts back into the street, a gift to the “Lares of the Highway” who guarded the door. Then her marriage torch is blown out, and tossed away to be scrambled for as emblem of supreme good luck by all the younger guests. The matron of honor has already arranged the luxurious marriage chamber, and the happy pair are led inside and the door shut upon them, while all their friends join in the rollicking “nuptial song” just outside the portal. There is nothing left now for the guests to do but to go home; all being invited, however, to return to Pollio’s house the next day to join in a second great feast, with Statilia this time presiding as mistress of the establishment. =58. Honors and Liberties of a Matron.=--Before her marriage Statilia had been a mere girl, completely controlled by her parents, unable to appear in public save under severe restrictions, and apparently with hardly a will of her own. The day after entering Pollio’s house she finds herself become by one act a noble _matrona_, with the destinies of a huge retinue of slaves and freedmen at her disposal, enjoying a great property, meeting her husband’s friends as their equal, going where she pleases, saying what she pleases, almost (within wide limits) doing what she pleases. Abroad in crowds, her dress, the _stola matronalis_, secures the young married woman extreme respect. Every March, she, with all the other honorable wives in Rome, enjoys the honors of the _matronalia_, an official festival, kind of “Mother’s day” devoted to celebrating the virtues of the gracious heads of each household. On this day no less than on her birthday, she receives presents from her husband, her family, and all her dependents. Finally, being a Senator’s wife, when she comes to die, she probably will be entitled to a great state funeral, with a formal eulogy in the Forum as if she were a public personage. No wonder that Roman girls yearn eagerly for marriage! It is their astonishing emancipation. =59. Unhappy Marriages and Frivolous Women.=--Will a fashionable alliance like that of Statilia and Pollio turn out happily? There are scoffers even among the friends who bore the torches. Nobody expects Pollio (a gay young aristocrat) to prove an example of austere faithfulness, although he must never do anything to insult his wife publicly. As for Statilia the cynics about the fair sex are very many. Long ago Ovid has written, “Every woman may be won if only she’s rightly tempted.” If a young wife is light-minded, she has plenty of opportunities to acquire lovers, and at the great festivals and banquets, at the theaters, gladiator fights, and circuses women have every chance to meet intriguing men without interference by their husbands.