Greece -- Biography -- Early works to 1800; Rome -- Biography -- Early works to 1800
[Footnote 129: A divorce at Rome was effected by the husband or wife
giving a written notice. In the time of Cicero, at least, either party
might effect the divorce. If the divorce was owing to the adultery of
the wife, the husband was entitled to retain a part of the
marriage-portion; a sixth, according to Ulpian (_Frag._ vi.). The
marriage-portion or Dos (which Plutarch translates by the Greek word
[Greek: phernê] φέρνη) was that property which on the occasion of a
woman's marriage was transferred to the husband by the woman or by
another, for the purpose of enabling the husband to bear the
additional burden of a wife and family. All the woman's property which
did not become dos, remained her own, except in one of the forms of
marriage (conventio in manum), when, pursuant to the nature of the
union by which the wife came into her husband's power and assumed
towards him the relation of a daughter, all her property became her
husband's; as is distinctly asserted by Cicero (_Topica_, 4; compare
Ulpian, _Frag_. xix. 18). As the dos was given to the husband for a
particular purpose, it was consistent that it should be returned when
the marriage was dissolved. The means of recovering the dos was by
action. The liability to restore the dos would be one check on the
husband lightly separating from his wife. When Cicero's brother
Quintus divorced his wife Pomponia, he had a good deal of trouble in
finding means to return her portion. (Cicero, _Ad Attic._ xiv. 13).
The law of dos comprised a great number of rules, and is a difficult
subject. Rein (Das _Römische Privatrecht_, p. 204) has given a sketch
of the Roman Law of Divorce that is useful to scholars; and he has in
another place (p. 193, &c.) treated of the Law of Dos. It is difficult
to avoid, error in stating anything briefly on the subject of Divorce
and Dos.]
[Footnote 130: Plutarch does not say what the copper coins were; nor
is it important. The penalty was merely nominal, but it was
accompanied by what the Romans called Infamia. Fannia showed on this
occasion that she was a better woman than Marius took her to be.
Tinnius is perhaps not a Roman name. There are many errors in proper
names in Plutarch's text. Perhaps the true reading is Titinius. (See
the note of Sintenis).]
[Footnote 131: All or nearly all of the Italian cities had a municipal
constitution. The chief magistrates were generally two, and called
Duumviri. The Council was called the Decuriones or Senate.]
[Footnote 132: This is the island of Gerba in the regency of Tunis,
close to the shore and to the town of Gabs or Cabes. It is now a large
and populous island inhabited by an industrious manufacturing
population. It is about 200 miles south of Tunis, which is near the
site of Carthage. Cercina is a group of smaller islands above 50 miles
north of Meninx, now called the Karkenna islands. These distances show
that Marius must have been rambling about for some time this coast.
(_Penny Cyclopædia_, art. "Tunis.")]
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