There was a second revolt more than a hundred years after the first,
when the triumvirs levied on the rich women of Rome a tax which
compelled many of them to sacrifice their jewels. They appealed to
Octavia to use her influence, also to the able mother of Antony, both
of whom favored them; but his wife, the Fulvia of unpleasant fame,
treated them with intolerable rudeness. Again they thronged the forum;
but they had made vast strides in intelligence, and this time the
eloquent daughter of a famous orator was chosen to plead for them. It
was no longer a simple matter of personal injustice, but also a moral
question upon which thoughtful women had distinct opinions and the
ability to express them. Hortensia spoke for peace. “Do not ask us,”
she says, “to contribute to the fratricidal war that is rending the
Republic.” Her appeal for justice recalls a plea so often heard to-day,
in a form that is but slightly altered. “Why should we pay taxes,”
she says, “when we have no part in the honors, the commands, the
statecraft, for which you contend against each other with such harmful
results?... When have taxes ever been imposed on women?” Quintilian
refers to this address of a brilliant matron as worthy to be read for
its excellence, and “not merely as an honor to her sex.”
These spirited and high-born women were sent home, as the others had
been, but the people again came to their aid, and it was found best to
limit the tax to a few who could bear the burden easily.
IV
But the most serious conflict was on the marriage question. The
attitude of the Roman man has been already touched upon--an attitude as
old as the world. In theory, a woman might be as chaste as Lucretia,
as wise as Minerva, as near to divinity as the Vestals; in fact, she
was only the servant of men’s interests or passions, and when she
ceased to be a willing or at least a passive one, the trouble began.
So long as marriage gave a man added dignity and somebody to rule
over, with no special obligations that were likely to be inconvenient,
or that could not be shaken off at will, things went smoothly enough
on his side. But when he had to deal with a being who demanded some
consideration, perhaps some sacrifice, it was another affair. His
privileges were seriously curtailed. If he married wealth, it was quite
possible for the owner to become imperious and exacting, as it was not
so easy to put away a wife when one must return her fortune. “I have
sold my authority for the dowry I have accepted,” says Plautus. As to
marrying from inclination, a man had little more freedom of action
than a maiden, while his father lived. If he was a patrician he must
marry within a limited class, much as he might like to go outside
of it; and so long as this law continued to exist, the penalty for
violating it was too severe to be braved. Besides, there were cares
and restrictions in the marriage relation for pleasure-loving men.
Wives without fortunes might be less exacting, but they were more
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