Divorce
Divorce was a legal but relatively informal affair which mainly involved a wife leaving her husband’s house and taking back her dowry. According to the historian
Valerius Maximus, divorces were taking place by 604 BC or earlier, and the law code as embodied in the mid-5th century BC by the
Twelve Tables provides for divorce. Divorce was socially acceptable if carried out within social norms
(mos maiorum). By the time of
Cicero and
Julius Caesar, divorce was relatively common and "shame-free," the subject of gossip rather than a social disgrace.
[54] Valerius says that Lucius Annius was disapproved of because he divorced his wife without consulting his friends; that is, he undertook the action for his own purposes and without considering its effects on his social network (
amicitia and
clientela). The
censors of 307 BC thus expelled him from the Senate for moral turpitude.
Elsewhere, however, it is claimed that the first divorce took place only in 230 BC, at which time
Dionysius of Halicarnassus notes
[55] that "
Spurius Carvilius, a man of distinction, was the first to divorce his wife" on grounds of infertility. This was most likely the
Spurius Carvilius Maximus Ruga who was consul in 234 and 228 BC. The evidence is confused.
[56]
During the classical period of Roman law (late Republic and
Principate), a man or woman
[57] could end a marriage simply because he or she wanted to, and for no other reason. Unless the wife could prove the husband was worthless, he kept the children. Because property had been kept separate during the marriage, divorce from a "free" marriage was a very easy procedure.
[58]
[edit] Remarriage
The frequency of remarriage among the elite was high. Speedy remarriage was not unusual, and perhaps even customary, for aristocratic Romans after the death of a spouse.
[59] While no formal waiting period was dictated for a widower, it was customary for a woman to remain in mourning for ten months before remarrying.
[60] The duration may allow for pregnancy: if a woman had become pregnant just before her husband's death, the period of ten months ensures that no question of paternity, which might affect the child's social status and inheritance, would attach to the birth.
[61] No law prohibited pregnant women from marrying, and there are well-known instances: Augustus married Livia when she was carrying her former husband's child, and the
College of Pontiffs ruled that it was permissible as long as the child's father was determined first. Livia's previous husband even attended the wedding.
[62]
Because elite marriages often occurred for reasons of politics or property, a widow or divorcée with assets in these areas faced few obstacles to remarrying. She was far more likely to be legally emancipated than a first-time bride, and to have a say in the choice of husband. The marriages of
Fulvia, who commanded troops during the last civil war of the Republic and who was the first Roman woman to have her face on a coin, are thought to indicate her own political sympathies and ambitions: she was married first to the
popularist champion
Clodius Pulcher, who was murdered in the street after a long feud with Cicero; then to
Scribonius Curio, a figure of less ideological certitude who at the time of his death had come over to Julius Caesar; and finally to
Mark Antony, the last opponent to the republican oligarchs and to Rome's future first emperor.
The
Greek observer Plutarch indicates that a second wedding among Romans was likely to be a quieter affair, as a widow would still feel the absence of her dead husband, and a divorcée ought to feel shame.
[63] But while the circumstances of divorce might be shameful or embarrassing, and remaining married to the same person for life was ideal, there was no general disapproval of remarriage; on the contrary, marriage was considered the right and desirable condition of adult life for both men and women.
[64] Cato the Younger, who presented himself as a paragon modeled after his
moral namesake, allowed his pregnant wife
Marcia to divorce him and marry
Hortensius, declining to offer his young daughter to the 60-year-old orator instead. After the widowed Marcia inherited considerable wealth, Cato married her again, in a ceremony lacking many of the formalities.
[65] Women might be mocked, however, for marrying too often or capriciously, particularly if it could be implied that sexual appetites and vanity were motives.
[66
