7.
“All other orders, all men, will feel the change for the better in the state; shall our wives alone get no enjoyment from national peace and tranquillity?
[2]
Shall we men wear purple and walk clad in the toga praetexta1 while holding priesthoods and offices? Shall our sons wear togas bordered with purple? Shall officials2 in the colonies and the municipal towns, and here in Rome, the ward-masters,3 the lowest official rank, be allowed to wear the toga praetexta, and enjoy so great a distinction not only during life, but even after death be burned with [p. 437]it:4 shall women and women alone be forbidden the5 use of purple?
[3]
And when you, a man, are allowed to have purple on your outer garment, will you not permit your wife to own a purple cloak, and will the trappings of your horse be more splendid than the dress of your wife?
[4]
In the matter of purple, which is worn out and destroyed, I see some reason —not a good one, it is true —for niggardliness; but in regard to gold, in which there is no loss except the cost of manufacture, what spitefulness does the law show! It is rather a safeguard for use in both private and public emergency, as in fact you have experienced.6
[5]
He said there would be no rivalry among individuals if no one owned anything. But, by Hercules, there is mourning and anger among all when they see the wives of allies of the Latin
[6]
confederacy permitted the ornaments which are refused to them, when they see them decked out in gold and purple, when they see them riding through the city, and themselves following on foot, as if dominion resided in the Latin towns and not in Rome.
[7]
A thing like this would hurt the feelings even of men: what do you think is its effect upon weak women, whom even little things disturb?
[8]
No offices, no priesthoods, no triumphs, no decorations, no gifts, no spoils of war can come to them; elegance of appearance, adornment, apparel —these are the woman's badges of honour; in these they rejoice and take delight; these our ancestors called the woman's world.7
[9]
What else do they lay aside in times of mourning than purple and jewellery?
[10]
What do they put on when they have finished their time of mourning? What do they add save more [p. 439]splendid jewels in times of congratulation and thanks8 giving?
[11]
Of course, if you repeal the Oppian law, you will have no authority if you wish to forbid any of these things which now the law forbids; daughters, wives, even sisters of some will be less under control —never
[12]
while their males survive is feminine slavery shaken off; and even they abhor the freedom which loss of husbands and fathers gives.9
[13]
They prefer to have their finery under your control and not the law's; you too should keep them in control and guardianship and not in slavery, and should prefer the name of father or husband to that of master. The consul a while ago used words intended to create prejudice when he spoke of female 'sedition' and 'secession.'
[14]
For the danger, he tells you, is that they will seize the Sacred Mount or the Aventine, as the angered plebeians once did: in reality their frail nature must endure whatever you decree.
[15]
The greater the authority you exercise, the greater the self-restraint with which you should use your power.”10
1 See the note on XXXIII. xlii. 1.
2 While not strictly possessed of these privileges, communities of these types freely imitated Roman customs.
3 These officials had certain duties in connection with the games, and so enjoyed special privileges.
4 So in Petronius (lxxi. 9), Trimalchio wishes himself to be represented on his monument wearing the accumulated distinctions won in his public career.
5 B.C. 195
6 Cf. vi. 14 and the note above,
7 To balance Cato's pun on signa, Valerius makes one on mundus, which signifies both universe and adornment. See note on sect. 15 below.
8 B.C. 195
9 Under the stricter Roman law, a woman was throughout life under the potestas of her father or his representative or the manus of her husband. Valerius makes the point that this domestic authority will be resumed in full with the repeal of the law, and that the same restrictions which the law provided can be enforced if desired.
10 This pair of speeches seems to make an elaborate rhetorical exercise, with careful attention, at least in Cato's speech, to characterization of the speaker. It must be admitted, however, that the psychology of Cato is more cleverly presented than his style, for critics find little trace of the real Cato in the speech. None of the fragments of the actual speech of Cato (collected, e.g., in Meyer's Oratorum Romanorum Fragmenta, s.v.) is to be found in Livy.
Livy. Books XXXI-XXXIV with an English Translation. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1935: no copyright notice.
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