AGAM´IOU
AGAM´IOU,
GRAPHE´ (
ἀγαμίου γραφή). At Sparta, proceedings might be
taken against those who married too late (
γραφὴ
ὀψιγαμίου) or unsuitably (
γραφὴ
κακογαμίου) as well as against those who did not marry at all
(
ἀγαμίου). The penalty was
ἀτιμία. (Pollux, 8.40;
Plut. Lyc. 15.) [
MATRIMONIUM]
Whether there was any such interference with individual liberty at Athens
during the democratic period is more than doubtful. The evidence of passages
in Plutarch (
de Am. Prolis, p. 493 e) and Pollux (3.48) is
rejected by Meier (
Att. Process, p. 287), Westermann (in
Pauly, s. v.
ἄγαμοι), and Caillemer (in
Daremberg and Saglio). No mention of
ἀγαμίου
γραφή occurs in the orators, even when we might most expect it;
as when proof is required that a man had died unmarried (Demosth. c.
Leochar. p. 1086.18; 1089.30). On the other hand, certain
disabilities attached, at Athens, to the state of celibacy; those who
entered public life, as
ῥήτορες or
στρατηγοί, were required
παιδοποιεῖσθαι κατὰ τοὺς νόμους (Deinarch.
c. Demosth. p. 99.72). Plato characteristically proposes
to enforce marriage on all citizens before their 35th year by fines and
atimia (
Leg. iv. p. 721 A, B), and lays down the rule that in
choosing a wife every one ought to consult the interest of the state, and
not his own pleasure (
Leg. vi. p. 773).
[
W.W]
