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Philosophers 1 say of bodies that some are composed of separate elements, as a
fleet or an army, others of elements joined together, as a house or a ship,
and still others form together an intimate union,
[p. 325] as is the case with every living creature. In about the
same way, the marriage of a couple in love with each other is an intimate
union ; that of those who marry for dowry or children is of persons joined
together: and that of those who merely sleep in the same bed is of separate
persons who may be regarded as cohabiting, but not really living together. 2
As the mixing of liquids, according to what men of science say, extends
throughout their entire content, so also in the case of married people there
ought to be a mutual amalgamation of their bodies, property, friends, and
relations. In fact, the purpose of the Roman law-giver 3 who prohibited the
giving and receiving of presents between man and wife was, not to prevent
their sharing in anything, but that they should feel that they shared all
things in common.
1 Undoubtedly the Stoic philosophers are meant; cf. Moralia, 426 A.
2 The meaning of this passage is made quite clear by No. 4 of the fragmenta incerta of the Moralia, in vol. vii. of Bernardakis's edition, p. 151, and Musonius, pp. 67-68 of O. Hense's edition - Stobaeus, Florilegium, lxix. 23.
3 Cf. Moralia, 265 E.
Plutarch. Moralia. with an English Translation by. Frank Cole Babbitt. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1928. 2.
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