The Julian Marriage laws 120-3 and homosexuality

The Julian marriage laws (nos. 120-123, etc.)

 

120. Men must marry. Rome, 131 B.C. (fr. 6 Malcovati. L)

Speech of the censor Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus about the law requiring men to marry in order to produce children. According to Livy (Per. 59), in 17 B.C. Augustus read out this speech in the Senate in support of his own legislation encouraging marriage and childbearing.  It seemed "written for the hour.” 

If we could survive without a wife, citizens of Rome, all of us would do without that nuisance; but since nature has so decreed that we cannot manage comfortably with them, nor live in any way without them, we must plan for our lasting preservation rather than for our temporary pleasure.

(Cf. Aristophanes, Lysistrata 1038-39: “A true saying and well-said: you can't live with the cursed creatures or without them.”)

121. Prizes for marriage and having children. Rome, 1st cent. A.D. (Dio Cassius, History of Rome 54.16.1-1. Early 3rd cent. A.D. G)

[Augustus] assessed heavier taxes on unmarried men and women without husbands, and by contrast offered awards for marriage and childbearing. And since there were more males than females among the nobility, he permitted anyone who wished (except for senators) to marry freedwomen, and decreed that children of such marriages be legitimate. 

122. Augustus' law. Rome, 18 B.C. (Suetonius, Life of Augustus 34. L)

He reformed the laws and completely overhauled some of them, such as the sumptuary law, the laws on adultery and chastity, the law on bribery, and marriage of the various classes. 

When he found out that the law was being sidestepped through engagements to young girls (in order to postpone marriage and the birth of children) and frequent divorces, he put a time limit on engagement and made obtaining a divorce more difficult. 

123. The consequences of adultery (Paul, Opinions 2.26.1-8, 10-12, 14-17. L)

2.26 (1) In the second chapter of the lex Julia concerning adultery, either an adoptive or a natural father is permitted to kill with his own hands an adulterer caught in the act with his daughter in his own house or in that of his son-in-law, regardless of his rank. 

(2)  A son who is under paternal power, who has a daughter and surprises her in the act of adultery, ought to be permitted to kill her, even though it is inferred from the words of the law that he cannot kill her. 

(3) The fifth chapter of the lex Julia permits an adulterer to be detained for twenty hours, and permits calling neighbours to witness, when he has been caught in the act. 

(4) A husband cannot kill anyone taken in adultery except persons who are infamous, and those who sell their bodies for gain, as well as slaves. His wife, however, is excepted, and he is forbidden to kill her. 

(5) It has been decided that a husband who kills his wife when caught with an adulterer should be punished more leniently, for the reason that he committed the act through impatience caused by just suffering. 

(6) After having killed the adulterer, the husband should at once dismiss his wife, and publicly declare in what place he found his wife and with what adulterer, within three days of killing the adulterer. 

(7) A husband who surprises his wife in adultery can only kill the adulterer when he catches the adulterer in his own house. 

(8) A husband who does not at once dismiss his wife whom he has discovered in adultery can be prosecuted as a pimp. 

(10) Two adulterers can be accused at the same time with the wife, but more than that number cannot be. 

(11) Adultery cannot be committed with women who have charge of any business or shop  (because sexual relations with such women are not considered adultery).

(12) Anyone who has sexual relations with a free male without his consent shall be punished with death.  Note:  the law does NOT prohibit a male having sex with another male.  It does not prohibit non-consensual relations between a free man and a male slave.  It only prohibits non-consensual relations with another free male.

(14) Women convicted of adultery shall be punished with the loss of half of their dowry and the third of their goods, and by relegation to an island. The adulterer, however, shall be deprived of half his property, and shall also be punished by relegation to an island; provided the parties are exiled to different islands. 

(15) The penalty for incest, which in case of a man is deportation to an island, shall not be inflicted upon the woman; that is to say when she has not been convicted under the lex Julia concerning adultery. 

(16) Sexual intercourse with female slaves, unless they are deteriorated in value or an attempt is made against their mistress through them, is not considered an injury. 

(17) In a case of adultery a postponement cannot be granted.