Page - 29 - in Austrian Law Journal, Volume 1/2017

ALJ 1/2017 Women and Civic Identity in Roman Antiquity 29 III. More on Rome and Greece As we have seen, when looking into the rules of banquets, the Romans themselves often explicitly contrasted Roman and Greek women, stressing the differences. Yet, in some cases, the analysis of the Roman texts is more complex, for instance, when a Roman author translates a Greek text into Latin, changing it to reveal his own mindset, which was very different from that of the Greeks. An excellent example in this respect is a long passage of Cicero’s De re publica, in which he ex- plains the potential consequences of the people prevailing in the city, listing a series of examples of the most extreme and even paradoxical evils.24 Among these evils, the equality of man and wife is referred to as disastrous: it would be as harmful as the abolition of slavery or being forced to give way to animals on the street. Here we find a famous contrast between the rights of men and women: “The very slaves hold themselves as high as their lords; wives boast the same rights as their hus- bands.”25 Since the terms employed are wife and husband (uxores/viri), the context seems to be that of the married couple. This text is considerably more interesting if we contextualize it: in De re publica, Scipio previ- ously26 stated that he was quoting Plato to the letter, and Laelius later praised the accuracy of this translation.27 But how faithful is Cicero to the original, actually?28 Plato had conducted his 24 CIC. rep. 1.43.67: (Scipio) “ergo illa sequuntur, ‘eos qui pareant principibus agitari ab eo populo et servos voluntarios appellari; eos autem qui in magistratu privatorum similes esse velint, eosque privatos qui efficiant ne quid inter priva- tum et magistratum differat, <ef>ferunt laudibus, [et] mactant honoribus, ut necesse sit in eius modi re publica plena libertatis esse omnia, ut et privata domus omnis vacet dominatione, et hoc malum usque ad bestias perveniat, denique ut pater filium metuat, filius patrem neclegat, absit omnis pudor, ut plane liberi sint, nihil intersit civis an peregrinus, magister ut discipulos metuat et iis blandiatur, spernantque discipuli magistros, adulescentes ut senum sibi pondus ad- sumant, senes autem ad ludum adulescentium descendant, ne sint iis odiosi et graves; ex quo fit ut etiam servi se libe- rius gerant, uxores eodem iure sint quo viri, inque tanta libertate canes etiam et equi, aselli denique libere [sint] sic in- currant ut iis de via decedendam sit. ergo ex hac infinita,’ inquit, ‘licentia haec summa cogitur, ut ita fastidiosae mollesque mentes evadant civium, ut si minima vis adhibeatur imperii, irascantur et perferre nequeant; ex quo leges quoque incipiunt neclegere, ut plane sine ullo domino sint.’”; “Then those who feel in duty bound to obey the chiefs of the state, are persecuted by the insensate populace, who call them voluntary slaves. But those in the magistracies who flatter the popular equality, and the demagogues who plead the levelling system, and endeavour to abolish all distinc- tions between nobles and commoners, these they stun with acclamations and overwhelm with honours. It inevitably happens in a commonwealth thus revolutionized, that liberalism superabounds in all directions, due authority is found wanting even in private families, and misrule seems to extend even to the animals that witness it. Then the father fears the son, and the son neglects the father. All modesty is banished; they become far too liberal for that. No difference is made between the citizen and the alien; the master dreads and cajoles his scholars, and they despise their masters. The conceited striplings assume the gravity of sages, and sages must stoop to the follies of children, lest they should be hated and oppressed. The very slaves hold themselves as high as their lords; wives boast the same rights as their husbands; dogs, horses, and asses, are emancipated in this outrageous excess of freedom, and run about so violently that they frighten the passengers from the road. At length this infinite licentiousness produces such a morbid self-sufficiency, such fastidious and effeminate sentiments get possession of the people, that when they observe even the slightest exer- tion of magisterial authority, they grow angry and seditious, and thus the laws are necessarily infringed, because there is no ruler that dares to execute them.” 25 CIC. rep. 1.43.67: “ex quo fit ut etiam servi se liberius gerant, uxores eodem iure sint quo viri.” 26 CIC. rep. 1.42.65. 27 CIC. rep. 1.44.68. 28 PLAT. pol. 563B–D: “τὸ δέ γε, ἦν δ᾽ ἐγώ, ἔσχατον, ὦ φίλε, τῆς ἐλευθερίας τοῦ πλήθους, ὅσον γίγνεται ἐν τῇ τοιαύτῃ πόλει, ὅταν δὴ οἱ ἐωνημένοι καὶ αἱ ἐωνημέναι μηδὲν ἧττον ἐλεύθεροι ὦσι τῶν πριαμένων. ἐν γυναιξὶ δὲ πρὸς ἄνδρας καὶ ἀνδράσι πρὸς γυναῖκας ὅση ἡ ἰσονομία καὶ ἐλευθερία γίγνεται, ὀλίγου ἐπελαθόμεθ᾽ εἰπεῖν. (563c) οὐκοῦν κατ᾽ Αἰσχύλον, ἔφη, “ἐροῦμεν ὅτι νῦν ἦλθ᾽ ἐπὶ στόμα;” πάνυ γε, εἶπον: καὶ ἔγωγε οὕτω λέγω: τὸ μὲν γὰρ τῶν θηρίων τῶν ὑπὸ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ὅσῳ ἐλευθερώτερά ἐστιν ἐνταῦθα ἢ ἐν ἄλλῃ, οὐκ ἄν τις πείθοιτο ἄπειρος. ἀτεχνῶς γὰρ αἵ τε κύνες κατὰ τὴν παροιμίαν οἷαίπερ αἱ δέσποιναι γίγνονταί τε δὴ καὶ ἵπποι καὶ ὄνοι, πάνυ ἐλευθέρως καὶ σεμνῶς εἰθισμένοι πορεύεσθαι, κατὰ τὰς ὁδοὺς ἐμβάλλοντες τῷ ἀεὶ ἀπαντῶντι, ἐὰν μὴ ἐξίστηται,