Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

CHAPTER 14
THE FAMILY IN THE LATE ROMAN WORLD*
andrea giardina
i. christianity and laws on the family
Before Constantine, no Roman emperor, not even Augustus, had displayed
such a strong ambition to reshape family legislation and initiate thereby an
extensive project of moral reconstruction: pudor tutus, munita coniugia was
how a panegyrist pithily expressed it as early as 321. 1 In some respects,
Constantinian legislation merely brought to completion tendencies that
had been operative for some time; in others, it was more innovative. On the
whole, it aimed at asserting principles of rigour, order and temperance in
family relationships. Often it revealed a somewhat darker side, betraying
both acute perception and ill-concealed pessimism, and alongside the
wishful imperatives we also find realistic laws concerning concrete situations.
The frequency and variety of these measures testify to the importance
of political policy on these issues.
Constantine’s laws had three principal aims, all closely interlinked: to
safeguard celibacy, to encourage the matrimonium iustum and to protect
infants and minors. The first was accomplished by repealing the Augustan
marriage laws, which had penalized celibates and childless couples (by
restricting their ability to receive inheritances and legacies) and provided
incentives to matrimony and procreation. A variety of measures contributed
towards achieving the second aim: socially mixed unions and concubinage
were repressed; greater significance was attributed to the promise
of marriage; abduction was severely punished; accusations of adultery
could no longer be made by outsiders, but only by the husband or by the
wife’s close male relatives; adultery was punished by death. The third aim
was the object of measures concerning the patria potesta, tutores and curatores,
donations and inheritance, infant exposure and the cession of minors.
Implementation of these policies reached its peak in the year 331, when the
* Editors’ note: this chapter spans a wider period than that covered by the rest of the volume, in
order to provide a broad thematic coverage of an important subject which is best treated on a wider
chronological scale, and which was not specifically covered in Cambridge Ancient History volume xiii.
1 Pan. Lat. 10.38.
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