On Species. Discourse I.

11. The Husband or Head of the Household original: "Paterfamiliâs" bears within himself the image and likeness of a King: according to Keckerman, Practical Disputation 28, Problem 8. (Hence also the word Lord original: "Dominus" is derived from the word for House original: "Domus", as Henry Alstedius concludes in his Theological Lexicon, folio 115.) Indeed, because no Sovereignty original: "Imperium" exists without the power of compulsion, it follows that Men must also be granted the faculty of bringing even unwilling Women into order. Among most nations, this power formerly extended even to the Right of life and death. original: "Jus vitæ necisque" Cited by Aerodius, folio 490; Forster, Roman History on the Law of Romulus; and Arnisaeus, On Marriage, chapter 7, section 5. See also Lyclama, book 7, chapter 27. Whether this power should be called by the name of Jurisdiction is discussed by Paschal in On Legates, chapter 76. And yet, Roman Women did not serve their Husbands as slaves. Plutarch, in the Life of Romulus, folio 49. More fully, Aristotle writes in Economics, book 2, chapter 1: A well-instructed Woman ought to consider that her Husband's character and manners are her law, established by God at the time the Marriage was joined and the partnership of life contracted. For the Wife, who was made for the sake of the Man (as the Pythagorean Theages testifies in Stobaeus), ought also to hold her Husband as the Master original: "Dominus" and the standard of her life. St. Paul also indicates this dignity of leadership in the Man in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 7, where he says: The man is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man.

The Hebrews, who present a certain philosophy within their grammar, use the term Ish Hebrew: איש for Men; for the "weaker sex," they use Ishah Hebrew: אשה, where the leading letter aleph The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, here associated with the concept of a "head" or "leader" is cast away, since the woman ought not to be the head; for which reason she covers herself with a veil. Avenarius, in his Lexicon. Gualtperius, citing Rabbi David Kimchi and St. Chrysostom, notes that a Wife is the servant of her Husband. In the Collation of Interpretations of Genesis, folios 121 and 160. To this pertains what a certain Hebrew author says (as reported by Jan Drusius in his Annotations on the New Testament, folio 327): a certain Matron said to a bride, "Let your eyes be fixed upon your husband as the eyes of a handmaid are on the hand of her mistress; and then you shall be honored in his eyes. For if you are a handmaid to him, he himself will be a servant to you, and will honor you as a Mistress; but if you exalt yourself against him, he will be your Lord," etc. Add to this Richter, Economic Axiom 62. By this same reasoning, Livia conquered Augustus Livia Drusilla, wife of the first Roman Emperor, was famous for her influence over her husband, which she attributed to her compliance and patience: see Cassius Dio, book 58, folio 618. And by this same reasoning, the Mother of Augustine lived in peace with a fretful husband. Augustine, Confessions, book 9, chapter 9. But on the other hand, as witnessed by Owen, Epigrams, book 1, 117:

To tame a spouse's mighty soul and tongue,
Is the thirteenth labor Hercules among.
A humorous reference to the Twelve Labors of Hercules, suggesting that managing a wife is the hardest task of all.

Certain faults of a Wife must simply be endured, according to Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights, book 1, chapter 17. Furthermore, in all his ruling, the Head of the Household must look toward the State, and model the form and manner of his administration upon it. Keckerman, Practical Disputation 28, Problem 9.