Special Political Discourses on Domestic Society and the Rights of Citizens

Such will be the bridal chamber of an old woman, for a needy
And raving man, who is ill-wed to an old man.
original: "Talis erit thalamus Vetulæ Mulieris..." This couplet warns of the misery that follows when elderly people enter into mismatched or desperate marriages.

VI. On the Legislation of Appius, who, in those Tables The Twelve Tables, the foundation of early Roman law which he added to the first ten, also established this decree: That there should be no lawful marriages between Patricians the hereditary aristocrats and Plebeians the common citizens. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, book 10, at the end. What should be thought of this? Gaius Canuleius, a Tribune of the Plebs, complained about this law: He said there is no greater or more notable insult than that a part of the City should be held as if contaminated and unworthy of marriage; it is nothing other than suffering exile within the same walls, or enduring banishment, etc. Livy, book 4, at the beginning. But this matter requires a political judgment, which Arnisaeus provides in his treatise on marriage, chapter 3, section 6. To this may be referred many things which Cardanus Girolamo Cardano, a famous Italian polymath has in his treatise on taking advantage of adversity, under the title "On Marrying a Wife," page 928, and the title "On the Stubbornness of a Wife," page 953. In Greece, wives, daughters, and boys are scarcely seen in public, and never unless masked original: "personati," likely referring to the use of veils or heavy coverings in public. Belon, book 2, chapters 35 and 37, and book 3, chapter 14. Nor did the Greeks invite respectable women to the banquets of men. Marc-Antoine Muret, Various Readings, book 7, chapter 2. In Venice, respectable young women are educated in Monasteries. The Duke of Würtemberg’s Travels in Italy, page 158. But in England there is the greatest liberty, even for married women. The Würtemberg Journey to Baden, page 13. Conversely, Turkish women are all painted with cosmetics. Belon, book 3, chapter 34.

CHAPTER III.

On the

Duty of Parents, and the Obligation of Children.

Those who, in respect to marriage, are called Husband and Wife, are called Parents in view of propagation; and thus the second form of Society is held to be that which exists between Children and Parents. And we must speak here of the duty of Parents, of the Obligation original: "Debito," referring to the moral and legal debt of gratitude and obedience children owe for their upbringing of Children, and the Right or Command by which Parents demand that obligation, maintain it, or punish the negligence of their children. The duty of Parents consists chiefly in this: that children be fed, nourished, educated, and well-instructed. Therefore, with no regard for either Nobility or humble status, Mothers themselves ought to nourish their infants with their own breasts A common moral argument in this period against the use of wet-nurses. Keckermann, Practical Disputes, 28, problem 18. Tholosanus, book 14, last chapter. Cardanus, On the Variety of Things, book 8, page 516. Richter, Economic Axioms, 47. Zacharias Fridenreich, Politics, book 1, chapter 5. I myself, in my Commentary on the first book of the Digest "On Justice and Law," question 124. For everything is naturally [nourished] by that— catchword: "eo ali-" (from that [which it was born from])