Stephani de Malescot Iuriscos. ac Belarborensis Theophilologi, de Nuptiis Liber Paradoxicus, nova & recenti methodo compositus

from that first communion and the closest conjunction, which was instituted by the Lord, and contains certain remnants of that most happy cohabitation which existed between the first spouses. For before the emperors of the Romans and the Greeks, there was such levity that they kept no measure of generation. At first, they loved polygamy so much that they were not content with one wife; later, however, they did not want to leave even one for themselves or for others. Some tried to confirm this at the Nicene Synod, until one man of singular virtue, wisdom, and gravity, Paphnutius the Egyptian bishop, intervened against this motion. And so he used this speech:

"Marriage is honorable, and sobriety is that which is directed toward one's own wives." original: "Τίμιον τὸν γάμον εἶναι, σωφροσύνην δὲ τὴν πρὸς τὰς ἰδίας γυναῖκας σωφροσύνην."

The Nicene fathers yielded to the voice of this one man, whose authority Balduinus also brings forward in his work on Constantine. Furthermore, legitimate marriage was invented so that parents might recognize their offspring, and a son might distinguish his father from his grandfather, his grandfather from his great-grandfather, and the rest of his relatives and those joined by the bond of blood. For that is a son who is born from a man and his wife. The mother is always certain, but the father is considered to be he whom marriage demonstrates. From these descends

h Law 6, regarding those who are of their own or another's power.

i Law 5, regarding the summoning to court.