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

paternal power, by which children whom we have procreated from just marriages are under our power. This right is proper to Roman citizens, the nature of which we do not wish to explain now, as we intend to speak of it elsewhere. Its ancient traces are recounted in various ways by Dionysius of Halicarnassus from the edicts of Romulus, by Gellius in his books of the Attic Nights, by Plato in his dialogues on Laws, and by Moses, along with Valerius Maximus. But when we speak of marriage in this place, we understand it to mean legitimate and just marriage, in which nothing can be desired by law. Thus, we call a just wife and just children by this name, and in general, we call it just, as Caius says in book 1 on the Origin of Law, because it is absolute in all its duties. Therefore, marriage was introduced so that the human race might be preserved through continuous generation. Hence Plato says that man is immortal through generation, and so that wandering and incestuous lusts might be repressed, such as those of Ptolemy, King of Egypt, which the Roman legates Scipio and Polybius abhorred. For he had married his own sister, taken even from her brother. For these reasons, Modestinus defines marriage as the conjunction of a man and a woman, which many—like Balduinus, Harmenopulus, and all the more recent authors—think should be understood only as a conjunction of minds along with many of our ancestors.

k Law 30, regarding those who are of their own or another's power.
l book 2.
m book 2, chapter 7.
n Dialogue 3.
o Deuteronomy, chapter 27.
p book 5, title regarding the severity of parents.
q Law "If a senator," on the rite of marriage. Law "If a wife," regarding the Julian law on adultery.
r Law "When someone," paragraph 1, regarding natural children.
s book on the rite of marriage.
t book 4, title 4.