WOMEN

Roman women in poor families often had to work hard, just like the men of the family. Thus, for most women, their day-to-day lives were not a whole lot different from men's, although they were accorded inferior legal status. Women did not possess Roman citizenship, could not vote in elections or run for political office, and were not permitted to take part in the speechmaking and debates that characterized the lively public life at Rome.

Upper-class girls were raised in the household, rarely venturing outside the house itself. The chief figure in their lives was their mother, who supervised whatever education they received. In terms of reading, writing, and literature, the education that these girls obtained varied enormously from house to house. There are a few famous examples of highly educated women, but excessive knowledge or intellectual ability in women was regarded with suspicion and disfavor. The main focus of a girl's education was to learn how to spin thread and weave clothing. Eventually she would be married to a man selected by her father, often for economic or political reasons.

Once married, she became subject to her husband, who gained all the powers over her that her father had once exercised. In legal terms, she was treated like her husband's daughter; her property became his, and he even had the right to kill her if given sufficient provocation, such as discovering her committing adultery. (A husband, by contrast, could freely cheat on his wife without fear of blame or reprisal.) It was a woman's responsibility to run her husband's household, which entailed supervising the slaves and overseeing the education of their young children. Spinning wool, weaving cloth, and sewing were seen as important skills for her to possess, regardless of whether her husband could afford to buy cloth or whether the slaves could make it. Even the emperor Augustus required that his wife and daughter spin, weave, and produce the clothes for his household. While other abilities and talents in a woman were praised on occasion, suspicion was sometimes aroused by women who were considered excessively intelligent or accomplished. It was believed that cleverness could lead to improper behavior. In early Rome, even a talent for singing and dancing was viewed as an incitement to vice.

Generally speaking, a woman was supposed to spend most of her time within the confines of the household. When upper-class women did venture out of the house—to visit the marketplace, the baths, temples, or

Figure 5 A Upper-class Roman woman making the gesture of pud ic it in (modesty).

Women friends—they were often transported in curtained litters carried by slaves, both to avoid the filth in the streets and to stay concealed and unseen in public. Women were supposed to be modest and chaste. A Roman matron's clothing was intended to cover her completely, and statues frequently depict women making a gesture to indicate their pudidtia, or modesty. Fidehty to one's husband was crucial. The most famous story about a heroic woman is revealing: Lucretia wins a contest as best of wives because she is at home sewing late into the night rather than visiting and gossiping with friends, and when she is raped, she commits suicide because she has betrayed her husband, albeit against her will. Although her husband and father told her she was blameless, she felt disgraced and feared that her ruined reputation would sully her family's good name. Roman girls were instructed to view Lucretia as a role model and self-sacrifice as a virtue. Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, was also lauded as a heroic woman: she bore 12 children who all died before her but stifled her grief and endured her losses bravely. The republican ideal of womanhood called for frugality, industriousness, restraint, piety, self-effacement, obedience to one's husband, and the ability to control one's emotions and maintain a stoical demeanor. It was considered wrong for a woman to be avaricious, ambitious, ostentatious, or self-promoting.

However, there was a certain degree of divergence between the ideal behavior of wives and the reality. Women did commit adultery and divorce their husbands in order to marry others. Particularly during the empire, some women were able to obtain a degree of legal independence. A few who were married or related to powerful men were even able to have an impact on politics and government and exercise power, such as Mark Antony's wife, Fulvia. Women who dared to assume masculine roles were derided, as when Valerius Maximus describes a small number of women advocates as being unwomanly and monstrous (Valerius Maximus, Memorable Deeds and Sayings 8.3). Under the empire, many writers decried the growing decadence and immorality of contemporary society and praised the good old days of early Rome, when men and women had still been virtuous. Sumptuary laws were passed to regulate the clothing and jewelry of wealthy women. Satirists lampooned women for enhancing their appearance through excessive makeup, hair dyes, and wigs, all of which were seen as suggesting dishonesty and falseness of character. Augustus instituted laws meant to promote marriage and procreation, which he thought were on the decline. The supposed deterioration of women's virtue was considered an indicator that something was wrong with society as a whole.

Comparatively little is known about the lives of lower-class women who had to work outside the home in order to help support their families or themselves. They might have worked as vendors in the marketplace or learned a trade, such as cloth making or perfume manufacturing. The medical profession was one of fhe few open to women; there is record of a number of female doctors, although women more commonly served as midwives and as wet nurses in wealthy families.

While women could not act onstage in theatrical productions, they could perform in mimes and pantomimes, although this imparted a shady reputation. A bad reputation also plagued women who worked at tabernae (taverns) as tavern keepers, waitresses, barmaids, and cooks and who were considered to be practically on the level of prostitutes—another career open to poor women. Contact with the public sphere, in whatever capacity, seems to have compromised a woman's reputation.