- Augustus (27 BCE-14 CE) passed two laws in 18 BCE and 9 CE concerning marriage, making adultery a criminal offence and obliging the wealthy classes to marry.
Description
- The Marriage Laws were aimed at the wealthy classes, as the Emperor Augustus was concerned that the upper classes were living together without getting married or having children.
- To reverse a declining birth rate, and reinforce the influence of the upper classes in an expanding Empire, Augustus passed legislation making adultery a criminal offence.
The Laws
- Lex Julia de adulteris (18 BCE)
- meaning ‘The Julian Law regarding adultery’ was passed in 18 BCE.
- Lex Julia Papia-Poppaea (9 CE)
- meaning ‘The Julian Law of Papia and Poppaea’ , the two Roman Consuls who passed the law in 9 CE.
Men
- Men had to be married if they were between 20-60 years old.
- Priority was given to married men within the Cursus Honorum.
- Senators, or their sons and grandsons, were forbidden to marry Freedwomen, and oddly, Actresses, Prostitutes or women convicted of adultery.
Women
- Women had to be married if they were between 20-50 years old.
- A widow had to remarry within 3 years.
- A divorcee had to remarry within 18 months.
- Women with 3 or more children, were not obliged to have a Tutor.
Adultery by the wife
- If the wife was found guilty of adultery, the husband was obliged by law to divorce her.
- The wife who had been convicted of adultery, would then lose half her Dowry and one third of her property, and be banished to an island.
- After these laws had been passed Augustus used them to banished members of his own family for adultery.
Julia the Elder
- In 2 BCE Augustus banished his daughter Julia the Elder to Pandataria in the Pontine Islands for 5 years, for adultery and Treason.
Julia the Younger
- In 8 CE He later banished his own grand-daughter Julia the Younger to the Tremiti Islands, for adultery.
Ventotene