Smith, William: A smaller dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1871)

MATItlMONIUM.

252

MATKIMONIUM.

itgreed to marry and the persons in whose
potestas they were had consented, a meeting
of friends was sometimes held at the house
of the maiden for the purpose of settling the
marriage-contract, which was written on
tablets, and signed by both parties. The
woman after she had promised to become
the wife of a man was called sponsa, pacta,
dicta, or sperata. It appears that, at least
during the imperial period, the man put a
ring on the finger of his betrothed, as a
pledge of his fidelity. This ring was pro-
bably, like all rings at this time, worn on
the left hand, and on the finger nearest to
the smallest. The last point to be fixed was
the day on which the marriage was to take
place. The Romans believed that certain
days were unfortunate for the performance
of the marriage rites, either on account of
the religious character of those days them-
selves, or on account of the days by which
they were followed, as the woman had to
perform certain religious rites on the day
after her wedding, which could not take
place on a dies ater. Days not suitable for
entering upon matrimony were the calends,
nones, and ides of every month, all dies atri,
the whole months of May and February, and
a great number of festivals. On the wedding-
day, which in the early times was never
fixed upon without consulting the auspices,
the bride was dressed in a long white robe
with a purple fringe, or adorned with ribands.
This dress was called tunica recta, and was
bound round the waist with a girdle (coro?ia,
cbiguhnn, or zona), which the husband had
to untie in the evening. The bridal veil,
ailled Jiammeum, was of a bright yellow
colour, and her shoes likewise. Her hair
was divided on this occasion with the point
of a spear. The bride was conducted to the
house of her husband in the evening. She
was taken with apparent violence from the
arms of her mother, or of the person who
had to give her away. On her way she was
accompanied by three boys dressed in the
praetexta, and whose fathers and mothers
were still alive (patrimi et matrimi). One
of them carried before her a torch of white
thorn (spina), or, according to others, of
pine wood; the two others walked by her
side, supporting her by the arm. The bride
herself carried a distaff and a spindle, with
wool. A boy called camillus carried in a
covered vase (camera, cumerum, or camil-
lum), the so-called utensils of the bride and
playthings for children (crepundia). Besides
these persons who officiated on the occasion,
the procession was attended by a numerous
train of friends, both of the bride and the
bridegroom. When the procession arrived

at the house of the bridegroom, the door of
which was adorned with garlands and flowers,
the bride was carried across the threshold by
pronubi, i. e. men who had been married
to only one woman, that she might not
knock against it with her foot, which would
have been an evil omen. Before she entered
the house, she wound wool around the door-
posts of her new residence, and anointc-s'.
them with lard (adeps suilhis) or wolf's fat
(adeps lupinus). The husband received her
with fire and water, which the woman had
to touch. This was either a symbolic puri-
fication, or a symbolic expression of welcome,
as the interdicere aqua et igni was the for-
mula for banishment. The bride saluted her
husband with the words : vhi tu Cuius, ego
Caia. After she had entered the house with
distaff and spindle, she was placed upon a
sheep-skin, and here the keys of the house
were delivered into her hands. A repast
(coena nuptialis) given by the husband to
the whole train of relatives and friends who
accompanied the bride, generally concluded
the solemnity of the day. Many ancient
writers mention a very popular song, Tala-
sius or Talassio, which was sung at wed-
dings ; but whether it was sung during the
repast or during the procession is not quite
clear, though we may infer from the story
respecting the origin of the song, that it was
sung while the procession was advancing
towards the house of the husband. It may
easily be imagined that a solemnity like that
of marriage did not take place among the
merry and humorous Italians without a
variety of jests and railleries, and the ancient
writers mention songs which were sung be-
fore the door of the bridal apartment by girls,
after the company had left. These songs
were probably the old Feseennina [Fescen-
nixa], and are frequently called Epithalamia.
At the end of the repast the bride was con-
ducted by matrons who had not had more
than one husband (pronubae), to the lectus
genialis in the atrium, which was on this
occasion magnificently adorned and strewed
with flowers. On the following day the
husband sometimes gave another entertain-
ment to his friends, which was called repotia,
and the woman, who on this day undertook
the management of the house of her hus-
band, had to perform certain religious rites;
on which account, as was observed above, it
was necessary to select a day for the mar-
riage which was not followed by a dies ater.
These rites probably consisted of sacrifices to
the Dii Penates. The position of a Roman
woman after marriage was very different
from that of a Greek woman. The Roman
presided over the whole household; she edu-