Women and the Augustan Social Contract

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how, following his consolidation of power within the remains of the Roman Republican political system, Augustus attempted to ensure the stability of his imperiate in 18 B.C.E. by economically incentivizing traditional Roman morals among the Roman populace. It examines how he established two laws, promoting marriage and procreation in the "lex Iulia de maritandis ordinibus" and morality in the l"ex Iulia de adulteriis coercendis". It also looks at how the ordering of women figures so importantly in this social contract for two interconnected reasons, how the incentives of the Augustan social contract lured women to marriage, and second, how the deterrents of the laws against remaining unmarried similarly lured women to marriage.

From the Paper:

"Marriages declined, it seemed to Augustus, as a result of this widespread, societal moral failing. Augustus himself sought to stop this wave of immorality by confronting the equites. In Augustus' Legislation on Morals, Augustus is quoted chastising unmarried members of the equites: "for you see for yourselves how much more numerous you are than the married men, when you" should have produced numerous offspring by now. With a falling off in marriage comes a falling off in child production. "that with many dying all the time by disease and many in war it is impossible for the city to maintain itself, unless its population" continually supplied it with a steady supply of offspring. Augustus's urgings were futile attempts to bring about a change he needed something more."

More papers on Women and the Augustan Social Contract:

• Term Paper # 132013 : "Canadian Women and the Social Reform Movement"
• Analytical Essay # 141263 : "New Women and the Press"
• Term Paper # 96835 : "Women and the Glass Ceiling"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: