Plutarch, Quaestiones Romanae, Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator), 105

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[105] For what reason is it not the custom for maidens to marry on public holidays, but widows do marry at this time?¹

Is it, as Varro has remarked, that maidens are grieved over marrying, but older women are glad, and on a holiday one should do nothing in grief or by constraint?

Or is it rather because it is seemly that not a few should be present when maidens marry, but disgraceful that many should be present when widows marry? Now the first marriage is enviable: but the second is to be deprecated, for women are ashamed if they take a second husband while the first husband is still living, and they feel sad if they do so when he is dead. Wherefore they rejoice in a quiet wedding rather than in noise and processions. Holidays distract most people, so that they have no leisure for such matters.

Or, because they seized the maiden daughters of the Sabines at a holiday festival, and thereby became involved in war, did they come to regard it as ill-omened to marry maidens on holy days?

Quaestiones Romanae. Plutarch. Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1936.

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Current edition Perseus

The Roman Questions (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IV. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).)

Editions (2)

Αἴτια Ῥωμαϊκά Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IV. Babbitt, Frank Cole, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 105 focus

[105] διὰ τίνα αἰτίαν ἐν ταῖς δημοσίαις ἑορταῖς ἔθος οὐκ ἔστι γαμεῖσθαι παρθένους, αἱ δὲ χῆραι γαμοῦνται;

πότερον, ὡς ὁ Βάρρων εἴρηκεν, ὅτι λυπούμεναι μὲν αἱ παρθένοι γαμοῦνται, χαίρουσαι ¹ δʼ αἱ γυναῖκες, ἑορτῇ δὲ δεῖ ² μηδὲν λυπουμένους ποιεῖν μηδὲ πρὸς ἀνάγκην;

ἢ μᾶλλον ὅτι ταῖς μὲν παρθένοις καλὸν μὴ 289b ὀλίγων ταῖς δὲ χήραις αἰσχρὸν πολλῶν παρόντων ³ γαμεῖσθαι; ζηλωτὸς γὰρ ὁ πρῶτος γάμος ὁ δὲ δεύτερος ἀπευκταῖος· αἰσχύνονται γάρ, ἂν ζώντων τῶν προτέρων ἑτέρους λαμβάνωσιν, ὀδύρονται δέ, ἂν ἀποθανόντων. ὅθεν ἡσυχίᾳ χαίρουσι μᾶλλον ἢ θορύβοις καὶ προπομπαῖς. αἱ δʼ ἑορταὶ περισπῶσι τοὺς πολλούς, ὥστε τοῖς τοιούτοις μὴ, σχολάζειν.

ἢ ὅτι καὶ τὰς Σαβίνων θυγατέρας ἁρπάσαντες ἐν ἑορτῇ παρθένους οὔσας εἰς πόλεμον κατέστησαν, ἐξοιωνίσαντο τὸ γαμεῖν παρθένους ἐν ἱεραῖς ἡμέραις;

Κεφαλαίων καταγραφή Ῥωμαϊκά Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol IΙ. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1889.) — 105 focus

[105] διὰ τίνα αἰτίαν ἐν ταῖς δημοσίαις ἑορταῖς ἔθος οὐκ ἔστι γαμεῖσθαι παρθένους, αἱ δὲ χῆραι γαμοῦνται; πότερον, ὡς ὁ Βάρρων εἴρηκεν, ὅτι λυπούμεναι μὲν αἱ παρθένοι γαμοῦνται, χαίρουσι δʼ αἱ γυναῖκες, ἑορτῇ δέον ¹ μηδὲν λυπουμένους ποιεῖν 10 μηδὲ πρὸς ἀνάγκην· ἢ μᾶλλον ὅτι ταῖς μὲν παρθένοις 289b καλὸν μὴ ὀλίγων, ταῖς δὲ χήραις αἰσχρὸν πολλῶν ὄντων ² γαμεῖσθαι; ζηλωτὸς γὰρ ὁ πρῶτος γάμος ὁ δὲ δεύτερος ἀπευκταῖος· αἰσχύνονται γάρ, ἂν ζώντων τῶν προτέρων ἑτέρους λαμβάνωσιν, ὀδύρονται 15 δέ, ἂν ἀποθανόντων. ὅθεν ἡσυχίᾳ χαίρουσι μᾶλλον ἢ θορύβοις καὶ προπομπαῖς. αἱ δʼ ἑορταὶ περισπῶσι τοὺς πολλούς, ὥστε τοῖς τοιούτοις μὴ σχολάζειν. ἢ ὅτι καὶ τὰς Σαβίνων θυγατέρας ἁρπάσαντες ἐν ἑορτῇ παρθένους οὔσας εἰς πόλεμον κατέστησαν, 20 ἐξοιωνίσαντο τὸ γαμεῖν παρθένους ἐν ἱεραῖς ἡμέραις;

Translations (1)

Roman Questions Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. II. Goodwin, William W., editor; Chauncy, Isaac translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 105 focus

[105]

Question 105.

For what cause was it, that on high holidays it was not a custom for virgins to marry, but widows did marry then?

Solution. Is the reason, as Varro saith, that virgins, forsooth, are married weeping, but women with joyful glee, and people are to do nothing of a holiday with a heavy heart nor by compulsion? Or rather is it because it is decent for virgins to marry with more than a few present, but for widows to marry with a great many present is indecent? For the first marriage is zealously affected, the second to be deprecated; yea, they are ashamed to marry a second husband while their first husband lives, and they grieve at doing so even when he is dead. Hence they are pleased more with silence than with tumults and pompous doings; and the feasts do attract the generality of people to them, so that they cannot be at leisure on holidays for such wedding solemnities. Or was it that they that robbed the Sabines of their daughters that were virgins on the feast-day raised thereby a war, and looked therefore upon it as unlucky to marry virgins on holidays?

Notes on the current edition

The Roman Questions

1. Cf. Macrobius, Saturnalia, i. 15. 21.

Plutarch Quaestiones Romanae 105

Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator)

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