Plutarch, Quaestiones Romanae, ed. William W. Goodwin, 29

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[29]

Question 29.

Why do they not permit the new married woman herself to step over the threshold of the house, but the bridemen lift her over?

Solution. What if the reason be that they, taking their first wives by force, brought them thus into their houses, when they went not in of their own accord? Or is it that they will have them seem to enter into that place as by force, not willingly, where they are about to lose their virginity? Or is it a significant ceremony to show that she is not to go out or leave her dwelling-place till she is forced, even as she goes in by force? For with us also in Boeotia they burn the axletree of a cart before the doors, intimating that the spouse is bound to remain there, the instrument of carriage being destroyed.

Quaestiones Romanae. Plutarch. ed. William W. Goodwin. Boston. 1874.

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Current edition Perseus

Roman Questions (English) (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.)

Editions (2)

Αἴτια Ῥωμαϊκά Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IV. Babbitt, Frank Cole, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 29 focus

271d

διὰ τί τὴν γαμουμένην οὐκ ἐῶσιν αὐτὴν ὑπερβῆναι τὸν οὐδὸν τῆς οἰκίας, ἀλλʼ ὑπεραίρουσιν οἱ προπέμποντες;

πότερον ὅτι καὶ τὰς πρώτας γυναῖκας ἁρπάσαντες οὕτως εἰσήνεγκαν, αὐταὶ δʼ οὐκ εἰσῆλθον;

ἢ βούλονται δοκεῖν εἰσιέναι βιαζομένας οὐχ ἑκούσας, ὅπου μέλλουσι διαλύειν τὴν παρθενίαν;

ἢ σύμβολόν ἐστι τοῦ μηδʼ ἐξιέναι διʼ αὐτῆς μηδὲ καταλιπεῖν τὴν οἰκίαν, εἰ μὴ βιασθείη, καθάπερ καὶ εἰσῆλθε βιασθεῖσα; καὶ γὰρ παρʼ ἡμῖν ἐν Βοιωτίᾳ καίουσι πρὸ τῆς θύρας τὸν ἄξονα τῆς ἁμάξης, ἐμφαίνοντες δεῖν τὴν νύμφην ἐμμένειν ὡς ἀνῃρημένου τοῦ ἀπάξοντος.

Κεφαλαίων καταγραφή Ῥωμαϊκά Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol IΙ. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1889.) — 29 focus

271d

διὰ τί τὴν γαμουμένην οὐκ ἐῶσιν αὐτὴν ὑπερβῆναι τὸν οὐδὸν τῆς οἰκίας, ἀλλʼ ὑπεραίρουσιν 15 οἱ προπέμποντες; πότερον ὅτι καὶ τὰς πρώτας γυναῖκας ἁρπάσαντες οὕτως εἰσήνεγκαν, αὐταὶ δʼ οὐκ εἰσῆλθον· ἢ βούλονται δοκεῖν εἰσιέναι βιαζομένας οὐχ ἑκούσας, ὅπου μέλλουσι διαλύειν τὴν παρθενίαν; ἢ σύμβολόν ἐστι τοῦ μηδʼ ἐξιέναι διʼ αὐτῆς 20 μηδὲ καταλιπεῖν ¹ τὴν οἰκίαν, εἰ μὴ βιασθείη, καθάπερ καὶ εἰσῆλθε βιασθεῖσα; καὶ γὰρ παρʼ ἡμῖν ἐν Βοιωτίᾳ καίουσι πρὸ τῆς θύρας τὸν ἄξονα τῆς ἁμάξης, ἐμφαίνοντες δεῖν τὴν νύμφην ἐμμένειν ὡς ἀνῃρημένου τοῦ ἀπάξοντος. 25

Translations (1)

The Roman Questions Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IV. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 29 focus

[29] Why do they not allow the bride to cross the threshold of her home herself, but those who are escorting her lift her over?¹

Is it because they carried off by force also the first Roman brides and bore them in in this manner, and the women did not enter of their own accord?

Or do they wish it to appear that it is under constraint and not of their own desire that they enter a dwelling where they are about to lose their virginity?

Or is it a token that the woman may not go forth of her own accord and abandon her home if she be not constrained, just as it was under constraint that she entered it? So likewise among us in Boeotia they burn the axle of the bridal carriage before the door, signifying that the bride must remain, since her means of departure has been destroyed.

Plutarch Quaestiones Romanae 29

ed. William W. Goodwin

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Question 29.

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