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And I thought the Greeks were weird? I have a contender for bizzarest marriage complications in Rome:
There was a practice (sine manu by which the father still held control over his daughter after her marriage and could dissolve the marriage if it conflicted with his political interests.
So a father might insist his daughter married a man she did not care for, and then by the time she had grown to love him, her father might insist on a divorce which could be carried out without the consent of either the husband or wife.
My favourite:
Hortensius wanted a marriage alliance with the family of Cato the Younger. So he asked Cato to let him marry his daughter Porcia who was then married to Bibulus and had two sons. He admitted the request was unconventional, but not unheard of. And that if Bibulus was deeply attached to his wife, Hortensius would return her after she had borne him a child. Then Cato, Hortensius and Biblulus would all be connected through their common children.
Cato didn't like the idea. So Hortensius proposed that he marry Cato's own wife Marcia instead. He argued Cato had enough heirs and Marcia was still young enough to bear children. Cato insisted on the approval of his wife's father, L. Marcius Philippus, who agreed with Hortensius. Cato divorced his wife, and along with Marcius, gave her to Hortensius. Six years later Hortensius died. Cato remarried his wife, who was now very rich as she was Hortensius' heir.
Yet in another context Cato vehemently and publically protested about the use of marriages to cement political alliances...
There was a practice (sine manu by which the father still held control over his daughter after her marriage and could dissolve the marriage if it conflicted with his political interests.
So a father might insist his daughter married a man she did not care for, and then by the time she had grown to love him, her father might insist on a divorce which could be carried out without the consent of either the husband or wife.
My favourite:
Hortensius wanted a marriage alliance with the family of Cato the Younger. So he asked Cato to let him marry his daughter Porcia who was then married to Bibulus and had two sons. He admitted the request was unconventional, but not unheard of. And that if Bibulus was deeply attached to his wife, Hortensius would return her after she had borne him a child. Then Cato, Hortensius and Biblulus would all be connected through their common children.
Cato didn't like the idea. So Hortensius proposed that he marry Cato's own wife Marcia instead. He argued Cato had enough heirs and Marcia was still young enough to bear children. Cato insisted on the approval of his wife's father, L. Marcius Philippus, who agreed with Hortensius. Cato divorced his wife, and along with Marcius, gave her to Hortensius. Six years later Hortensius died. Cato remarried his wife, who was now very rich as she was Hortensius' heir.
Yet in another context Cato vehemently and publically protested about the use of marriages to cement political alliances...
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you just can't make it up, can you?
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