Page:Roman Constitutional History, 753-44 B.C..djvu/73

Rh united with the plebeians of the middle and lower classes. At any rate the assumption of harmonious action on the part of all the plebeians would largely explain the rapidity and ease with which they now succeeded in their next agitation, and obtained the right of intermarriage (conubium) with the patricians.

The Right of Intermarriage. — The union of parties who enjoyed the right of marriage conferred on the husband the marital authority (manus, pp. 2-3), and on the father the parental authority (patria potestas, p. 3); the children belonged to their father's clan and class, and inherited his property, even if he died without making a will. These privileges were probably granted also to plebeians who married women of the patrician class. On the other hand, the union of a patrician man and a plebeian woman had so far not been a lawful marriage (justum matrimonium), because, though Roman citizens, the parties did not possess the right of intermarriage. The wife, in this case, did not become subject to the marital authority; the children were not subjected to the parental authority, were members of the clan (gens or stirps) and class of their mother, and did not inherit any of their father's property, if he died intestate.

The Results of Lawful Intermarriages. — As the patricians decreased in number and rich plebeian families rose in influence and prestige, it became evident that intermarriages between these orders would help to replenish the coffers and to invigorate the blood of the patricians. The direct advantages were, therefore, on the side of the patrician class — just as in the case of impoverished European noblemen who marry American heiresses — except in so far as the blue patrician blood could not be maintained in its pristine purity. The plebeians might, however, gain indirectly: if the son of a