Quick questions on Augustus's social and moral legislation: HSC Ancient History

In 18 BC, Augustus introduced a major package of social legislation under his tribunicia potestas. Two laws addressed marriage and adultery.

Augustus introduced a strengthened version in AD 9, named for the consuls of that year, Marcus Papius Mutilus and Quintus Poppaeus Secundus (who, ironically, were themselves childless and unmarried).

Augustus restricted the freeing of slaves (manumission) to prevent indiscriminate enfranchisement.

Augustus's stated goals included:

The greatest test of the laws was within Augustus's own household.

Karl Galinsky (Augustan Culture, 1996) treats the laws as part of an integrated moral and political program.

This was the first time adultery had been criminalised as a public offence at Rome. Previously it had been a matter for the family (paterfamilias and household). The law required husbands to prosecute or divorce adulterous wives; a husband who failed to do so could be prosecuted himself for lenocinium (procuring).

Required marriage and reproduction within the senatorial and equestrian orders. Men aged 25 to 60 and women aged 20 to 50 who remained unmarried, or married but childless, faced restrictions on inheritance: the unmarried could inherit only from close relatives; the childless could inherit only half from non-relatives. The penalties were strong economic incentives.

Limited the number of slaves a master could free by testament: a fixed proportion depending on total slave-holdings.

Established minimum ages for manumission (master 20, slave 30). Slaves freed informally or by masters who did not follow procedures became Junian Latins, with limited citizenship rights. Criminal slaves became dediticii (with no citizenship).

Augustus's only biological daughter (by his first wife Scribonia). Married three times for dynastic reasons: to Marcellus (Augustus's nephew, who died young), to Agrippa (Augustus's right-hand man, who died in 12 BC), and finally to Tiberius (Augustus's stepson, an unhappy marriage). She had five children by Agrippa (Gaius and Lucius Caesar, Julia the Younger, Agrippina the Elder, Agrippa Postumus).

Augustus's granddaughter. Exiled in AD 8 for adultery with Decimus Junius Silanus. She died in exile.

Exiled in AD 8 to Tomis on the Black Sea, allegedly for a poem (carmen) and a mistake (error). Ovid's exile is widely believed to have been connected to the Julia the Younger scandal, though the precise nature of his offence is unknown. Ovid's Tristia, written in exile, lament the punishment.

Galinsky argues for ideological success even if demographic failure.

Julia the Elder (Augustus's daughter, exiled 2 BC) and Julia the Younger (his granddaughter, exiled AD 8).