26.18. 18. That it is necessary to inquire whether the Laws which seem
contradictory are of the same Class.
At Rome the husband was permitted
to lend his wife to another. Plutarch tells us this in express
terms.
[47]
We know that Cato lent his wife to Hortensius,
[48]
and Cato
was not a man to violate the laws of his country.
On the other hand, a husband who suffered his wife to be debauched,
who did not bring her to justice, or who took her again after her
condemnation was punished.
[49]
These laws seem to contradict each other,
and yet are not contradictory. The law which permitted a Roman to lend
his wife was visibly a Lacedæmonian institution, established with a view
of giving the republic children of a good species, if I may be allowed
the term; the other had in view the preservation of morals. The first
was a law of politics, the second a civil law.
Footnotes
[47]
Plutarch in his comparison between Lycurgus and Numa.
[48]
Plutarch, "Life of Cato."
[49]
Leg. 11 ult., ff. ad. leg. Jul. de adulteriis.
