Sponsalia were not an unusual preliminary of mar- riage, but they were not necessary. The sponsalia were an agreement to marry, made in such form as to give each party a right of action in case of non-performance, and the offending party was condemned in such dam- ages as to the judex seemed just. The woman wlio ■was promised in marriage was accordingly called sponsa, ^^•hich is equivalent to promissa; the man who was en- gaged to marry was called sponsus. The sponsalia were of course not binding if the parties consented to waive the contract. Sometimes a present was made by the future husband to the future wife by ^vay of earnest (firrha, arrha spomalitia), or, as it was called, pirojiter nuptias donatio.
The consequences of marriage were : 1. The power of the father over the children of the marriage, ■which was a completely new relation — an effect indeed of marriage, but one which had no influence over the relation of the husband and wife. 2. The liabilities of either of the parties to the punishments affixed to the violation of the marriage union. 3. The relation of husband and wife with respect to property.
When marriage was dissolved, the parties to it might marry again ; but opinion considered it more decent for a woman not to marry again. A woman was required by usage {mos) to wait a year before she contracted a second marriage, on the pain of infamia.
It remains to describe the customs and rites which were observed by the Romans at marriages. After the parties had agreed to marry, and the persons in whose potestas they were had consented, a meeting of friends %vas sometimes held at the house of the maiden for the purpose of settUng the marriage-contract, which was written on tablets, and signed by both parties. The woman, after she had promised to become the wife of a man, was called sponsa, pacta, dicta, or sperata. It ap- pears that — at least durmg the imperial period— the man put a ring on the finger of his betrothed as a pledge of his fidelity. This ring was probably, like all rings at this time, worn on the left hand, and on the finger near- est to the smallest. The last point to be fixed was the day on which the marriage was to take place. The Iloraans believed that certain days were unfortunate for the performance of the marriage rites, either on account of the religious character of those days themselves, or on account of the days by which they were followed, as the woman had to perform certain religious rites on tlie day after her wedding, which could not take place on a dies atcr. Days not suitable fcjr entering upon matri- mony were the calends, nones, and ides of every month, all dies atri, the whole months of May and February, and a great number of festivals. On the wedding-day, which in the early times was never fixed upon without considting the auspices, the bride was dressed in a long white robe with a purple fringe, or adorned with rib- bons. This dress was called tunica recta, and was bound round tlio waist with a girdle {corona, cinrjulum, or zona), which the husband had to untie in the evening. The bride's veil, caWeCi. Jianwieum, was of a bright yellow col- or, and lier shoes likewise. Her hair was divided on this occasion with the point of a spear. The bride was conducted to the house of her husband in the evening. She was taken with apparent violence from the arms of her mother, or of the person who had to give her away. On her way she was accompanied Ijy three^boys dressed in the praitexta, and whose fathers and mothers were still alive (patrimi et matrimi). One of them carried before lier a torch of white thorn {spina), or, according to others, of pine wood ; the two others wallicd by her
side, supporting her by the arm. The bride herself car- ried a distaff and a spinille, with wool. A boy caUetl cauiillus carried in a covered vase {cuniera, cumerum, or camilliun) the so-called utensils of the bride and plav- things for children (crepuiuliu). Besides these persons who officiated on the occasion, the procession was at- tended by a numerous train of friends, both of the bride and the bridegroom. When the procession arrived at the house of the bridegroom, the door of which was adorned with garlands and flowers, the bride was car- ried across the threshold by pronubi, i. e. men who had been married to only one woman, that she might not knock against it with her foot, which would have been an evil omen. Before she entered the house, she wound wool around the door-posts of her new residence, and anointed them with lard {adeps suillus) or wolf's fat {adeps liqnnus). The husband received her with fire and water, which the woman had to touch. This was either a symbolic purification, or a symbolic expression of ^velcome, as the interdicere aqua et igni ■was the for- mula for banishment. The bride saluted her husband with the words, Ubi tu Cains, ego Caia. After she had entered the house with distaff and spindle, she was placed upon a sheep-skin, and here the keys of the house were delivered into her hands. A repast {ccena nuptialk), given by the husband to the whole train of relatives and frien.ds who accompanied the bride, gen- erally concluded the solemnity of the day. IVIany an- cient writers mention a very popular song, Tulasius or Tulassio, which was sung at weddings ; but whether it was sung during the repast or during the procession is not quite clear, though we may infer from the story re- specting the origin of the song that it was sung while the procession was advancing towards the house of the husband. It may be easily imagined that a solemnity Uke that of marriage did not take place among the mer- ry and humorous Italians without a variety of jests and railleries ; and Ovid mentions obscene songs which Avere sung before the door of the bridal apartment by girls, after the company had left. These songs were probably the old Fescennina, and are frequently caW^A'Epithala- mia. At the end of the repast, the bride was conducted by matrons who had not had more than one husband (j}}-onubce) to the lectus genialis in the atrium, Avhich was on this occasion magnificently adorned and strewed with flowers. On the following day the husband some- times gave another entertainment to his friends, which was called repotia, and the woman, who on this day un- dertook the management of the house of her husband, had to perform certain religious rites; on which ac- count, as was observed above, it was necessary to select a day for the marriage which was not followed by a dies ater. These rites probably consisted of sacrifices to the Dii Penates.