"
This speech was heard by few with approbation, and many proclaimed their
dissent; "for, that neither was that the point in debate, nor was Caecina
considerable enough to censure so weighty an affair." He was presently
answered by Valerius Messalinus, who was the son of Messala, and inherited
a sparkling of his father's eloquence: "that many rigorous institutions of
the ancients were softened and changed for the better: for, neither was
Rome now, as of old, beset with wars, nor Italy with hostile provinces;
and a few concessions were made to the conveniences of women, who were so
far from burdening the provinces, that to their own husbands there they
were no burden. As to honours, attendance and expense, they enjoyed them
in common with their husbands, who could receive no embarrassment from
their company in time of peace. To war indeed we must go equipped and
unencumbered; but after the fatigues of war, what was more allowable than
the consolations of a wife? But it seemed the wives of some magistrates
had given a loose to ambition and avarice. And were the magistrates
themselves free from these excesses? were not most of them governed by
many exorbitant appetites? did we therefore send none into the provinces?
It was added, that the husbands were corrupted by their corrupt wives: and
were therefore all single men uncorrupt? The Oppian Laws were once thought
necessary, because the exigencies of the State required their severity:
they were afterwards relaxed and mollified, because that too was expedient
for the State.
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