URGENT! Were Roman women better off under the Emperor Augustus than the late Republic?
Well, under Roman law a woman was always under the guardianship of a man, usually her father or other close male relative (the Pater Familias, who had absolute power over all other family members), or under her husband. In ‘Goddesses, whores, wives and slaves’ Sarah B. Pomeroy writes: ‘By the late Republic, tutelage over women was a burden to the men acting as guardians, but only a slight disability to women. The virtuous Cornelia managed a large household and is not reported to have consulted any male guardian even in her decision to turn down Ptolemy Physcon’s proposal of marriage. Similarly, a century later, much is said about the financial transactions of Terentia, Cicero’s wife, but nothing about her guardian. The legislation of Augustus provided a way for women to free themselves from male guardians. According to “the right of three or four children” (Jus liberorum), a freeborn woman who bore three children and a freedwoman who bore four were exempt from guardianship. The right o
