Adultery

===Greco-Roman world===
{{Further|Adultery in Classical Athens}}

In the [[Greco-Roman world]], there were stringent laws against adultery, but these applied to sexual intercourse with a married woman. In the early [[Roman Law]], the ''jus tori'' belonged to the husband. It was therefore not a crime against the wife for a [[husband]] to have sex with a slave or an unmarried woman.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01163a.htm|title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Adultery|work=newadvent.org|access-date=10 May 2014|archive-date=4 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140704020319/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01163a.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Dig., XLVIII, ad leg. Jul.</ref>

The Roman husband often took advantage of his legal immunity. Thus we are told by the historian [[Spartianus]] that [[Verus (senator)|Verus]], the imperial colleague of [[Marcus Aurelius]], did not hesitate to declare to his reproaching wife: "Uxor enim dignitatis nomen est, non voluptatis." ('''Wife' connotes rank, not sexual pleasure'', or more literally "Wife is the name of dignity, not bliss") (Verus, V).

Later in Roman history, as William E.H. Lecky has shown, the idea that the husband owed a fidelity similar to that demanded of the wife must have gained ground, at least in theory. Lecky gathers from the [[legal maxim]] of [[Ulpian]]: "It seems most unfair for a man to require from a wife the chastity he does not himself practice".<ref>Codex Justin., Digest, XLVIII, 5–13; Lecky, History of European Morals, II, 313.</ref>

According to [[Plutarch]], the lending of wives practiced among some people was also encouraged by [[Lycurgus of Sparta|Lycurgus]], though from a motive other than that which actuated the practice (Plutarch, Lycurgus, XXIX). The recognized license of the Greek husband may be seen in the following passage of the [[pseudo-Demosthenes|pseudo-Demosthenic]] ''[[Against Neaera|Oration Against Neaera]]'':

:''We keep mistresses for our pleasures, concubines for constant attendance, and wives to bear us legitimate children and to be our faithful housekeepers. Yet, because of the wrong done to the husband only, the Athenian lawgiver Solon allowed any man to kill an adulterer whom he had taken in the act.'' (Plutarch, Solon)

The Roman [[Lex Julia]], ''Lex Iulia de Adulteriis Coercendis'' (17 BC), punished adultery with banishment.<ref name="UNRV History">{{cite web |url=http://www.unrv.com/government/julianmarriage.php |title=The Julian marriage laws |publisher=Unrv.com |access-date=29 November 2010 |archive-date=15 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515014836/http://www.unrv.com/government/julianmarriage.php |url-status=live }}</ref> The two guilty parties were sent to different islands ("dummodo in ''diversas'' insulas relegentur"), and part of their property was confiscated.<ref name="UNRV History" /> Fathers were permitted to kill daughters and their partners in adultery. Husbands could kill the partners under certain circumstances and were required to divorce adulterous wives.