CONUBIUM BETWEEN ROMANS AND LATINS BEFORE 338 bce

A commonly held belief among modern scholars is that conubium was essen­tial for a legal marriage between Romans and peregrini. A special group of peregrini were the Latins, and it is usually assumed that conubium existed between them and the Romans before and after the Latin War of 341-38 BCE.

Our earliest evidence for conubium in a non-legendary context appears in Livy's description of the settlement of Latium by the Romans in 338:

Lanuvium received the full citizenship [...] Aricium, Nomentum, and Pedum obtained the same political rights as Lanuvium. Tusculum retained the citizenship which it had had before. [...] Antium [...] [was] admitted to citizenship. [...] The rest of the Latin cities were deprived of the rights of intermarriage, free trade, and common councils with each other (‘ceteris Latinis populis conubia commerciaque et concilia inter se ademerunt'). Capua [...] was given civitas sine suffragio, as were also Fundi and Formiae.^[307]

This passage is crucial in our study of conubium, although we should keep in mind that it was written 300 years after the events it describes. Nevertheless, Livy's detailed enumeration of Latin towns and their varying treatments suggest that he had reliable details available regarding the privileges and pun­ishments they received. The phrasing suggests that most of the Latins (apart from those retaining their privileges) were deprived of conubia and commercia generally, both those with Rome and with each other, whereas the concilia were inter se, that is between the Latin towns.^[308]

Dionysius mentions that isopoliteia existed between Romans and Latins in the period before 338 BCE, and that they had received this through the Foedus Cassianum of 493 BCE: ‘All the Latins, to whom we lately granted equal rights of citizenship, will be on our side, fighting for this commonwealth as for a country now their fatherland’.^[309] In combination with Livy’s passage for 338 BCE, this leads to the assumption that before 338 conubium was a reciprocal right, which not only granted a Latin the right to marry a Roman, but also a Roman to marry a Latin, and for Latins between themselves to marry each other.

The Latin War of 341-38 BCE marked a fundamental change in the rela­tionship between Rome and the Latins. Before this war, Rome had not been powerful enough to impose its will on other states - at least in theory; we can see growing interference by Rome and resulting dissatisfaction among the allies from the early fourth century. Now, however, Rome was the most important power in central Italy, and could take one-sided, hegemonic deci­sions about the rights of its allies (or rather subjects), as is clear from Livy’s description of Rome’s decisions in 338 BCE.

In 306 BCE, according to Livy,

three of the Hernican communities - Aletrium, Verulae, and Ferentinum - had their municipal independence restored to them as they preferred that to the Roman franchise, and the right of intermarriage with each other was granted them (suae leges redditae conubiumque inter ipsos), a privilege which for a con­siderable period they were the only communities amongst the Hernicans to enjoy. The Anagnians and the others who had taken up arms against Rome were admitted to the civitas sine suffragio, were deprived of their municipal self­government and the right of intermarriage (concilia conubiaque adempta).^[312]

Sherwin-White argued that ‘if civitas sine suffragio implied the equation of its holder to a civis Romanus in all but political rights, then the Anagnini would automatically have shared in the conubium with the other Hernici which all cives Romani enjoyed’.^[313] However, this is not what Livy says: he states that Anagnia was deprived of conubia and concilia.

5.