A year and six months must elapse after a divorce before the woman was
allowed to marry again.[107] If at the time of the divorce she was
pregnant, her husband was obliged to support her offspring, provided
that within thirty days after the separation she informed him of her
condition.[108] She could sue her former husband for damages if he
insulted her.[109] Whether the children should stay with the mother or
father was left to the discretion of the judge.[110]

[Sidenote: Property rights of widows and single women.]

The married woman had, as I have shown, complete disposal of her own
property. Let us see next what rights those women had over their
possessions who were widows or spinsters.

Roman Law constantly strove to protect the children and laid it down as
a maxim that the property of their parents belonged to them.[111] A
widow could not therefore, except by special permission from the
emperor,[112] be the legal guardian of her children, but must ask the
court to appoint one upon the death of her husband.[113] This was to
prevent possible mismanagement and because "to undertake the legal
defence of others is the office of men."[114] But she was permitted to
assume complete charge of her children's property during their minority
and enjoy the usufruct; only she must render an account of the goods
when the children arrived at maturity.[115] We have many instances of
women who managed their children's patrimony and did it exceedingly
well. "You managed our patrimony in such wise," writes Seneca to his
mother,[116] "that you exerted yourself as if it were yours and yet
abstained from it as if it belonged to others."[117] Agricola,
father-in-law of Tacitus, had such confidence in his wife's business
ability that he made her co-heir with his daughter and the Emperor