of our wives!

"I have shown that women have now done no new thing. I will go on and
prove that they ask no unreasonable thing. It is true that good laws
should not be rashly repealed; but we must not forget that Rome existed
for centuries without this one, and that Roman matrons established
their high character, about which Cato is so solicitous, during that
period, the return of which he now seems to think would be subversive
of every thing good. This law served well in a time of trial; but that
has passed, and we are enjoying the return of plenty. Shall our matrons
be the only ones who may not feel the improvement that has followed a
successful war? Shall our children, and we ourselves, wear purple, and
shall it be interdicted to our wives? Elegances of appearance and
ornaments and dress are the women's badges of distinction; in them they
delight and glory, and our ancestors called them the women's world.
Still, they desire to be under control of those who are bound to them
by the bonds of love, not by stern law, in these matters. The consul
just now used invidious terms, calling this a female 'secession' as
though our matrons were about to seize the Sacred Mount or the
Aventine, as the plebeians did of yore; but their feeble nature is
incapable of such a thing. They must necessarily submit to what you
think proper, and the greater your power the more moderation should you
use in exercising it. "Thus, day after day, the men spoke and the women
poured out to protest, until even stern and inflexible Cato gave way,
and women were declared free from the restrictions of the Oppian law.

[Figure: ROMAN HEAD-DRESSES.]

Cato and Scipio represented the two forces that were at this time
working in society, the one opposing the entrance of the Grecian