For the same reason, while chastity on the part of the wife was regarded as an absolute essential, the same virtue was by no means considered as necessary to the good character of the man. The demand for purity in the wife was largely based on the idea of proprietary rights which the husband had in her person; hence the man could divorce the woman for infidelity, but the reverse was not conceded. Plautus introduces upon the stage two matrons, one of whom complains of her husband, and the other consoles and exhorts her thus: "Listen to me. Do not quarrel with your husband; let him love whom, and let him do what, he pleases, since you have everything you want at home; keep in mind the fearful sentence: 'Begone, woman!'"
The new era which had dawned in Rome brought a certain freedom of circumstances and activity within the reach of women; but it did not give them in the marriage contract any more liberty than they had of old. The only women who were allowed the disposal of their own persons were the courtesans. There are many evidences that these were not regarded with the disrespect in which their class is held in modern times. For an example, Flora, who was famous in the last days of the Republic, received on account of her exquisite beauty the high honor of having her statue dedicated to the temple of Castor and Pollux; which may be regarded as a kind of precedent for artists who in an Italy of a much later date employed their mistresses as models for their Madonnas. That this class of women did not hesitate to place a high value upon themselves is proved by the instance of Tertia, to whom Verres presented a Sicilian city. Lucretius speaks of the cost of their favors, giving us also an interesting picture of the gayly dressed wanton:
"Amply though endowed. His wealth decays, his debts with speed augment, The post of duty never fills he more, And all his sick'ning reputation dies. Meanwhile rich unguents from his mistress laugh, Laugh from her feet sott Sicyon's shoes superb; The green-rayed emerald o'er her, dropt in gold, Gleams large and numerous; and the sea-blue silk; Deep-worn, enclasps her. What his sires amassed Now flaunts in ribbands, in tiaras flames Full o'er her front, and now to robes converts Of Chian loose, or Alidonian mould; While feasts and festivals of boundless pomp, And costliest viands, garlands, odors, wines, And scattered roses ceaseless are renewed."