ABSTRACT
In Roman society the ideal of domestic concordia (harmony) included two pivotal concepts: first, the family was hierarchically structured in terms of power and status and second, this structure was maintained through reciprocal ties of affection and favor. 2 At the head of the family was the paterfamilias; other family members were ranked vertically according to the degree of dignity (dignitas) commanded or compliance (obsequium) expected. More than a simple hierarchy of authority and obedience was involved, however, for at the core of the ideal family was the conjugal pair, bound by mutual ties of marital affection (Treggiari 1991, 54–7 and chapter 8). In an affective configuration, children, dependents, freedmen and freedwomen, and assorted household slaves were envisaged as ranging outward from this centre in concentric spheres (Cicero, On the Supreme Good and Evil 5.65). Domestic harmony, then, included the mutually agreeable functioning of these spheres and the absence of friction between them. In sum, authority and obedience on the one hand, and familial affection and loyalty on the other, were the foundations for the orderly, stable, and harmonious ideal of the Roman household.
