ABSTRACT
Motherhood was rewarded by general prestige and a sense of virtuous fulfilment, much as it had always been, but enhanced by 'official' imperial approval and the release from certain testamentary limitations. This took the specific form of the ius liberorum, which carried privileges such as liberation from tutela, possibly some distinction in dress and, more concretely, the ability to take legacies even beyond the limit imposed by the lex Voconia, and, in the second century, a limited right to succeed to one's own children in the event of their death intestate. It is, however, probable that as time passed this privilege was granted honorifically. In more general terms, the imperial houses publicly celebrated their women as mothers - especially after their death - of reigning emperors or new mothers of heirs. The moral is that maternity, chastity and nobility were always the qualities in women which were celebrated by their families and by the state.
