uit.

There are many other examples which might be brought forward to show
the public entry of women into the affairs of the State. There would
seem to have been no limits set to their actions; and, moreover, they
acted in their own right independently of men. On one occasion, when
the women of the city rose in a body against an unfair taxation, they
found a successful leader in Hortensia, the daughter of the famous
orator Hortensus, who is said to have argued their case before the
Triumvirs with all her father's eloquence. We find the wives of
generals in camp with their husbands. The _graffitti_ found at Pompeii
give several instances of election addresses signed by women,
recommending candidates to the notice of the electors. We find, too,
in the municipal inscriptions that the women in different
municipalities formed themselves into small societies with
semi-political objects, such as the support of some candidate, the
rewards that should be made to a local magistrate, or how best funds
might be collected to raise monuments or statues.

It is specially interesting to find how fine a use many of the Roman
women made of their wealth and opportunities. They frequently bestowed
public buildings and porticoes on the communities among which they
lived; they erected public baths and gymnasia, adorned temples, and
put up statues. Their generosity took other forms. In Asia Minor we
find several instances of women distributing large sums of money among
each citizen within her own district. Women presided over the public
games and over the great religious festivals. When formally appointed
to this position, they paid the expenses incurred in these displays.
In the provinces they sometimes held high municipal offices. Ira
Flavia, an important Roman settlement in Northern Spain, for instance,
was ruled by a Roman matron, Lupa by name.[307] The power of women was
especially great in Asia Minor, where they received a most marked
distinction, and were elected to the most important magistracies.
Several women obtained the highest Priesthood of Asia, the greatest
honour that could be paid to any one.[308]

There is one final point that has to be mentioned. We have seen how
the liberty and power of the Roman women arose from, and may be said
to have been dependent on, the substituting of a laxer form of
marriage with complete equality and freedom of divorce. In other words
it was the breaking down of the patriarchal system which pl