The Roman household was conceived of as an economic and juridical unit or estate: familia originally meant the entire group of the famuli (including the servi, slaves) living under the same roof.
All members/properties of a familia were subject to the absolute authority (potestas) of a Pater Familias: his legal, social and religious position defined his familia as a microcosm of the state.
Law and tradition (mos maiorum) allowed him powers of life and death (vitae necisque potestas) over the entire familia.
In the Early Republic, a wife was "handed over" to the legal control of her husband in the form of marriage CUM MANU (with hand).
Consider yourself warned. As for me and my house, we follow Nature and Nature’s God.
