Finding a Spouse. Marriages among the upper-class Romans tended to be arranged by the woman's father and the young man or his father. Sometimes the betrothal took place years before the actual marriage. The bride-to-be may have had little say in the matter, but a mother clearly expected to be consulted, expressed her opinion, and even made marriage arrangements in her husband's absence. An anecdote in Plutarch's Life of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus recounts that one day Appius Claudius Pulcher hurried into his home and announced to his wife that he had arranged a marriage for their daughter. His wife, somewhat annoyed and surprised, asked why he was in such a hurry, unless the young man was Tiberius Gracchus. Pulcher was pleased because Gracchus was indeed just the man he had chosen. These marriages tended to have political or economic purposes, as well...