1 Utopia, domestication and special status: Marriage and family in the Stoic tradition Philip R. Bosman Department of Classics and World Languages, Unisa Abstract The family was a prominent aspect of early imperial ideology and enjoyed an increased status in Roman society of the period. Since Panaetius, Stoic thought provided rational support for this status by means of its oikeiosis doctrine. Roman Stoics, far from ignoring the prominence of family in their society, imbued the space of marriage with fresh content but did not agree on the issue of whether the philosopher should be exempted from this responsibility. Ambiguity on whether the sage should marry can be traced back to the Stoic founder. The scantily transmitted material on Zeno suggests a double focus in early Stoic thought, on the one hand utopian constructions of the ideal sate and ideal sage (where marriage is abolished) and on the other, ordinary reality (where the Stoic sage should marry and procreate). The abolition of property and marriage (having women and children in common) occurs frequently in so-called high utopias of the classical era, but this aspect of Stoicism diminished since the middle Stoa, together with receding expectations regarding the Stoic wise man. The Roman Stoics Musonius and Epictetus relate differently to their own tradition. Musonius pays no attention to utopia or the ideal sage, but incorporates utopian vocabulary in his defence of marriage for the philosopher, thus „domesticating‟ utopiaέ This results in an emphasis on the marriage partnership as small-scale communism based on friendship. Epictetus retains the distinction between the ideal community of the wise and reality as is. Marriage is an essential part of the latter, but the Cynic, to whom Epictetus assigns the special status of messenger and scout of Zeus, is exempted from the responsibilities accompanying family life. Introduction During the early empire, family came to play a heightened part in Roman consciousness. Circumstances favouring the family during this era are varied and interlaced. The rise of the companionate marriage may be seen as one such. 1 Scholars have noted, for instance, an increase in the affective nature of Roman family relations. 2 Family furthermore became embedded in imperial ideology. On the one hand, it benefited from a state orchestrated revival of what was held to be good old Republican values; Augustan marriage laws may be seen as both resulting from and as strengthening such sentiments. On the other, the increased political status of the imperial family filtered down to lower strata and other areas of society. 3 Imperial 1 Treggiari 1991; Rawson 1986:15 suggests as causes monogamous marriages and small nucleur families; see also Foucault 1988:72-80. 2 Cf. Pliny Ep. 7.5; scholarly works for and against this view in Severy 2003:249 n. 173 and 174. 3 Tac. Ann. 3.33.34 contains a public discussion of issues such as marital concord within the senate, with senators presenting themselves as „good men‟ on the basis of being „good husbands‟ having good marriages and considering affection as a public virtue. Severy 2003:232-243 argues that the heightened