The Importance of Canubium in Roman Marriage

The Romans had no truck with polygamy as it muddled up inheritance lines and they did not accept under certain special circumstances recognized marriage to foreigners. The most important thing was not necessarily whether a candidate was patrician or plebe but how distinguished their ancestral line was. For the upper classes it was all about counting the offices held by your ancestors. If you were a young man from a distinguished family who could point to say four consulships and 16 praetor ships then you were looking pretty good.