Adultery is the voluntary sexual intercourse of a married person with any other than the offender's husband or wife; when committed between two married persons, the offence is called double, and when between a married and single person, single adultery. The Mosaic, Greek, and early Roman law only recognized the offence when a married woman was the offender. By the Jewish law it was punished with death. In Greece the laws against it were severe. By the laws of Draco and Solon adulterers, when caught in the act, were at the mercy of the injured party. In early Rome the punishment was left to the discretion of the husband and parents of the adulteress. The punishment assigned by the LexJulia, under Augustus, was banishment or a heavy tine. Under Constantius and Constans, adulterers were burned or sewed in sacks and thrown into the sea; under Justinian the wife was to be scourged, lose her dower, and be shut up in a monastery; at the expiration of two years the husband might take her again; if he refused she was shaven and made a nun for life. By the ancient laws of France this crime was punishable with death. In Spain personal mutilation was frequently the punishment adopted. In several European countries adultery was regarded as a criminal offence, but in none did the punishment exceed imprisonment for a short period, accompanied by a fine. In England formerly it was punishable with fine and imprisonment, and in Scotland it was frequently made a capital offence. In the United States the punishment of adultery has varied materially at different times. It has, however, very seldom been punished criminally in the States. Research Adultery
Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus Augustus originally called Caius Octavius,was a Roman Emperor. He was born in63 BC and died in 14 AD. He was the son of Caius Octavius and Atia, a daughter of Julia, the sister of Julius Caesar. Octavius was at Apollonia, in Epirus, when he received news of the death of his uncle in 44 BC, who had previously adopted him as his son. He returned to Rome to claim Caesar's property and avenge his death, and now took, according to usage, his uncle's name with the surname Octavianus. He was aiming secretly at the chief power, but at first he joined the republican party, and assisted at the defeat of Antony at Mutina. He got himself chosen consul in 43. Soon after the first triumvirate was formed between him and Antony and Lepidus, and this was followed by the conscription and assassination of three hundred senators and two thousand knights of the party opposed to the triumvirate. Next year Octavianus and Antony defeated the republican army under Brutus and Cassius at Philippi.
The victors now divided the Roman world between them, Octavianus getting the West, Antony the East, and Lepidus Africa. Sextus Pompeius, who had made himself formidable at sea, had now to be put down; and Lepidus, who had hitherto retained an appearance of power, was deprived of all authority in 36 BC and retired into private life. Antony and Octavianus now shared the empire between them; but while the former, in the East, gave himself up to a life of luxury, and alienated the Romans by his alliance with Cleopatra and his adoption of Oriental manners, Octavianus skilfully cultivated popularity, and soon declared war ostensibly against the Queen of Egypt. The naval victory of Actium, in which the fleet of Antony and Cleopatra was defeated, made Octavianus master of the world, in 31 BC. He returned to Rome in 29 BC, celebrated a splendid triumph, and caused the temple of Janus to be closed in token of peace being restored. Gradually all the highest offices of state, civil and religious, were united in his hands, and the new title of Augustus was also assumed by him, being formally conferred by the senate in 27 BC. Great as was the power given to him, he exercised it with wise moderation, and kept up the show of a republican form of government.
Under him successful wars were carried on in Africa and Asia (against the Parthians), in Gaul and Spain, in Pannonia, Dalmatia, etc; but the defeat of Varus by the Germans under Armmius with the loss of three legions, in 9 AD, was a great blow to him in his old age. Many useful decrees proceeded from him, and various abuses were abolished. He gave a new form to the senate, employed himself in improving the morals of the people, enacted laws for the suppression of luxury, introduced discipline into the armies, and order into the games of the circus. He adorned Rome in such a manner that it was said, ' He found it of brick, and left it of marble.' The people erected altars to him, and, by a decree of the senate, the month Sextilis was called Augustus (our August). He was a patron of literature; Virgil and Horace were befriended by him, and their works and those of their contemporaries are the glory of the Augustan Age. His death, which took place at Nola, plunged the empire into the greatest grief. He was thrice married, but had no son, and was succeeded by his stepson Tiberius, whose mother Livia he had married after prevailing on her husband to divorce her. Research Augustus
J (John) Gregory Smith was an American politician and railroadmagnet. He was born in 1818 at St Albans, Vermont and died in 1891. He attended the University of Vermont and Yale Law School, and was admitted to the Vermont bar in 1842. His father was a lawyer who was actively involved in the expansion of the railroads in Vermont and J Gregory joined him both in the practice of law and railroad management. John Smith was on the board of the Vermont Central Railroad, a railroad chartered in 1843 and headquartered in Northfield, and was president of the Vermont and CanadaRailroad, which he had started in 1845 to eventually connect the Vermont Central Railroad with Montreal. Upon his father's death in 1858, J Gregory Smith became president of the Vermont Central Railroad and his brother, Worthington C. Smith, was named president of the Vermont and Canada. The Central VermontRailroad was organized in 1873 and assumed management of both the Vermont Central and Vermont and Canada Railroads. In 1883 the Consolidated Railroad of Vermont
was formed to purchase the Vermont Central and Vermont and Canada property, and immediately leased it to the Central VermontRailroad thereby consolidating the Smith family's railroad holdings. The family expanded their holdings to include related industries such as the St. Albans Foundry, the National Car Company, and its subsidiary the Vermont Iron and Car Company. While expanding his holdings in Vermont and the northeast,
J Gregory Smith became interested in the idea of a railroad to the west and became president of the Northern PacificRailroad Company in 1866, a position he held until 1872. Smith was also active in politics and was elected to the state senate in 1858 and 1859. In 1860, 1861, and 1862 he was elected to the house as a representative of St. Albans, and served as speaker of the house. In 1863 Smith was elected governor and served two terms before retiring to devote time to his duties as the president of Central Vermont and the Northern PacificRailroad.
J Gregory Smith married Ann Eliza Brainerd of St Albans in 1843 and together they had six children: George Gregory (who married Frances Lewis), Edward Curtis (who married Anna B. James), Lawrence (who died in infancy), Annie B., Julia B. (who married Oliver Stevens), Helen L. (who married D. SageMackay). Research J Gregory Smith
Octave Feuillet was a French author. He was born in 1821 at Saint Lo and died in 1890. He became noticed about 1846 with his novels of Le Fruit Defendu, Le Conte de Polichinelle, and a series of comedies and tales which were published in the Revue des deux Mondes. In 1857 the appearance of Le Roman d'un Jeune Homme Pauvre raised Octave Feuillet to the first rank of the novelists of the day. Amongst his other numerous novels are Monsieur de Camors (1867), Julia de Trecoeur (1872), Le Sphinx (1874), Histoire d'une Parisienne (1881), etc. His works earned great praise and the favour of the Napoleonic Court. Research Octave Feuillet
Abby Dalton is an American actress. She was born in 1935 at Las Vegas, Nevada. She played 'Julia Channing Cumson' in the 1980's soap-opera 'Falcon Crest'. Research Abby Dalton
Helen Faucit (Lady Theodore Martin) was an English actress. She was born in 1816 and died in 1898. The daughter of an actress, she made her debut at the Theatre Royal, Richmond, in 1833, as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. She first appeared in London at Covent Garden as Julia in The Hunchback, in which she gained a decided success. She was one of the most important members of Macready's company during the Shakespearian revivals of 1837, and was subsequently the original representative of the heroines in Lord Lytton's Lady of Lyons, Money, Richelieu, etc, and in
Browning's Strafford, Blot on the Scutcheon, and Colombe's Birthday. She was married to Theodore Martin (later Sir Theodore Martin), in 1851, since when she rarely appeared on the stage, and latterly only for charitable purposes. Helen Faucit was the author of a volume On Some of Shakespeare's Female Characters. Research Helen Faucit
Abbreviations
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