Letter 5032: VARIAE, BOOK 5, LETTER 32

[1] Patzenis has appealed to us on countless occasions, claiming that while he was serving on our most successful campaign, his wife was beaten three times by Procula, your wife -- so savagely that she survived only because her attackers believed her already dead. We are astonished at such audacity in a woman -- if the charge is true -- and we will not let it pass unpunished. [2] Therefore we warn you by this decree: if you know the deed to have occurred, take care of your own honor and correct the complaint through marital authority, so that this just grievance does not return to us. Know that what you should have corrected through household discipline can also be punished by law. [3] But if instead you wish to claim that the petitioner is lying and to defend the case, proceed to our court without delay together with your aforementioned wife, removing every obstacle. She will receive either punishment for outrageous presumption or vindication through proof of the other woman's falsehood.