Note 519 — Chapter V · PUNIC WARS AND WARS OF MACEDONIA AND ASIA. (From 488 to 621.)

“The Oppian law, proposed by the tribune C. Oppius, under the consulship of Q. Fabius and Tiberius Sempronius (539), in the height of the second Punic war, forbad the women to have for their use more than half an ounce of gold, to wear dresses of different colours, &c., to be driven or carried about Rome, within a radius of seven miles, in a chariot drawn by horses, except to attend the public sacrifices.” This law, being only temporary, was revoked, in spite of the opposition of P. Cato, in 559. (Titus Livius, XXXIV. 1, 6.)