Those who have studied the Classics will be familiar with the history of the   
   Roman Emperor and the Greek. For those who haven't studied them, here it is.   
   During the rise of the empire one of the Roman Emperors was besieged by the   
   aristocracy and the upper middle class demanding more public works in the city   
   of Rome. The Emperor pushed back their demands by explaining that the public   
   works they were asking    
   for would necessitate more slaves and they were already maxed out. If Rome had   
   a slave revolt, it was not certain the Army would be able to contain it.   
      
   The aristocrats and upper middle class retreated but warned the Emperor that   
   he better find a way around it or they might revolt against him. The Emperor   
   withdrew to consult with his advisors. One of them was a Greek slave who was   
   an educated man. The    
   Emperor promised the Greek his freedom if he could think of a solution to this   
   issue.   
      
   The Greek remarked that the Romans were divided into the aristocracy, the   
   middle class and the freemen and that in general the free Romans only worked   
   enough to buy wine, feed themselves and pay for a prostitute once and a while.   
   The Emperor agreed that    
   they were for the most part sloven rascals, but he could think of nothing that   
   would make them work more.   
      
   The Greek begged to disagree. The Emperor was annoyed but agreed to hear him   
   out.   
      
   The Greek said that if he extended marriage to the freemen he could get much   
   more work from them and have the labor required for the public works projects   
   being ask for, without increasing the number of slaves in the City. The   
   Emperor objected saying    
   that marriage was a property contract designed for the aristocrats and upper   
   middle class and since the free Roman had no property he had no need for   
   marriage.   
      
   The Greek replied that marriage could be used to create an illusion of   
   property among the yeoman Romans. The Emperor said he didn't understand. The   
   Greek replied, make the rascals think they own their wives because they   
   married them. The Emperor laughed    
   saying that women would never let themselves be owned by a man.   
      
   The Greek replied that women have an insatiable number of wants and that they   
   would connive with him to make the freemen think they owned them, as long as   
   the men were going out to work and supplying their wants.    
      
   The Emperor thought it over and decided to extend the benefits of marriage to   
   all Romans, regardless of class, origin or location in the empire. This   
   satisfied the aristocrats and they stopped talking about replacing the   
   Emperor. When the Emperor saw    
   this, he gave the Greek his freedom.   
      
   JL 10-25-2014   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)