Women in ancient Rome it more praiseworthy to be a good husband than a good senator." A man of status during the Roman Republic was expected to behave moderately toward his wife and to define himself as a good husband. Wife beating was sufficient grounds for divorce or other legal action against the husband. Domestic abuse enters the historical record mainly when it involves the egregious excesses of the elite. The Emperor Nero was alleged to have had his first wife (and stepsister) Claudia Octavia murdered, after subjecting her to torture and imprisonment. Nero then married his pregnant mistress Poppaea Sabina, whom he kicked
Saint Sabina Saint Sabina Saint Sabina, matron and martyr from Rome. The widow of Senator Valentinus and daughter of Herod Metallarius. After her female slave Saint Serapia (who had converted her) was denounced and beheaded, Sabina rescued her slave's remains and had them interred in the family mausoleum where she also expected to be buried. Denounced as well, Sabina was accused of being a Christian by Elpidio the Prefect and was thereupon martyred in the year 125 AD in the city of Vindena in the state of Umbria, Italy. Sabina was later canonized as a saint, her feast day being celebrated on