Cicero tells us that he betrothed his daughter Tullia to Calpurnius Piso Frugi early in 66 B.C.; the marriage took place in 63.

Tullia seems to have been born in 76, so that she was ten years old at the time of betrothal and thirteen at that of marriage.

This is probably typical of what usually happened; and it shows that the matter was really entirely in the hands of the parents.

It was a family arrangement, a _mariage de convenance_, as has been and is the practice among many peoples, ancient and modern.[212] The betrothal was indeed a promise rather than a definite contract, and might be broken off without illegality; and thus if there were a strong dislike on the part of either girl or boy a way of escape could be found.[213] However this may be, we may be sure that the idea of the marriage was not that of a union for love, though it was distinguished from concubinage by an "affectio maritalis" as well as by legal forms, and though a true attachment might, and often did, as in modern times in like circumstances, arise out of it.

It was the idea of the service of the family and the State that lay at the root of the union.