If we could survive without a wife, citizens of Rome,…

If we could survive without a wife, citizens of Rome, all of us would do without that nuisance, but since nature has so decreed that we cannot manage comfortably with them nor live in any way without them, we must plan for our lasting preservation rather than for our temporary pleasure.

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Said when proposing his social legislation on preserving the values of the Roman family. Possible basis for “Can’t live with them, can’t live without them.”

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