It will have been seen that the duty of chastity on the part of a
married woman was strictly enforced, but the husband's responsibility to
properly maintain his wife was also recognized, and in the event of
his desertion she could under certain circumstances become the wife of
another man. Thus, if he left his city and fled from it of his own free
will and deserted his wife, he could not reclaim her on his return,
since he had not been forced to leave the city, but had done so because
he hated it. This rule did not apply to the case of a man who was taken
captive in battle. In such circumstances the wife's action was to be
guided by the condition of her husband's affairs. If the captive husband
possessed sufficient property on which his wife could be maintained
during his captivity in a strange land, she had no reason nor excuse
for seeking another marriage. If under these circumstances she became
another man's wife, she was to be prosecuted at law, and, her action
being the equivalent of adultery, she was to be drowned. But the case
was regarded as altered if the captive husband had not sufficient means
for the maintenance of his wife during his absence. The woman would then
be thrown on her own resources, and if she became the wife of another
man she incurred no blame. On the return of the captive he could reclaim
his wife, but the children of the second marriage would remain with
their own father.
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