Rome

In Virgil's Aeneid there is a love story that involves our main character Aeneas and Dido, the queen of Carthage. In the story they fall in love and while on a hunting trip they get separated from the rest of their party in a cave where they end up making love. Dido considers a marriage to have taken place even though no marriage ceremony has been preformed. Once Mercury comes down and talks to Aeneas and gets him back on track to his destiny, Aeneas does not hesitate to choose destiny over a marriage to and staying with Dido. this suggest that there are definitely things in Roman society that are more important than marriage and that includes destiny. this also shows that for the most part sex is something that is seen as something that primarily happens in marriage relationships. We also learn that for a marriage to be considered as having taken place there must be an actual marriage ceremony. Like today there are certain steps that one must take to be considered married in society.