The unions between soldiers and women that were permitted were concubinages. A concubium “was a non-martial relationship that in Roman society served as an alternative to legitimate marriage” (matrimonium iustum) (Grubbs 2002, 150). The differences between a wife and a concubine were hard to tell upon first glance. One of the ways a person could tell the difference between a concubine and a wife was status. Ulpian states that there is no difference between a wife and a concubine except rank (D.32.49.4) . A woman who was a concubine was usually of a lower status, most likely a former prostitute, than the man she was in a relationship with (Grubbs 2002, 151). Another way a person could tell whether a woman was a concubine or not was the intent
