ceremonies and other events. Women had the right to own property, to engage in business, and to obtain a divorce, but their legal rights varied over time. Marriages were an important form of political alliance during the Republic. Roman women mostly remained under the guardianship of their father (pater familias) or their closest male agnate. Client state citizens and allies (socii) of Rome could receive a limited form of Roman citizenship such as the Latin rights. Such citizens could not vote or be elected in Roman elections. Freedmen were former slaves who had gained their freedom. They were not automatically given citizenship and lacked some privileges such as running for executive magistracies. The children of freedmen and women were born as free citizens; for example, the father of the poet Horace was a freedman. Slaves were considered property and lacked legal personhood. Over time, they acquired a few protections under Roman law. Some slaves were freed by manumission for services rendered, or through a testamentary provision when their master died. Once free, they faced few barriers, beyond normal social stigma, to participating in Roman society. The principle that a person could become a citizen by law rather than birth was enshrined in Roman mythology; when Romulus defeated the Sabines in battle, he promised the war captives that were in Rome they could become citizens. Rights Roman citizens enjoyed a variety of specific privileges within Roman society. Male citizens had the rights to vote (ius suffragi) and hold civic office (ius honorum, only available to the aristocracy). They also possessed ius vitae necisque, "the right of life and death." The male head of a Roman family (pater familias) had the right to legally execute any of his children at any age, although it appears that this was mostly reserved in deciding to raise newborn children. Sources indicate that putting adult children to death was exceedingly rare. More general rights included: the rights to property (ius census), to enter into contracts (ius commercii), ius provocationis, the right to appeal court decisions, the right to sue and to be sued, to have a legal trial, and the right of immunity from some taxes and other legal obligations, especially local rules and regulations. With regards to the Roman family, Roman citizens possessed the right of ius conubii, defined as the right to a lawful marriage in which children from the union would also be