 It was under this statute rather than the adultery statute of "Lex Iulia de adulteriis" that Rome prosecuted this crime.Rape was made into a "public wrong" ("iniuria publica") by the Roman Emperor Constantine.In contrast to the modern understanding of the subject, Romans drew clear distinctions between "active" (penetrative) and "passive" (receptive) partners, and all these charges implied penetration by the assailant (which necessarily ruled out the possibility of female-on-male or female-on-female rape.)