A brutal case of rape in India, after which the rapist offered (in court) to marry his victim, brought up some ClassCon in the mind of an op-ed writer in the Indian Express, inter alia:

The phenomenon causes deep revulsion in many of us but nevertheless requires to be understood if we are to respond to it in any meaningful way. This link between rape and marriage must not surprise us because it is as old as human history itself. The word “rape” has its provenance in rapere, Latin for steal or seize. The act of “stealing” the Sabine women by raping them and making them “wives” is the foundational myth of ancient Rome. This incident of mass rape is believed to have helped the city state stabilise itself. Interestingly, if we are to examine this particular myth, the injury caused by the assault was borne, not by the women — what they experienced, what they suffered, does not figure in the legend — but their fathers and brothers, whose honour was seen to have been compromised. The Sabine men battle the Romans in protest against the “stealing” of their women; the women themselves are portrayed as having quickly reconciled themselves to their state and making peace between the warring groups.