Caesar's wife

A woman whose ethics should not be questioned. A Roman emperor's wife was deemed to be above reproach; if her morals were called in question, it was a serious problem to her husband's image and political and social power. The phrase came down over the centuries to be applied to any woman, married to a leader or not, whose behavior was—or should be—beyond criticism. (According to the historian Suetonius, what Julius Caesar actually said translates as “My wife should be as much free from suspicion of a crime as she is from a crime itself.”)