For the Romans, 'adulteress' was synonymous with 'poisoner'
The Romans had a reputation for poison, and the philologist David B. Kaufman thinks poisoning was more frequent in classical times than in the modern world. He wonders whether the modern world's surplus of guns explains the difference, since murderousness tends to take advantage of the available technologies.
Kaufman notes that women and slaves were most often accused of poisoning, and the same account adds that for the Romans 'adulteress' was synonymous with 'poisoner.' Wife-poisoning, the same account says, seems to have been common.
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The equation of adulteress and poisoner is the telling detail. It tells us whom Romans found plausible as a poisoner, not who actually did the poisoning.
But Kaufman's technological point complicates the skepticism: if murderousness uses the tools at hand, poison may genuinely have been a common method, and the accusations may reflect opportunity as much as prejudice.