The choices weren’t yours to make if you were born in those eras. Your marriage will be arranged by your parents when you were just barely a teenager; 12 – 14 was a norm.
You are judging the ancient by using modern’s standard. Even your basic needs are ‘modern needs’, not their basic needs. Back then, there was no free public education, and education was a luxury rather than a need. There were no free basic healthcare, no phone, no cable, no internet and people went around walking (and no public transport either). Rather than ‘decent’ food on the table, it’s just ‘any’ food on the table (and if there was a table at all).