THE RHETORIC OF GENDER TERMS

MNEMOSYNE
BIBLIOTHECA CLASSICA BATAVA

COLLEGERUNT

A.D. LEEMAN• H.W. PLEKET • CJ. RUIJGH

BIBLIOTHECAE FASCJCULOS EDENDOS CURAVIT

C.J. RUIJGH, KLASSIEK SEMINARIUM, OUDE TURFMARKT 129, AMSTERDAM

SUPPLEMENTUM CENTESIMUM VICESIMUM

FRANCESCA SANTORO L'HOIR

THE RHETORIC OF GENDER TERMS

 THE RHETORIC OF
GENDER TERMS
'MAN', 'WOMAN', AND THE PORTRAYAL OF CHARACTER
IN LA TIN PROSE

BY

FRANCESCA SANTORO L'HOIR

E.J. BRILL
LEIDEN • NEW YORK • KOLN
1992
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for performance and durability of the
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library
Resources.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Santoro L'Hoir, Francesca.

The rhetoric of gender terms: 'man', 'woman', and the portrayal
of character in Latin prose/by Francesca Santoro L'Hoir.
p. cm.-(Mnemosyne, bibliotheca classica Batava.
Supplementum, ISSN 0 169-8958; 120)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 9004095128 (cloth: alk. paper)
I. Latin prose literature-History and criticism. 2. Characters
and characteristics in literature. 3. Sex role in literature.
4. Rhetoric, Ancient. 5. Sex-Terminology. I. Title. II. Series.
PA608 l.L4 1992
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ISSN 0169-8958
ISBN 90 04 09512 8

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 LIBERIS MEIS
ALWYN, PAUL, ROBIN, EMILE, AARON L' HOIR
ET MEMORIAE PATRIS CARISSIMI
AL SANTORO
VIRI IN SCRIBENDO PERITISSIMI
 CONTENTS

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

PART ONE
THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN
HISTORIOGRAPHY
1. Cicero's masculine terminology and rhetorical convention . . . 9
2. The obscene mulier and the not-heard/emina: Cicero's
feminine terminology and comic prototypes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3. Sallust: factional politics through the looking-glass . . . . . . . . 47
4. Ab Urbe Condita: when viri were VIRI ................. 63
5. Livian ladies: cardboard characters in feminine attire . . . . . . . 77
6. Velleius Paterculus: historicus patrioticus .............. 100
7. Tacitus: the tradition and its breaking ................... 120

PART TWO
THE LETTER, THE BIOGRAPHY, AND THE NOVEL
8. C. Plinius Secundus: man of letters .................... 147
9. Suetonius: Ciceronian shorthand ...................... 163
10. Petronius and Apuleius: the good; the bad; and
the nequissimi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Conclusion ......................................... 197

Bibliography ........................................ 205
Index ............................................. 209
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many years have been invested in this project from the time of its
germination as a topic for my doctoral dissertation to its final metamor-
phosis as a book. Consequently there are many persons whose input must
be acknowledged: first of all, the director of my dissertation, Robert J.
Rowland, who indulged me in my choice of subject and forgave me for
not investigating and writing the definitive work on Sardinian mother-
goddesses; next, those who read my dissertation at various stages and
offered helpful suggestions: Eugene N. Lane, Judith P. Hallett, W.S.
Anderson, Jane W. Crawford, and, finally, Erich S. Gruen, who not only
read every word but who also sent me page-upon-single-spaced-page of
insightful comments, criticisms, and endless encouragement.
The majority of my research was done in Rome at the library of the
American Academy, where I occupied a desk for almost seven years. I
therefore must thank the librarians Rogers Scudder and Lucilla Marino;
also Antonella and Romano; likewise, since I went to Rome on a
Fulbright Scholarship ( 1981-82), the Commissione degli scambi culturali
fra l' Italia e gli Stati Uni ti, in particular Cipriana Scelba and Luigi
Filodoro. I also need to thank Pasquale Pesce of the Intercollegiate
Center of Classical Studies and Judith and Michael Canning of the
American Embassy, who allowed me the use of their apartments while
I was writing the dissertation.
I especially want to thank my friends for "being there" during the time
I was writing. The "Rome Crowd": Rosanne Gulino, Roger Ulrich,
Alison Elliot, Kathy Geffcken, Jane Crawford, Raina Fehl, Charlie
Segal, Jim Andrews, Michael and Linda Mewshaw, Mary Jane Bright,
and Michael Maas; my colleagues at St. Stephen's: Marie Jose Bodoy,
Susan Long Sollustri, Debbie Dostert, Elizabeth Colliva, Ian Butler, and
Gary Bieberman; and friends who periodically drifted into my Roman
orbit: Judy Berkowitz, Hanns Hohmann, Julia Powell, Cathy Calloway,
Michael Staveley Taylor, Lynn Gunzberg, and Helen Richards. All of
them contributed to an unforgettable "Roman Experience".
Lastly, I must not neglect to acknowledge those at the University of
California, Irvine, without whom I never should have undertaken my
odyssey into the ancient world: Prof. R.I. Frank, who encouraged me to
study Ancient History; Theodore Brunner, who introduced me to the
X ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

excitement of Latin; and Luci Berkowitz who showed me the beauty and
imagery of the Latin language and whose inspired teaching challenged
me to persist in my studies.
 INTRODUCTION

The words for "man" and "woman" in Latin are charged with signifi-
cance. Unlike their lacklustre English equivalents, which need adjec-
tives to give them character, the individual Latin terms themselves hold
a variety of specific connotations. The Latin language, in fact, is "twice-
blessed" as far as words denoting the sexes are concerned, for it has not
only homo and mulier, but also vir and femina. 1 Their respective
connotations must be taken into account, especially in Latin prose where
the nouns are used either on their own or, more commonly, as compo-
nents of epithets. Gender terms served as rhetorical ornaments of
emphasis 2 that were often employed as constituents of recurrent topoi
and used as devices of insinuatio in order to delineate character. Latin
gender epithets embellish the oratory of Cicero and the historical
narratives of Sallust and Livy. They encumber the prose of Velleius and
season the letters of Pliny with a synthetic Ciceronian flavour. They
infuse the character sketches of the novelists Petronius and Apuleius
with primary pigments. Used as pedestrian appellatives in the biogra-
phies of Suetonius and in the early works of Tacitus, they become subtle
expressions of the historian's innuendo in the Annales.
Of the gender expressions to be explored here, homo and mulier do
double duty, being both the general terms and the biological words for
man and woman. Perhaps because Roman society was divided into
classes, a second set of terms evolved to distinguish the elite from the
ordinary. 3 The nouns vir and femina came to signify the upper classes,
1 I. Opell, Die lateinischen Schimpfworter und verwandte sprach/iche Erscheinungen:

eine Typologie (Heidelberg, 1965) 265; Homo has Oscan and Umbrian forms (humuns and
homonus, respectively) and is related to an Jndo-Europcan word meaning "earth". Homo,
furthermore, originally signified both man and woman in Latin, and is equated with the
Greek word, anthropos. Mulier is noted to be a word of unknown origin, which corresponds
to the Greek word, gyne. Ernout, A., Meillet, A., Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue
latine: histoire des mots (Paris, 1939) s.v. homo; mulier.
2 Quintilian considered epithets to be effective ornaments for stressing a particular point

(Inst. Oral. 8.6.40).

3 The moral overtones of the masculine term are cited by J. Hellegouarc'h who notes

Cicero's definition: appel/ata est enim ex viro virtus (Tusc. 2.43); he furthermore specifics
virtus as the salient attribute of the Roman nobility: le vocabulaire lat in des relations et des
par/is politiques sous la republique (Paris, 1963) 244. T.E. Kinsey, likewise, cites Cicero's
use of vir "to attribute excellence in character, especially to men of high rank", M. Tulli
Ciceronis Pro P. Quinctio Oratio, ed., text, and intro., T.E. Kinsey (Sydney, 1971) 114; and
J.N. Adams makes similar observations aboutfemina, equating it with "lady" in the British
sense of the word, and noting it to be a term of esteem that is indicative of "moral or social
distinction." Adams, "Latin words for "woman" and "wife"," Ciotta (1972) 234.
2 INTRODUCTION

while homo and mulier applied to everyone else. 4 Vir and femina are
never neutral; for while every man, by definition, is a homo, and every
woman, a mulier, not every man or woman is a vir or a femina,
respectively. Vir andfemina, however, are not to be confounded with the
English words, "gentleman" and "lady", for they connote more than
social status alone and relate to a specific oligarchic ethic. Since
aristocratic life centered upon loyalty and service to the Republic, vir
and femina became identified with its virtues, especially patriotism,
frugality, generosity, and defense of the Senate and the conservative
State religion. The nouns, therefore, could be, and were, employed as
terms of praise. Conversely, homo and mulier, because of their use to
indicate members of the lower orders, including slaves and freedmen,
many of whom were foreigners, came to connote foreign vices,
avariciousness, luxury, association with the mob, conspiracy, or partici-
pation in an innovative peregrine cult. Consequently, homo and mulier
can represent the antithesis to the oligarchic ideal. Used as terms of
abuse, they figure prominently in invective against members of the
aristocracy.
The positive connotations of vir andfemina and the negative of homo
and mulier are indicated by the fact that the former pair are persistently
coupled with complimentary adjectives that, with few exceptions, are
never applied to the latter; and the latter pair are repeatedly matched to
pejorative modifiers that are virtually never employed with the former. 5
Used in the courtroom or political arena by the orator, the epithets often
functioned as components of innuendo; they were ideal providers of
"corroborative detail," to borrow the words of a Victorian librettist, that
lent "artistic verisimilitude" to what might be "an otherwise bald and
unconvincing narrative." 6 Since oratory was a fundamental component
of Roman education, rhetorical training is reflected in the writings of
Latin authors. 7 It will be shown in this study that gender epithets
• While Latin has separate terms for men and women, Greek distinguishes only between
aner and anthropos. The designation for woman is confined to gyne, and sometimes
anthropos with a feminine definite article.There is no counterpart to the noun,femina, as an
indicator of status, the adjective, the/us, being more akin to the poeticfemineus, which plays
no significant part in Latin prose. The/us might be equated to the neutral substantive femina,
as in hos femina, which is usually juxtaposed to mas. The lack of a separate noun for woman
in Greek may well reOect upon the relative positions of women within the aristocracies of
both societies.
' v. infra, chapters one and two.
'W.S. Gilbert, The Mikado.
7 G. Kennedy notes that Roman boys of the provinces studied in their hometowns and

then, if their fathers could afford it, they were sent to Rome to study rhetoric. Quintilian
(N. Y ., 1969) 16; P.G. Walsh writes that Livy was very probably educated in Patavium, and
that there is evidence that he had a "keen interest" in rhetoric. Livy, his Historic Aims and
 INTRODUCTION 3

numbered among the rhetorical strategies that were deployed to sway

opinion, either positively or negatively. Because gender epithets were
governed by determinate rhetorical standards, they remained fairly static
in their usage. When employed as components of rhetorical topoi, the
terms both coloured and also distorted the portrayals of the men and
women of Roman history. An understanding of the respective connota-
tions of the terms reveals the bias of the author-an important factor in
historical analysis-and even affects the interpretation of significant
events. Awareness of their nuances, furthermore, sheds light on the
behaviour of men and women, not necessarily as it was in reality, but as
it was perceived and presented in literature according to fixed aristo-
cratic standards of good and bad.
This study is confined to Latin prose since it rather than poetry
purports to present accurate representations of historical personages.
The investigation might be called a rhetorical odyssey, for it traces
homo, mulier, vir, and femina in their contexts through the 250 years
most representative of classical Latin prose: the last decades of the
Roman Republic and the first two centuries of the Roman Empire.
The study is divided into two sections. The first deals with Ciceronian
oratory and demonstrates the extent to which Cicero's usage is reflected
in Roman historiography. The second treats other forms of prose,
namely, the letter, the biography, and the novel. 8
Previous scholarship has centered upon lexicology. No attempt has
been made to investigate masculine and feminine terminology in context
of recurrent rhetorical topoi or to consider the broader implication: how
oratory crystallized the perceptions of Roman men and women accord-
ing to narrow oligarchic concepts.

Methods (Cambridge, 1961-76) 40; R. Martin mentions that Tacitus made his reputation in
oratory, Tacitus (London, 1981) 29; A.J. Woodman, writing of Velleius Paterculus, main-
tains that all Roman historians worked in an idiom that was based upon oratory, and that it
is therefore necessary to "de-rhetorize" their narrative in order to try to understand "how
things actually happened." He further writes that there is no use forming a theory of history
when one is dealing with a "literary topos," and notes that the proposition applies to "all
ancient historians without exception!" Vel/eius Paterculus, the Tiberian Narrative (2.94-
131), ed. and intro., A.J. Woodman (Cambridge, 1977) 35-36.
8 Several authors have been omitted because they do not customarily employ gender

terms as epithets. For instance, historical personages play a minor part in the natural histories
of Pliny the Elder. When he does mention them, he does not use gender epithets to colour
their characterisations. Quintilian, Seneca the Elder, and Seneca the Younger have, simi-
larly, been confined to footnotes, because there is not enough material to justify an entire
chapter. Furthermore, Seneca's employment offemina in the letters to Marcia and Helvia is
similarto that of Pliny the Younger, who uses gender epithets liberally in his letters. Velleius
Paterculus has also been preferred to Valerius Maximus, whose usage is repetitious.
4 INTRODUCTION

This investigation derived from several pages of B. Axelson's

Unpoetische Worter, which offers several hypotheses about mulier and
femina: first of all, that the former was used more frequently in the prose
of the Republic than the latter. 9 Axelson then notes an increased prefer-
ence forfemina over mu lier in the Empire, and postulates thatfemina was
popularized by the poets and consequently became the preferred word·
to designate women in prose. 10 Axelson concludes his observations by
commenting that mulier, for reasons not made apparent, predominates
over femina during the late Empire.
Sheer statistics based upon the various indices verborum, taken at
face value, would seem to corroborate Axelson's theories. Such figures,
however, are misleading; and Axelson's hypothesis is erroneous, for it
implies a haphazard use of the terms, based upon fashion or popularity.
In reality, mulier andfemina, like homo and vir, had specific connota-
tions, based partly upon class and partly upon rhetorical convention. The
selection of gender terms may well have been unconscious, but even
unconscious usage may be based upon learned patterns of culture.
Moreover, in many cases, it can be demonstrated that the choice was
deliberate.
Although this study began as an inquiry into feminine terminology,
it soon became clear that masculine parallels were essential to the
understanding of the subject, not only because there are so many more
references to men than there are to women in Latin prose, but also
because the rhetorical conventions governing the masculine terms are
analogous to those dictating the feminine. 11 The study of gender termi-
nology would have been impossible some years ago; but now the project
has been made manageable by the advent of computerized indices
verborum of the Latin prose authors. Previous scholarship consists of
five pages of Axelson's monograph on unpoetic words in which he
suggests that an in-depth study of feminine terms be undertaken; 12 the
occasional note in critical editions of classical texts; 13 and an article on

9 B. Axelson, Unpoetische Wiirter: einBeitrag zur Kenntnis der /ateinischen Dichtersprache

(Lund, 1945) 53-55.

10 Axelson's proposition is rejected by J.N. Adams (supra, n. 3) 239, n. 48.

11 Grateful acknowledgment is made to Nicholas Horsfall who encouraged my initial

efforts and suggested that an investigation of the masculine terms might be fruitful.
12 Axelson (supra, n. 9) 55.
13 e.g., Nisbet: "the stylistic possibilities of homo are never negligible." M. Tulli

Ciceronis de Domo sua ad Ponti/ices Oratio, R.G.M. Nisbet, ed. (Oxford, 1938) 79; cf.
Kinsey (supra n. 3) /oc. cit. J.S. Reid writes that Cicero sometimes uses both words in the
same sentence to distinguish between characters: M. Tulli Ciceronis de Finibus Bonorum et
Ma/orum, Libri I & II, edited by J.S. Reid (Cambridge, 1925) 222; other citations in M. Tulli
 INTRODUCTION 5

terms for "woman" and "wife" by J.N. Adams, which treats sixteen
centuries of usage in an almost equal number of pages. 14 H.D. Jocelyn
has commented upon the use of homo in the comedies, and others have
dealt with the adjective muliebris, but only as it relates to isolated
cases. 15 The rhetorical background of such terms has merited little
notice; nor has any attempt been made to analyse how writers of prose-
particularly historians-adhered to rhetorical conventions in employing
gender terms. It is hoped that the study will not only demonstrate that
gender terms had specific nuances that should not be ignored, but that the
investigation will also contribute further to what has been termed the
"de-rhetorization" of Roman history. 16

Ciceronis pro M. Caelio Oratio, ed., R.G. Austin (Oxford, 1952) 89, 162; M. Tu/Ii Ciceronis
in L. Calpurnium Pisonem Oratio, ed., R.G.M. Nisbet (Oxford, 1961) 116; M. Tul/i
Ciceronis pro T. Annio Milone ad iudices Oratio, ed., A.C. Clark (Oxford, 1895) 16; H.C.
Gotoff, An Analysis of the Pro Archia (Urbana, 1979) 157.
14 Adams (supra, n. 3) 234-251.

15 H.D. Jocelyn, "Homo sum: humani nil a me a/ienum puto," Antichthon 6 (1972) 34;

R. Heurgon, REL 38 (1960) 34-38; On muliebris in Tacitus, L.W. Rutland, CW (1978) 15-
18.
16 Woodman (supra, n. 7) /oc. cit.
 PART ONE

THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN

HISTORIOGRAPHY
 CHAPTER ONE

CICERO'S MASCULINE TERMINOLOGY AND

RHETORICAL CONVENTION

Although the fact may have gone unnoticed in the barrage of Ciceronian
verbiage, the orator observed certain conventions in his speeches when
designating a man specifically by gender. While occasionally he might
use both homo and vir in the same paragraph to indicate a particular
individual for clarity or emphasis, most often he applied the respective
terms to definite categories of persons, a phenomenon especially evident
in his use of epithets. To put the matter succinctly, there seem to have
been fixed oratorical standards to which Cicero adhered in separating the
viri from the homines. The former group includes celebrated men of
senatorial rank, upper magistrates, notable equites, persons who partici-
pate in public life and are politically sound (i.e., the boni), those who
have distinguished themselves in their country's service either in the
military or in the provinces, and those whom Cicero wishes to flatter.
Homo, on the other hand, embraces privati who have not chosen a
senatorial career (e.g., scholars and lawyers), the lower magistrates
(particularly tribunes), members of the lower classes, municipals, for-
eigners (including their aristocracy-with notable exceptions), freed-
men, slaves, and any male member of the upper classes whom Cicero
wishes to insult.
It should be emphasized that vir and homo are words that are totally
redundant to the Latin language, since sexual distinctions can be ex-
pressed by substantives, demonstrative and relative pronouns. They are
often used as appositive epithets. Therefore, when Cicero specifies Gn.
Pompeius a vir clarissimus, or M. Antonius a homo nequissimus, he is
employing the expressions as epithets for emphasis. 1 Vir and homo are
components of Ciceronian hyperbole, which I. Opelt characterizes as the
intensification of the noun by use of accompanying adjectives. 2 She

1 M. Tulli Ciceronis Pro P. Quinctio Oratio, ed. with text, intro. and commentary by T.E.

Kinsey (Sydney,1971) 114. Kinsey notes that the additional noun allows Cicero to add
weight to the epithet. J.M. May writes that epithets represent the externalization of
Ciceronian ethos, Trials of Character: the Eloquence of Ciceronian Ethos, (Chapel Hill,
1988) 130.
2 I. Opell, Die Lateinischen Schimpfworter mil verwandte sprachliche Erscheinungen:

eine Typologie (Heidelberg, 1965) 261.

10 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

furthermore sees vir and homo to be neutral words rendered pejorative

by negative adjectives. 3 To this assertion, issue must be taken, since vir,
although it may be used sarcastically, 4 is always coupled with positive
adjectives. When used by itself, it therefore retains its positive associa-
tions. Moreover, the repetition of homo in pejorative contexts is likely
to lend negative nuances to that word.
Consultation of the Ciceronian indices verborum demonstrates that
there are certain positive adjectives, such as bonus and primarius,
always used with vir, and a multitude of negative ones, only employed
with homo. 5 Context is essential, for what may at face value appear a
positive adjective may be part of a well-calculated insult. lnsignis,
religiosus and sobrius are examples. Used only with homo, they are
never complimentary. In the first example, the homo in question is
insignis in turpitude (Rab. Perd. 24). Religiosus is a label with which
Cicero tags Verres, Clodius and Piso precisely to emphasize their
sacrilegious proclivities, 6 and sobrius refers to Antony, whom Cicero
characterizes as homo numquam sobrius (Phil. 2.81 ). Otherwise there
is no mistaking the pejorative nature of the adjectives which are utilized
only in tandem with homo and never with vir. The list is a long one:
acerbus, amens, avarus, audax, crudelis, callidus, damnatus, facinerosus,
ferus, frugalis, furibundus, furiosus, immoderatus, importunus, improbus,
impudicus, impudens, impurus, ingratus, inimicus, insanus, iratus, levis,
libertinus, libidinosus, litigiosus, luxuriosus, nefarius, nequam, pecuniosus,
profligatus, ridiculus, saucius, sceleratus, seditiosus, sordidus, stultus,
symphoniacus, temerarius, timidus, turbulentus, vesanus, vehemens, violentus.

This catalogue of hominous attributes has been dredged out of Cicero's

inexhaustible reservoir of political invective. 7
Of the positive adjectives, Cicero uses bonus (or its superlative form)
with vir nearly 200 times, 8 but homo only twice, both references being

3Ibid. 264.
4 e.g., Antony: vir bonus et repub/ica dig nus (Phil. 2.56); Sex. Naevius: isle vir optimus
(Quinci. 19).
5 Not necessarily pejorative: necessarius (v. infra, p. 16); and novus (infra, p. 11);

verecundus is used twice with homo in speeches: a hypothetical verecundus homo (Caecin.
72), and in a sarcastic allusion to Antony: homo verecundus in Macedoniam non accedil
(Phil. 10.13).
6 Verr. 5.49; Dom. 105; Pis. 28.
7 The superlative forms of the adjective are also implied.

' H. Merguet, lexikon zu den Reden des Cicero, mil angabe siimtlicher Stellen (Jena,
1877) s. v. bonus.
 MASCULINE TERMINOLOGY AND RHETORICAL CONVENTION 11

to boni homines in general, rather than to particular men. 9 The concerns

of boni, optimi (and summi) viri are closely allied with those of Cicero
and his political amici. The political significance of bonus and bonus vir
has long been recognized. 10 It must be emphasized, however, that not
only bonus but also vir belongs to the vocabulary of political praise.just
as homo will be shown to pertain to the lexicon of factional abuse. 11
Public life seems to have been one criterion of the bonus vir. Boni viri
are equated to boni cives (Vat. 40); they often serve on juries 12 (Mil. 21)
and are tireless in their opposition to scoundrels such as Catiline ( Cat.
2.19) and Antony (Phil. 1.30). Men who do not participate in public life
are termed privati (Imp. Pomp. 62), and privatus is almost always
accompanied by homo. 13 Privatus homo is a neutral term which assumes
shades of colour according to circumstances. For instance, Verres as a
privatus homo entertained pirates in his villa, the implication being that
he did so in his off-hours (Verr. 1.12). A privatus homo, on the other
hand, may be a loyal Roman citizen (Verr. 2.163). The term in itself,
therefore, has no pejorative associations. Nevertheless, it is significant
that vir implies active participation in public affairs, and that homo
connotes passivity. Likewise, it is meaningful that a man who has not
achieved the consulship or whose ancestors have never attained one of
the magistracies should be a novus homo. 14 He has yet to prove himself;
furthermore, homo is a reminder of low status, which helps keep the
novus in his proper place. Novus and vir are mutually exclusive. Since
participation in politics and serving res publica rank among the highest
aims in Cicero's life, it follows that such pursuits be reserved for the
nation's viri.
Primarius is another adjective used exclusively with vir. Cicero
utilizes it particularly in the second actio of the Verrine Orations to

9 Both are in his philosophical works: homines optimi non intelligunt totam rationem

everti (Fin. I.SI); opulentos homines et copiosos ... esse bonos (C. 26).
10 G. Achard, "L 'emploi de boni, boni viri, boni cives etde leurs formes superlatives dans

('action politique de Ciceron," LEC 41 (1973) 207-221; W.K. Lacey, "Boni atque improbi,"
G&R, Ser. 2, 17 (1971) 3-16.
11 v. infra, pp. 21-28.

12 luratorum hominum (Verr. A. Pr. 40): members of the jury; homo may refer to judges

and attorneys (e.g. L. Balbus, iudex, homo ...peritissimus, (Verr. 2.31) and not be pejorative,
but when Cicero compliments a judge, juror or witness, he terms him vir: e.g., P. Servilius
lsauricus, vir clarissimus maximusrebus gestis (Verr. 1.56).
13 Privatus homo: Leg. Agr. 2.97; Verr. 1.12; 2.163; 4.71; 5.77; Caecin. 4I;Dom. 43; 91;

Pis. 30. Used with vir: Balb. 25; clarissimus vir: Phil. 11.25.
14 J. Hellegouarc'h, "Le vocabulaire latin des relations et des partis politiques sous la

rcpublique," (Paris, 1963) 142-3. Homo is used exclusively with adulescens. Merguet
(supra, n. 8) s.v. adulescens.
12 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

indicate witnesses for the prosecution, members of the senatorial or

equestrian orders who are labouring tirelessly to convict the corrupt ex-
governor.15 In his non-political speeches, vir is equivalent to "my worthy
opponent." This is demonstrated in Pro Quinctio, where Sex. Naevius,
Cicero's adversary, is a vir bonus or a vir optimus (11; 16; 19) until the
orator finishes playing cat-and-mouse and blasts him as iste homo
acerrimus, bonorum possessor, expulsor, ereptor (Quinct. 30). 16 Cicero's
use of vir with positive modifiers reflects the insincerity inherent in
judiciary procedure. 17 Sincerity, however, was not a criterion for Roman
public life where flattery and sycophancy often meant the difference
between success or failure. It will be demonstrated that vir was an
essential component written into the script of the Roman political
scenario.

The Roman Political Vir

The beacon lights of the Roman State-the lumina rei publicae-
according to Cicero, are its praestantissimi viri. He further defines them
as consulares, praetorii, and honestissimi senatores, as well as the flos
nobilitatis ac iuventutis (Phil. 2.37). Cicero's speeches are studded with
references to viri consulares: e.g., P. Crassus, vir amplissimus (Balb.
50); Q. Metellus Pius, vir sanctissimus et summa religione ac modestia
(Ibid.); M. Crassus, virclarissimus (Cael. 18); Q. Hortensius, clarissimus
vir atque eloquentissimus (Sest. 3); L. Calpurnius Bibulus, vir singulari
virtute, constantia, gravitate praeditus (Dom. 39), and a host of others
too numerous to mention. 18 Not surprisingly, Pompey is the praestantissimus
omnium vir, whose praises Cicero proclaims endlessly. The intrepid
imperator is variously characterized as ille vir (Pis. 27), summus vir (lb.
28), eo robore vir (Att. 6.6.4), sapientissimus et iustissimus vir (Mil. 2),
prastantissima virtute vir (lb. 66), vir unus omnium fortissimus (Har.
15 L. Flavius, Verr. 1.14; M. Marcellus, I. I 35; Senators, 2.102; 149; L. Vibius, eq. Rom.

2.182; anonymous witnesses, 1.157; 2.20; 81; 189; 3. I 8. 122. £quites Romani, 3.136; C.
Gallus, vir primarius, senator (also homo vestri ordinis for variation), 3.152; Cornelius
Sisenna, vir primarius, has a houseful hominum honestissimorum, 4.33; homines nobi/es:
Segestans: L. Papinius, 4.46; Onasus, 5. 120.
16 May notes the irony behind vir optimus (supra, n. 1) 15; Cicero uses irony on the

prosecution and its witnesses, calling them viri /ectissimi civitatis (Quinci. 5). Amp/us,
clarus.fortis, andpraestans, while they may be used with homo, appear more frequently with
vir. Context is important: e.g. Vatinius ran for aedile cum bonis viris ethominibus primis
who were non praestantissimis opibus (Sest. 114).
17 Designation of colleagues as clarissimi or praestantissimi viri recalls speeches in

today's political conventions which laud "that Great Senator from the Great State of..."
18 Merguet (supra, n. 8) s. v. vir.
 MASCULINE TERMINOLOGY AND RHETORICAL CONVENTION 13

Resp. 49), and summus vir atque omni um princeps (Phil. 11.18), to name
but a few of his sterling epithets. After his death Cicero enrolls him
among the gods as ille singularis vir ac paene divinus (Phil. 2.39). Even
during Pompey's lifetime Cicero gushes in fulsome panegyric as when,
upon return from exile, he hails the imperator as Gn. Pompeius, vir
omnium qui sunt, fuerunt, erunt, virtute, sapientia, gloria princeps!
(Red. Quir. 16). Cicero's speeches make it evident that vir is a term of
utmost respect which he applies to Rome's foremost senators and
magistrates. That the word is not to be thrown about at random is evident
from a letter to Attic us about the late dictator in which Cicero bristles that
he heard "that tyrant" called clarissimum virum in a public meeting (Att.
15.20.2). To Cicero, a man who has misused his power is unworthy of
the time-honoured epithet.
A vir is courageous, and Cicero constantly admonishes acquaintances
to remember that they are viri. 19 Particularly significant are his words to
P. Sittius, a Roman knight from Nuceria, te ut hortarer rogaremque, ut
et hominem te et virum esse meminisses (Fam. 5.17 .3). Cicero writes that
if Sittius follows his advice, he will bear up under the calamities which
have been allotted to so many fortissimis atque optimis viris in the
Republic's uncertain times. This passage demonstrates that there are
essential qualities which distinguish the vir from the ordinary homo or
human being. One of these is fortitudo, an attribute closely allied with
virtus. 20 Rome's leaders who have displayed prowess in the field of battle
are designatedfortissimi viri. Among these are Marius (Pis. 20), Pompey
(Verr. A. Pr. 44; 5.153), and Caesar (Mil. 66); 21 or L. Sulla and L. Murena

19 e.g. All. 10.7.2; Cicero reads a letter to the Senate, in which Lentulus urges Catiline

to take heart: cura ut vir sis! (Cat. 3.12); infra, chapter three, p. 58.
20 Hellegouarc'h (supra, n. 14) 247.
21 One of the few times Caesar is designated by gender epithet. As victim of Clodius:

clarissimus etfortissimus vir emphasizes Caesar's respectability (Mil. 66). Cicero dismisses
Caesar as homo mitissimus atque /enissimus because he refused to vote for the death penalty
(Cat. 4.10). G. Caesar's epithet anticipates thatofL. Caesar, a vir fortissimus et amantissimus
rei publicae who has voted for capital punishment (lb. 4.13), cf. Sest. 132: mitem hominem
et a caede abhorrentem. When Cicero dissociates Vatinius from Caesar, the latter is a
clementissimus atque optimus vir, Vat 22. In Cicero's letters, Caesar is usually a homo: to
Caecina: h. acutus (Fam. 6.6.9); to Trebatius: liberalissimus ... homo meique amantissimus
(lb. 7 .10.3); but also a vir whom Trebatius must not let slip through his fingers (lb. 7 .17 .2);
and a clarissimus ac liberalissimus vir (lb. 7.17.3); to Terentia: h. amens (lb. 14.14.1); to
Atticus: homine audacissimo paratissimoque (All. 7.3.5). Caesar is afortissimus vir in the
reported speech of Clodius (Dom. 39). The dearth of vir with flattering adjectives is
particularly interesting in the speeches after the civil war when Cicero praises the dictator.
Cicero's respect for Caesar as a great orator (Suet. Jul. 55.1) may have prevented him from
using such transparent tactics, especially since they both studied rhetoric with the same
teacher (Plut. Cic. 4.5; Caes. 3.1). Cicero probably realized that the dictator would be
unimpressed by vir-plus-superlatives.
14 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

who triumphed over Mithridates (Imp. Pomp. 8). In Cicero's corre-

spondence, fortissimus indicates imperatores in their provinces 22 and
valiant Romans who have fallen in battle (Fam. 4.8.1).
Fortissimus vir with its martial overtones 23 sometimes implies will-
ingness to die for the Republic. For instance, when Cicero is trying to
convince the people of a clear and present danger to the State, he assures
them that he has rallied fortissimos atque amantissimos rei publicae
viros to combat it (Cat. 3.5); such are L. Flaccus and Gn. Pomptinus, who
meet the Allobrogians at the Milvian bridge at the height of the Catilinarian
conspiracy (cf. Prov. Cons. 32). 24 F ortissimi viri abound in theCatilinarian
speeches, 25 demonstrating the extent to which Cicero was likely exag-
gerating the danger in an effort to justify his actions in executing the
conspirators. 26 He implies thatfortissimi viri put their country first and
are not afraid to espouse unpopu Jar policies; nor do they back down when
danger threatens. L. Caesar is an example: a virfortissimus et amantissimus
rei publicae, he argues for the death of the conspirators even though one
of them is his brother-in-law ( Cat. 4.13). Cato, who supported Cicero on
the issue, earns the orator's imperishable gratitude as a vir fortissimus:
Quern virum! Sanctissimum, prudentissimum, fortissimum, amicissimum rei
publicae, virtute, consilio, ratione vitae mirabili ad laudem et prope singulari!
(Dom. 21; cf. Mil. 16).

The fortissimus vir as tyrannicide is a theme upon which Cicero

relentlessly harps. The orator maintains that viri fortes know the glory
of killing a tyrant (Phil. 2.117), and he further defines a vir as anyone
who will dare rid the State of its pernicious elements in the face of death
(Mil. 82). Among Cicero's favourite tyrannicides are the virifortissimi,
D. Iunius Brutus (Phil. 11.22; 14.3), P. Scipio Nasica (Dom. 91; Mil. 83;
Cat. 1.3), and T. Annius Milo, who dispatched the orator's enemy, P.

22 e.g., T. Ampius Bal bus, proconsul of Cilicia: Fam. 6.12.4; imperatores in Syria, viri

fortes optimique cives: Fam. 12.11. 1.

23 Nisbet equates it with "our gallant fighting men." M. Tu/Ii Ciceronis in L. Calpurnium

Pisonem, R.G. M. Nisbet, ed. (Oxford, 1961) 116.

24 v. infra, chapter three, 56.
25 Marcellus: Cat. 1.2 I; respectable citizens preyed upon by Catiline: 2.10; Sulla's

colonists,fortissimi viri until luxury went to their heads: 2.20. Flaccus and Pomptinus: 3.5;
G. Antonius: 3.14; L. Caesar: 4.13; tribuni aerari who defend the State (4.15). May notes
that Cicero characterizes the conspiracy as a war, with himself as a general on a par with
Pompey (supra, n. I) 54-8.
26 Nisbet argues that the speeches were written and published three years after delivery

when Cicero's actions were questioned: 'The Speeches," in Studies in Latin Literature and
its Influences: Cicero, ed. T.A. Dorey (London, 1965) 62; cf. W.C. McDermott, "Cicero's
publication of his consular orations," Philo/ogus I 16 (1962) 283.
 MASCULINE TERMINOLOGY AND RHETORICAL CONVENTION 15

Clodius. 27 Cicero enshrines Milo in the tyrant killer's hall of fame,

noting that the vir fortis is in the same league with others who have seen
to it that the State came to no harm, namely Ahala, Nasica, Opimius, 28
Marius, and Cicero himself (Mil. 82). The orator urges all brave viri to
come to the aid of their Republic: Vos, vos, appello,fortissimi viri, qui
mu/tum pro re publica sanguinem effudistis! (Mil. 1OJ). Even a woman,
he continues, were she not afraid of danger, would kill a public enemy,
but he who will do so on behalf of the State, despite envy and in defiance
of certain death, is a real vir (Mil. 82). 29
E.S. Gruen has noted that the "interests of state" in the orator's mind
usually meant the "interests of Cicero". 30 His use of vir reflects this. For
instance, he calls P. Servilius Isauricus vir cum clarissimus tum vero
optimus mihique amicissimus (Red. Sen. 25) and vir clarissimus et cum
in universam rem publicam, tum etiam erga meam salutem fide ac
benevolentia singulari (Prov. Cons. 1). Self-interest also becomes ap-
parent in Cicero's treatment of L. Ninnius Quadratus, an otherwise
obscure tribune of the plebs. As will be shown below, tribunes usually
rate the term homo. 31 Ninnius, however, is promoted to vir fortissimus
atque optimus (Dom. 125; cf. Sen. 3) and vir incredibilefide, magnitudine
animi, constantia (Sest. 26). Similar treatment is bestowed upon Ninnius'
colleague, M. Cispius, virum optimum et constantissimum (Sest. 76).
The reasons behind the verbal kudos are not difficult to discover: both
tribunes voted for Cicero's recall. Likewise did P. Sestius and Q.
Fabricius, whom he terms respectively civis egregius et vir fortissimus,
and vir optimus (Mil. 38). Many others owe their "virhood" to doing
favours for Cicero. Among them are L. Gellius, vir clarissimus, who
urged that Cicero be voted a civic crown (Pis. 6); M. Laenius Flaccus and
sons, who offered Cicero hospitality despite an aquae et ignis interdictio
(Sest. 131 ); and the reader is left to wonder about the identity of the
anonymous vir who, summa auctoritate and eloquentia, equated Cicero's
downfall with the funeral of the Roman Republic (Prov. Cons. 45).

27 Mil. 63; 81; 82; 84; 89.

21 v. infra, chapter three, 49.
29 Quae mulier sceleratum ac perniciosum civem interficere non auderet, si pcriculum

non timeret? Proposita invidia, morte, poena, qui nihilo scgnius rem publicam defcndit, is
vir vere putandus est!
30 E.S. Gruen, The Last Generation of the Roman Republic (Berkeley, 1974) 503.
31 v. infra, pp. 21-22.
16 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

The Humble Status of Homo

The world of the Roman stage, according to H.D. Jocelyn, was funda-
mentally divided between gods and men (di and homines). To identify
a homo with a deus, he continues, was ludicrous in the extreme. 32 The
polarity between di and homines was not limited to the theatrical world,
and the expression di hominesque (in that order) persists throughout
Roman literature. 33 In the Roman hierarchical structure, the gods are at
the top, and the homines are at the bottom. 34 Jocelyn notes that whenever
a woman in Roman comedy addresses her husband in a respectful
manner, he is mi vir; however, whenever she accosts him shrewishly, he
is mi homo. 35 He likewise observes that homo is used for males for whom
it is unnecessary to be deferential, including members of the lower
classes and slaves; 36 he cites the use of homo by men who are "tolerantly
contemptuous" of each other's behaviour, and comments that the tone of
homo in comedy "remains low and negative." 37
Cicero similarly employs homo to indicate low rank. 38 We hear of
impoverished agrestes homines (Cat. 2.20), servi homines, 39 and Libertini
homines. 40 Homo in such contexts need not be pejorative (but often is);
it is merely the appropriate designation for the lower classes. For
instance, the libertus L. Cossinius Anchialus is a homo et patrono et
patroni necessariis41 •• .probatissimus (Fam. 13.23.1 ); 42 the libertus Phania,
homo non modo prudens, verum etiam ... curiosus (Fam. 3.1.1); but the

32 H.D. Jocelyn, "Homo sum: humani nil a me a/ienum puto (Ter. Heauton Timorumenos

77)," Antichthon 6 (1972) 33.

33 Especially in Cicero, Livy, Suetonius and Tacitus. See indices verborum cited below,

passim.
34 There is only one class lower, the bestiae. Jocelyn notes "beast" to be a common term

of invective (supra, n. 32) 34.

35 Ibid.
36 Ibid. Plautus used homo with many adjectives that became incorporated in Ciceronian

invective: e.g., h. ignavissume, Men. 924; h. insanissume, lb. 517; h. nequissume, Mer. 305;
h. putide, Ba. 1163. The device is particularly effective in the vocative.
37 Jocelyn (supra, n. 32) 35-36.
38 M. Tu/Ii Ciceronis Pro T. Annio Milone ad ludices Oratio, ed. A.C. Clark (Oxford,

1895) 16, n. 8.
39 Servi homines: Verr. 3.91; cf. 1.81; Phil. 1.5. De venalibus ... homines electos (Sest.

134).
40 Libertini homines: Cat. 4.16; P. Umbrenus: lb.3.14; v. infra, chapter three, p. 58; L.

Aelius: Scaur. 23; Gn. Publicius Menander: Balb. 28.

41 R.W. Rowland defines necessarii as persons bound to others in obligation, "Cicero's

necessarii," CJ 65 (1969) 193-94. Whether a necessarius is a homo or a vir depends upon

rank.
42 L. Cossinius (Rowland, p. 196): bonus homo et non levis (All. 1.19.11); C. Matius

(Rowland, p. 197): homo ... temperatus el prudens (All. 9.11.2); but King Deiotarus (Rowland,
p. 196): vir cum benevolentia et fide erga p.R. (Fam. 15.4.5), v. infra, p. 20.
 MASCULINE TERMINOLOGY AND RHETORICAL CONVENTION 17

ex-slave, Mallius Glaucia, is a homo tenuis (Sex. Rose. 19). Cicero

sometimes drags freedmen into his speeches in order to discredit his
opponents, as in the second Philippic where he reminds his readers that
Antony's former father-in-law was a libertinus homo named Fadius
(Phil. 2.3). In a similar spirit, Cicero impugns Antony as a gladiator
nequissimus and homo et humanitatis expers et vitae communis ignarus
(Phil. 2.7).
Homines often engage in vulgar professions, as does Vettienus, who
may be an "amicus" of Cicero's, but is also an argentarius who has been
dunning the orator for repayment of a debt (Att.10.5.3). 43 There is also
a certain Ambivius, a copo whose establishment is on the Via Latina. A
homo multorum hospitum, he is a witness for the prosecution who has
alleged that he was waylaid by Cluentius and a gang of slaves (Cluent.
163). Anonymous symphoniaci homines lend the Verrine Orations a
gratuitous air of disrepute (Verr. 5.64). 44
Significantly, when Cicero wants to praise a freedman, he uses vir.
This is illustrated with Dionysius, the erstwhile slave and later freedman
who tutored Cicero Jr. Dionysius is first encountered in a letter to
Atticus in which Cicero assures his friend that he is delighted with the
man. There is no homo doctior nor sanctior (Att. 6.1.12). Harmony
reigns in a later epistle: Dionysius is not only doctus and sanctus, plenus
officii and studiosus toward Cicero, but a frugi homo. 45 Then in an
effusive outburst: ne libertinum laudare videar, plane virum bonum!
(7.4.1).This remark would indicate that Cicero's previous comments,
includingfrugi homo, are conventional platitudes appropriate to freed-
men. Vir bonus represents the supreme compliment that Cicero can pay
to a former slave. Shadows, however, begin to obtrude into the sunshine
of Ciceronian approbation in which Dionysius has been basking, and
when Atticus commends the freedman as a vir optimus et doctissimus
who is amantissimus toward Cicero, the orator seems dubious, but
nevertheless grants him a grudging palinode: sit igitur sanebonus vir
43 cf. All. 10.13.2; 10.15.4; 12.3.2.
44 cf. Symphoniacus: with pueri (i.e., slaves), Mil. 55; servi, Div. Caec. 55; Pis. 83.
45 D.R. Shackleton Bailey notes that/rugi is often used of freedmen and slaves, though

it may refer to persons not necessarily of servile origin, e.g., Fabius Luscus, who Cicero
insists is homo peramans semper nostri, though he qualifies this by a lame compliment:
... satis enim acutus et permodestus ac bonae frugi. (All. 4.8a). Cicero's Le/lers to Allie us
(Cambridge, 1965) 299; Cicero does not use frugi of senatorial viri, but sometimes applies
it to foreigners: e.g., Siculi homines: Verr. 3.67; Deiotarus: Deiot. 26. Frugi homo describes
the undistinguished Fonteius (Font. 40) who Cicero upgrades to vir only when he is trying
to impress the jury (lb. 41), or to garner sympathy (lb. 48). Frugi homo as a mediocre
compliment: qui frugi homines chresmous appellant, i.e., tantum modo utilis; at illudest
/atius: Tusc. 3.16; cf. 4.36.
18 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

(7. 7 .1 ). A final letter on the subject reveals that the honeymoon is over.
Dionysius has displayed superbia and not enough deference to Cicero.
The freedman is again Atticus': tuus potius quam noster... eui qui noster
honos, quod obsequium, quae etiam ad eeteros eontempti euiusdam
hominis eommendatio defuit? (Att. 8.4.1). Dionysius has again been
demoted to the rank of homo: unus homo omnium loquacissimus et
minime aptus ad doeendum (lb.).

Homo: Laudationfor the Less-Distinguished

There are a few positive adjectives that are used more frequently with
homo than with vir. These are sanetus, splendidus, nobilis, honestus, and
sapiens. As T.E. Kinsey observes in his annotations to the Pro Quinetio,
homo may signify either "lukewarm praise" or serve as commendation
for those who are not quite upper-crust. 46 All of the above but sapiens are
applied to honourable (but second class) members of the municipal
aristocracy. Homo sapientissimus, on the other hand, is used largely of
attorneys in the manner of "learned counsel", and of authorities whom
Cicero cites in his speeches. 47
Whenever Cicero employs sanetus to heap unstinting acclaim on
consulars, they are viri sanetissimi, as are Q. Scaevola (Sex. Rose. 33),
A. Torquatus (Plane. 27; Pis. 47), and Q. Catulus (Plane. 12). Homo
sanetus, on the contrary, adequately acknowledges the accomplishments
of the inglorious, such as Fonteius (Font. 38), Lucceius (Cael. 52),
anonymous Asians (Flaec. 71) and other supernumeraries (Quir. 18).
Homo ... et sapiens et sanctus et severus is sufficient endorsement for L.
Sestius, who had been elected tribune of the plebs inter homines
nobilissimos (Sest. 6). Cicero's announcement that Sestius' son, Publius,
had married, first, honestissimi et spectatissimi viri, G. Albani.filiam
and, later, optimi et calamitosissimi viri [Corneli Scipionis] filiam,
illustrates the intransigent upward mobility of the Sestii (Sest. 6-7).
Homo sanctissimus modestissimusque omnium emphasizes the scrupu-
lous discretion of Q. Metellus Pius (Arch. 9)--an otherwise vir sanctissimus
46Kinsey (supra, n. I) 61.
47e.g., L. Gellius and Cn. Lentulus, duo censores, clarissimi viri sapientissimique
homines (Cluent. 120). The enclitic addition may be ironical, since Cicero is not happy with
their performance; nor is he satisfied with Lucullus, a homo sapientissimus, who failed to
appoint a special commission (lb. 137). A hypothetical juror: h. magnus ... atque sapiens (lb.
159); authorities: L. Crassus, h. eloquentissimus et sapientissimus; Brutus, h. in dicendo
vehemens et callidus (lb. 140); and h. sapiens (lb. 141). Cicero's displeasure with the elder
Egnatius, homo honestinimus videlicet et sapientissimus, is evident in de cuius hominis
levitate et inconstantia plura non dicam (lb. 135).
 MASCULINE TERMINOLOGY AND RHETORICAL CONVENTION 19

(Balb. 50), whose attention to detail is being contrasted to the negligence

and carelessness of Ap. Claudius and A. Gabinius. The epithet, homo
sanetus et diligens, contributes to the trope, cited by Quintilian (Inst.
Orat. 8.6.55), with which Cicero ostensibly praises G. Verres: quod C.
Verres, praetor urbanus, homo sanetus et diligens, subsortitionem eius
in eo eodice non haberet (Cluent. 91). Should either the delivery,
portrayal, or nature of the subject under discussion be out of character
with the words uttered, according to Quintilian, the orator is engaging
in invective disguised as praise (lb.). Homo sanetus et diligens juxta-
posed with praetor urbanus debases that office, especially when applied
to the convicted Verres. Diligens, likewise, contributes to the invective,
and Cicero uses it as an epithet with homo to portray the ex-governor's
zest for peculation (2.92; cf. 5.49).
Splendidissimi homines is a condescending term which Cicero ap-
pends to the Capuans (Pis. 25) and to municipes (Plane. 21). 48 The elder
Sex. Roscius of Ameria is a homo tam splendidus et gratiosus (Sex. Rose.
20). Other municipal homines include A. Cluentius, homo ... municipii
Larinatis ... nobilitatefacile princeps (Cluent. 11 ), and G. and L. Fabricius,
fratres gemini ... Alatrinati homines (lb. 46). Several splendidi homines
from Sicily are cited in the Verrines. 49 Like splendidus, the adjectives
honestus and nobilis-both employed with homo-are considered fit-
ting for members of provincial society. 50 Merely being born in the next
town was a political liability of which Cicero was well aware when
Clodius snarled "homoArpinas" at him in the Senate (Att. 1.16.10); but
with all the snobbery of the inquilinus who has arrived in the big city (and
will only journey to the country to reside in one of his twelve villas),
Cicero has adopted the airs of the nobility when referring to country-
folk.
Homo may be used to indicate nationality. 51 Cicero constantly refers
to homines of foreign extraction: homines Galli, Sieuli homines, and

48 e.g., Latini homines: Balb. 54; an unnamed homo from Rudiae: Arch. 22; at Larinum,

honesti homines; at Teanus and Luceria, homines honestissimi, and atFerentinum, nobilissimi
homines: C/uent. 197-198; C. Plotius Nursinus, eques Romanus splendidus: Fin. 2.58; Q.
Sosius, splendidus eques Romanus ex agro Picino: Nat. 3.74.
49 Some are equites Romani: 3.37; others are /ocupletes: 4.45; still others are honesti:

3.32; also, M. Annius: 5.73; Diodorus, a Melitensis, homo ... nobilis propter virtutem
splendidus et gratiosus: 4.38. Elsewhere, Cicero worries that Asia may be turned over to the
freedmen hominum gratiosorum splendidorumque: Flacc. 88.
50 W.K. Lacey notes that nobilis is not a political compliment, "Boni atque lmprobi,"

G&R, Ser. 2, 17 (1971) 8;

51 Clark, citing Landgraf on Pro Rose. Amer. 8 (supra, n. 38) 61, no. 8.
20 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

Graeci homines; and barbarians are termed homines barbari. 52 Such

references need not be pejorative. For instance, the Gaditani are sapientes
homines (Balb. 34), and their envoys are summi homines (lb. 41), but
when Cicero wants to reassure them of his efforts on behalf of his client
(an ex-Gaditanus), he flatters them as viri optimi (lb. 44). Cleophantus,
Cluentius' Greek physician, is commended, if faintly, as a medicus non
ignobilis, sed spectatus homo (Cluent. 47), and Duris of Samas is a homo
in historia diligens (Att. 6.1.18). Nevertheless, Cicero's bias against
foreigners constantly asserts itself, as in the oration against Piso: M.
Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, always a homo, and a hominisfuracissimi
filius (Pis. fr. 4), is a Semiplacentius (fr. 6), whom Cicero further
stigmatizes as a Transalpine Gaul on his mother's side (Red. Sen. 15). 53
Thus it is not surprising to discover that T. Albucius, the erstwhile
propraetor of Sardinia (117 B.C.), is a Graecus homo ac Levis (Prov.
Cons. 15); 54 or in a "There goes the neighbourhood!" attitude, that
Cicero's house has been invaded by a Marsian: Scatonem ilium, hominem
sua virtute egentem (Dom. 116). Rare and important is the foreigner who
merits the designation vir. One is Themistocles, summus Athenis vir
(Arch. 20), and another is King Deiotarus, whom Cicero eloquently
defends on a charge of attempting to poison Caesar after the battle of
Zela. The orator, in a speech which apparently moved Caesar to tears, 55
states that the king is neither facinerosus nor amentissimus; he further
commends him as a vir optimus, who is very far removed ab homine
... stulto (Deiot. 16). 56 Cicero's charity, however, does not extend to the
king's son, Brogitarus, whom he contemptuously categorizes as
Gallograecus, impurus homo ac nefarius (Har. Resp. 28); a homo who
pollutes religion (Sest. 56). 57

52 Gauls: Cat. 3.22; Sicilians: Verr. 2.10; 4. 146; Greeks: Pis. 68; Mil. 80; Verr. 1.53;

4.21; 132; 133; Balb. 12; Sest. 142; barbarians: Scaur. 36; Font. 23; Phil. 2.112.
53 cf. Sest. 21. When Antony complains that Octavian's mother came from Aricia, Cicero

remarks that one would think she had come from Tralles or Ephesus! (Phil. 3.15).
54 Also paene Graecus (Brut. 102; 131); "A self-styled Hellenist, Albucius liked to flaunt

his Graecisms; ... Scaevola, apparently, mocked him for his obnoxious Hellenic affectation."
E.S. Gruen, Roman Politics in the Criminal Courts (Harvard, 1968) 115.
55 H.H. Scullard, "The political career of a Novus Homo," Studies in Latin Literature

(supra, n. 26) 23.

56 Cicero declares that the king is a homo gravissimus and sanctissimus (Deiot. 20); and

also an optimus et clarissimus vir (28); cf. Fam. 15.4.5., where Deiotarus is a vir cum
benevolentia et fide erga p.R. singulari, tum praestanti magnitudine et animi et consili.
57 Opell (supra, n. 2) 154.
 MASCULINE TERMINOLOGY AND RHETORICAL CONVENTION 21

The Roman Political Homo

"T~e stylistic possibilities of homo," Nisbet tells us, "are never negligi-
ble."58 Its use in reference to slaves, freedmen, foreigners, and even the
dimmer lights of the municipal aristocracy, renders it a likely word for
political invective. To call a member of the upper classes, who would
normally be termed a vir, a homo, is an effective way of diminishing his
status. 59 Thus homo is often used of tribunes of the plebs to identify them
closely with the rabble to whom they are paying court.
Homo is appended repeatedly to popularis, or used as an epithet of
those perceived to be popularis. 60 P. Clodius is a homo popularis (Sest.
116; Dom. 80); and T. Labienus, homo popularis, betrayed libertas to the
executioner (Rabir. Perd. 12; cf. 13). Two salient characteristics of the
popularis are Levitas and blanditiae; 61 Plautus uses the latter to charac-
terize prostitutes (Bacch. 50; Tru. 573). Clodius' meretricious deceit is
implicit when Cicero writes: homo popularis fraudaret improbissime
populum (Har. Resp. 42). Just as it is the business of the meretrix to ignite
men's passions, so is it that of the tribune of the plebs: L. Quinctius, homo
cum summa potestate tum ad inflammandos animos multitudinis
accommodatus (Cluent. 79). 62 Clodius, homo facinerosus, inflames the
spirit of the mob by inciting them ad incendia and caedem (Dom. 12).
Tribunes of the plebs pander to the multitude, and multitudo itself is a
term of disparagement: Cicero persistently equates popularis with the
criminal, the irrational, the impoverished, and the insane. 63 His portrayal
of Clodius as afuribundus homo ac perditus tribune of the plebs, who
has been terrorizing Gn. Pompey, combines all of these ideas and further
suggests lack of self-control (Sest. 15). Blind insanity is also evident in
the epithet caecus atque amens tribunus pl. (lb. 17). 64 Significantly, a
demagogue, such as Quinctius, is a homo maxime popularis (Cluent. 77),
while a "good" tribune, such as G. Fanni us, vir bonus et innocens (Sest.

58 R.G.M. Nisbet, ed., M. Tu/Ii Ciceronis de Dama sua ad Ponti/ices Oralia (Oxford,

1939) 79.
59 For a thorough discussion of degradation by means of comic techniques, K. Geffcken,

"Comedy in Pro Caelio," Mnemosyne, suppl. 38-41 (1973-74), particularly p. 24.

60 The only times Cicero uses vir with popu/aris are the following: Viros ... quos dicant

fuisse popu/ares (Acad. 2.13). Claros viros, sed /amen popu/ares (lb. 2.72).
61 R. Seager, "Cicero and the word popu/aris," CQ N.S.22 (1972) 335-6.
62 Cicero implies bribery of Quinctius by mixing monetary terms with sexual innuendo,

and calls him acerbus, criminosus popu/aris homo ac turbulentus (Cluent. 94).
63 Seager (supra, n. 61) 328; 335-6.
64 Opell (supra, n. 2) 141.
22 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

114), is numbered among tribunes who are minime populares(lb. 113).

The hiatus between the two is epitomized in the conceptual gulf between
homo and vir. 65
Homo is frequently used with adjectives indicative of public en-
emies.66 Audax, deemed to be antithetical to bonus, 61 is one of these. It
follows that an audax homo-as Cicero terms Verres, Catiline, Clodius
and Antony-is the antithesis of the bonus vir. 68 C. Wirzubski equates
audax with "extreme radicalism, irresponsible demagogy, disregard for
law, and revolution." 69 Just as a hos tis, according to Cicero, is no longer
a civis, so a homo, whom he has branded a hostis, is no longer a vir. Viri
are concerned with the welfare of the Republic; homines are not. This is
evident in the first Catilinarian where Cicero castigates ho mines bonorum
inimicos, who are hostes to their country (Cat. 1.33). Homines are
wracked aegri morbo gravi cum aestu febrique (lb. 1.31). They are
constantly compared and contrasted with viri. 7° For instance, inertes
homines have laid traps for fortissimis viris in the Catilinarian con-
spiracy (Cat. 2.10). Although Wirzubski sees the "choice of abusive or
laudatory terms" to be based upon political rather than moral considera-
tions,71 moral failings are nevertheless inherent in inertes homines,
which implies lack of masculinity appropriate for those who lay am-
bushes. Thus Clodius, homo effeminatus, tries to murder afortissimum
virum, [T. Annium Milonem] (Mil. 89). 72 Clodius' craven deficiency in
even the basic attributes of a vir is evident in the contrast between homo
effeminatus andfortissimusvir. A similar odious comparison is evident
between Clodius, furibundus homo ac perditus, and that undaunted vir
clarissimus, ever amicissimus to Cicero, Gn. Pompey (Sest. 15). 73

65 M. Livius Drusus, tribune of 91 B.C.: h. c/arissimus ac potentissimus (Cluent. 153).

Cicero uses potens of tribunes, kings, and G. Verres. Merguet (supra, n. 8) s.v. potens;
Verres: Verr. A. pr. 25; 40; 4.22; 5.180. cf. Vat. 21.
66 Opell (supra, n.2) 137; 143-44.
67 C. Wirzubski, "Audaces: a study in political phraseology," JRS 51 (1961) 13. Cicero

uses audax for beasts, cutthroats, felons, tribunes, and slaves. Merguet (supra, n. 8) s.v.
audax. Opell connects audax with the overthrow of the Republic: hominum audacium,
eversorum rei publicae [Clodius and Co.] (Sest. 86), (supra, n. 2) 136.
68 Catiline: Cat. 2.13; 3.17; 27; Sul/. 8 I; 92; Clodius: Phil. 8.16; Antony: Phil. 2.43; 2.78;

6.2; Verres: Div. Caec.6; with amentissimus: Verr. A. Pr. 7.

69 Wirzubski (supra, n. 67) 14.
7°Clark cites Sest. 89 (supra, n. 38) 79, n. 7.

71 Wirzubski (supra, n. 67) 14.

72 Cicero emphasizes insidiae: A.M. Stone, "Pro Milone: Cicero's second thoughts,"

Antich/hon 14 ( 1980) 94.

73 Other contrasts: homines improbi complain about Cicero ad viros fortes (Dom. 41 ); L.

Gellius Poplicola, who has sullied the name of the equestrian order, is a homo et fratre
indignus viro c/arissimo atque optimo consu/e [L. Marcia Philippo] (Sest. I 10).
 MASCULINE TERMINOLOGY AND RHETORICAL CONVENTION 23

Clodius is always a homo unless Cicero can get mileage out of the
Bona Dea Festival, the tribune's lack of fitness for the priesthood, or his
supposed incest with Clodia. 74 In each instance, Cicero uses vir in a trope
designed to amplify Clodius' sacrilegious propensities. For example,
Cicero writes Atticus that Clodius was unus vir at Caesar's house (Att.
2.7.3). Unus vir is full of rhetorical implications. For one thing, it
emphasizes the enormity of a sole male presence at a women's festival;
for another, vir, which Cicero uses as a synonym for paramour in
reference to A. Gabinius, an erstwhile amator and vir of Catiline (Red.
Sen. 10; 12), suggests sexual motives for Clodius' presence. Geffcken
cites numerous ancient sources, which stated that Clodius' presence
betokened hanky-panky with Pompeia, Caesar's wife, 75 and Suetonius
says that the rumour was a persistent one (Jul. 6.2). Whether Cicero was
responsible for promulgating that rumour, we do not know, 76 although
he does his best to whet his readers' prurient appetites with dark
innuendo: nefandum adulterium in pulvinaribus sanctissimis (Mil. 72).
The full irony of unus vir may not be immediately appreciated. The
term is found in Livy, who uses it repeatedly to signify heroic generals
who have saved the State, and in Tacitus, who indicates that it may have
been a title voted to the successful imperator by acclamation of his
troops (Hist. 3.3.5). 77 According to K. Geffcken, Cicero's vituperation
against Clodia mirrors that used against her brother, and role reversal is,
furthermore, an integral part of their invective. 78 Both Clodia and
Clodius are perceived as generals: 79 Clodia commands a mulieraria
squadron, which entraps fortes viros in the baths (Cael. 66-67); Clodius
commands a platoon Jacinerosorum hominum et perditorum, which
ambushes Milo on the highway (Vat. 40). As the epithet mulier potens
(Cael. 62) masculinizes Clodia the imperatrix of the "BellumBalnearum",
so unus vir-assuming that its military connotations were current in
Cicero's day-emasculates Clodius, since it calls attention to the fact
that his assault on a feminine citadel in the" Bellum Bonae Deae" was
totally ineffectual (Att. 2.7.3).
A second example, alluding to the Bona Dea scandal, similarly

74 Clodius is also a sororius adulter (Pis. 28); Opell (supra, n. 2) 155.

75 Geffcken (supra, n. 59) 65: Plut.Caes. 9; Cic.28; Veil. 2.45.1; App. BC 2.14; S.7; Dio.
37.45; Liv. Per. 103.
76 On Cicero as rumour monger, v. infra, chapter three, 50.
11 F. Santoro L'hoir, "Heroic epithets and recurrent themes in Ab Urbe Condita," TAPA
120 (1990) 221-41. Cf. Har. Resp. 49: Pompey, Vir unus omniumforlissimus.
78 Geffcken (supra, n. 59) 39-40.
79 Geffcken (supra, n. 59) 39-40; cf. May (supra, n. 1) 114.
24 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

stresses lack of masculinity. 8° Cicero appraises Clodius as a mulier

among viros, and a vir among mulieres (Dom. 139; cf. Suet. Jul. 6.2). The
anomalous sexual overtones emphasize the tribune's sacrilege (Dom.
139). Geffcken believes that Cicero's portrayal of Clodius at the Bona
Dea is that of an effeminate Dionysus. 81 The inconsistency between
Clodius, the goatish satyr, and Clodius, the effete corybant, is irrelevant.
The image of the furibund tribune penetrating the sacred feminine
mysteries and transmogrifying them into a Bacchanale would demon-
strate to the pontifices, the sacerdotes, and anyone else listening,
Clodius' unsuitability concerning matters of religion:
Imperitus adulescens, novus sacerdos, sororis precibus, matris minis adductus,
ignarus, invitus, sine collegis, sine libris, sine auctore, sine fictore, furtim,
mente ac lingua titubante fecisse dicatur, praesertim cum iste impurus atque
impius hostis omnium religionum, qui contra fas et inter viros saepe mulier
et inter mulieres vir fuisset, ageret illam rem ita raptim et turbulente, uti neque
mens neque vox neque lingua consisteret (Dom. 139).

The passage is loaded with words which Cicero regularly uses with
homo: adulescens, novus, ignarus, invitus,iste, impurus, impius, and
hostis. 82 The dionysiac or bacchanalian imagery is implicit in Cicero's
invective after his return from exile, in which he vilifies Clodius as a
homo with adjectives indicative of frenzied madness and pollution, the
epithets being reminiscent of the criminal activities for which the
Bacchanalians were notorious: homo vaesanus ac furiosus (Dom. 3);
homofacinerosus (lb. 12); homoadcaedem imminens (lb. 14);/uribundus
homo ac perditus (Sest. 15); homo ... turpissimus, sceleratissimus,
contaminatissimus (Dom. 23); homo amens (lb. 40; cf. 144); and
Clodius' band of desperados is even called a concursatio nocturna
(Dom. 14). 83
There is no stuprum so base to which the pernicious Clodius would
not stoop, as Cicero indicates when he utters his famous gaffe: istius
mulieris viro--fratrem volui dice re (Cael. 32). Geffcken sees the remark
to have been a malicious slur to provoke laughter. 84 As the Bacchanalians
were once perceived to be sunken in criminal degeneracy, so now is P.
Clodius Pulcher. This notion is reflected in the vituperation that employs

80 cf. Mil. 55: Clodius tamen mulier, inciderat in viros; cf. Opell (supra, n. 2) 154.

" Geffcken cites homosexual innuendo and unmanly dress as favourite topoi of oratory
(supra, n. 59) 82-84.
82 See Merguet (supra, n. 8).
83 Other bacchanalian elements present in Clodius' portrayal are adulescens, mulieres,

incendia and caedes; senatorial propaganda against the cult is preserved in Livy 39.8.6-8.
•• Geffcken (supra, n. 59) 36; cf. Opell (supra, n. 2) 155.
 MASCULINE TERMINOLOGY AND RHETORICAL CONVENTION 25

vir in sexual contexts and homo with the above-mentioned pejorative

adjectives. 85 Boni viri are no longer safe with Clodius at large (Dom. 8).
Cicero's invective was intended to destroy Clodius; to drive out the
menace to society and religion for the good of the community. 86 As the
Bacchanalians had been stamped out, so must be P. Clodius!
The orator is comparatively reserved in his use of homo with pejoratives
for Catiline, confining himself to homo ... timidus and permodestus (Cat.
2.12), ille homo audacissimus (lb. 2.13), and homo tam
acer ... audax ...paratus ... callidus .. .in scelere vigilans (Cat. 3.17). All
references are from speeches before the people, among whom Catiline
had a large following, which he did not lose until Cicero alarmed them
with the supposed torching of the city (Sall. BC. 48.1). Cicero's use of
homo with negative adjectives before the populace may reflect scare
tactics intended to win the plebs over to his side. 87
Homo with pejoratives is a tactical offensive weapon which might be
regarded as the orator's verbal S.C. U. The periods when he deploys it the
most are significant: 70 B.C., against Verres; the speeches of 57-56,
against Clodius and Piso; and in the fourteen Philippics against Antony.
The prosecution of G. Verres was Cicero's first big case, and he had to
match wits with the formidable Hortensius, convict Verres and get
compensation for the Sicilians. 88 "To do so," writes G. Kennedy, "he
needed the full scope to develop the conventional ingredients of rhetoric
and especially vivid description, vivid characterization, and overwhelm-
ing emotion." 89 In the first actio, which pitted Cicero against the "big
guns" of the Senate, including the Metelli, the orator shoots straight from
the hip: the invective hits its mark, and Verres is labelled pecuniosus
homo (A. Pr. l); homo vita atquefactis omnium iam opinione damnatus
(lb. 2); homo ... depeculator aerarii, vexator Asiae atque Pamphyliae,
praedo iuris urbani, labes atque pernicies provinciae Siciliae (lb.);
homo audacissimus atque amentissimus (lb. 7); homo avarissimus et
libidinosissimus (lb. 13); iste homo perditus (lb. 21); iste homo potens
cumfilio blando et gratioso (lb. 25); homo perditissimusatque alienissimus
(lb. 28); iste homo desperatus (lb. 35); and homo nocentissimus
pecuniosissimusque (lb. 47). 90 In the undelivered second actio, the list
85 Opell (supra, n. 2) 161.
86 Geffcken (supra, n. 59) 69.
17 May writes that Cicero had to convince the people that Catiline had embraced foreign

values (supra, n. 1) 53-5.

81 G. Kennedy, The Art of Rhetoric in the Roman World, 300 B.C.- 300 A.D. (Princeton,

1972) 156-159.
89 Ibid. 160.
90 Nisbet calls Cicero "aggressive, successful, and right." (supra, n. 26) 52.
26 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

continues in an "and-then-I-would-have-called-him" spirit. Too numer-

ous and repetitive to detail, a few choice adjectives joined to homo are:
nefarius (l.69); spurcissimus (l.94); stultissimus (1.102); importunus
(1.113); deterrimus and impudentissimus (2.40); crude/is and sceleratus
(2.77); libidinosissimus, nequissimus andflagitiosissimus (2.192); improbus
and impurus (3.140). 91
The next period in which Cicero couples homo and negative adjec-
tives with frequency is as the embittered politician returned from an exile
imposed upon him by collusion of a gang of three: Gabinius, homo
emersus ... ex diuturnis tenebris lustrorum ac stuprorum (Sest. 20); Clodius,
homo furiosus (Dom. 3); and Piso, homo taeterrimus, crudelissimus,
fallacissimus (Dom. 23). Homo with pejoratives proliferates the invec-
tive of the speeches of 57-56; it is the weapon of the cornered Cicero, and
he lashes out with it. There was no need to encumber his speeches with
vituperative epithets during the Catilinarian conspiracy when he had his
consular authority and the consensus of most of the Senate behind him.
Their employment reflects the hysteria which Nisbet finds in the orations
of those two years. 92
Cicero fires his ultimate blast of vitriol in his glorious last stand
against Antony. Like his predecessors Verres and Clodius, Antony is a
homo amentissimus (Phil. 2.42; 5.37; cf. 3.2), and a homo audacissimus
(2.78; 5.13; 6.2). He is, furthermore: h. acutus (2.28); h. adflictus et
perditus (3.25); h. detestabilis (2.110); h. impotentissimus (5.42); h.
ingratissimus (13.41); h. nequam and nequissimus (2.56; 61; 70; 78); h.
numquam sobrius (2.81 ); h. perditissimus (5.13); h. profligatus (3.1); h.
sceleratus (4.12); h. simplex (2.11 l); h. stupidus (3.22); h. turpissimus
(2.105); h. vehemens et violentus (5.19), among others. At one point,
Antony ranks even lower than a homo: Non est vobis res, Quirites, cum
scelerato homine ac nefario, sed cum immani taetraque belva ! (Phil.
4.12). The orator must have been well aware of the consequences of his
unbridled tongue, and that Antony might be less than amused at being
called miserae mulieris fecunditas calamitosa (2.58). This defamatory
pasquinade, featuring homo with pejoratives, represents Cicero fighting
the desperate battle of one who is convinced that the Republic is lost. As
H.H. Scullard remarks, only two other consulars had the courage to
oppose Antony; now that Cicero had the necessary auctoritas, he was

91 For a complete list, Merguet (supra, n. 8) s.v. homo.

92 Nisbet (supra, n. 26) 63.
 MASCULINE TERMINOLOGY AND RHETORICAL CONVENTION 27

without consular backing. 93 He therefore exceeded himself in rhetorical

excoriation.
Such invective is in the tradition of Demosthenes, who similarly
employed anthropos as opposed to anerin his vituperation. 94 Moreover,
the Greek orator used hanthropos (with a rough breathing), and presum-
ably homo produced a similar sound of contempt. 95 While Demosthenes'
gender terminology must be left to another study, some parallels in usage
should be commented upon; for Cicero's predecessor likewise used
anthropos in a negative sense as a means of attack. An instance is the
defendant, Aristogeiton, a personage of no visible means of support (or
interest in public life), who slithers into the agora like a serpent, his
beady eyes darting in search of a gull whom he can squeeze dry or
slander. Ouden anthropos metrios, he frequents neither barber nor
perfumer, his bosom companions being Curses, Calumny, Malice, Fac-
tion and Sedition (25.52). Aristogeiton would obviously be at home in
the Roman Forum with Piso, Clodius and Antony. There are many other
species of anthropos which Cicero has transformed into the genus homo.
For instance, we meet the homo egens (Verr. 2.94) in the anthropos
penes; 96 the homo avarus (Verr. A. pr. 41) in the pleonektes anthropos
(48.46); theaudax homo (e.g., Cat. 3.17) in the tolmeros anthropos; 91 the
homo nocens (Verr. 1.47) in the adikos anthropos; 98 the homo inimicus
(Vat. 10) in the echthros anthropos (4.50), and perhaps homo perditus;
h. sceleratissimus; h. turpissimus; h, nefarius; h, facinerosus and h.
nequissimus are composites of Demosthenes' epithet for Aeschines, ho
phaulotatos kai dysmenestatos anthropos tei polei (18.197). 99 There are
other similarities: Cicero's adulescens homo (e.g. Cael. 50) is the neos

93 Scullard (supra, n. 55) 25.

94 Index Demosthenieus, ed. S. Preuss (Leipzig, 1892) s.v. anthropos; aner. E.C. Keuls
directed my attention to the pejorative nature of anthropos in its rare use with the feminine
definite article.
95 Ibid. s.v. hanthropos. Aeschines uses hanthropos derogatorily of Demosthenes: 99.l;

125.7; 157.2; 212.11; Aesehines Against Ctesiphon (On the Crown), R.B. Richardson, ed.
(N.Y. , 1979) 114. Dionysius of Halicamassus remarks upon Demosthenes' use of harsh
sounds to evoke emotion in his listeners (Dem. 55); he also comments on the unpleasantness
of the sound of "s", which he likens to the hiss produced by an irrational beast (DH R het.
14), and Cicero persistently couples homo with two or three pejorative adjectives that end
in -issimus in his invective against Verres and Clodius. A similar effect is evident when
Demosthenes uses hanthropos with pejorative adjectives in the nominative.
96 Dem. 21.83; 24.112; 24.165.
91 Ibid. 40.53; 43.41; cf. 52.l; 56.19.
9' Ibid. 48.36; 48.46; 48.56.
99 Cicero: homo perditus, Sul/. 33; 66; 75; Dom. 110; Har. Resp. 46; Sest. 2; 9; 15; 60;

85; 106; Vat. 21; 40; Sex. Rose. 112; Verr. A. pr. 15; 21; 28; 3.5; 134; 199; 4.37; Cat. 1.13;
2.8; 11; 3.14; 4.S; 8; Mil. 47; Phil. l.S; 2.15; 91; 3.1; 2S; 5.13; 9.9; Fr. Bob. 13.8; h.
see/eratus: Cluent.30; Dom. 23; Phil. 13.34; h. turpissimus: Sex. Rose. 50; Cluent. 87; Verr.
28 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

anthropos in Demosthenes, who makes the distinction between the

callow youth and the aner who has passed his dokimasia. 100 As honour-
able Romans are viri, so members of the jury are andres Athenaioi. 101
Non-Athenians, however, are anthropoi, as are other familiar stere-
otypes, such as slaves and the disenfranchised. 102 This all suggests that
Ciceronian usage may have been founded upon Greek rhetorical proto-
types.
Roman factional Realpolitik being what it was, yesterday's homo
might be tomorrow's vir. Cicero's political career endured over forty
years; such an extended period of public life brought definite changes in
policy. 103 Political permutations are reflected in Cicero's vocabulary.
For instance, T. Labienus, the quondam popularis who handed over
innocent cives to the executioner (Rab. Perd. 13), is metamorphosized
into a vir mag nus after he has deserted Julius Caesar (Att. 7 .13a.3). The
choice between vir or homo may well depend upon the audience. Before
the Senate, Cicero usually numbers C. Gracchus among homines
seditiosissimi such as L. Appuleius Saturninus, florens homo popularis
(Sest. 101; Dom. 82). 104 Note, though, how Cicero performs verbal
alchemy, when speaking before the people about the lex agraria. Not
only does he transmute himself into apopularem consulem (Leg. Agr. 6-
9), but he also transfigures the brothers Gracchus into clarissimos,
ingeniosissimos, amantissimos plebei Romanae viros (lb. 2.10). The
orator's use of terms normally reserved for the upper echelons of the
political establishment for plebeian tribunes in speeches before the
people is sheer demagogy. 105 In resorting to such tactics, Cicero, accord-
ing to the precepts of the boni, was indeed a true popularis consul.

1.63; 3.30; Dom. 23; Phil. 2.105; Pis. 72; h. nefarius: Verr. 1.69; 2.91; 3.5; 5.72; Har. Resp.
28; Plane. 98; C/uent. 42; 201; Leg. Agr. 2.87; Cat. 4.8; Muren. 83; Phil. 2.17; 4.12; h.
facinerosus: Dom. 12; Vat. 40; Tull. 12; h. nequam: Verr. 1.63; 73; 83; 2.192; 3.30; 33; 84;
Font. 39; Cluent. 97; Leg. Agr.1.7; Demosthenes: 19.202. Other dreadful anthropoi:
sketlioteros, 30.36; Poneros kai sukophantes: 58.27; Philip II: hanthropos hubris/es, 1.23;
Many dubious types are lumped under toioutos: 35.54; 45.53; 48.56; 24.133.
100 Neos anthropos may ultimately be from where novus homoderives; aner einai
dokimastheien: 27.5; 29.43; 30.6.
101 Index Demosthenicus (supra, n. 94) s.v. andres Athenaioi; cf. andres dikastai.
102 Anthropos metoikos: 52.29; a Megarian is an anthropos sophron, the equivalent of

homo prudens. Cicero refers to Graeci homines who areprudentes: Tusc. 265; Demosthenes:
52.3; a Tanagran, 25.61; the disenfranchised: Timarchus, ta/aiporos anthropos, 19.284.
103 Lacey (supra, n. 50) 7.
1°' Seager (supra, n. 61) 335.
105 Cicero's restraint in using gender expressions in his popular speeches perhaps stems

from the fact that he indulges in less invective than in the Senate.
 CHAPTER TWO

THE OBSCENE MULIER

AND THE NOT-HEARD FEM/NA:
Cicero's Feminine Terminology and Comic Prototypes

Given the nature of Roman politics and Cicero's career, women occupy
far less space in his works than do men. This being so, distinctions
between feminine terms are less clearcut. Nevertheless, the contexts in
which such terms are used demonstrate a significant pattern first sug-
gested by Axelson and later corroborated by Adams: that, in Cicero's
lexicon,femina is a word of respect always used with positive adjectives
and never with the pejoratives that often accompany mulier. 1 Although
the topic has been broached by the above scholars, it nevertheless
deserves investigation in greater depth; for a clear understanding of
feminine terminology casts additional light upon the role of women in
public life of the late Republic; such an analysis is important not for
gauging Cicero's personal attitude about women, but rather for testing
his official posture towards them as both attorney and politician, em-
ploying accepted rhetorical topoi.
Between the termsfemina and mulier, the former is a rara avis, being
employed only 33 times in Cicero's entire corpus; the latter, however,
is used over 150 times in the orator's speeches alone. 2 It should not be
assumed, though, that infrequent use of the one implies an indiscriminate
preference for the other; for scrutinization of the terms reveals patterns
similar to those apparent in the orator's employment of vir and homo.
Furthermore, it stands to reason that if there were differentiations
between masculine terms, the same variations would be applicable to
feminine. This indeed proves to be the case: feminine terms, like their
masculine counterparts, are founded upon social status. Consequently
moral overtones, based upon rank-or lack of it-accrue to the respec-

1 B. Axelson, Unpoetische Worter: einBeitrag zurKenntnisderLateinischenDich1ersprache

(Lund, 1945) 54-55; J.N. Adams, "Latin words for "woman" and "wife"," Glotta 50 (I 972)
235.
2 H. Mcrguct, Lexikon zu den Reden des Cicero, mil Angabe siimllicher Ste/len (Jena,

1877) s.v.femina; mulier;

- , Lexikon zu den Philosophichen Schriften Cicero's mit Angabe siimtlicher Stellen
(Jena, 1887) s.v. femina; mulier; Wm. A. Oldfather, et al., Index Verborum Ciceronis
Epi.vtularum (Urbana, 1938) s.v.femina; mulier.
30 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

tive terms. Femina parallels vir in that it is applied specifically to women

of the highest rank. Because of the word's aristocratic moral qualities,
Cicero sometimes employs it to confirm the respectability of a support-
ive witness, or to create an atmosphere of sympathetic response for the
benefit of the jury-the word Jemina often evoking connotations of
helplessness based upon idealized values of femininity. 3 Mulier, on the
other hand, corresponds to homo, 4 being used to indicate members of the
lower classes, including freed slaves, foreigners and barbarians. More-
over, Cicero employs the former term with pejorative adjectives for
members of the upper classes, as he did the latter to males of the
aristocracy, in order to diminish their status. In other words, mulier, like
homo, was used as a term of abuse.
Similar tendencies may be observed in the comedies of Plautus,
where mulier is used over 300 times, and Jemina, as a substantive for
woman, only thirteen. Since the purpose of a playwright is similar to that
of a lawyer or politician-to convince what might prove to be a difficult
audience-there is an element of rhetoric that is common to each of their
media. Before launching into Ciceronian use of the terms, a brief
analysis of Plautus' usage would be instructive. 5
The sparse use of femina by Plautus is significant, and its infrequent
employment sets it apart from mulier. Femina is appropriate to mannerly
salute, while mulier is often used as a form of rude address for slaves, 6
as in Cistellaria, when the servus Lampadio, accompanying his mistress,
Phanostrata, calls after the ancilla Halisca: Mulier mane! Sunt qui volunt
te conventam! The vocative use of the generic term, the imperative
mood, as well as the sunt qui, each lend the greeting an aura of insolence.
Lampadio then informs Halisca that she is wanted by a bona femina
(using the respectful term for his mistress) and a malus masculus (a laugh
line, in reference to himself). That the maid is not impressed by Lampadio 's
air of superiority is evident in her reply, in which she dispenses with
formalities in an ironical greeting: Mi homo et mea mulier, vos saluto! 1
3 Axelson (supra, n. I) 54-55.
4 In every sense except that of mulier as wife. See Adams (supra, n. 1) 249-51.
' G. Lodge, Lexikon Plaut in um (Leipzig, 1926) s.v. femina; mulier. K. Geffcken notes
the resemblance between rhetorical techniques and those of comedy, and writes that Cicero
shows a greater appreciation for the stage than does any other Roman orator. "Comedy in
the Pro Caelio," Mnemosyne suppl. 38-41 (1973-74) 7.
'e.g., lleus tu mulier! Cu. 185; lleus, mulier, tibi dico! Men. 378; v. Lodge (supra, n.
5) s.v. mulier, voe.
7 Ci. 701a-727; H.D. Jocelyn cites the insulting use of homo in the vocative: "Homo sum:

humani nil a me alien um puto," Antich/hon 6 (1972) 34; he identifies the noun with the lower
classes and notes that no servus or son in comedy ever addresses a paterfamilias as homo
(lb.).
 THE OBSCENE MULIER AND THE NOT-HEARD FEMINA 31

The ancilla's impudence may be inferred from Lampadio's aside to

Phanostrata in which he characterizes Halisca as a nasty piece of
baggage: mala mers ... et callida. There is a definite contrast between
mulier, appropriate to the slave, and femina, the proper term for the
mistress; mulier, used by an ancilla of a superior, is a calculated insult
designed to diminish status, just as homo is intended to cut the insolent
slave down to his proper size.
The following passage from Aulularia likewise sets femina apart
from mulier, the generic term that implies all the liabilities inherent in
the female sex, according to Roman thinking. Femina, as opposed to
mulier, is suitable to flattery as well as polite address. In act one,
Eunomia, a matrona, enters with lamentations, disparaging herself as a
mulier. Her brother Megadorus, however, in an attempt at cajolery,
greets her: Da mihi, optumafemina, manum! (Au. 135). Eunomia, who
cannot believe that her brother's words of praise are meant for her,
delivers the punchline, that with a woman there is no such thing as
optuma: there are only degrees of malus: one woman is peior than the
other (lb. 120-40). The empty flattery behind optumafemina is not lost
on Eunomia; and Plautus has employed the elevated word which,
juxtaposed to the general term mulier, helps establish the entire joke.
Similar contrasts are seen in Amphitryo and Miles Gloriosus. In the
former play, Mercury notes that Juppiter is about to gull Alcumena:
Opservatote ... quam blande mulieri palpabitur (507); subsequently, when
Alcumena expresses doubts about Juppiter's love, the god, with a
display of hurt feelings, asks: Satin habes, sifeminarum nulla est quam
aeque deligam (509)? To Mercury, Alcumena is a mulier like all the
others, about to fall victim to a smooth line of speech. 8 Juppiter's
honeyed words, however, imply that she is a femina: in expressing
preference for Alcumena over other feminae, he is referring to ladies of
distinction, as she presumably is, otherwise the compliment would fall
flat.
In Miles Gloriosus, the wily Palaestrio, about to hoodwink
Pyrgopolynices, offers the puffed-up warrior a ring, supposedly from the
beautiful young wife of the senex next door. She is described as luculenta
atque festiva femina, a guarantee that comes with an assurance that the
girl is ingenua. Pyrgopolynices is especially concerned that she not be
libertina. Reassured, he announces that his present concubina is excess

• Alcumena is "beset by suggestive and aggressive remarks from Juppiter, Mercury, and
her husband." Geffcken (supra, n. 5) 27.
32 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

baggage, and that the mulier will be jettisoned forthwith (958-76).

Palaestrio is using the girl as bait for the braggart warrior; the word
femina is a component in his "salespitch" which emphasizes her free
status and supposed respectability. Mulier, on the other hand, appropri-
ate to concubina, suggests a casual alliance made with a slave or
freed woman.
Mulier in reference to women in general is totally neutral. The above
examples, however, demonstrate its pejorative possibilities, particularly
when juxtaposed to femina, the term of esteem or distinction. Aristo-
cratic overtones are implicit in the polite address of Megadorus, the
protestations of Juppiter, and the salesmanship of Palaestrio. In Rudens,
when the high priestess of Venus calls herself misericordior .. feminarum
(Ru. 281 ), she is using the vocabulary of the aristocracy with its implied
concomitant virtues. Plautus' choice of the elevated termfemina is in all
probability deliberate, for he was a professional playwright, skilled in
his craft. 9 J.A. Hanson remarks: "Even the most conventional and
literally meaningless phrase in Plautus .. .is to be regarded as meaningful,
both because of its historical significance and its conceptual potential." 10
If one accepts the aristocratic overtones of femina, one can perceive
the ludicrous nature of the line that afemina once gave birth to a lion (Vi.
116). 11 Similarly, if one acknowledges that mulier, in addition to its
generic usage, pertains to the servile and libertine orders, one will
appreciate the irony behind the statement of the pimp, Dordalus, who has
just manumitted a slave-girl; in an effusion of self-congratulation, he
styles himself a probus and Lepidus civis, because he has increased the
population of Attica by onefemina (Per. 474-5). The word, by Roman
standards, is as ridiculous in reference to a freed slave as is the notion
that a pimp could ever be an upright citizen. Plautus is playing for laughs,
andfemina as well as probus establishes the joke.
Hanson notes that the language of comedy plays upon the expected
as well as the unexpected. 12 Plautus tends to put saucy and elegant speech
into the mouths of his slaves, who have high opinions of themselves. A
similar technique was employed by Petronius (v. infra, chapter ten, p.
181 ). Thus when Alcumena's slave Bromia complains that she is the
most wretchedfemina alive (Am. 1060), she is using the terminology of

• E. Segal, Roman Laughter: the Comedy of Plautus (Cambridge, Mass., 1968) I.

10 J.A. Hanson, "Plautus as a sourcebook for Roman religion,"TAPA 90 (1959) 59.
11 Tacitus uses the general mulier in a similar prodigious announcement: Anguem enixa

mu/ier (Ann. 14.12.9.).

12 Hanson (supra, n. 10) 51.
 THE OBSCENE MULIER AND THE NOT-HEARD FEMINA 33

her mistress in the world-upside-down milieu of Plautine comedy which

parodied the restrictions of a "society obsessed with hierarchy and
ritual." 13 The impudent dialogue of the two slaves in Persa may be
interpreted in this light. Paegnium calls Sophoclidisca scelesta femina
(205-8), which G.E. Duckworth, citing their "rapid bright repartee,"
renders as "naughty jade." 14 Femina is pejorative in this instance, but
neither negative context nor use of the word by slaves in reference to
themselves detracts from its fundamental aristocratic nature. A slave
may have been socially inferior, but, human nature being what it is, he
or she had self-respect and was therefore likely to use terms of his or her
social betters in private.

The Roman Political Femina and the Homespun Mulier

As far as Cicero is concerned, comparatively few women are singled out
as feminae. Among those who are so honoured are the foremost female
members of Roman oligarchical society; as virwas modified by clarissimus,
so femina is by clarissima. 15 Several women of rank are mentioned in
Cicero's correspondence when the orator sends regards to the wives of
his political associates. Femina in these instances is always accompa-
nied by positive adjectives, such as optima,gravissima, andpraestantissima,
modifiers which, when employed with vir, hold political overtones. For
instance, Cicero thanks M. Claudius Marcellus for the political support
given by his mother, a gravissima atque optimafemina-backing above
and beyond that usually given by a mulier. Although mulier is used in
its generic sense and represents the "ordinary woman," femina is em-
13 Segal (supra, n.9) 13. Among the great number of epitaphs that use vir or femina as

an appositive epithet (OTHER than senatorial inscriptions which employ the titles c.v.
(clarissimus vir) and cf. (clarissimafemina), vir is used as husband almost 200 times on the
tombs of freedmen; of the 83 that use femina (with such adjectives as rarissima and
carissima, but never clarissima), the majority belong to freed slaves. C/L 6, s.v. vir;femina.
Use of terms which, except for the above-mentioned titles, are avoided by the free-born,
indicates that members of the libertine orders perceived the words to hold status value (v
infra, conclusion). L.R. Taylor mentions the lengths to which freedmen went to hide
evidence of their inferior status on their tombstones, "Freedmen and freeborn in the epitaphs
of imperial Rome," AJP 82.2 (1961) 122.
14 G.E. Duckworth,ed., The Complete Roman Drama (N.Y., 1942) v. 1,677. Duckworth's

translation retains the sense of the epithet and demonstrates that there are times when gender
terms ought not to be taken literally as "man" or "woman". For instance, Cicero's "homo
nequissimus" is better rendered "low-down skunk" (or equivalent colloquialism) than "man
of the basest sort" (or similar translation). I.Opell, in reference to the slaves in Persa, terms
their repartee "Katz-und-Mausspiel" ,Die Lateinischen Schimpfworter mil verwandte sprachliche
Erscheinungen: eine Typo/ogie (Heidelberg, 1965) 83.
"e.g., Tusc. 1.27. Cicero rarely ever uses matrona. Merguet (supra, n.2) s.v. matrona;
Oldfather (supra, n.2) s.v. matrona.
34 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

ployed as the formulaic term of respect cited by Adams. 16 There is,

nevertheless, the implication that the average mulier would not lift a
finger to aid Cicero; but since Marcellus' mother (like the enlightened
tribunician viri of chapter one [p. 15)) has seen fit to do so, she is not only
afemina, but also gravissima and optima as well (Fam. 15.7.1). In a
second letter, Cicero salutes Marcellus' wife, Junia, like her mother-in-
law, a gravissima atque optima femina (Fam. 15.8.1). In a note to
Domitius Ahenobarbus, the orator conveys his respects to the recipient's
mother: optimamfeminam tuique amantissimam (Fam. 6.22.3); and in
an effort to curry favour with M. Crassus, Cicero writes that the entire
civitas is aware that he, Cicero, is amicissimus to Crassus and his wife,
upon whom the orator bestows the epithet, prasestantissima omnium
feminarum (Fam. 5.8.2). 17 Even political enmity did not preclude polite
correspondence, as can be seen when the orator writes P. Vatinius, 18
singling out his wife as feminam primariam (Fam. 5 .11.2) or when M.
Antony, as tribune of the plebs, remembers Tulliam tuam, feminam
lectissimam (Att. 10.8a.1 ). 19 In each of these examples, femina is a
component of formal greeting.
Contrast the manner in which Cicero employs mulier to refer to the
female members of his, Quintus' and Atticus' families. 20 Although
mulier became almost synonymous with uxor, 21 Cicero clearly employs
the word to denote not only wives, but also daughters and sisters as well;
in other words, all the female members of one's family. 22 Males are
termed viri, and the term, in relation to one's mulieres, connotes the
inequality between the paterfamilias and his women. Cicero does not
usually call his mulieres by name. His and Quintus' sons may be
acknowledged as Cicerones, but their wives and daughters rate only

16Adams (supra, n. 1) 235.

17Identification with the upper classes is also evident when Cicero employsfemina of
female Spartiates who trained in athletics. R. Sealey notes that the Spartiates were the
privileged class in Lacedaimon, A History of the Greek City States, ca. 700-338 B.C.
(Berkeley, 1976) 67-68. Cic. Tusc. 2.36. F emina is appropriate for the elite Spartan women.
Adams (supra, n. 1) 242, cites this and C/uent. 199 (v. infra, 43) as the only instances of
f emina as a significator of gender in pre-Augustan comedy or prose. He is mistaken. Cicero
speculates upon the amount of property that may be owned by afemina (Rep. 3.17); the word
clearly pertains to the upper classes, rather than to women in general. The example in Pro
C/uentio also connotes women of moral superiority.
18 Yatinius is singled out with homo and choice pejoratives in Vat. IO; 21; Sest. 134; 135;

Q.F. 2.4.1.
19 Cicero is less forgiving of the female relatives of P. Clodius, v. infra, pp. 43, 46.

°
2 Cic. Att. 3.19.2; 4.19.1; 5.1.3; 6.6.1; 7.13a.3; 7.14.3; 17.5.2; 18.1; 20.2; 23.2; 13.22.4;

Fam. 14.4.3; Q.F. 1.3.3.

21 Adams (supra, n. 1) 234.
22 De mulieribus nostris, in quibus est tua soror ... (Att. 7.14.3.).
 THE OBSCENE MULIER AND THE NOT-HEARD FEMINA 35

anonymous mention: e.g., mulieres et Cicerones in Formiano reliqui

(Att. 7.20.2; cf. 7.18.1). The orator, however, employs the respectful
term femina when writing Terentia in reference to ladies of her station
who have gone to Rome: ... vestri similes feminae sintne Romae (Fam.
14.14.1). Mulier, when used of members of the family, is an informal
term, employed only among one's closest friends and relatives. Femina,
on the other hand, is formal, as in Cicero's letters to his political
associates.

The Oratorical Femina

Cicero usesfemina rarely and effectively in his orations where the word
is meant to emphasize the qualities of excellence associated, as a matter
of course, with the aristocracy. The word is also used to establish
respectability or else to garner sympathy for a friendly witness. It is
occasionally employed as a combination of all of these aspects.
Cicero sometimes cites great feminae of the past who exemplify
aristocratic virtues, such as Quinta Claudia,femina ... quae matronarum
castissima putabatur (Har. Resp. 27), who with the vir optimus P. Scipio
welcomed Magna Mater in 206 B.C. Another paragon of feminine
perfection is Caecilia, daughter of Q. Caecilfos Metellus Balearicus,
whose virtus is on a par with the male members of her family. Caecilia
is a spectatissimafemina (Sex. Rose. 147):
quae cum patrem clarissimum, amplissimos patruos, ornatissimum fratrem
haberet, tamen, cum esset mulier, vinute perfecit, ut, quanta honore ipsa ex
illorum dignitate adficeretur, non minora ill is ornamenta exsua laude redderet.

Mulier in the passage, refers to the ordinary woman, and the concessive
clause cum esset mulier implies secondary status of the sex. Caecilia,
however, has surmounted her biological impediment, and spectatissima
femina is a laudatory epithet, appropriate to a woman who has risen
above the average in virtus.
The State and its welfare come before family considerations in the
mind of afemina. Thus Julia-the sister of L. Caesar (vir fortissimus et
amantissimus rei publicae) who backed Cicero on the issue of the death
penalty-is afemina lectissima. With apparent stoic fortitude, she has
accepted her brother's recommendation that her husband be put to death.
She is therefore one who will sacrifice those dearest to her to Res Publica
in its hour of need. Hers is an exemplum to be emulated. The episode
furthermore suggests to the listening senators that if a vir fortissimus and
afemina lectissima are willing to make such unselfish concessions, so
36 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

should each one of them and their wives and daughters be; it also implies
approval for Cicero's actions in the highest circles ( Cat. 4.13 ).
A femina must serve as an example for all mulieres, as Cicero
indicates in his treatise, De Legibus (2.29). Citing vestals tending the
hearth, the orator in his role as philosopher exhorts mulieres to endure
the chastity that is inherent in the nature of thefemina. Whether mulieres
refers to wives or to women in general, pudicitia is an aristocratic virtue
that pertains to the femina who serves as the model for all mulieres.
Cicero employs femina of the vestal, Fonteia. The sister of M.
Fonteius, a man of praetorian rank, she is granted the term by implication
of her sacerdotal office as well as Cicero's need to make an undisguised
play for the sympathy of the jurors. Noting that where ceterae feminae
benefit from the protection of their homes as well as their viri, the orator
maintains that Fonteia can claim only that of the vestal fire; and this is
now in danger of being extinguished by the tears of her brother, an
otherwise vir fortissimus (Font. 47; 48). Cicero panders shamelessly to
his jurors' prejudices and feelings of maternal empathy as he demands
to know if they will simply stand by while Idutiomarus, an Allobrogian
Gaul, wrenches Fonteius from the very arms of his mother, a lectissima
miseraquefemina, while no one raises a hand (Font. 46). Femina in these
examples is invested with all the connotations of the upper class femi-
nine ideal: 23 the spurious portrait of the helpless tender of the domestic
hearth, tirelessly spinning while her "better half' and defender is out
fighting the battles of Republic or Empire. Such a representation was
designed to arouse feelings of sympathy or outrage among the jury. 24 The
latter is Cicero's intention when he informs the horrified (he hopes)
Senate that nobilissimae feminae have exposed Clodius' nefandum
adulterium in pulvinaribus sanctissimis (Mil. 72).
The widow Caesennia is a person of minimal social importance.
Cicero refers to her with the general term mulier on various occasions
(Caecin. 13; 15; 17). Yet, when he wants to prepare the jurors for her
eventual victimization by a mulierum assentator (lb. 14), Aebutius, he
lauds her as probatissima femina (lb, 10). Femina, connoting respect-

13 M. Durry, £loge Funebre d' une Matrone Romaine (Paris, 1950) 169; S.B. Pomeroy

writes of the totally idealized heritage of the aristocratic woman, based upon a social myth,
which resulted in a tension between the real and the ideal. Goddesses, Whores, Wives and
Slaves (N.Y., 1975) 149; cf. J.P. Hallett, "The role of women in Roman elegy: counter-
cultural feminism," Arethusa 6 (1973) 103-4. Hallett, Fathers and Daugters in Roman
Society: Women and the Elite Family (Princeton, 1984) chapter one.
i, F emina is also employed for sympathy by Livy, Velleius, Pliny, Tacitus and Suetonius:

v. infra, 85-86; 117-19; 120-21; 160-61; 171.

 THE OBSCENE MULIER AND THE NOT-HEARD FEMINA 37

ability, calls attention to the faults of Aebutius, a litigiosus and ineptus

cognitor viduarum, who is stultus inter viros and inter mulieres peritus
iuris et callidus (lb. 14).
Cicero employs similar methods in the Verrine Orations. Addressing
Verres as homo avarissime et spurcissime, the orator demands to know
why the ex-governor compels pudentissimas lectissimasquefeminas to
enter into tantum virorum conventum to testify unwillingly (Verr.
1.94)--the implication being that modesty would normally forbid them
admittance. With adroit juxtaposition of ideas, Cicero has conjured up
the image of defenseless and pure aristocratic feminae, who have been
besmirched by a homo spurcissimus. In two other passages of the
Verrines, Cicero usesfemina with the adjective primaria. He employs
the modifier only withfemina and never with mulier. Femina primaria
illustrates to the jurors the quality of gentry whom Verres has bilked. 25
It is significant that Cicero reserves the epithet for the undelivered
second actio. In the first, he had the advantage of his physical presence
and was able to modulate his voice for effect in order to influence the
jury. In the second, however, he had to rely upon the written word to
convey the proper impression. Femina with its connotations of aristo-
cratic probity and helplessness will compel Cicero's senatorial readers
to think in terms of the possible defrauding of their own wives and
daughters. One can almost hear Cicero's voice quaking with indignation
as he demands to know what little Annia's mother, afemina primaria-
herself the daughter of a senator-could do to prevent that rat Verres
from filching the inheritance of her fatherless child (Verr. 1.153; 2.21);
or when Cicero announces that the rapacious governor has caused tax-
collectors to foreclose upon the harvest of a consular's wife, a femina
primaria, at her homestead in Leontini (Verr. 3.97). According to
Nisbet, the second actio is "verbose and unreal," and Cicero used it to
pull out all the rhetorical stops. 26 Verres' crimes againstfeminae primariae
seem particularly heinous, considering that all the other women in the
orations are mulieres, and most of them no better than they should be ( v.
infra, pp. 38-40).
Cicero exploits femina for sympathy in the Philippics when he
designates Antony's first wife and cousin, Antonia, pudicissimamfeminam.
25 Femina primaria: Verr. 1.153; 2.24; 3.97; vir primarius: Verr. 1.14; 67; 135; 157;

2.20; 81; 102; 149; 3.18; 122; 136; 152; 4.33; 46; 5.120; (v. supra, chapter one, pp. 11-12);
cf. Q. Rose. 19; Tull. l; F/acc. 46; 50; 68; Font. 18; Muren. 73. Primarius is used only with
vir.
26 R.G.M. Nisbet, "The speeches," in Studies in Latin Literature and its Influence:

Cicero, ed. T.A. Dorey (London, 1965) 53-56.

38 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

By noting that the triumvir turned her out of the villa in favour of the
adventuress Fulvia, the orator not only places Antonia in a sympathetic
light, but he also adumbrates Fulvia's character and casts Antony in the
role of heartless villain (Phil. 2. 99). 27
Femina allows Cicero to assume an indignant stance with Antony
after the latter has cast aspersions upon the rural background of Octavian's
mother. Noting that the father sanctissimaefeminae atque optimae was
M. Attius Balbus, in primis honestis, praetorius (3.16), he demands to
know why, if Antony disapproves of a wife from Aricia, he himself has
taken one from Tusculum (The two are about five miles apart.). Cicero
then reminds his adversary that clarissimi viri, such as L. Philippus and
C. Marcellus, have wives from Aricia, and that neither of them have any
reason to be ashamed dignitatis optima rum feminarum (3.17).
According to Adams, femina preserved its honourable overtones
throughout Latin literature. 28 Because of its inherent sense of esteem and
respectability, Cicero was able to exploit the word fully in his orations.

The Municipal Mulier

There are probably more women in the Verrine Orations than in all of
Cicero's other speeches combined. Most are anonymous provincials
who have either been victimized by Verres, or have been his partners in
vice and crime. With few exceptions, all are from Sicily. As Cicero
designated their male counterparts homines, so he specifies the females
mulieres. It will be recalled that homo was not necessarily pejorative, but
rather the accepted term for foreigners; the same principle applies to
mulier. The Verrine orations are proliferated with mulieres from the
outposts of the Mediterranean world. 29 Thus we discover several mulieres
nobiles. Mulier nobilis parallels homo nobilis, employed by the orator
for provincials. It is yet another demonstration of Roman snobbery
toward members of the municipalities and foreigners.

27 Its aristocratic connotations of moral excellence allow Cicero to usefemina ironically,

upon occasion, as he does for Fulvia and Clodia, v. infra, 40-46.

28 Adams (supra, n. 1) 235.
29 One from Segesta, m. perdives et nobilis (Verr. 4.59); wife of the Syracusan Cleomenes,

am. nobilis (5.3 l); priestesses of Ceres, probatae ac nobi/es mulieres (4.99); and Cicero
fears lest he offend mulieres nobi/es formosaeque (4.136). Mulier is often used with an
adjective of place. Other than reflecting the usual Roman ethnic prejudices, the term is not
necessarily pejorative.Persian mulier: Verr. 3.76; Greek: 1.66; 67; Sicilian: 1.120; 140;
4.52; Lampsacene: 1.63; 64; Syracusan: 2.53; 3.77; 4.136; 5.30; 31; 81; Segestan: 4.59; 76;
5.77; Catanian: 4.99; cf. Fin. 2.58, for a mulier from Norcia.
 THE OBSCENE MULIER AND THE NOT-HEARD FEMINA 39

The Lower Class Mulier and the Mulier of Ill-Repute

Agonis is both libertina and a temple prostitute of Venus Erycina at

Lilybaeum. She may be copiosa and plane locuples, but she is still a
freedwoman, and therefore a mulier (Div. Caec. 55; 56; 57). A favorite
assertion of Cicero's is that certain women are engaged in the trades.
This gambit is intended to diminish their status in the minds of his jurors
or reading public. At one point he relates that Lamia, a mulier who
manages weavers, has outfitted Verres with custom-tailored purple
robes (4.59). Even less respectable than tradespersons are actors, and
Cicero repeatedly insists that Tertia, one of several glamorous mulieres
nobiles (4.136), is the daughter of a mime (3.78; 83; 5.31; 81).
There is a precedent in Terence for applying mulier to women of the
lower classes. The playwright uses it, often with pejoratives, for a
collection of comic female characters who are largely prostitutes, mid-
wives and crones. Even his matronae have not much to recommend
them. Significantly, Terence employs femina just once, when Phormio
asks the senex Demipho if he has no respect for his wife, a femina
primaria (Phorm. 971).
Both Terence and Plautus employed mulier as a substantive for
meretrix, 30 and it is clear that Cicero classifies many of his municipal
mulieres in that category. They have patently failed the moral test, and
therefore do not rate the respectful term.femina. It is no coincidence that
these women are all witnesses for the defense; Cicero portrays them in
the worst possible light, either emphasizing their low station or their
moral unsuitability. Among them is Chelidon, a mulier and paramour of
Verres; the uncrowned queen of Sicily, she has influenced the erstwhile
governor's decisions by whispering her verdicts into his ear at trials over
which he was presiding ( 1.120). According to Cicero, this mulier is so
abandoned that L. Domitius refuses to mention her name in public ( Verr.
1.140). 31
Then there is the Syracusan Callidama, a mulier who kisses and tells
(2.91), after whom (among others) Verres lusts (2.89); and Cicero is
even more unsparing in his words of abuse for another Syracusan, Pipa,

30 Lodge (supra, n. 5) s.v. mulier, no. 7, mulier meretrix: Mer. 685; St. 746; Men. 261;

335; a variation on this is mulier praestigiatrix: Am. 782; P. McGlynn, lexicon Terentianum
(London, 1963) 354; s.v. meretrix; mulier meretrix: And. 755.
31 Were Cicero aware of the blunt sexual usage of the Greek, chelidon, Domitius' refusal

might represent Ciceronian humour. On chelidon, J.N. Adams, Latin Sexual Vocabulary
(Baltimore, 1982) 82; cf., E. Courtney, A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal (London,
1980) 305.
40 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

de qua muliere versus plurimi ... scribebantur-a libidinosissima mulier

whose name Verres has turned into a household word (3.77; cf. 5.81).
Pipa is, furthermore, a decumana mulier (lb.), as well as a muliercula
publicana (3.78). She, with her compeer, Tertia, is called a deterrima
muliercula (3.79) and, in a variation on the same theme, a mulier
deterrima (3.82). Both are married to notable Sicilians, but instead of
remaining at home in the gynacaeum, as modestfeminae should, they
shamelessly preside over Verres' convivia-the only women present
(5.81 ).
Bevies of mulierculae, said to be Verres' playgirls, are seemingly to
be found in every port in Sicily. The diminutive form of mulier, when it
does not imply physical or emotional weakness, indicates a disreputable
character. 32

Mulier, a Term of Abuse

As with homo, the general term mulier, appropriate for slaves, freed-
women, and members of the lower classes, is a term of vituperation. As
with homo, the abusive potentiality of mulier can be demonstrated by the
pejorative adjectives used with the latter that are never applied to femina.
Although the list is shorter than that for homo, many of the derogatory
modifiers are shared between the masculine and feminine terms. Cicero's
catalogue of negative adjectives includes: amens, avarissima, audax,
crude/is, condemnata, damnata, decumana, furiosa, importuna,
impudicissima, impura, ingeniosa, immoderata, irata, libidinosa, misera,
nefaria, pecuniosa, potens, procax, proterva, publicana, quadrantaria,
and taeterrima. Significantly, all but one of these adjectives coupled
with mulier appear in four works: The Verrine Orations, Pro Cluentio,
Pro Caelio, and the Philippics. The first three are court cases, and it was
as an attorney that Cicero most often came into conflict with women. In
the last, Fulvia suffers from political fallout due to Cicero's enmity with
her husband, Antony.
Cicero's technique against Fulvia deserves to be contrasted with that
used against Sassia and Clodia, for with the first woman Cicero employs
femina with positive adjectives in a sarcastic context, while with the
others, he uses mulier with pejoratives exclusively. All three, however,
have one theme that is common to their invective, for Cicero character-

32 J.S.T. Hannsen, Latin Diminutives: a Semantic Study (Bergen, 1951) 9; cf. Opell

(supra, n. 14) 148.

 THE OBSCENE MULIER AND THE NOT-HEARD FEMINA 41

izes each in terms of turpis amor and intemperans libido, worthy of a

meretrix. Meretrix itself was a term of abuse in Ciceronian rhetoric, not
necessarily based upon fact. A meretrix was infamis; consequently, her
testimony would be discredited. 33 Sassia and Clodia are witnesses for the
prosecution, and Cicero, the attorney for the defense, must necessarily
call their credibility into question. In the case of Fulvia, her character
must be assassinated in order to demonstrate, by association, the guilt of
her husband.
Cicero's methods with Fulvia are more subtle than those employed
against the others. For instance, he first introduces her as bonafemina,
but qualifies the "compliment" with the tagline, quidem locuples certe,
and adds gratuitously that her father was a certain Bambalio, homo nullo
numero (Phil. 3.16). Later, he does not mince words, and Fulvia is a
mulier ... avarissima (6.4), an adventuress, a well-born meretrix who, for
gain, has had the bad judgment to marry in succession three of Cicero's
political enemies: Clodius, Curio, and Antony. 34 Fulvia neither toiled,
according to S.B. Pomeroy, nor did she spin. She did, however, wield
political influence, and was, consequently, loathed by Cicero. 35
Sassia and Clodia are mulieres whose portraits share related themes
in respect to their invective. Cicero characterizes both as adulteresses
who have seduced adulescentes; they carry out their schemes aided by
slaves under cover of darkness; and both are implicated in the poisonings
of persons who may have stood in the way of their libidinous purposes.
Their portrayals illustrate mulier in conjunction with the rhetoric of the
bacchanale, a device employed throughout Latin prose to defame by the
combined implications of unnatural sexual appetite, murder and con-
spiracy, poisoning and witchcraft, and foreign superstition. 36

33 T.A. Dorey, "Cicero, Clodia and the Pro Cae/io," G&R ser. 2:6 (1959) 178, n. 3; cf.

Opelt (supra, n. 14) 214-215.

34 J.P.V.D. Balsdon observes: "What language other than obscene vituperation could

Cicero employ in the description of a woman who had Clodius for her first husband and
Antony for her last?" Roman Women, their History and Habits (London, 1962) 49.
3' Pomeroy (supra, n. 23) 185.
36 The oratorof theAdHerennium explains the toposof the adulteress-poisoner (4. 16.23):

a woman guilty of one crime was, at the same time, culpable of many. The orator states that
a mu/ier impudica was also judged to be a venefica, since her body was given turpissimae
cupiditati; thus she had to fear many people: her husband, her parents, and anyone else who
had come in contact with her dedecoris infamia. Consequently, the magnitudo peccati drove
her to kill; it likewise rendered her timidam, intemperantia audacem, and by the natura
mu/ieris inconsideratam. Conversely, a venefica was considered impudica because her only
possible motivation for committing such a crime was turpis amor and intemperans ibido: tum
cuius mulieris animus esset corruptus, eius corpus castum esse non putaverunt (lb.). The
orator insists that the same principle does not apply to men: Quia viros ad unum quodque
maleficium singu/ae cupiditates impel/uni, mulieris ad omnia maleficia cupiditas una ducit.
42 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

Cicero paints a garish portrait of Sassia. Using images of animalism

and fire, the orator brands her a mulier importuna whose nefaria libido
is non solum dedecore, verum etiam scelere coniuncta (Cluent. 12). She
treats her own son with odium and crudelitas; her crimes are immanes. 37
Sassia's passion for the adulescens Melinus is contra fas. Like an
animal, she is amore cap ta; her desires, which cannot be contained, burst
into flames. 38 The word mu lier runs thematically throughout the invec-
tive (Cluent. 15):
0 mulieris scelus incredibile et praeter hanc unam in omni vita inauditum! 0
libidinem effrenatam et indomitam! 0 audaciam singularem! ... Perfregit ac
prostravit omnia cupiditate ac furore: vicit pudorem libido, timorem audacia,
rationem amentia.

Sassia's unnatural appetites foreshadow her brutality. lncensa odio, the

mulier crudelissima presides over the torture of her slave Nicostratus
(181); with the relish of a Maenad, the mulier amens orders that the
tongue of her thrall Strato be ripped out and that he be riveted to a cross
(187), a crime Cicero insists she has committed furore (191); a delict
which insinuations about her sexual relations with the slave make all the
more hideous (184 ). Cicero does not omit to imply that the mulier, as
accomplice to her third husband, Oppianicus-homo tam audax, tam
nefarius, tam nocens (42)-has even attempted to poison her own son,
Cluentius (189):
non est perfecto de illo veneno celata mater; nihil est ab Oppianico sine
consilio mulieris cogitatum.

Sassia is a filthy presence whose polluted footsteps must be expiated

H. Caplan notes similar sentiments in Seneca (Contr. 7.3 (18).6) and Quintilian (Inst. Oral.
5.11.39), demonstrating the pcrsistency of the topos. [Cicero) Ad C. Herennium de ratione
dicendi, ed. & tr. by H. Caplan, LCL (London, 1954) 286. Many of the maiestas trials
recorded in Tacitus' Anna/es reflect the combined notions of the woman as adulteress,
poisoner and/or witch (peregrina superstitio): e.g. Aemilia Lepida (Ann. 3.22); Claudia
Pulchra (Ann. 4.52); Numantina (Ann. 4.22); cited in E. Massoneau, La Magie dans
/' Antiquite Romain (Paris, 1934) 177 sq. Adultery and poisoning are implied in the case of
Livilla (Ann. 4.3; 10), and also number with witchcraft among the charges trumped up by
Nero against Octavia (Zon.11.12. p. 39, 12-20). Quintilian credits the topos to Cato the
Elder: Si causam venificii dicat adultera, non M. Catonis iudicio damnata videatur, qui
nu/lam adulteramnon eandem esse veneficam dixit? (Inst. Oral. 5.11.39). The adulteress,
poisoner, witch/foreign cultist, fit neatly into Bacchanalian rhetoric.
37 Cicero reserves importunus, nefarius, crude/is and immanis for beasts and M. Antony.

Merguet (supra, n. 2) s.v. belva. Opelt associates animal imagery with the language of the
criminal (supra, n. 14) 144.
38 deinde ita flagrare coepit amen ti a, sic inflammata ferri libidine, ut earn non pudor, non

pudicitia, non pietas ... a cupiditate revocaret (Cluent. 12).

Contra fas, adulescens, amentia and flaming libido, upon which Cicero harps, belong to
the lexicon of the Bacchanalia. Sec Livy 39.8.6-8; 13.10-13. v. infra, n. 39.
 THE OBSCENE MULIER AND THE NOT-HEARD FEMINA 43

(193). Like a gorgon, her very glance transfixes any who behold it,
prompting innkeepers to slam their doors in her face; in consequence,
she must frequent lonely alleys in the dark (193). Most significantly,
Sassia practices nocturna sacrificia (194). 39 Ungovernable ardor by
older women for adulescentes and servi, the coercion of witnesses for
purposes of false testimony, torture, poisoning, murders, superstitio,
gorgons, and clandestine nocturnal sacrifices are prime elements of the
bacchic cult which, even though it had been stamped out in 186 B.C.,
nevertheless, bequeathed a rich legacy ofrhetoric. There are even forged
wills (41). The only element lacking is the vinum-perhaps because
Sassia could not gain admittance to the taverns.
Cicero employs mulier with pejorative adjectives for Sassia more
than for any other of his feminine adversaries. 40 In fact, he notes that
caeca crudelitas, scelus, turpitudo, and cupiditas have so stained the
honor of her family that she is too depraved to be called afemina (Cluent.
199). This statement confirms Cicero's recognition that the word femina
embodied certain virtues, and that the title should be witheld from
females who have not lived up to them.
The iteration of mulierwith its plethora of pejoratives in Pro Cluentio,
is in converse ratio to the strength of Cicero's case, which is said to have
been weak. 41 Consequently, the orator's task was to convince the jury
that Sassia was an unnatural parent. 42 This he has done, in part, by calling
her a mulier in contexts of Bacchanalian rhetoric and combinations of
modifiers that recall beasts, tyrants, gladiators, pirates, and the crimi-
nally insane. The proliferation of such adjectives tinges Sassia 's portrait
in sanguinary hues which suggest, on the one hand, bloodthirsty pre-
meditation, and on the other, a dog gone mad.
Cicero uses similar themes for Clodia Pulchra in the Pro Caelio. Like
Sassia, Clodia is a mulier whose rampageous libidines must be satisfied
by an adulescens (Cael. 50; 70). Since Clodia is charging M. Caelius
with poisoning, Cicero uses the nocturnal poisoner topos as a translatio
39 Cicero rages against nocturna mulierum sacrificia in De legibus (2.21; 35); cf. Cluent.
194:
Quin etiam nocturna sacrificia, quae putat occultiora esse, sceleratasque eius preces et
nefaria vota cognovimus; quibus ilia etiam deos immortales de suo scelere testatur
ncquc intcllegit pietate et religione et iustis precibus deorum mentes, non contaminata
supcrstitione neque ad scelus perficiendum caesis hostiis posse placari. Cuius ego
furorem atque crudelitatem deos immortales a suis aris atque templis aspernatos esse
confido.
•o mulier amens (Cluent. 187); m. audax (18); m.crudelis (18; 177; 181); m.furiosa (182);
m. importuna (12; 177); m. nefaria (176; 185); m. pecuniosa (18).
• 1 Quintilian (Inst. 2.17.21); Nisbet (supra, n. 26) 59-60.
42 lhid., 59.
44 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

criminis (Herenn. 1.14.24) in order to shift the blame from Caelius,

insinuating that Clodia dispatched her late husband, Q. Metellus Celer,
with a fast-acting drug: ex hac igitur domo progressa ista mulier de
veneni celeritate dicere audebit (Cael. 60). 43
Cicero's tactics with Clodia differ from those used for Sassia; the
adjectives applied to mulier have no connotations of cruelty. Rather
Clodia is the shameless hussy, whose affairs are carried on for all to see
at Baiae beach convivia (Cael. 47):
Nihilne igitur ilia vicinitas redolet, nihilne hominum fama, nihil Baiae
denique ipsae loquantur? Illae vero non loquuntur solum, verum etiam
personant, hue unius mulieris libidinem esse prolapsam, ut ea non modo
solitudinem ac tenebras atque haec flagitiorum integumenta non quaerat, sed
in turpissimis rebus frequentissima celebritate et clarissima luce laetetur.

Clodia is wayward and impetuous, as one can see from the epithets:
proterva meretrixprocaxque (49); immoderata mulier (53); temeraria,
procax, irata mulier (55). Geffcken remarks that Cicero indulges in
obscene humour and exaggeration followed by degradation, as in mulier
potens quadrantaria, a term which suggests that the rich and powerful
Clodia' s favours can be obtained at a cut rate. As Geffcken writes, Cicero
delights in portraying Clodia as the lady of the domus who is always
having open house. 44
Cicero hisses ista mulier at Clodia repeatedly in the speech. 45 Signifi-
cantly, the orator employsfemina only twice: once when great Appius'
ghost compares her behaviour to that of the illustrious feminae of the
gens Claudia (Cael. 34); and in a passage that drips with sarcasm, as
Cicero terms Clodia's gang of bathtub desperados viri boni who are talis
feminaefamiliares (Cael. 63). The irony of this remark is emphasized by
the fact that Clodia is referred to as a mulier more than two dozen times
in pejorative contexts throughout the oration.
As with Cluentius, Cicero had another dubious client on his hands; 46
and when one is defending someone who is demonstrably guilty, Bac-
chanalian rhetoric is a sure ploy that will distract the jurors. Cicero
therefore relies upon the topos of the older non nupta mulier-in reality
a meretrix-who, applying blandimenta, lures adulescentes into her
domus, which Cicero, according to Geffcken, portrays as a "place of

43 On word-play upon Metellus' cognomen, Celer: M. Tu/Ii Ciceronis Pro M. Cae/io

Oratio, ed., R.G. Austin (Oxford, 1933-64) 121, n. 27.

44 Geffcken (supra, n. 5) 32; 37.

45 Cic. Cael. 32; 38; 56; 60; 67.

46 G. Kennedy, The Art of Rhetoric in the Roman World (Princeton, 1972) 199. cf.

Geffcken (supra, n. 5) 9.
 THE OBSCENE MULIER AND THE NOT-HEARD FEMINA 45

darkness, secrets, plotting and poisoning;" where "slaves are not slaves"
but "co-voluptuaries and conspirators" ( Cael. 49). 47
Geffcken has demonstrated that Cicero, in a "Roman Holiday" spirit,
uses comic techniques to ridicule and degrade Clodia. 48 She furthermore
notes patterns which she likens to Plautine comedy. 49 In particular, she
cites Cicero's resurrection of Appius Claudius, who addresses Clodia in
the persona of the old-fashioned and severe senex. 50 Note Cicero's use
of mulier in the vocative, the typical form of rude address in Plautus
(Cael. 34):
Mulier, quid tibi cum Caelio, quid cum homine adulescentulo, quid cum
alieno?

The topos of the older married woman dallying with the impressionable
adulescens is, indeed, straight out of Plautus, who connects such behav-
iour with practitioners of Bacchic rites. Young Pistoclerus suspects two
germanae meretrices of being bacchantes whose intentions toward him
are strictly dishonorable: Quia Bacchis, bacchas metuo et bacchanal
tuom (Plaut. Ba. 53). The boy is certain they are animals who will entice
him into their shadow-ridden lair (lb. 55-56):
Magis illectum tuom quam lectum metuo, mala tu 's bestia. nam huic aetati non
conducit, mulier, latebrosus locus.

Pistoclerus also remarks that nox, mulier and vinum exert a fatal appeal
upon an adolescent boy (lb. 88). Plautus' bacchic mulieres, who are
never feminae, 51 ply the boy with blanditiis, which the author likens to
birdlime (lb. 48-52).
Here we have the vocabulary of coniuratio; this combination of
words and ideas must be recognized for what it is, a weapon of character
assassination. 52 The topos was used by Cicero with mulier, of Sassia and
Clodia, and with homo of Piso, Catiline, Clodius and Antony. 53 The

47 Geffcken (supra, n. 5) 33.

48 Ibid. 3-7.
49 Ibid. 3.
50 /bid. 17-18.
51 Lodge (supra, n. 5) s. v .femina; mulier: Ba. 41; 52; 56; 88; 92; 4 72; 478; 489; 838; 843;

845; 851; 891; 1161.

52 Bacchanalian rhetoric is used throughout Latin literature as an element of innuendo,

slander, and parody: by Sallust of the Catilinarians; by Velleius of Antony and Cleopatra v.
infra, 117; overtly by Tacitus of Messalina, and by innuendo, of Poppaea and Agrippina. v.
infra, 134; Petronius and Apuleius parody the topos, v. infra, 179-80.
51 Although such rhetoric harks back to Euripides, the Latin version may well stem from

the official Senatorial propaganda against the Bacchic cult from Plautus' own day, since
comedy must use a comprehensible frame of reference to which its audience can relate.
Hanson (supra, n. 10) 51.
46 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

reader, who is being treated to a rhetorical topos rather than a true

portrait, should treat this medley of themes with cautious skepticism. 54
As Geffcken notes, the ultimate purpose of invective in oratory is to
destroy one• s opponent, using every available verbal weapon, including
"ridicule, parody, caricature, [and] burlesque." 55 At the outset of Pro
Caelio, Cicero states that he intends to squelch libidinem muliebrem
(Cael. 1). The iteration of mulier with pejorative adjectives acts as a
refrain in which the word mulier itself becomes identified with that vice.
By continuous repetition, Cicero has successfully converted the neutral
mulier into a term of abuse.

54 This cannot be stressed enough! Much nonsense has been wriuen by respectable

scholars upon the nature of women, their evaluations being based upon topoi. An example
is Baisden' s insensitive interpretations of Clodia and Sempronia which swallow Ciceronian
and Sallustian rhetoric hook, line, and sinker (supra, n. 34) 55:
Clodia was a consul's widow; Sempronia was an ex-consul's wife. They were both
rebels against the staid limitations of conventional society, seeking amusement and
stimulation where it was to be found.They took risks and lived dangerously. Anything
to escape the boredom of respectability.
Statements that Clodia was "38 and losing her hold", and that Sempronia was "even older
still," (lb.) tell us more about Mr. Balsdon than they do about either of these women. He
further notes that after the Caelius affair Clodia is never heard of again. This is probably
because Cicero's time was otherwise occupied by going into exile and fighting for his
political career. Such remarks in Balsdon's book, with its condescending title (i.e .... Their
History and Habits) do liule to further scholarship on Roman women. Although Pomeroy
recognizes the propaganda element in the portraits of Fulvia, Octavia and Cleopatra arising
from sources hostile to Antony (supra, n. 23) 185, she fails to discern a similar tradition
behind Sallust's portrait of Sempronia, citing her "sexual liberty", p. 171. Syme writes of
the "arrogant and criminal females" of the Julio-Claudians, in "Princesses and others in
Tacitus," G&R ser. 2, 28:l (1981) 41. Their arrogance and criminality has been portrayed
with the same bacchanalian brush, only more artfully, by Tacitus.
55 Geffcken (supra, n. 5) 66.
 CHAPTER THREE

SALLUST: FACTIONAL POLITICS THROUGH

THE LOOKING-GLASS

Masculine Terminology: The War with Jugurtha

Virtus is its own reward, according to Sallust. 1 It is achieved by deeds in
service of the Republic. With this latter sentiment, Cicero would totally
agree. Where Sallust diverges from the orator is in the interpretation of
the methods used to acquire virtus. Ambitio and dominatio are the
historian's bugaboos, and Cicero, from the point of view of the non-boni,
could be said to be guilty of both of them. 2 According to D.C. Earl,
Sallust, a "disillusioned popular is", expressed himself in the traditional
political terminology of his era, 3 an age usually thought of as Ciceronian,
thanks to the orator's literary inundation of reading posterity. 4 Sallust
employs that terminology, however, from another perspective, and his
viewpoint, often at odds with that of Cicero, might be regarded as a sort
of mirror image. This is apparent in his use of male gender terms: often
a Ciceronian vir will be rendered a Sallustian homo, and, conversely, a
Ciceronian homo will be converted into a Sallustian vir (v. infra, pp. 49;
56).
It would be a mistake, however, to regard Sallust as a mere popularis
hack, regurgitating a "party-line"-that is, if those restless alliances that
opposed the dominatio of the established nobility could ever be said to
have had such. 5 As Syme has written, "Sallust is, at the same time, an
artist, a politician, and a moralist, the elements so fused and combined
that he seems all of one piece." 6 Sometimes dismissed by scholars as a
political pamphleteer, 7 Sallust wrote history in what he firmly believed

1 D.C. Earl, Political Thought of Sallust (Cambridge, 1961) 111; cf. L.R. Lind, "Concept

and character: the reasons for Rome's greatness," TAPA 103 (1972) 248.
2 Earl (supra, n. l) 114; ambitio was the antithesis of virtus in Roman thought: Earl, The

Moral and Political Tradition of Rome (Ithaca, 1967) 33-34.

3 Earl (supra, n. 1) 112.
4 R. Syme, Sallust (Berkeley, 1964) 84.
5 R. Seager, "Cicero and the word, popularis," CQ N.S. 22 (1972) 338.
6 Syme (supra, n. 4) 2.
7 Ibid., Loe. cit.; T.F. Carney, A Biography of Marius (Chicago, 1970) 75.
48 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

to be the Thucydidean tradition. 8 Syme, in fact, places him between

Thucydides and Tacitus, as far as historical tradition is concerned. 9
Sallust was, furthermore, regarded by the ancients as one of the foremost
historians of his day. 10 His use of masculine terminology indicates his
seriousness of purpose, for he placed the terms vir and homo in the
mouths of his characters-be they boni, populares, improbi, or foreign-
ers-as they themselves would have uttered them. 11 Although Syme
believes that Sallust eschews Ciceronianisms, 12 Sallustian orations ne-
vertheless preserve Roman rhetorical traditions, some of which are
apparent in his employment of vir and homo.
Sallust's masculine terminology can be separated into two categories:
that which is part of his narrative, and that which belongs to his reported
orations. Although most entries fall into the latter group, or in the
character sketches which introduce the speeches (v. infra, p. 51), there
are numerous instances pertaining to the former. For instance, early in
the Jugurthine War, Sallust introduces his readers to several homines
who are paragons of oligarchical venality. The first is M. Aemilius
Scaurus, homo nobilis. The term is not complimentary, as the rest of the
sentence reveals: homo nobilis impiger factiosus, avidus potentiae
honoris divitiarum, ceterum vitia sua callide occultans (BJ 15.4).13

' T.F. Scanlon maintains that Sallust composed both his orations and their introductory
remarks in emulation of Thucydides, a fact cited by the elder Seneca (Contr. 9.1.13) and
Velleius Paterculus (2.36.2). Scanlon further notes that Sallust's characterizations "embrace
the same psychological and political criteria of Thucydides." The Influence of Thucydides
on Sallust (Heidelberg, 1980) 86-88; Sallust's introductory remarks and set speeches
employ vir and homo as rhetorical components that contribute to the delineation of character.
Thucydides' introductory remarks used aner with positive adjectives and, in one case only,
anthropos with pejoratives. Archidamus is the equivalent of vir sapiens et prudens: aner
dokon kai sophon (Thuc. 1.79.2): Pericles is the fortissimus vir: dunatotatos (l.127.3);
Brasidas, aner dikaion kai metrion (4.81.1-2); and Hermocrates is aner ... kata ton polemon
emperia (6.72.2); Hypcrbolus, however, is the equivalent of the Ciceronian homo adflictus
(Phil. 3.25), mochthros anthropos (8.73.3). It would seem that the Greek historian used free
birth and citizenship (either Athenian or Spartiate) as a criterion for aner, and the lack
thereof for anthropos, when the terms are used in apposition. He uses anthropos of an
unnamed accomplice of an assassin, an Argeios anthropos (8.92.2). Demosthenes' use of
aner with positive adjectives and hanthropos with pejoratives (supra, chapter one) seems to
corroborate the notion that there were set conventions regarding gender terms in Greek as
well as Latin, and that Roman usage may have been predicated upon Greek rhetorical
precedents.
9 Syme (supra, n. 4) 256.
10 Ibid., 289.
11 Sallust's speeches as thinly disguised character sketches in emulation of Thucydides:

Scanlon (supra, n. 8) 90.

12 Syme (supra, n. 4) 294.
13 A trait shared with Q. Curius, Fulvia's Catilnarian lover, another homo (BC 23.2). As

noted above (chapter one, n. 48) nobilis, according to Lacey, is not a political compliment;
therefore, neither is homo nobilis.
 SALLUST: FACTIONAL POLITICS THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS 49

Scaurus' portrait is said to be negative throughout, 14 perhaps reflecting

Sallust's contempt for a man who had to scramble for power like a novus
homo. 15 Of similar ilk is L. Calpurnius Bestia, a consul who recruits
homines novosfactiosos to cover up any peccadillos he might commit in
the course of his campaign against Jugurtha (28.4 ). Sallust's readers will
not be surprised when a magistrate, who employs such dubious aids,
brings back a dishonourable peace treaty 16 and meets a bad end at the
hands of the Mamilian commission, a quaestio extraordinaria, from
which L. Opimius, homo clarus, receives a sentence of death (BJ 16.2). 17
E. Koestermann observes that homo clarus seems to be a tribute, but he
also cites the negative tag-line et tum in senatu potens, quia consul C.
Graccho et M. Fulvio Fiacco interfectis acerrume victoriam nobilitatis
in plebem exercuerat. 18 Opimius has displayed characteristics similar to
those of Bestia (28.5); 19 he represents that which Sallust, himself a
former tribune of the plebs, considers a pernicious clique of nobiles at
the root of the State's problems. Had Sallust any regard for Opimius,
Bestia or Scaurus, they would be viri, as they are in Cicero. Scaurus,
according to the orator, was a singularis vir (Fam. 1.9.16); Bestia, a vir
acer et non indisertus, who met a sad end in his consulship (Brut. 128); 20
and Cicero considered Opimius a fortissimus vir who saved the State
(Mil. 82; 84). 21 Sallust's and Cicero's divergent approaches demonstrate
the use of homo and vir in the framework of factional opposites.
Sallust repeatedly employs homo nobilis in pejorative contexts. For
instance, when the Numidian, Bomilcar, wishes to destroy Jugurtha, he
suborns the pusillanimous and cowardly Nabdalsa, hominem nobilem,
magnis opibus, clarum acceptumque popularibus suis (BJ 70.2), to
breakfides with the king and hand him over to Caecilius Metellus for
cash (BJ 71.3). On another occasion, envoys urge Metellus to restrain
Hamilcar, hominem nobilemfactiosum, who is plotting insurrection (BJ

1• C. Sal/ustius Crispus Bellumlugurthinum, erlliutert und miteiner Einleitung versehen

von Erich Koestermann (Heidelberg, 1971) 83.

is E.S. Gruen, Roman Politics in the Criminal Courts (Harvard,1968) 118; cf. Syme
(supra, n. 4) 165. As a member of the boni in good standing Scaurus should have been above
such ignoble strivings.
16 Gruen writes that Bestia "marched off to Numidia with a reputation for valor" but

"returned with only a treaty for peace."

17 BJ 40.4-5; Gruen loc. cit.; cf. Syme (supra, n. 4) 167.
11 Koestermann (supra, n. 14) 85.
19 Ibid., 145.
2°Cited by Gruen (supra, n. 15) 145.
21 v. supra, chapter one, p. 15.
22 Koestermann notes the asyndeton in homo nobilisfactiosus which seems to be peculiar

to Sallust (supra, n. 14) 118.

50 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

Nabdalsa and Hamilcar are thoroughly reprehensible characters, and

homo nobilis (rather than vir), used of each, contributes to the pejorative
picture.
The epithet is also employed of M. Licinius Crass us, who as a wealthy
consular would normally be termed a vir. The homo nobilis puts in a
dubious appearance in the Catilinarian conspiracy (BC 48.5). Although
K. Vretska sees the epithet as laudatory, equating it with vornehm, 23
issue must be taken in light of the historian's other uses of the term.
Furthermore, Sallust presents the epithet as a part of gossip-spread,
according to Crassus, by Cicero-implicating the millionaire in the
conspiracy. Noting that some senators could not credit that a hominem
nobilem, maxumis divitiis, summa potentia could be involved in the
affair, Sallust adds that many others believed the report, but did not wish
to tangle with a man of Crassus' power (BC 48.5-9). Juxtaposition of
ideas is a device of innuendo. 24 While homo nobilis-an epithet used by
Cicero of second-rate municipal aristocrats 25-combined with potentia,
may reflect the doubts being expressed about Crassus' part in the
conspiracy, it may also represent Sallust's own opinion of the million-
aire's complicity in the affair. 26
Sallust has entwined the portraits of his homines nobiles with a
common thread of factio and potentia, pernicious attributes of the
arrogant nobility, which the historian, in a burst ofThucydidean omnis-
cience, sees to have led to the Civil War which brought down the
Republic. 27 Sallust's characters fall into the tradition of Roman
historiography that was to be exemplified by Livy, in that they are the
embodiments of moral qualities; and Bestia, Scaurus and the other
homines nobiles are said to be personifications of civil strife. 28 Factio

23 C. Sallustius Crispus De Catilinae Coniuratione, kommentiert von Karl Vretska

(Heidelberg, 1976) 486. Even though the Crassus gens had had consular status for over a
century, Vrctska secs Crass us to be a Marcus-come-lately and not a real member of the
narrow clique of nobiles.
24 I.S. Ryberg, "Tacitus' art of innuendo," TAPA 73 (1942) 390.
25 Cicero sometimes called Crassus afortissimus vir (Sest. 39; 48; Verr. 5.5), but not in

the Catilinarian speeches.

26 On homo nobilis, v. supra, n. 13.
27 Gruen maintains that the Civil War caused the end of the Republic, and not vice versa,

The Last Generation of the Roman Republic (Berkeley, 1974) 504. While Sallust acknowl-
edges that the power struggle among the nobility had ravaged social and political institu-
tions, he seems to imply a post-war desolation in which accepted governmental institutions
were demolished (BJ 5.2). Faction and a struggle for power which brought about the
downfall of nations is a Thucydidcan topos which Sallust has adapted: Scanlon (supra, n.
8) 20.
2' Scanlon (supra, n. 8) 26.
 SALLUST: FACTIONAL POLITICS THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS 51

and potentia are antithetical to virtus, 29 and the men who exhibit such
characteristics are homines, not viri.
Characters such as Nabdalsa and Gauda, an apparent half-brother of
Jugurtha, would probably be termed homines anyway, since they fall
under the rubric of undistinguished foreigners. 30 Nevertheless, the pejo-
rative context within which the epithets are set is undeniable.Notice how
Sallust contrasts homo and vir in his portrayal of Gauda. Marius under-
mines Metellus' authority by playing upon the disgruntled vanity of the
Numidian. He flatters the hominem ob morbos animo parum valido, and
hails him as regem, ingentem virum, Masinissae nepotem (BJ 65.3).
Once more, homo and vir are contrasted to the disadvantage of the
former, and to the credit of the latter.
There is no question in Sallust's mind about the merits of the Romans,
Q. Fabius Maximus and P. Cornelius Scipio. Both are praeclari viri, who
lived in that pristine era of the second Punic War before Rome lost her
metus hostilis. 31 Sallust tells us that the mere glimpse of their ancestors'
imagines aroused these men to paroxysms of virtus (BJ 4.5). They are
soldiers of old, the type that he lauds in the War with Catiline as tales viri
(BC 7 .5). In just a few lines about Fabius and Scipio, Sallust has provided
his readers with a rich, albeit cameo, portrait of that virtually extinct
species, the vir of yesteryear. 32 Sallust intended such "nut-shell" portray-
als to foreshadow deeds of significant personages, and to set forth the
major themes upon which he elaborates. 33 For instance, Sallust is an
admirer of Q. Metellus Numidicus; Metellus is an acervir (BJ 43.1), and,
in what Syme sees to be the historian's greatest compliment, a magnus
and sapiens vir (BJ 45.1 ). 34 Metellus seems all that a Roman imperator
should be, intrepid, a superb tactician, and an old-fashioned disciplinar-
ian who rehabilitates Postumius' demoralized army with just the right
mixture of severity and moderation. Nevertheless, he is a nobleman, and,

29 They are related to ambitio and desire for regnum; cf. Earl (supra, n. l) 111-14.
30 Such are the Latin allies in the Jugurthine war: homines nominis Latini et socios
/talicos (BJ 40.2). Another Numidian, Dabar, a mediator between Bocchus and Sulla, is
termed a sanctus vir ex sententia ambobus (BJ 109 .4 ); while Koestermann accepts this, he
cites another commentator who would like to delete the phrase as a gloss added at a later date,
on the grounds that Dabar is described by Sallust as the son of a concubine (BJ 108. l). Dabar,
very likely, qualifies as a vir sanctus because of his loyalty to Rome during wartime. Livy,
it will be demonstrated, used a similar criterion to determine whether a foreigner was a vir
or a homo (v. infra, chapter four).
31 Earl (supra, n. l) 116.
32 Scanlon states that such character sketches ranged from the "briefest outline to the

quasi-Junebris /audatio" (supra, n. 8) 84.

33 Ibid., 86; 90.

34 Syme (supra, n. 4) 158.

52 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

according to Sallust, the nobility of these days simply does not compare
to the nobility of those days; consequently, Metellus cannot resist
subverting Numidian envoys, and he furthermore succumbs to ambition
and jealousy and acts in a petty un-Roman manner towards Marius.
Sallust's admiration seems to prevent Metellus from degenerating into
a homo, although he comes close to doing so as he blubbers over Marius'
election. Sallust qualifies his praise: Metellus is a vir egregius in aliis
artibus, but nimis molliter aegritudinem pati (82.2-3).
Metellus and Jugurtha are imperatores and summi viri (BJ 52.1). Vir
demonstrates both of them to be on an equal military footing-a
formidable match for each other that individual personal failings cannot
invalidate. Much of Jugurtha's character is revealed through the eyes of
others, 35 and the employment of vir and homo is integral to Sallust's
presentation of the perception of the Numidian's observers. The fore-
most of these is King Micipsa. At first pleased with his nephew's
accomplishments, he gradually begins to worry that the hominem
adulescentem is becoming too popular for the good of the realm (BJ 6.2).
He cannot assassinate talem virum lest his death precipitate sedition (BJ
6.3). Micipsa realizes that hominem tam acceptum popularibus can be
neither coerced nor gulled by ploys (BJ 7 .1 ), so he sends Jugurtha off to
Numantia in charge of the Numidian cavalry and hopes for the worst.
The plot backfires, however, as Micipsa realizes when he receives a
letter from Scipio Aemilianus, commending Jugurtha in the highest
terms: Habes virum dignum te atque avo suo Masinissa (BJ 9.2).
Consequently Micipsa decides it is in his interests to be impressed cum
virtute, tum gratia viri [Jugurthae]; he therefore adopts him as co-heir
with his two sons, Adherbal and Hiempsal (BJ 9.3). On his deathbed, the
old king counsels them: C olite, observate talem hunc vi rum [ Jugurtham],
imitamini virtutem et enitimini, ne ego meliores liberos sumpsisse videar
quam genuisse (BJ 10.8). The boys, however, do not heed the king's
advice and are soon at each other's throats; and when Jugurtha has
Hiempsal's slit, Adherbal sails for Rome, and denounces his step-
brother, Jugurtha, to the Senate as homo omnium quos terra sustinet
sceleratissumus, who, contempto imperio vostro Masinissae me nepotem
et iam ab stirpe socium atque amicum populi Romani reg no fortunisque
omnibus expulit (BJ 14.2). The above summary sets forth the relative
qualities of vir and homo, revealing the former as a laudatory term, and

35 K. Buechner, Sallust (Heidelberg, 1982) 182.

 SALLUST: FACTIONAL POLITICS THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS 53

the latter as a word of abuse. Understanding of the terms' nuances

patently lends insight into Sallust's methods of characterization.
Sallust grants preliminary approval to Marius: at the outset of his
career, Marius was talis vir that he did not attempt to seek the consulship;
subsequently, however, the novus homo was prodded to do so by ambitio
(BJ 63.6). One may infer from these statements that a great vir should
be modest enough to resist the temptation of over-eagerness in the
pursuit of high office; and also that ambitio, which Sallust detests, comes
naturally to the novus homo. After Marius opens the army to the landless,
Sallust remarks that when a homo is aspiring to power, the egentissumi
and the opportunissumi are his greatest allies (BJ 86.3). Homo is not only
the appropriate word for Marius, the aspiring politician, but, as Cicero
demonstrated with homo and popularis, homo also associates Marius
closely with the riffraff upon whom he is relying for support.
The gender terminology that Marius uses in reference to the nobility
in his speech before the people is instructive. Syme informs us that the
oration is "skillfully constructed," and "designed less to illustrate the
situation than portray a character." 36 He also observes that Marius'
purpose was to "harry the aristocracy," 37 and according to K. Buechner,
the speech is filled with factional invective against the ruling nobility. 38
Sallust employs homo and vir as Marius, himself, would have uttered the
words.
The novus consul wastes no time in expressing his opinion of the
senatorial clique. Marius urges the people to deliberate carefully before
giving command of the war to one ex illo globo nobilitatis; before
sending into battle hominem veteris prosapiae ac multarum imaginum
et nullius stipendi (BJ 85. 10). Marius then jeers at the praeposteri
homines who have never bothered to read Greek and Roman history until
after their election to the consulship, but who, nevertheless, expect to
exercise intelligent foreign policy (BJ 85 .12). Marius' own experience
has been gained on the battlefield; he is proud to be a novus homo, and
he notes virtus to be the only genuine nobility (BJ 85.13). The aristocracy
are jealous homines corrupti superbia (BJ 85.19), and Marius wants no
part of their trappings-money, imagines, or classical education. He
brags that he has not the slightest interest in the study of Greek which,
he scoffs, has done nothing to improve the mores of those who flout their

36 Syme (supra, n. 4) 168.

37 Ibid, 169; cf. Scanlon (supra, n. 8) 91.
3' Buechner (supra, n. 35) 196; Earl notes that novi homines customarily stood on the

record of their own virtus when attacking the aristocracy (supra n. 2) 47.
54 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

educational superiority. He further notes that while their noble ancestors

may have endowed them with a financial and cultural heritage, these
homines superbissumi err in not seeking virtus, the one quality that
cannot be passed on to them by inheritance (BJ 85.38). 39 Marius brings
his anti-aristocratic diatribe to a climax by noting that his father and
other sane ti viri taught him as a little boy that refinements were suitable
for women but hard work was the only fit doctrine for real men (BJ
85.40):
munditias mulieribus, laborem viris convenire, omnibus bonis oportere plus
gloriae quam divitiarum esse; arma non supellectilem decori esse.

Lambasting the nobility as a pack of carousers living on the paunch of

their own gluttony, Marius employs a combination of words unique to
contemporary invective: he chastises the nobles as TURPISSUMI VIRI!
(BJ 85.42).
Now the combination of turpissumi and viri caused enough doubt in
the mind of some monastic copyist to cause him to omit the latter word
from the Vatican Manuscript. 40 It does not, however, seem to be a
mistake, and is accepted in all the other MSS. Is turpissumi viri supposed
to represent one of Marius' pleonasms, with which the speech is said to
be loaded? 41 Or is Sallust deliberately depicting Marius as branding the
aristocracy in their own terms with words that would be sweet to the ears
of the listening plebs?
Since the speech is essentially Sallust's concoction, both hypotheses
are possible. Nevertheless, Marius' words show him perfectly capable
of handling homo and vir in the accepted rhetorical manner: he has
blasted the aristocrats as homines with pejorative adjectives and has
enshrined his father among the sancti viri. Furthermore, Marius' pose as
a rustic lout is said to have been part of his political persona, 42 to which
Sallust's presentation of the lengthiest oration in the work seems to
testify. The historian may well be portraying the unscrupulous Marius
using his rhetoric to pander to the egentissumi and opportunissumi
elements of society (BJ 86.3). Marius' audience is the key. It will be
recalled how Cicero changed his vocabulary when speaking before the

39 Nowhere in this speech does Marius mention Metellus, although Syme believes that

the novus homo's rival is implied (supra, n. 4) 168. Marius, however, has already blasted
Metellus: homo inanis et regiae superbiae imperio nimis gaudaret (BJ 64.5).
40 A.W. Bennett, Index Verborum Sal/us1ianus (Hildesheim, 1977) s.v. vir.

41 Buechner (supra, n. 35) 197; cf. Syme (supra, n. 4) 168: "archaic expressions reflect

the ostensible plain man."

42 Carney (supra, n. 7) passim.
 SALLUST: FACTIONAL POLITICS THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS 55

people, transforming those perennial homines populares, the Gracchi,

into viri clarissimi. 43 Plutarch tells us that Marius deliberately used
insulting language against the Senate when addressing the populace
(Mar. 9). The aristocratic term viri, coupled with turpissumi, leaves the
politician's listeners no doubt about the identity of the recipients of his
vituperation.
Sallust is preoccupied with the Thucydidean concept of the perver-
sion of political vocabulary, 44 and by putting such a distorted epithet in
Marius' mouth, he may be illustrating precisely how such political
expressions could be twisted. Marius has tagged vir, a noun of honour
usually associated with the nobility, with a pejorative adjective; one
which, furthermore, is invariably used in contemporary oratory by high-
born politicians in tandem with the generic noun, homo, precisely to
degrade their opponents. Marius' words would not have been lost on his
popular audience, who, Plutarch writes, delighted in hearing invective
directed against the aristocracy; neither would they have been wasted
upon those Senators whom Marius was deliberately insulting (Mar. 9);
nor would the point be missed by the aristocracy of Sallust's day, for
whom the message was ultimately intended. Syme tells us that Sallust
was a writer of great subtlety. 45 Moreover, he was a man who was well-
grounded in the factional political arts, having himself been, as he tells
us, among the deserving viri unable to obtain a magistracy due to the
political machinations of the undeserving in the ruling clique (BJ 4.4).
Sallust's own experiences in politics seem to have left him well-versed
in the political implications of the gender terms vir and homo.
The tribune G. Memmius delivers the other rousing speech of the
book. Again Sallust's alternative perspective is evident. Sallust de-
scribes Memmius as vir acer (BJ 27 .2). The historian employs the
adjective acer, which Cicero used persistently with homo in pejorative
settings, in contexts of military valour. 46 Sallust also grants Metellus the
epithet, acer vir, the positive nature of which is evident in his qualifica-
tion, et quamquam advorso populi partium, Jama tamen aequabili et
inviolata (46.1 ). Memmius, in rhetoric of which Cicero would have
approved, even though he believed the tribune to have been an inferior
orator (Brut. 136), denounces the political exploitation of the people by
the ruling clique of nobiles (BJ 31.12):
43 v. supra, chapter one, p. 28.
44 Earl (supra, n. 1) 119.
45 Syme (supra, n. 4) 2.
46 h. acer, Cicero: Quinci. 30; Verr. 5.8; Cluent. 67; Leg. Agr. 2.82; Cat. 3.17. Acer in

Sallust: 8.1. 7.4; 28.7; 58.4; 94.6; 98.2; 101.7.

56 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

Homines sceieratissumi, cruentis manibus, immani avaritia, nocentissumi et

eidem superbissumi, quibus fides, decus, pietas, postremo honesta atque
inhonesta omnia quaestui sunt.

The tribune implicitly contrasts vir with homo when he admonishes his
listeners that although a vir must not suffer a wrong without vengeance,
it is equally wrong to pardon hominibus sceleratissumis (BJ 31.21).
Syme calls Memmius • oration a spirited harangue, characteristic of the
"personality and eloquence of the tribune." 47 Memmius' speech further
illustrates the rhetorical scope of vir as a term of political praise, and
homo as a label of factional abuse. 48

The Catilinarian Conspiracy

Sallust, according to Earl, wrote the War with Catiline in the idiom of
his own day, and the work reflects the political vocabulary of Ciceronian
oratory. 49 As in the War withJugurtha, however, that vocabulary is often
viewed through the looking-glass of factional politics. This may be
illustrated by contrasting the gender terms employed by Cicero and
Sallust of L. Valerius Flaccus and G. Pomptinus, the two praetors who
stopped the Allobrogians at the Milvian Bridge. Cicero informs the
people that he has summoned fortissimos atque amantissimos re i publicae
viros (Flaccus and Pomptinus) to the country's aid, and ever-mindful of
the State's peril, they have led multosfortes viros to invest the bridge
(Cat. 3.5). Cicero presents the praetors as heros who defended the
Republic in the face of acute danger. Sallust, on the contrary, has
stripped away the heroism, reducing the pair to homines militares, who,
far from battling honourably, had captured the unsuspecting Gauls per
insidias (BC 45.1-2). Others are the true heroes of the Catilinarian
conspiracy, as far as Sallust is concerned: Sed memoria mea ingenti
virtute, divorsis moribus fuere viri duo M. Cato et C. Caesar (BC
53.6).
Sallust initiates his description of Catiline: de quoius hominis moribus
pauca prius explananda sunt, quam initium narrandi faciam (BC 4.5).
There follows a catalogue of criminal attributes and the "bacchanalian"
rhetoric customarily associated with homines (and mulieres) in the
speeches of Cicero. 50 Individual Catilinarians, such as Curius and Piso,

47 Syme (supra, n. 4) 167.

48 On Livy's gender terms for tribunes, v. infra chapter four.
49 Earl (supra, n. !) 112.
50 Animus audax subdolus varius, quoius rei lubet simulator ac dissimulator; alieni
 SALLUST: FACTIONAL POLITICS THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS 57

are homines. Sallust explains that Piso was given the province of
Hispania Citerior, even though he was only a quaestor, because the
Senate wished to send the foedum hominem as far away from Rome as
possible (BC 19.2). When Sallust has occasion to specify Catiline's
comrades by gender, they are homines: e.g. homines, quibus mala
abunde omnia erant, sed neque res neque spes bona ulla ... (BC 21.1);
armati homines (27.2; 28.1); homines egentes (37.8); and homines
adulescentes (38.1). Clearly the word vir would be inappropriate under
the circumstances. Viri plot no evil; nor do they travel in armed gangs;
nor do they lack means of support.
Sallust employs his gender terms meticulously, according to situation
and character. For instance, as the omniscient historian, he refers to all
the Catilinarians as homines of the most reprehensible sort. Likewise do
his Cato and Caesar in their reported orations. 51 On the other hand,
Sallust has Caesar term his senatorial political opponents, such as D.
Silanus 52 and Cicero, 53 viri, setting the word in ironic contexts. Caesar's
use of vir for political opponents differs from that which we have seen

adpetens, sui profusus, ardens in cupiditatibus; satis eloquentiae, sapientiae parum. Vastus
animus immoderata, incredibilia nimis alta semper cupiebat. Hunc post dominationem L.
Sullae lubido max um a invaserat rei publicac capiundae; neque id qui bus mod is adsequeretur,
dum sibi regnum pararet, quicquam pensi habebat. Agitabatur magis magisque in dies
animus fcrox inopia rci familiaris et conscientia scelerum, quae utraque iis artibus auxerat,
quas supra mcmoravi. Incitabant practcrca conrupti civitatis mores, quos pcssuma ac divorsa
inter se mala, luxuria atquc avaritia, vcxabant (BC 5.4-8).
51 Caesar: hominibus inpiis (51.15); ta/is ho mines (51.17); homines tantifacinoris
convictos (51.23); and homines sce/estos el fac/iosos (51.32). Vretska notes that see/es/us
is used only in the War with Catiline and in 1hc Histories. He connects the adjective with an
archaic sacral formula (supra, n. 23) 550. Cato is more reserved in his use of gender terms,
confining them to a rhetorical suggestion that the Senate let the misguided homines
adu/escentuli go; their aspirations have led them astray (52.26-27): Misereamini censeo---
deliquere homines .. .per ambitionem ... (Misereamini censeo is the exact opposite argument
of that which his illustrious ancestor kept urging in the case of Carthage. Sallust seems to
have chosen his words with ironic intent.). Hominesadu/escentuli plants the idea of cutthroat
hordes of juvenile delinquents about to be unleashed upon a helpless populace. Cato then
reveals the true nature of the adulescentuli homines: he cannot believe that the patres
conscripti would seriously consider mercy de crudelissumis parricidiis (52.30-31). On
adu/escens as a component of Bacchanalian rhetoric, chapters two and five.
52 Consul-elect for 62 B.C.; a vir fortis ac strenuus, he argued for the dealh penalty (BC

51.16). The epithet is viluperative in Cicero (K. Ziegler, "Strenuus bei Cicero," RhM 112
(1969) 35); it has plebeian associations in Livy (v. infra, p. 55-56). Vretska believes that it
conveys irony (supra, n. 23) 535.
53 De timore supervacuaneum est disserere, quom praesertim diligentia clarissumi viri

consulis tanta praesidia sin/ in armis (51.19). Vretska interprets Caesar's words as the
starkest irony, particularly clarissumus vir consul, uttered by a patrician of a novus homo
who has turned the State upside-down in his efforts to curb the Conspiracy. Vretska further
secs the remark to be an antidote to" der Se/bstbelobung Ciceros" (The orator has harped
upon "mea diligentia" in the Catilinarians: 1.7; 32; 2.24; 4.23, cited by Vretska (supra, n.
22) 538; also 1.11; 2.14; 4.4; 5.). Note that Cicero calls Catiline hominem ... tam in perditis
58 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

in Cicero's speeches. The orator was inclined to hurl homo with pejoratives
at those who did not agree with him. Caesar's choice of words is
governed by the circumstances. No matter how provoked, he would
never refer to Silanus and Cicero as homines. The only homines in this
case are Catiline and his cronies in crime. The Senate has closed ranks.
They may disagree on the details but are nevertheless united against the
threat to the Republic. Sallust, writing as the omniscient historian, is
released from such obligations; he may therefore chastise the senatorial
clique as ignavissumi homines who are undoing all the good work which
fortissumi viri have done (BC 12.5), or reduce Flaccus and Pomptinus,
otherwise insignificant praetors, to homines militares. The historian,
however, who has presented Julius Caesar's speech in huiuscemodi
verba, has done his best to set it "in character", using vocabulary that
Caesar, himself, would have chosen.
Sallust has extended the same treatment to Catiline and his followers.
When the story is told through Catiline's eyes, he an his supporters are
viri, while those he sees to be part of the pernicious clique of nobles are
homines. 54 Sallust has chosen his words appropriately, according to the
exigencies of character. For instance, when Catiline refutes the charges
against him in the Senate, lowering both his voice and eyes, he reminds
them that he is a patricius homo, who has always done his best to serve
the Republic. Patricius homo (rather than vir) reflects Catiline's false
modesty (BC 31.7). In a letter to T. Volturcius of Croton, however, the
chief-conspirator urges him to gird up his courage and remember that he
is a vir (44.5). P. Umbrenus, a Catilinarian agent, expresses similar
sentiments in a communication to the Allobrogians: At ego, inquit, vobis,
si modo viri esse voltis, rationem ostendam, qua tan ta ista mala effugiatis
(40.3). 55 And Catiline, when his cause is lost, urges his supporters to fight
pro patria,pro libertate; and to remember pristinae virtutis. He notes the
futility of fighting pro potentia paucorum, and he assesses the political
situation as one intolerable for viris (58.11-14 )-that is, for himself and

rebus diligentem (Cat. 3.17). Diligens is a favourite Ciceronian term of abuse, used with
homo in the Verrine orations to convey eagerness to swindle or embezzle: e.g., iste homo
cert us et diligens ad horam nonampraes/0 est (2.92; cf. 5.49; cf. Cluent. 91, G. Verres ... homo
sanctus et diligens-an epithet of scathing sarcasm. Foran opposite view, Vretska cites
Bahrens, "Sallust als Historiker, Politiker und Tendenzshiriftsteller," NWZA 1 (1927) 35-82;
cf. Nisbet in Studies in Latin Literature and its Influences, ed. T.A. Dorey, (London, 1965)
63.
54 Scanlon notes that the same rhetorical devices are employed in the speeches as well

as the letters (supra, n. 8) 91.

"Volturcius: cf. Cic. Cat. 3.4; 4.5; Umbrenus: lb. 3.14.
 SALLUST: FACTIONAL POLITICS THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS 59

his followers, since it is unlikely that even the basest criminal would
think of himself in a pejorative light as a homo. 56
Buechner believes that Sallust has presented a "masterpiece of dema-
gogic distortion of the truth" in the speeches, letters and thoughts he has
ascribed to Catiline. 57 Perhaps he has, since semantical change during
times of stress is a Thucydidean concern which preoccupies Sallust. 58
More simply, he has attempted to depict the speaker in character.
Although Catiline employs the same terminology and political slogans
as Cicero, Sallust's rhetoric mirrors that of the orator, as has been
demonstrated with Scaurus, Bestia and Opimius. 59 This is illustrated in
a letter to Q. Catulus, where Catiline complains that non dignos homines
have been elected to public office (35.3). He could well be writing of
Cicero, in that it is Catiline's political opponents who are the homines.
He and his followers are the viri; and in Catiline's own mind, they are
acting legitimately to rid the country of the real homines, the pauci
potentes. Sallust indicates that Catiline initially had the support of the
urban plebs, and that it was only after the discovery of the supposed
conspiracy to torch the city that they changed their allegiance and began
to praise Cicero ad caelum (48.1). Again, Catiline did not envision
himself as a usurper or a leader of criminal homines, but rather as a
valorous battler with a legitimate grievance who, with his army of
intrepid viri, would liberate the city from the domination of a faction of
worthless homines (such as Cicero) who were monopolizing the magis-
tracies.

The Histories
Unlike Sallust's monographs on Jugurtha and Catiline, which offer
numerous instances of the author's use of masculine terminology, the
Histories, because they are fragmentary, provide fewer examples. These,
nevertheless, tend to confirm the impressions formed from Sallust's
other works. 60 Vir is used repeatedly to extol men of political stature, and
homo is employed to degrade their opponents. For instance, M. Aemilius
Lepidus, consul of78 B.C., in a factional fight, associates viri with virtus
(H. 1.55 .15) and laments the torture virorum inlustrium by Sulla ( 1.55 .17),
56 Buechner views Catiline's adlocutio as the typical speech of a commanding officer to

his troops (supra, n. 35) 166.

57 Ibid., /oc. cit.

51 Earl (supra, n. I) 119.

59 v. supra, pp. 48-49.

'° C. Sal/usti Crispi Historiarum Reliquiae, B. Maurenbrecher (Leipzig, 1841).

60 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

having denounced homines who are Sulla's satellites (1.55.2). Con-

versely, L. Marcius Philippus, who, in a speech before the Senate, cites
viri fortes as defenders of the Republic ( 1. 77 .20), assails Lepidus as a
latro and his satellites as sicarii: et ad eum concurrere homines omnium
ordinum corruptissumi, flagrantes inopia et cupidinibus, scelerum
conscientia exagitati,quibus inseditionibus, in pace turbae sunt (1.77 .7).
The scope of vir and homo in the rhetoric of factional opposites is clearly
illustrated in these two instances.
Appius Claudius is presented as vir gravis (H. Fr. 2.37); 61 and Sallust
designates the formidable Mithridates as vir cum cura dicendis (H. Fr.
2.72). 62 The tribune Licinius Macer recalls tot viri who are vindices
..libertatis (3.48.22), and mentions an unnamedfortis vir (3.48.4 ). There
are anonymous veteres et sancti viri (2.70.4), and Mithridates writes of
a military cohort virorum (4.69.16). Sallust cites Sulla, the dictator, as
talis vir (1.58). 63 As in his other works, Sallust employs vir to represent
members of the Senate; a formidable king and military opponent; men
of valour; and vindicators of the people's rights. Although there are only
two extant specimens of homo, they are clearly set into pejorative
context and reflect Ciceronian invective.
Sallust's employment of vir and homo follows the traditional patterns
of the last years of the Roman Republic as set forth in the speeches of
Cicero. Its application, however, as we have seen, is from a different
perspective. Sallust's "looking-glass" representations clearly reflect a
factional bias different from that of the orator.
It is in his presentation of his major characters that Sallust leaves
factionalism aside. This is particularly evident in the set speeches and
letters, as well as when he, as the omniscient historian, tells the story
through the mind of a character such as Micipsa. As an emulator of
Thucydides, the Roman historian makes a conscious effort to be impar-
tial, rendering his characters' ideas in huiuscemodi verba, or as they
themselves would have presented them. In doing so, Sallust has aspired
to Thucydidean impartiality, and has indeed risen above the appellation
of petty pamphleteer.

The Case of the Missing Femina

Sallust's feminae are similar to Sherlock Holmes's curious incident of
the dogs in the night: there are none. Femina is a word that never enters
61 Ibid., 73.
62 Ibid., 91.
63 Ibid., 28.
 SALLUST: FACTIONAL POLITICS THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS 61

the Sallustian vocabulary. Since the author never employs the word in
his extant writings, one cannot argue a case for how he might have used
it. Still it is useful to review passages where he employs mulier, as they
demonstrate patterns found in Cicero; for Sallust applies mulier to
members of the lower classes, foreigners, and, in the cases of the female
Catilinarians, he uses the noun in contexts of Bacchanalian rhetoric,
which imply that it is a term of abuse.
Sallust employs mulier only twelve times: three in the War with
Jugurtha; four in the Histories; and five in the War with Catiline .64 Even
with this paucity of references, the familiar patterns emerge in the
passages referring to specific women. In the War with J ugurtha, there is
a mulier ancilla who shelters the fugitive Hiempsal (12.5); Numidian
mulieres puerique hurl bricks and tiles from the rooftops at Roman
soldiers (67 .1); and Numidian mulieres and pueri, spectators at the
Battle of the Maluccha River, are the first to flee (94.5). The Histories
mention a Ligus mulier named Corsa (2.11); and duae Galliae mulieres
escape the Romans in uncertain light and climb a nearby mountain in
order to fulfil their monthly vows (4.40); in addition, Sulla keeps
company cum adulteris mulieribus (1.60).
Several mulieres are singled out for their opprobrium in the War with
Catiline. It should be recalled that Sallust designated the male members
of the conspiracy as homines, rather than viri, except when the story was
told through the eyes of Catiline. One might hypothesize that the
historian subjected the female members of the conspiracy to the same
treatment. They are clearly members of the aristocracy, as is indicated
by their appetite for imported delicacies and their indolent taste for other
luxuries (13.3-5). It is obvious that these women have failed the moral
test, as have the men; lubido is triumphant: Sallust states that viri are
acting muliehriter and mulieres are offering their pudicitia on the open
market (13.3). This passage, and one in Lepidus' speech, in which the
muliehre ingenium is identified with cowardice (H. 1.55 (K 15)), demon-
strates the pejorative attributes of muliebris.
Among the conspirators is Fulvia, a mulier nobilis with a long history
of stuprum (23.3); she only turns State's evidence because of her lover's
insolentia. Another is the cultivated Sempronia, whom Sallust numbers
among the mulieres who had engaged in stuprum for money, but whose
business, because of age, had dwindled in inverse proportion to their

"A.W. Bcnncll, Index Verborum Sallustianus (Hildesheim, 1977), s.v., mulier. cf.
fragmentary//. 2.92.18 (K6).
62 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

escalating expense accounts (24.3). Sempronia, according to Sallust,

was a mulier who committed virilis audaciaefacinora (25.1). A model
of impudicitia, she serves as a prototype for Tacitus' Poppaea. 65 Her
portrait is splashed with strident pigments: her lubido has been accensa,
causing her to chase after viros; caedes conscia fuerat, luxuria atque
inopia praeceps abierat (25.3-4). Flaming lubido, luxuria, and caedes
belong to the topos of the (Bacchanalian) conspirator.
Sallust's final reference to mulieres in the Catiline affair is to the
terror-stricken members of the Roman community (31.3):
... mulieres, quibus rei publicae magnitudine belli timor insolitus incesserat,
adflictare sese, manus supplices ad caelum tendere, miserari parvos liberos
rogitare, omnia ... pavere ... superbia atque deliciis omissis sibi patriaeque diffidere.

These nameless mulieres represent a chorus of gloom which finds

repeated expression in the pages of Livy where, it will be demonstrated,
feminae never lose hope for themselves or for their country.
Despite the absence of femina in Sallust's extant works, the author's
employment of mulier parallels that of homo and reflects Ciceronian
patterns. There seem to have been set rhetorical standards for gender
terms to which both Cicero and Sallust adhered. Full understanding of
their usage is essential for evaluating the characterizations of both men
and women in the Ciceronian age.

'5 J.P.V.D. Balsdon, Roman Women, their History and Habits (London, 1962) 49.
 CHAPTER FOUR

AB URBE CONDITA: WHEN VIRI WERE VIRI

Livy, like Thucydides, observed human nature and viewed history as a

lesson for mankind in which great moral issues were at stake. 1 Toward
this end, Livy went even further than did Thucydides, framing his history
in "a series of moral episodes ... designed to bring out the character of the
leading figures," thus reducing great events of the past to a level
comprehensible to his reading public. 2 By endowing his characters with
clear-cut virtues and vices, Livy was able to present his readers moral
exempla with which they could readily identify. As P.G. Walsh writes,
the real heroes of Ab Urbe Condita are pietas,fides, concordia, ratio,
clementia, and so forth, who all wage continual war against the villains
furor,ferocitas, temeritas, libido, luxuria and their like. 3 Because of this
polarized framework, Livy's presentation of Roman history is a pano-
ramic chiaroscuro of dichotomies. His dualistic premise demands sim-
plistic characters so that the reader may know where a particular
personage stands in the moral scheme. 4 An incidental component in the
creation of what are, at best, two-dimensional characters, was the
historian's use of vir and homo as capsule identifications.
Livy's masculine terminology reflects that of Cicero in that he
generally employs vir for the distinguished and homo for the humble, the
foreigner (with an ethnic adjective), and as a term of abuse, sometimes
in direct evocation of the Republican orator. The historiographical
idiom, however, permits greater freedom and variation of usage than did
the forensic speech. An instance is Livy's treatment of tribunes of the
plebs. Since he is not bent on defaming them, as was Cicero, Livy, if he
employs a gender term, presents them as viri. As with Cicero, moral
qualifications determine whether a character is a vir or a homo; but where
the orator's ethical yardstick was based upon factional politics, the
historian's is founded upon unified loyalty to Country. Thus salient
fidelity to Rome may elevate a man of low or foreign birth to the status
1 R.M. Ogilvie, Introduction, Livy: the Early History of Rome (Harmondsworth, 1960-

71) 8.
2 Ibid., 9.

3 P.G. Walsh, Livy, His Historical Aims and Methods (Cambridge, 1961) 66; cf. T.J.

Luce, Livy, the Composition of His History (Princeton, 1977) 231-232.

• Walsh (supra, n. 3) 82-109; Luce (supra, n. 3) 232.
64 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

of vir; on the other hand, disloyalty to country or the breaking of an oath

is enough to demote an otherwise vir to the rank of homo.

The Clarissimus, the Consularis, and the Conservative Vir

The Roman historical vir of Livy in many ways resembles the Roman
political vir of Cicero. Usually a consular, he is morally sound and acts
in the interests of the Republic; never rash, he deliberates carefully and
displays moderation on all occasions.
Livy's ex-consuls are viri consulares, clari or clarissimi. Active in
public life, they fight to the death for the Republic. 5 Like the consulares
of Cicero's day, they play the game of factional politics for high stakes,
and sometimes lose, as when the Senate refuses Q. Minucius a triumph
equal to that of G. Cornelius in 197. In consequence, Minucius awards
himself one, iure imperii consularis, to be held upon the Alban Mount
where, he sniffs, so many other clari viri have been forced by jealous
colleagues to hold theirs (33.23.3). 6
Vir clarissimus may have been an official epithet used in senatorial
business, as is indicated when the tribune L. Valerius Tappo employs it
of the consul Cato, his opponent in the debate over the Lex Oppia
(34.5.2). 7 Livy essayed for verisimilitude in his speeches, 8 and it is likely
that he has employed the term proper for a tribune to use of a consul. The
epithet's status value is also illustrated when Scipio Nasica, extolling the
gens Cornelia, is outraged that his cousin, Lucius, a vir clarissimus and
fortissimus, might be imprisoned with latrones (38.59.10).
Moral implications as well as social are inherent in the term when Gn.
Octavius pontificates to his junior officers on the permutations of human
fortunes, maintaining that the real vir is one who will remain steadfast
in the overwhelming winds of success and whose courage will not be
soured by the uses of adversity (35.8.7). Meritorious service to the

5 Vir consularis: 6.17.3; 22.53.4. Clarissimus vir, Q. Fabius, master of horse: 8.32.15.

Multi c/ari viri are candidates forthe censorship in 199 (32. 7.3). Other consulars, Sempronius:
vir tam c/arus at insignis, killed in Lucania (25.17.4); Africanus: a maior et c/arior vir,
hounded by ungrateful tribunes (38.50.4); elsewhere Africanus expounds upon omnis aevi
c/ari viri (28.43.6). Cf. Valerius and Verginius, augurs: 3.7.6; Lepidus, pontifex maximus,
and multi c/ari viri: 40.42.12; cf. 37 .57.9; 38.53.4.
'e.g., M. Claudius Marcellus (26.21.2-6). For Minucius' entire story, Liv. 33.22-23.
7 A controversy exists whether Cato was termed vir gravissimus or vir c/arissimus. D.

W. Packard opts for c/arissimus, A Concordance of Livy (Cambridge, Mass., 1968) s.v., vir;
J. Briscoe supports this on grounds that gravissimus with vir rarely appears in Cicero (as
opposed Lo three columns for c/arissimus), and that the expression is seen nowhere else in
Livy. A Commentary on Livy. Books 34-37 (Oxford, 1981) 55.
8 Ogilvie (supra, n. 1) 9.
 AB URBE CONDITA: WHEN VIRI WERE VIRI 65

Republic is implicit in the epithet when Livy awards it to Menenius

Agrippa, vir omni in vita pariter patribus ac plebi carus (2.33.10), who
has restored the harmony of the State by mediating between the warring
patricians and plebeians. 9
Certain epithets, such as bonus and optimus vir---catchwords of
political conservatism in Cicero's speeches-are reflected when Livy
designates Appius Claudius' uncle constantissimus vir in optimatium
causa (3.35.9). Factional overtones may likewise be deduced when the
senatorial committee seeks a vir optimus to greet Magna Mater in 204
B.C. (29.14.6); similarly, when their choice finally falls upon the
adulescens, P. Scipio Gn. f., Livy notes: iudicaverunt in tota civitate
virum bonorum optimum esse (29.14.8-9). Livy, writing in an era when
politically oriented terms have become meaningless, nevertheless, has
employed such expressions as the boni would have in the heyday of the
Republic.
Moderation and prudence were virtues that Cicero associated with
sound conservatism. 10 Livy reflects similar political overtones when he
relates that the Senate chose M. Livius Salinator, moderatus vir et
prudens, to counteract the acre ingenium of C. Claudius Nero (27 .34.3).
In another instance, however, he equates the epithet with political
expediency and presents P. Aelius Paetus, consul of 201, as a moderatus
and prudens vir for exercising good political sense in not contesting
Scipio for the province of Africa (30.40.8). Such forbearance in wartime
can only benefit the Republic. In both instances, the aristocratic term vir
enhances the epithet and suggests that calm deliberation-so necessary
in a magistrate of the Roman Republic-is inherent in the moral values
of the upper classes.

The Livian Tribune

Livy's tribunes, unlike Cicero's, are always viri. The historian often
calls them virifortes ac strenui, or viri acres, epithets he uses repeatedly
for members of the plebeian aristocracy. II In fact, Livy's specification
9 cf., Q. Servilius Priscus, a vir cuius providentiam in republica has been tested upon

many occasions (4.46.10).

10 e.g., Cato the Younger: prudentissimus vir (Div. Caec. 66; Dom. 21); prudentissimi

viri: conservatives who did not wish to change the existing laws (Verr. 3.19). T.J. Moore
equates moderatio in Livy with self-restraint: Artistry and Ideology: Livy's Vocabulary of
Virtue (Frankfurt, I 989) 72.
11 On the identification of the adjectives fortis ac strenuus with the plebeians: Moore

(supra, n. 10) I 8-19; on vir fortis ac strenuus as an heroic epithet: F. Santoro L'hoir, "Heroic
Epithets and Recurrent Themes in Ab Urbe Condita," TAPA 120 (1990) 221-41. K.M.
66 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

of tribunes as viri demonstrates a fundamental difference in attitude from

that of Cicero. The orator's constant use of homo with pejorative
adjective.s for holders of that office derives from the lexicon of factional
politics. Livy's history is all about the evils brought about by faction; he
therefore shuns the terminology of divisiveness in reference to men
whom he envisions to be working for harmony, and presents tribunes of
the plebs-legitimately striving for the betterment of the Republic-as
virifortes ac strenui and viri acres, vindicators of liberty and promotors
of eventual concord. He reserves vituperative epithets for reprobates
such as Turnus Herdonius, a seditiosus facinerosusque homo, whose
oratory (even though he is right) landed him in a stone-filled wicker
basket at the bottom of the Tiber. (1.50.7). Even though Turnus is not a
tribune, he, nevertheless, uses demagogic tactics. 12

The Fear less Vir

Just as vir in Cicero's speeches was often synonymous with courage, so
it is for Livy. Where the orator, however, had a narrow and sometimes
self-interested concept of bravery, the historian-writing in a more
flexible medium-explores its many facets. For Tanaquil, courage
signifies seizing the opportune moment, and she prods Servius Tullius
to action, assuring him that if he be a vir, the regnum will be his ( 1.41.3);
for Lucretia, courage means revenge, and she urges her husband and his
friends to be viri and exact vengeance upon Sex. Tarquinius (1.58.8); for
Brutus, courage betokens a fight to the finish, and after Lucretia's
funeral, he entreats the Romans to take up their swords in a manner
befitting viri (1.59.4).
The courage of an able leader is implied when Q. Fabius Maximus
urges the Senate to remove the newly elected T. Otacilius from the
consulship on grounds of incompetence. This scene, which provides
comic relief from the tension built up in the previous books by Hannibal's
apparent invincibility, depicts Fabius and his nephew-in-law, Otacilius,
Zieglernoles Cicero's ironic usage: "Strenuusbei Cicero," RhM 12 (1969) 30. Hellegouarc'h
associates strenuus wilh fortis: Le vocabulaire Latin des relations et des partis politiques
sous la republique (Paris, 1963) 250. On vir acer as an heroic epithet: Santoro L'hoir (op.
cit.); on acer: Moore (op. cit.) 23-26. Cicero used acer of duces, hostes, imperatores, and
once of a nimium acer, nimium vehemens tribunus p/ebis (Leg. Agr. 3.7). He coupled the
adjective only with homo; and I. Opelt connects the adjective with the vocabulary of the
criminal, Die Lateinischen Schimpfworter und verwandte sprachliche Erscheinungen: eine
Typologie (Heidelberg, 1965) 209.
12 Livy borrows from Ciceronian anti-tribunician rhetoric for seditiosus facinerosusque

h.; (e.g., Cic. Dom. 12; 82; C/uent. 94). He gives similar treatment to M. Postumius
Regillensis, pravae mentis homo (4.49.8) andtheperfidiousPacuvius Calavius, v. infra.,p.
74.
 AB URBE CONDITA: WHEN VIRI WERE VIRI 67

in the midst of a family spat on the Senate floor. Otacilius bellows that
Fabius wants to hog the consulship for himself, and Fabius, maintaining
his composure in a speech full of humourous remarks at Otacilius'
expense, invokes the storm-weathered Ship-of-State (24.8.12-13):
Quilibet nautarum, vectorumque tranquillo mari gubemare potest; ubi saeva
orta tempestas est ac turbato marl rapitur vento navis, tum viro et gubematore
opus est.

Fabius, using a metaphor that must have been galling to an admiral of the
Roman fleet, has summed up the qualities that go into the composition
of a vir et gubernator, and in that consular's estimation, Otacilius is
deficient in all of them. 13
Vir clearly denotes bravery in the following examples. In the first, the
word is used as an instrument of flattery: L. Bantius, a survivor of
Cannae, decides to betray his city Nola to the Carthaginians in gratitude
for Hannibal's clemency. His fellow soldiers boost his ego, assuring him
that he is a vir whose courage has been tested repeatedly in battle
(23.15.12). A second example concerns a Campanian upstart, Badius
who, in an outburst of audacia and ferocia, challenges his patron and
better to a duel. "Si vir esset," ruminates Badius in an aside, "Congrederetur!"
(25.18.11). Virisclearly a component in Livy's presentation of the many
aspects of courage written into the moral scenario of Ab Urbe Condita.

The Militaris Vir

Livy's history is of epic proportions, 14 and vir is synonymous with the
battling hero, as it was for Vergil, who began his epic: Arma virumque
cano. Livian warriors often do battle vir cum viro, an expression which
implies face-to-face combat at close quarters. 15
Livy sometimes deploys militares viri; 16 and arma, viri and equi. 11

13 Livy's primary purpose will have been to demonstrate that Fabius put the Republic

before family ties, but as A.H. Mac Donald has noted, Livy was well aware of dramatic and
rhetorical effect and would have realized the value of varying his technique with comic relief
to highlight the dramatic moments. "The style of Livy," JRS 47 (1957) 159-63.
14 Walsh notes the similarities in scope between Vergil's epic and Livy's book one, in

particular (supra, n. 3) 10. He also sees Vergilian evocations in poetic vocabulary as well
as in the content of episodes, Ibid., p. 256.
,s Sulpicius, addressing the comitia centuriata, is clearly concerned with military
superiority when, stating that Philip and the Macedonians surpass Pyrrhus and the Epirots,
he contrasts them vir viro and gens genti (31.7.9).
1• e.g.,10.24.4; 30.15.13.

17 Arma and viri: e.g., 1.30.4; 8.5.3; 22.6.5; 24.24.8; 34.33.10; 35.35.7; and Livy notes

the lack thereof: 10.34.6; arma, viri and equi: e.g., 22.39.11; 30.11.3; 35.44.5; equi and viri:
e.g., 3.70.6; 10.28.11; 22.52.5; 26.4.8; 31.42.1.
68 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

Militares homines, often included with the baggage, only figure as

masses of troops or as casualty statistics, often in the genitive plural. 18
Militares viri had obligations to their men, such as the sharing of booty,
which Livy estimates as proof of affection between officers and men
(5.47 .8). Romulus earns the title, vir magnificus, for his generosity to his
troops (1.10.5); and M. Manlius, vir bello egregius, won so much esteem
that he was rewarded by his fellow commanders as well as his troops
(5.47.4).
Ab Urbe Condita teems with stouthearted men, whom Livy terms
fortissimi viri, as did Cicero. One encounters fortissimi viri, either dead
or alive, on the battlefields of the Punic or Macedonian wars. 19 Hannibal
exhorts his troops to be fortes viri before the battle of Ticinus and to
return victorious or not at all (21.44.8). Livy sometimes cites the robur
fortissimorum virorum; and robore virorum is a recurrent expression.
Men with hearts-of-oak appear on both Roman and Carthaginian sides,
and before the battle of Trebia, Hannibal informs Mago that the troops
are ready for combat: "Robora virorum cerno." (21.54.3). 20
Fortissimus vir, it will be recalled, was a frequent epithet in Cicero's
speeches. The orator, however, employed the term as a perfunctory
political title. Livy, on the contrary, has preserved the pristine heroic
sense of the epithet, and he even mocks those who use it lightly. For
instance, after Capua's betrayal to the Carthaginians, Taurea Vibellius,
a condemned senator, taunts M. Fulvius Flaccus, informing him that he
is about to execute a multo fortiorem ... virum than he, Fulvius; at which
point, Vibellius stabs himself (26.15.12-15). Livy then relates a second
version in which Fulvius hears Vibellius protesting loudly that he is a vir
fortissimus about to be killed ab nequaquam pari ad virtutem. Fulvius,
with consummate sarcasm, orders that the "vir fortis" be the first to be
punished: "lictor, viro forti adde virgas et in eum primum Lege age!"
(26.16.3-4) Livy portrays the Capuan speaking in character, referring to

18 9.14.12; 21.35.1; 21.58.11; 22.3.1; 29.25.8; 30.6.6 are mentioned with iumenta.

Militares homines refers to overworked veteran centurions in 42.33.3; and when the tribune
G. Laetorius is altempting to alert the Senate to the ruthless intentions of Appius and his
superbissima and crudelissima Claudianclan, he tells them that his rudis in militari homine
lingua cannot express the necessary eloquence to describe their evils. Laetorius is clearly
using militaris homo as an expression of self-deprecation (2.56.8). Packard (supra, n. 7) s. v.
hominum.
19 22.35.7; 22.50.7; 22.52.6; 22.60.17, where virifortissimi combat inertes in a reverse

evocation of Cicero (v. supra, p. 22); 28.19.14; 33.22.8; 37.43.7; 38.46.7; cf. 9.24.8; 34.6;
10.13.7. Hannibal lauds his fallen brothers as fortissimi viri and c/arissimi imperatores
(30.30.17); and viri fortes is used of military tribunes: 24.46.2.
10 Robor fortissimorum virorum: 37.43.7; cf. 8.10.6; 22.6.2; 23.18.4; 29.12; 25.21.7.

Cicero once wrote eo robore vir in reference to Pompey, in a leuer to Auicus (6.6.4).
 AB URBE CONDITA: WHEN VIRI WERE VIRI 69

himself in heroic terms; Fulvius' ironical response, however, mocks the

words of the self-proclaimed vir fortissimus, who has been condemned
to death for betrayal of Rome.
Note how Livy witholds the term virfrom G. Terentius Varro, blamed
for the Cannae disaster. By right of his social position, the consul of 216
B.C. deserves the title. Livy, however, informs his readers that Varro (a
butcher's son) has entered politics declaiming pro sordidis
hominibus ... adversus rem etfamam bonorum, urging passage of a bill to
abrogate the command of Fabius Maximus (22.26.2-4 ). The historian
terms Varro a sui generis homo who had ingratiated himself with the
plebs popularibus ... artibus (22.34.2). Livy weaves this information into
the narrative to prepare the reader not only for Varro's loss at Cannae,
but also for his flight from the field where so many fortissimi viri have
perished (22.50.3; 7). The historian has set the stage, as it were, by
incidental use of homo with pejoratives in traditional contexts of Ciceronian
invective.
Courage is not a prerogative of the aristocracy. It can compensate for
obscurity of birth, as Livy demonstrates with the centurion, Verginius,
vir exempli rec ti domi militiaeque, who earned honours in battle at
Algidus (3.44.2); similarly, bravery can transcend infirmities, as with
the physically weak primus pilus, who was, nevertheless, a strenuus vir
peritusque militiae (8.8.16-17); valour can also overcome the handicap
of nationality, as with the fighting Vol sci an, Vettius Messius, nobilior
vir factis quam genere (4.28.3). 21
Time and again vir is employed in contexts of strength and courage
in battle. Livy presents a series of men, called viri impigri, who exhibit
industriousness and enterprise on the battlefield. Likewise, there is a
procession of heroes individually termed unus vir, who repeatedly save
the State in its critical hour of peril. 22 Like Vergil, Livy is recounting
heroes and battles, and vir embodies the epic hero who displays his
courage over and over in his history. The expressionfortissimus homo
is not only non-existent, but it is also inconceivable.

Homo Humillimus

At the opposite end of the scale from the viri are the homines. The word
homo appears many more times than does vir in Livy's history. The

21 Livy repeatedly makes it clear that deeds can compensate for relatively humble birth.
22On vir impiger and unus vir as heroic epithets: Santoro L'hoir: (supra, n. 11) 222-24;
230-41. On the adjective impiger: Moore (supra, n. 10) 26-29.
70 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

majority of references, however, are to homines in general, in which case

the word is strictly neutral. 23 Individual characters, identified specifi-
cally as homines are fewer than those specified by gender as viri.
Nevertheless, collective homines are omnipresent in the history of
Rome, especially the plebis homines who act as supernumeraries in the
continuing drama between patricians and plebeians. 24 That homo may be
regarded as synonymous with "lowly" is indicated in the clause apud
infimae plebis homines (24.23.10), and also in the expression humillimus
homo (3.19.9), which, if it seems redundant, is nevertheless apt, since
humillimus and vir are mutually exclusive. In fact, Livy contrasts vir and
homo in a way that demonstrates the high status of the former and the
humble station of the latter when he tells of the hero Evander, venerabilis
vir miraculo litterarum, who supposedly introduced res novae in the
form of the alphabet inter rudes artium homines (1.7.8). 25
Should an individual plebis homo make his entrance onto the Livian
stage, his part will be played either for the benefit of his betters, or else
to provide the reading audience with a cautionary message. One such
plebis homo, L. Albini us, is instrumental in furthering the cause of the
State religion. 26 The scene is the Forum Boarium, thronged with panic-
stricken refugees, pressing and elbowing their way toward the Pons
Sublicius (The ululations of the conquering Gauls can be heard off-
stage.); among them is Albini us who has stuffed his worldly possessions
and his wife and children into an ox-cart. With great difficulty, he heads
his vehicle up the declivitous slope of the Janiculum on a road clogged
with fleeing citizens. Among them Albinius notices the flamen Quirinalis
and college of Vestal Virgins plodding on foot, encumbered by sundry
sacred objects. Being, as Livy remarks, a man who can tell the difference
between matters human and divine, and one who knows religio when he
sees it, Albini us is outraged. He therefore acts promptly, doing what any
humane, compassionate and public spirited citizen would do: he dumps
his wife and children and picks up the sacerdotal hitch-hikers with their
hallowed paraphernalia, and steers his cart out the future Via Aurelia to

23 Homo is used especially in the genitive plural, often in a partitive or numerical sense.

Homines in the generic sense (e.g. homines think that...) will not be considered here. See
Packard (supra, n.7) s.v. homo, homines in the words' several cases.
24 2.55.3, 4; 3.14.5; 6.36.11; 8.33.12; 10.8.4; Other plebis homines, 1.9.11; 24.2.10;

24.23.10.
25 Livy indicates a credulous and uneducated public when he writes of simp/ices ac

religiosi homines who readily believe the omina (24.10.6); likewise, simplices homines join
improbos seditiososque in the Aetolian imbroglio (35.34.8).
26 R.M. Ogilvie, A Commentary on Livy, Books 1-5 (Oxford, 1965) notes that the story

was a famous exemplum in antiquity, pp. 723-4.

 AB URBE CONDITA: WHEN VIRI WERE VIRI 71

Caere-their destination, not his. On the fate of spouse and progeny,

Livy is silent (5.39-40). The message is that if a plebis homo is capable
of discernment in matters of religion, so then should be the reader of
Livy's history whose station in life is higher by far than that of the lowly
Albinius. 27

Homo Peregrinus vs. Vir Peregrinus

As Rome grew from a small town to a world power, her inhabitants came
into contact with more and more aliens. Such persons were perceived to
be inferior to the city's autochthonous citizens, particularly by the ruling
classes. 28 This perception of inferiority is seen in the Latin language
which employs homo and mulier with an ethnic adjective. 29 There is,
however, no additional pejorative intent behind an expression such as
Mediterraneus homo (35.26.4), as is used of Areas; or unus homo
Syracusis, used to designate Archimedes (24.34.1 ). Homo with a locative
adjective is merely the traditional manner of referring to non-Romans.
In the case of Archimedes, moreover, Livy's point is that unus homo
brought an entire Roman consular army to a standstill; no militaris vir
was Archimedes, but rather unicus spectator caeli siderumque,
mirabilior... inventor ac machinator bellicorum tormentorum operumque
(24.34.2), who used his intellect rather than the sword.
Livy occasionally refers to groups of foreigners who are members of
the upper classes; other than designating their nationality, he does not
name them. For instance, the Carthaginian envoys, who beg the Senate
for permission to enter the city to confer with their captured compatriots,
are nobiles homines (30.43.6); and the Hypatan exiles, slain by Eupolemus,
are inlustres homines (41.25.4). No particular disgrace is implied; homo
is merely the customary word for foreigners who are little more than
supernumeraries in the drama. 30
Distinguished peregrines, on the other hand, particularly if Livy
names them, merit the term vir. Like their Roman counterparts, they
excel in nobility and military valour. Hannibal, for instance, is wel-
27 Another such story, concerns T. Latinius, de plebe homo (2.36.2), and shows that the

lower orders must never hesitate to bring their problems, especially religious matters, to their
conscript fathers. Ogilvie writes that Livy has embroidered greatly upon the tale (Ibid., 327),
which concerns an admonitory dream of Juppiter; it delivers a message reiterated throughout
Ab Urbe Condita: every citizen from the lowest to the highest must heed the gods; failure
to do so will invite disaster.
28 v. supra, chapter one, pp. I 9-20.
29 v. supra, chapter one, pp. 19-20.
30 It was used in a similar manner by Cicero; supra, p. I 9.
72 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

corned to Tyre as vir tam clarus omni genere honorum (33.49.5); and
Antigonus Doson is cited as regiae vir maiestatis who was celebrated for
his campaigns against Cleomenes of Sparta (40.54.4). Livy has cast
many noble foreigners into his epic production. Some play major roles,
and others, brief but integral cameo parts. Among the more notable is
Attalus of Pergamum whom Livy singles out with an obituary: Huie viro
praeter divitias nihil ad spem regni fortuna dederat (33.21.2). Attalus,
he continues in an abbreviation of Polybius' text (18.41), has earned
merit by distributing his wealth with prudence, conquering the Gauls in
a single battle, ruling his people with justice, remaining loyal to his
allies, and treating his wife, sons, and friends with courtesy and gener-
osity (33.21.2-3). Such exemplary behaviour is enough to elevate Attal us
from the ranks of the homines. 31
Vir is appropriate to the high station of Alexander, princeps Aetolorum,
and it emphasizes his moral stance as he berates King Philip for
demonstrating bad faith in peace and lack of courage in war. 32 Livy
designates the Aetolian 'conscience' of the king, vir ... inter Aetolos
facundus (32.33.10). High position, rather than morality lies behind the
term, vir nobilis ac potens, used of the Theban, Ismenias (42.43.9).
Elected chief Boeotarch, he has condemned exiled magistrates to death.
He is nevertheless potens, and vir emphasizes his position of authority.
Among the several principes Macedonum in Philip's entourage, there is
an Achaeorum exul, Cycliadas, vir insignis (32.32.10). Like Ismenias
and Alexander, he is clearly a man of importance; therefore vir is the
suitable term.

The Foreigner and Romanitas

Livy is enamoured of the "noble savage," and, significantly, the qualities
with which he endows these paragons of pristine virtus are old-fashioned
Roman ideals of courage,fides and religio. 33 Such persons, like selvatic
31 Livy, in various obituaries of great men, always memorializes them as viri. Camillus:

vir unicus in omnefortuna, princeps pace belloque (7.1.9); Scipio African us: vir memorabilis
(38.53.9), except that he was bellicis tamen quampacis artibus memorabi/ior. Marius, in a
similar double-edged obituary: vir, cuius si examinentur cum virtutibus vitia, haudfaci/e sit
dictu, utrum be/Ii melior an pace perniciosior fuerit (Per. 80). Cicero: omni um adversorum
nihil ut viro dignum era/ tu/it praeter mortem. Livy, then weighs the orator's virtues against
his vices and finally declares: vir magnus, acer, memorabilis fuit, et in cuius /audes
persequendas Cicerone laudatore opusfuerit (Fr. 120.50). The faults of Scipio, Marius and
Cicero in no way detract from their stature as great viri of Roman history.
32 Princeps, according to Hellegouarc'h, is a personal title which refers to men of

auctoritas who dominate others due to their eminent position (supra, n. 11) 133.
33 Walsh (supra, n. 3) 87.
 AB URBE CONDITA: WHEN VIRI WERE VIRI 73

pets, must be kept on short leashes, and care must be taken lest they revert
to type, as is evident when Scipio lectures the love-besotted Masinissa
(who reacts like a chastened puppy) on the responsibilities of amicitia,
virtus, temperantia and continentia libidinum (30.12-15). It is evident
that Roman virtues are the desired goal in life, 34 and Roman-ness may be
an essential element in placing a foreigner into the category of the vir.
Thus Timastheus, a chieftain in summo magistratu from Lipari, who
respects captured envoys, is Romanis vir similiorquamsuis (5.28.3). But
note how Livy terms a Roman envoy, who has resorted to trickery, by
slinking back into camp on a ruse to dissolve his oath with the Carthaginians,
minime Romani ingenii homo (22.58.8)-an expression which demon-
strates the importance of Roman standards of behaviour as a criterion in
the choice between vir or homo. Such norms, however, may be adjusted
according to the expedients of war, as shall be established below.

Fortuna, Fides, and the Foreigner

Fidelity to Rome is the refining crucible in which Livy tests the foreigner
to determine whether he rates the appellation vir. The Second Punic War,
a period in which the loyalty of the allies was pivotal to Roman success
or failure, provides several examples, including that of Abelux, a
Spanish nobleman noted for cunning rather than fidelity to Carthage,
which controlled most of Spain (22.22.6). Livy expresses reservations,
noting that the changing of/ides according to the permutations of fortune
is characteristic of barbarjans (Ibid.). Nevertheless, he cites the expedi-
ency of the Spaniard's actions in the battle for Saguntum, which brought
the Spanish principes into amicitia with the Romans (22.22.8). Abelux
furthermore has duped the Carthaginian governor, Bostar, into freeing
the Spanish hostages whom Hannibal had sent to Saguntum for safe-
keeping. Livy describes Bostar negatively: homini non ad cetera Punica
ingenia callido persuasit [Abelux] (22.22.15). There is an implicit
antithesis between the wily vir, Abelux, and the dull-witted homo,
Bostar.
Abelux' s deeds, which turned the Roman tide in Spain, earn him the
epithets, vir unus (22.22.6) and vir prudens (22.22.20). Vir unus, a

34 On Masinissa, J .M.K. Martin writes: "No schoolboy could emerge from a comparable

ordeal with greater contrition ... " "Livy and romance," G&R 11 (1942) 128. On Roman
virtue, Luce maintains that Livy believed Roman character to be "historically determined
and subject to historical development" (supra, n. 3) 87.
74 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

variation of an epithet that Livy uses repeatedly for heros who save the
State, foreshadows L. Marcius Philippus, another vir unus, who secures
Spain for the Romans in the war against Carthage (25.37 .2). 35 Vir
prudens implies a man who has had the good sense to abandon a
worthless cause and to cast his lot with the Romans. Under normal
circumstances, the breaking of an oath is reprehensible, according to
Livian thinking; infidelity is worthy of tyrants, such as Moagetes, despot
of Cibyra, on whom the historian bestows an epithet in the grand old
tradition of Cicero: homo ad omnia infidus atque importunus (38.14.4).
Livy repeatedly makes it clear that the rupture of bonds of fidelity is
totally un-Roman, as with the above-mentioned minime Romani ingenii
homo (22.58.8). Early in Ab Urbe Condi ta the historian is equally severe
with Postumius Regillensis, a pravae mentis homo who breaks his
promise to his troops (4.49.8). Ogilvie notes that Livy has modified the
story in order to portray Postumius as the "brutal oppressor and bully ." 36
Homo with pejoratives, appropriate to a breaker of oaths, has contributed
to that negative picture. Although Livy employs mutare fidem of both
Abelux and Postumius, there the similarity ends, and the disparity
between the two is summed up in the antithetical terms vir and homo; for
the homo Postumius has altered his/ides for personal gain, but Abelux,
the vir prudens, who, haudfrusta videbatur socios mutasse, has won the
gratitude of SPQR. Livy's presentation of the two is a demonstration of
the Thucydidean principle that words and ideas change their traditional
significance in wartime, when the rules of the game, including /ides,
become negotiable and meaningless. 37
Note how Livy employs Ciceronian rhetoric of Pacuvius Calavius, a
Capuan senator, who after Trasimennus urged the town to desert the
Romans and go over to the Carthaginian side (23.2.2-4):
Senatum et sibi et plebi obnoxium Pacuvius Calavius fecerat, nobilis idem ac
popularis homo, ceterum malis artibus nanctus opes. Is cum eo forte anno, quo
res male gesta ad Trasumennum est, in summo magistratu esset, iam diu
infestam senatui plebem ratus per occasionem novandi res magnum ausuram
facinus ut, si in ea loca Hannibal cum victore exercitu venisset, trucidato
senatu traderet Capuam Poenis, improbus homo sed non ad extremum perditus,
cum mallet incolumi quam eversa re publicadominari, nullam autem incolumem
esse orbatam publico consilio crederet, rationem iniit qua et senatum servaret
et obnoxium sibi ac plebi faceret.

JSSantoro L'hoir (supra, n. I I) 230-41; on Marcius, 233-34.

36Ogilvie (supra, n. I) 609-10.
37 Sec Thuc. 3.82-83. The divergence of opinion on the Italian position in 1943 comes

to mind. The Germans viewed their eleventh hour change of sides as rank betrayal; the allies,
as expediency based upon common sense; the Italians, themselves, as survival.
 AB URBE CONDITA: WHEN VIRI WERE VIRI 75

Just as the homo popularis, T. Labienus, betrayed (tradidit) the freedom

of innocent citizens to the executioner (Cic. Rabir. 12), and the homo
popularis, P. Clodius defrauded the public improbissime (Har. Resp.
42), so the homo popularis and improbus homo, Pacuvius Calavius,
would betray Capua to the Carthaginians (traderet Capuam Poenis).
Livy's epithet, improbus homo sed non ad extremum pe rditus, is signifi-
cant. Perditus belongs to the lexicon of armed coniuratio and recalls
Cicero's Catilinarian speeches where repeated references are made to
coniuratio perditorum hominum, or ingens numerus perditorum hominum,
whom Cicero has conjured up as armed incendiaries bent upon slaughter
and destruction. 38 Livy, however, makes it clear that Pacuvius is not
trying to destroy the government, but rather to put himself in charge of
it, in the manner of Sulla (re publica dominari). This in itself is a selfish
motive that is sufficient to render Pacuvius a homo and disqualify him
from being a vir.
Livy's foil for Pacuvius is Decius Magius, a Capuan loyal to Rome.
Decius begs the Capuans not to change sides, and Livy uses vir in an
editorial epithet that summarizes Decius' moral worth: vir cui ad
summamauctoritatem nihilpraeter sanam civium mentem defuit (23.7.4).
When Hannibal orders Decius to be thrown into chains, however, Livy
uses homo to reflect Hannibal's orders: Poenus comprehendi hominem
vinctumque adtrahi ad sese iussit (23.7 .8). An English rendition of the
direct discourse would be: "Put the homo in chains!" Conversely, when
Hannibal finally coerces the Capuan senate into deporting Decius, Livy
employs vir asa term of respect when he records that certain members
of the senate remarked that Decius was a vir indignus ea calamitate
(23.10.4 ).
Livy is traditional in his employment of homo and vir as a rule. The
former term, when not generic or intended to signify "human being", is
used of the humble, the average foreigner, or the unnamed supernumer-
ary. The latter, on the other hand, is employed in either a social or a moral
sense: to indicate a person, domestic or foreign, of high rank, who is
either of political or military importance, or one whose salient deeds and
loyalty to Rome are so outstanding that they overcome any deficiencies
of birth or nationality. Vir in such a case is an earned appellation of merit.
38 Cat. 1.13; 2.8; 11; 3.14; 4.5; 8. Perditus is also used with grex, manus and contio,

demonstrating its identification with gangs, Sul/. 66; Vat. 40. It is a favourite adjective for
Clodius and his friends: Dom. 110; Har. Resp. 46; Sest. 2; 9; 15; 60; 85; 106; and Antony:
Phil. 5. I 3; 11.9; it is used with the rhetoric of coniuratio in Sul/. 66 and 75: ex mu/tis
perditorum hominum ... tanta importunitas ... exarsit. I. Opell associates perditus with en-
emies of the State, (supra, n.11) 143-44.
76 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

Conversely, Livy uses homo as a term of abuse, often with traditional

Ciceronian pejorative adjectives (sometimes in direct evocation of the
orator), for breakers of oaths (for selfish motives), cowards, or those
whose conduct contributes to the detriment of the Republic.
It is important to make clear distinctions between the terms homo and
vir in Livy, as well as in Latin prose in general, since recognition of the
words' nuances may influence the interpretation of events. An example
is Livy's excursus on fetial law. The fetial priest, about to declare war,
enters enemy territory. Calling upon Juppiter, he imparts Rome's de-
mands to the first vir he meets:
Haec, cum fines suprascandit, haec, quiqumque ei primus vir obvius fuerit,
haec portam ingrediens, haec forum ingressus, paucis verbis carminis
concipiendique iuris iurandi mutatis, peragit (1.32.8).

In light of other evidence, the word vir in this passage indicates that the
formula was uttered to the first person of consequence whom the fetial
met, not just to any random individual who might be a slave or other no-
account, in which case, Livy would have employed homo. Given the
Roman penchant for order and hierarchy, it stands to reason that a matter
as important as the declaration of war would not be squandered upon a
member of the rabble. The distinctions between vir and homo were clear
to Livy and his readers, and the historian, fully aware of their nuances,
preferred the former to the latter in the episode of the fetial priest. Such
a choice, for Livy, would have been a matter of instinct based upon
common usage.
 CHAPTER FIVE

LIVIAN LADIES:
CARDBOARD CHARACTERS IN FEMININE ATTIRE

Livy's female characters are one-dimensional. 1 Reminiscent of the

"little girl" with the "little curl in the middle of her forehead," when they
are good, they are "very, very good," and when they are bad, they are not
only "horrid" but also infinitely more interesting. Thus the reader is
subjected to the prosaic and treacly characterizations of Lucretia, Verginia,
and Cloelia, or the vividly tempestuous representations of Tanaquil,
Tullia, and Sophoniba. As S.E. Smethurst has noted, Livy's only reason
for inserting women into his history is to further or hinder the action
taken by men. 2 Consequently, his female characters are shadowy imper-
sonations of womanhood, subordinated to the males who are themselves
ancillary to the virtues and vices that form the woof on the loom of
Roman history.
While Livian women may be simple in their conception, the terminol-
ogy used to describe them is not. One still finds Ciceronian rhetorical
parallels in Livy's male characters: the upper classfemina, synonymous
with Roman ideals and standards of behaviour, and the foreign or low-
born mu lier who is her antithesis. The situation, however, is complicated
by several factors. One is Livy's tendency to employ femina as an
editorial word, as it were, to foreshadow exempla of good or bad
comportment, directed towards the ladies of the aristocracy-that is, the
wives of his readers, since said ladies would, presumably, be too busy
at their theoretical looms to tackle Livy's multi-volumed work. 3 Another
factor is Livy's use of the adjective muliebris, a word employed only
occasionally in the rhetoric of the Republic, but one which becomes
entrenched in the vocabulary of Tacitus, as do Livy's novel stereotypes:
the mulier in the crowd; thefemina slaughtered; or the femina who fights
to the finish. The historian has also recycled old familiar topoi: the
peregrine mulier and the foreign cult-the mulier bacchante. Lastly,
care must be taken to distinguish between the historian's juxtaposed

1S.E. Smethurst, "Women in Livy's history," G&R 19 (1959) 80.

2Ibid., 82-83.
3 v. supra, chapter two, p. 36; cf. S.B. Pomeroy, Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves:

Women in Classical Antiquity (N.Y., 1975) 149. v. infra, n. 11.

78 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

generic terms: viri mulieresque and viri feminaeque. Differentiation

between the two may affect interpretation.

The First Decade: Cherchez la Femina

Scrutinization of Livy's feminine terminology reveals a dearth of exam-
ples offemina in the first decade, where the word is used as a noun only
nine times. 4 Although Adams records the increased employment of
femina as the history progresses, he offers no explanation of the phenom-
enon, remarking only that it "takes over the emphatic function progres-
sively," and gains "an even greater ascendancy as the emphatic word, in
academic prose [of the Empire] as well as in the artificial...genres." 5
Adams' comments suggest a random usage in whichfemina is indistin-
guishable from mulier in connotation-a suggestion which, it is hoped,
will be proved otherwise.
Livy's use of femina in the first decade is remarkable in that, except
for one instance, the word appears either as a component of Livian
editorializing, or as part of a commentary upon good and bad feminine
behaviour. 6 Before presenting an anecdote, the historian will often make
a personal comment in which he intrudes his own opinion to foreshadow
the exemplum about to be related. 7 This technique is employed in both
the Tullia and the Cloelia stories, the former being an example to be
shunned by aristocratic women, and the latter, one to be emulated. For
instance, before Livy tells the story of the murder of Servius Tullius, he
writes that the trouble started with afemina who nursed a smouldering
passion for a vir alienus (1.46.7). This is a general statement in which
femina refers to the social class of the culprit. When Livy designates
Tullia herself by gender, however, he states that she is a mulier driven
ab see/ere (1.47.1); her crimes are prompted by muliebri audacia
(1.46.7). 8 Trouble arising from afemina is a thematic statement which

• Femina is employed as a noun in the following passages: 1.46.7; 2.13.6; 11; 4.4.10;
7.13.6; 9.19.10; 10.23.2; 10; 10.28.4. D.W. Packard, A Concordance of Livy (Cambridge,
Mass., 1968) s.v.femina. L. also uses the adjectival/emina in tandem with mas.
5 J.N. Adams, "Latin words for "woman" and "wife"," G/otta 50 (1972) 243.
6 An exception: when the tribune Canuleius harangues the people on intermarriage with

the patriciate,femina clearly pertains to aristocratic ladies (4.4.10).

7 E. Haight, The Roman use of Anecdotes in Cicero, Livy, and the Satirists, (N.Y ., 1940)

37.
8 R.M. Ogilvie, A Commentary on Livy, Books 1-5(Oxford, 1965) 189. Ogilvie notes

Livy's Greek word order: ab see/ere ad aliud spec tare mulier see/us, employed to emphasize
see/ere and see/us (1.47.l). He also notes that Tullia is presented as a Greek tragic figure.
 LIVIAN LADIES: CARDBOARD CHARACTERS IN FEMININE ATTIRE 79

may be interpreted: problems arose with a lady of the aristocracy. 9 The

remark serves as an admonishment to any feminae among the wives of
Livy's contemporaries who might be like-minded.
Similar editorializing can be detected in the tale of Cloelia virgo; this
time, however, to good advantage. Livy prefaces the anecdote of the
girl's heroic swim with the notice that even the feminae were aroused ad
publica decora by the deeds of Mucius Scaevola (2.13.6). Livy punctu-
ates this exemplum of aristocratic feminine behaviour by the comment
that the Romans rewarded this novam in femina virtutem with an
equestrian statue, indeed an innovation (2.13.11 ). Feminae of the Augustan
era, take note!
The wordfemina opens and closes an episode concerning the matronae
of the patrician and plebeian aristocracy, which serves as a model of
proper and improper comportment in matters of the State religion. Livy
preludes a fracas, which explodes ex iracundia muliebri, with a refer-
ence to viri and feminae performing the proper supplications after the
Senate has decreed two days of public prayer (10.23.2-4). The central
story concerns the anger of the matronae over the marriage of a patrician
girl Verginia to a plebeian consul, and the consequent erection of the
temple of Plebeian Pudicitia to serve as a counterpart to that of Patrician
Pudicitia. Livy concludes the account with the remark that in the ensuing
years both cults were polluted nee matronis solum (i.e., the married), sed
omnis ordinisfeminis (i.e., the ladies of both orders, but not necessarily
married). Women figure prominently in Livy's religious anecdotes,
which are seen to be not only warnings of impending ruin but also lessons
specifically intended for feminine moral edification. 10 This one, which
concerns a squabble among the matronae of the aristocracy, is directed
toward the feminae of Livy's own day who are supposed to set an
example in matters of religion for lesser mulieres to follow.
Three other instances offemina in the first decade preserve the image
of the coddled, helpless lady of the upper classes. All are pejorative, but
only insofar as they relate to men. The topos is introduced in a digression

9 1.46.7; 1.58.7; 34.2.9. Feminine relations with viri alieni is a recurrent theme; such
bode disgrace and are to be avoided: e.g., Lucretia confesses that, although she is innocent,
the vestigia viri a/ieni are in her husband's bed (1.58.7). The seed planted in the first decade
effloresces in book 34 during the Catonian diatribe against universae feminae who are
disporting themselves as agmina mulierum, waylaying viros alienos (34.2.1-10); such
activity is endowed with political overtones and envisioned in terms of impotentia muliebris
(34.2.2), coniuratio m. (2.3), and seditio m. (3.8); all disguises for luxuria m. (4.6) and libido
m. (6.10).The word "lady" has been used to emphasize social status.
10 Haight (supra, n. 7) 55.
80 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

on Alexander the Great (9.17-19). After expounding upon the superior-

ity of the Roman soldier, Livy reports the supposed sententia of the
Macedonian king, that fighting Persians and inbelles Asians was like
doing battle cum feminis (9 .19 .10). The word in this context connotes
frail refinement of the sort envisioned in the Roman ideal of the
aristocratic lady. 11 Similar ideas are behind chief centurion Sex. Tullius'
complaint to his imperator, Sulpicius, that the Gauls are keeping the
Roman army penned up as if they were feminae (7 .13.6); and in Livy's
assessment of the lack of Gallic staying power: in the early stages of
battle Gauls fight like viri, but as the combat wears on they are less able
thanfeminae (10.28.4).
Rare use of femina in the first decade subtly calls attention to the
word, particularly since it is used in editorial comment. Its aristocratic
overtones would, furthermore, have been evident to Livy's upper class
reading public. It is only the reader of today, approaching Livian Latin
by way of a modern language where the distinctions in gender terms have
become blurred, who might miss the point. The nuances of femina are
always important in Livy as they were in Cicero and Plautus, and the
word, therefore, should never be dismissed in translation by use of the
English all-inclusive "woman". 12 The wordfemina, like imperium and
auctoritas, is perhaps best left untranslated.

The Quality of Muliebris

As we have seen, the application of the general terms homo and mu/ier-
appropriate to the lower classes-to persons of the aristocracy was a
Ciceronian device to diminish status. Livy similarly has resorted to this
method upon occasion for his male characters. 13 The historian does not,
however, use mulier with pejorative adjectives as a term of abuse.
Rather, Livy relies upon the adjective muliebris, which, while it may be
applied either to men or women, is most often appended to nouns
representing undesirable behaviour in terms of his aristocratic readers.

11 Pomeroy (supra, n. 3) Loe. cit. cf. 25.36.9: Carthaginian leaders berate their men for

acting likcfeminae andpueri in an engagement with the Romans in Spain during the Second
Punic War.
12 e.g.: sed initium turbandiomnia afemina ortum est (1.46.7). "It was the woman who

took the first step along the road of crime." Livy, The Early History of Rome, tr. A. de
Selincourt (Harmondsworth, 1960-71) 85. An Italian example: "Ma l'inizio di tutto lo
sconvolgimento venne dalla donna." Tito Livio, Storia di Roma dal/a sua Fondazione, tr.
M. Scandola (Milan, 1963) v. I, 335.
13 v. supra chapter four, pp. 74-75.
 LI VIAN LADIES: CARDBOARD CHARACTERS IN FEMININE ATTIRE 81

Where virtus was the standard measure of Roman aristocratic deport-

ment, 14 its opposite, which might be termed muliebritas-to be avoided
at all costs-is epitomized by the word muliebris.
Livy employs muliebris 19 times in the first decade, which sets the
tone for the rest of the history. 15 The fundamental and primitive belief in
the positive nature of the masculine and in the negative character of the
feminine is exhibited over and over in the ancient world in such guises
as the warm virile masculine deity of the Sun (e.g., Ra, Apollo, Helios,
Sarapis), and the cold chaste feminine divinity of the Moon (e.g.,
Artemis, Diana, Selene, Isis). A glance at the nouns that Livy modifies
with muliebris is revealing, both in the first and in the later decades,
where the word is employed an additional 23 times. Other than the
positive dee us (1.58.5) and the neutral sec us (31.44.4), muliebris is used
with pejorative nouns or in negative contexts, sometimes in the form of
a left-handed compliment. For instance, Livy plants the idea of the
undesirability of feminine rule by observing (twice) that Alba Long a was
so strong that it flourished despite the tutela muliebris of Lavinia
(1.3.1 ;4 ). 16 Livy suggests that it was only the unusually strong character
of Lavinia that saved Alba Longa from what Tacitus later demonstrates
to be the worst fate to befall an empire-a muliebris tutela (v. infra,
chapter seven).
According to Livy, the muliebris animus is imbecillus (3.48.8). It
vegetates on time-wasting trivialities such as gossip, and is affronted by
trifles (6.34. 7). Other traits deemed to be muliebris in the first decade are
pavor (1.13.1); audacia (1.46.7); ploratus (which is also puerilis)
(2.33.8); timor (2.40.2); lacrimae (2.40.4 ); dolor (3.48.8);fletus (5.40.3);
fraus (8.18.6); and iracundia (10.23.4). L.W. Rutland has noted Tacitus'
application of muliebris in contexts of unreason, lack of self-control,
arrogance, and rage. 17 One can see that such ideas were well-established
historical cornerstones in Ab Urbe Condita, where the connotations of
the term range from utter impotence-as when muliebris modifies nouns
denoting weeping-to frenzied activity-as when muliebris modifies
nouns such as audacia or iracundia. Such characteristics are inappropri-

14 v. supra, chapter one, pp. 12-15.

15 Packard (supra, n. 4) s.v. muliebris.
16 Tantisper tutela muliebre-tanta indoles in Lavinia erat-res Latina et regnum avitum
paternumque puero stetit... (1.3.1) Tantum tamen opes creverant, maxime fusis
Etruscis ut ne morte quidem Aeneae nee deinde inter muliebrem tu tel am rudimentumque
prim um puerilis regni movere arma aut Mezentius Etruscique aut ulli alii accolae ausi
sint (1.3.4).
17 L.W. Rutland, "Women as makers of kings in Tacitus' Annals," CW 72 (1978) 15-16.
82 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

ate to a Republic (or Principate) whose laws are carefully deliberated

among its magistrates (or by its Princeps) and senators before being
promulgated among the people. Muliebris is a word befitting the era of
Etruscan kings; and Livy calls Tarquinius' regnum a muliebre donum
since it was based not on election or confirmation by the Senate, but on
the ambitious scheming of Tanaquil ( 1.47 .10).
Livy's dim view of the muliebre ingenium borders on the misogynistic.
Similar notions, however, echoed in Seneca and Tacitus, likely reflect
the cultural norms of a male-dominated society rather than personal
antipathy. 18 An illustration is Livy's depiction of women, if not as
cooperative victims of rape, then as those who will forgive violence done
to their person as long as it is accompanied by the right words. For
instance, he notes that the Roman viri (!) employed blanditias to assure
the Sabine mulieres that their gang ravishment was motivated cupiditate
atque amore, quae maxime ad muliebre ingenium efficaces preces sunt
(1.9.16). The relative clause represents Livian editorializing. A similar
sentiment is e,xpressed in the case of another rape victim, Lucretia.
Despite Livy's protestations of her innocence, there is a minimum of
sympathy for that unhappy woman, and the historian's remarks on a
crime, said to be essentially one of aggression rather than passion, seem
particularly callous (1.58.3): 19
Cum pavida ex somno mulier nullam opem, prope mortem imminentem,
videret, tum Tarquinius fateri amorem, orare, miscere precibus minas, versare
in omnes partes muliebrem animum.

Livy stresses the violence of the aggressor and the fear of the victim.
Mulier rather thanfemina reflects the submissive role of the woman in
the virlmulierrelationship. The mulier is the victim; she can only submit.
Terror is an essential element with the Sabine women too. Livy notes that
when they dared (ausae) to interfere between the two armies (having
previously succumbed to sweet-talk and fallen in love with their attack-
ers), they had to overcome their inherent trepidation: vie to malis muliebri
pavore ( 1.13.1-2). 20 Lucretia, however, does not surmount her fear; her
reaction to her defilement is utterly negative. Although Balsdon cites the
beneficial results of her rape and suicide, 21 self-immolation, after beg-

18 v. infra, chapter seven, p. 134.

19 L.C. Curran, "Rape and rape victims in the Metamorphoses," Arethusa 11 (1978) 229-
37.
Curran notes that Ovid emphasizes the terror of the victim (ibid. 239).
20

It led to the expulsion of the Etruscan kings: J.P. V.D. Balsdon, Roman Women: their
21
1/istory and 1/abits (London, 1962) 27.
 LIVIAN LADIES: CARDBOARD CHARACTERS IN FEMININE ATTIRE 83

ging one's husband and father to be viri and take vengeance, hardly
represents positive action. Significantly, a muliebre certamen, or what
Ogilvie calls a "best wife" contest, 22 has triggered the entire episode.
Any competition that is muliebre is bound to end in disaster.
The muliebres deficiencies of the first decade prepare the reader for
worse to follow: muliebres blanditiae (24.4.4; 27.15.11); m. consilia
(24.22.11); m. fletus (25.37 .10); coniuratio m. (34.2.3); impotentia m.
(34.2.2); seditio m. (34.7.14; 3.8); and luxuria m. (34.6.1). It is clear that
the adjective, used sparingly in Cicero but employed frequently in the
historiography of the Empire, 23 is wholly pejorative; it represents a
malaise that Rome can do without.

The Mulier in the Crowd: Latin with Tears

An historical topos emerges in Livy which, like muliebris, also finds
expression in Tacitus: that of the mulier in the crowd. 24 Aggregations of
mulieres are always vociferous, and according to Plautus, the sine qua
non of muliebris suppellectilis is a clarus clamor (Poen. 1145-6). Ab
Urbe Condita perpetually resounds with muliebres howls and ululations.
The collective mulieres of the first decade in particular are reminiscent
of a Greek tragic chorus, as they hover about the scene of the action
giving forth lamentations. 25 Livy seems to be deliberately striving for
this effect in the Verginiaepisode where he repeatedly uses the participle
circumstantes for the silently weeping comitatus muliebris(3.47 .3; 6):
cum M. Claudius, circumstantibus matronis, iret ad prehendendam virginem,
lamentabilisque eum mulierum comploratio excepisset...

The reader is continually reminded of their presence (3.47 .8):

Cum rapelleretur adsertor virginis a globo mulierum circumstantiumque
advocatorum, silentium factum per praeconem.

Silent no longer, their emotions burst out in a profusion of muliebris

22 Ogilvie (supra, n. 8) 22 l.
23 H. Merguet, Lexikon zu den Reden des Cicero, mil angabe sam1/icher S1ellen (Jena,
1877) s.v. mu/iebris. - , Lexikon zu den philosophischen Schrif1en Cicero's mil angabe
samllicher S1ellen (Jena, 1887) s.v. muliebris.
24 v. infra, chapter seven, p. 130. Caesar also cited crowds of distressed mulieres in the

mob-scenes of De Bello Gal/ico: l.29.1; 51.3; 2.13.3; 16.4; 28.1; 4.14.5.

25 Howls and ululations: 2.33.8; 5.21.11; 42.4; 22.55.3; 38.22.8; 43.10.5; and 39.8.7-8,

where the feminae are doing the howling. J .F. Davies speculates that the tragic chorus stood
in a circle. "The circle and the tragic chorus," G&R, ser. 2. 33 (1986) 38-46. Livy's mulierum
a globo circums1an1iumque seems to suggest this.
84 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

dolor after Verginia is stabbed, and Livy cannot refrain from adding his
own acerbic interpretation of their behaviour (3.48.8):
Sequentes clamitant matronae, eamne liberorum procreandorum condicionem,
ea pudicitiae praemia esse?-cetera, quae in tali re muliebris dolor, quo est
maestior imbecillo animo, eo miserabilia magis querentibus subicit.

Lugubrious keening reaches almost absurd proportions in the Coriolanus

story where a large gang of women [ingens mulierum agmen (2.40.3);
turba mulierum (9)] descends upon the already beleaguered general.
Livy insists that he does not know whether public spirit or muliebris
timor motivated them (40.2). The women are led by Coriolanus' mother
Veturia. A magno natu mulier, she announces that if the viri with their
armis will not defend the city, the mulieres will do so precibus lacrimisque. 26
Livy adds that Coriolanus is rendered multo obstantior adversus lacrimas
muliebres (3). However, just as Veturia's emotional blackmail is about
to pay off, and her son, amens and consternatus, is about to give in, Livy
provides yet another example of female instability by informing his
readers that the mulier changed her tactics from entreaties to anger (5).
Coriolanus' wife, Volumnia, and their son join in, as does the lachry-
mose chorus:fletusque ab omni turba mulierum ortus et comploratio sui
patriaeque fregere tandem virum (9). The construction of this sentence
seems to imply that muliebrisfletus and comploratio can break the will
of even the most steadfast vir. As a result of the fuss, Coriolanus takes
action, and the Roman viri without envy of their mulieres build the
Temple of Fortuna Muliebris in gratitude (12). 27 Fortuna qualified by
muliebris can only be a lesser fortune than Fortuna Virilis.
Ab Urbe Condita is splashed with women's tears, and S.B. Pomeroy
has noted feminine mourning to be a Livian device to emphasize
catastrophes. 28 Mark, however, that although his matronae may exhibit
a public-spirited decorum by weeping at the funerals of great men, such
as L. Iunius Brutus (2.7.4; 16.8), as soon as they collapse into unbridled
grief, they are either damned as mulieres or said to be guilty of behaviour
that is muliebris. 29 Fletus is inutilis as well as muliebris; it acts as a fifth
26 Ogilvie notes that Veturia' s speech recalls "the tensest moments in Greek tragedy."
(supra, n. 8) 334. It is logical that, having modelled the scene in the manner of Euripides,
Livy would supply his "self-pitying Hecuba" (Ogilvie, /oc. cit.) with a tragic chorus.
27 Mulier here indicates "wife", on the usage of which: Adams (supra, n. 5) 249-55.
28 Pomeroy (supra, n. 3) 177. Mulier with words that denote weeping://etus: 2.40.9;

*3.47.3; "5.40.3; 6.3.4; *25.37.10; ploratus: *2.33.8; 5.42.4; 26.9.7; 29.17.16; 38.22.8;
comp/oratio: 2.40.9; 3.47.6; ; lamentatio:22.55.3; dolor: *3.48.8; consternatio: *34.2.6;
/acrimae: 1.29.5; 2.40.2; *4; 39.11.7. At the siege of Alba, voces ... miserabiles ... mulierum
are raised in exhortation (1.29.5). • = the adjective muliebris.
29 e.g., 25.37.10; 26.9.7.
 LIVIAN LADIES: CARDBOARD CHARACTERS IN FEMININE ATTIRE 85

column which subverts both soldier (25.37 .10) and civilian (22.55.3).
Strict measures must be taken against giving in to excessive grief,
particularly among the matronae andfeminae who must set an example
for the rest of the female population (22.7.12; 55.6-8; 60.2), as is evident
in Livy's accounts of the aftermaths of the battles ofTrasimennus and
Cannae.
Congregations of mulieres must be quashed. Like flocks of migrating
blackbirds, mulieres on the move are always harbingers of trouble, and
Livy employs mulier in the genitive plural with the nouns agmen,
comitatus and turba. 30 Not only do mulieres wallow in grief, but they also
cower in timore, pavore, tremore, and terrore. 31 Clogging the byways
and major thoroughfares alike, they besiege viros alienos with their
importunings and are symptomatic of conspiracy (34.1-2). 32 Livy de-
picts them as erratically peripatetic by employing discurrere andprocurrere
to describe their movements. 33 Throngs of mulieres represent the antith-
esis of order in a Republic based upon that virtue.

Feminae: Helpless and Otherwise

Two other topoi find a place in Roman historiography, and are encoun-
tered again in Tacitus. 34 Both concern foreign women and serve as moral
lessons to their Roman counterparts. The first concerns the femina at the
slaughter, and the second, the fighting femina.
It is apparent that when Livy depicts swarms of women in an
emotional state of ferment, he terms them mulieres; should they, how-
ever, be defenseless with their children, and about to be slaughtered
indiscriminately in war, he will term themfeminae. These pitiful women
and children are all foreigners, and Livy, like Cicero, normally uses
mu lier to indicate such. 35 His use offemina in these exceptional instances

3° Crowds: agmen: 2.40.3; 9.17.16; 29.28.3; 34.2.8; comitatus: 3.47.3; turba: 2.40.9;

29.28.3. Other crowds are accompanied by mulier in the genitive plural: frequentia: 34.1.6;
8.1; globus: 3.47.8; multitudo: 7.6.5; volgus: 6.25.9. Since women in crowds are anonymous,
the general term mulier is called for; nevertheless,feminae do not gather in large numbers;
should they by chance do so, they become mulieres: e.g., 22.55.3; 34.1.6; 2.8.
31 Mulier or muliebris conjoined with words denoting fear: pavor: 1.13.1; 1.58.3;

5.21.11; 39 12.5; terror: *2.33.8; 5.21.11; timor: 2.40.1; tremor: 39.12.5.

32 One thinks of Clodia's mulieraria manus waiting to entrap Caelius (Cae/. 66), and by

transferrence, Catiline's inertes hominesfortissimis viris insidiari (Cic. Cat. 2 .10). v. supra,
chapter one, p. 22, n. 72.
33 Procurro: 34.2.9; 3.6; discurro: 26.9.7; 39.13.12; v. infra, p. 90; also, chapterten, p.

176.
,. v. infra, chapter seven, pp. 127-28.
35 v. infra, p. 86.
86 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

is clearly intended to coax sympathy from his readers, as is evident from

the adjectives appended to femina: inbellis or inermis. As Cicero has
demonstrated, a helpless femina evokes a maximum amount of sympa-
thetic response. Thus in Spain, African deserters slaughter inermes iuxta
atque armatosJeminas pariter ac viros; usque ad infantium caedem ira
crude Lis pervenit (28.20.6); and in the same country, their own men-folk
cut down a turbam feminarum puerorumque inbellem inermemque
rather than allowing them to fall into the hands of the conquering
Romans (28.23.2). Similarly in Aetolia, unarmedfeminae puerique are
herded into the citadel by Roman troops (36.24.11 ); andfeminae puerique
et alia imbellis turba are thrown into panic and consternation by a
Roman victory during the war in Asia (38.21.14 ).
The second topos depicts the barbarianfemina battling alongside her
vir. The fightingfemina serves as an exemplum of familial solidarity in
time of war. We encounter her at Lamia, where the Aetolians are holding
out against the Romans: cum viri propugnarent, feminae tela omnis
generis saxaque in muros gererent (37 .5 .1 ). Of similar courage are the
Iliturgifeminae puerique who defend theirtown to the very last (28.19.13).
They may be foreigners, but they are nevertheless exempla of cour-
age and united resistance; they will be encountered again in Tacitus'
Germania.

The Peregrine Mulier

As was the case with Cicero, most of Livy's foreign women are termed
mulieres. They are usually supernumeraries in the grand pageant, al-
though they may be instrumental in its enactment. Often mulier is used
with an ethnic adjective with no pejorative intent, as in the case of Busa,
called both mulier Apula (22.52.7) and mulier Canusina (22.54.3). Busa
aided thousands of Roman escapees during the Second Punic War, and
was duly rewarded by the Senate at the conclusion of the hostilities.
The wife of Mandonius (brother of the Spanish chieftain Indibilis) is
said to be a mulier of great age. Weeping, she steps out from the throng
of hostages and throws herself at the feet of Scipio in supplication. Livy
employs mulier, the term customarily used by members of the upper
classes when referring to non-Roman females. Moreover, the old woman
is first perceived as one of the crowd. She, however, rises above the
ordinary woman in moral worth; and Scipio remarks that she has not
forgotten matronalis decoris. When she begs the general to secure the
well-being of the daughters of Indibilis and aliae nobilitate pari, Livy
 LIVIAN LADIES: CARDBOARD CHARACTERS IN FEMININE ATTIRE 87

portrays her speaking of them "in character" as feminae. The old woman
tells Scipio that she is beyond the periculum iniuriae muliebris, but the
feminae are subject to the violence to which all women are prone at the
hands of conquerors (26.49.11-15).
Rare is the individual peregrine whom Livy will honour with the title
femina. She will have to be a woman of the highest nobility; one for
whom he wishes to garner sympathy; or one who earns the appellation
through patriotic deeds. Hannibal's niece belongs to the first category.
Married to good king Mazaetullus, she is called Carthaginiensis nobilis
femina (29.29.12). It is possible that some of the king's goodness has
rubbed off on her since Livy observes that her husband refused to call
himself rex.
The Spartan women, robbed by the wife of N abis, belong to the
second group. Livy terms them feminae in a device similar to that used
in the second actio of the Verrine Orations. The word connotes "qual-
ity", and presumably the victims of the family Nabis were members of
the upper classes who would have had the wherewithal worth fleecing.
The noun, feminae, with its aristocratic associations, would render the
deed particularly reprehensible in consideration of Livy's well-born
reading public (32.40.10).
The Thessalian Theoxena belongs to the third category. She is
promoted from mulier tofemina not only by her patriotism, but also by
her conspicuous accomplishment in the performance of Augustan ideol-
ogy. Livy introduces Theoxena and her sister as mulieres (40.4.3). The
historian then notes that after her husband's death, Theoxena chose to
remain univira although many asked for her hand. 36 Nevertheless, she set
aside personal wishes and married again, her second husband being her
newly-widowed brother-in-law. Theoxena even reared her dead sister's
children as if they were her own. Livy's admiration is unconcealed as the
woman murders her family and commits suicide, rather than allow them
to fall into the hands of Philip V (40.4.13). Smethurst calls her a "Greek
Verginia" whose deed "arouses a storm of envy" against the Macedonian
king, Rome's enemy. 37 Livy proclaims Theoxena who, without shedding
a tear, hurls her dying children into the sea for freedom's sake, aferox
femina. The epitome of the androphron gyne ,38 Theoxena, like a Euripidean
heroine, has transcended her innate maternal instincts. In preferring

36 G. Clark discusses the ideal of the univira, "Roman women," G&R, ser. 2: 1, 28.2

(1981) 193. Augustus ruled that a widow had to remarry within three years (Suet. Aug. 34).
37 Smethurst (supra, n. 1) 85.

"Ogilvie (supra, n. 8) 188.

88 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

death to tyranny, Theoxena may have been ferox, but she remains, in
Livy's view, afemina.
Other foreign mulieres are less admirable, and they remain mulieres.
One, a mulier ... Campana, is the scortum of one of the Capuan deserters
and also informs upon them to the Romans (26.12.16-20). Another
perfidious woman is the muliercula of the captain of the citadel at
Tarentum; with blanditiis muliebribus, she entices him into betraying
the city to Fabius (27.15.9-11). A third is equally opprobrious: afamosa
mulier from Placentia, whose ruinous passion for Quinctius Flamininus
prompts him to brag about the number of captives he is about to behead.
At the instigation of his bloodthirsty mistress, Flamininus has one of the
prisoners hauled into the banquet and summarily decapitated in front of
his guests (29.43.2).
The words peregrina mulier themselves were, in Livy's day, steeped
in odium, Rome having been recently delivered from the threat of
Cleopatra. Pliny writes that her name was synonymous with regina
meretrix (NH 9.119). Spartan Helen, in the words of Horace, was also a
mulier peregrina who had brought about the ruin of a great city-state
(Odes 3.3.18-20). Livy's version of the foreign regina is the Etruscan
Tanaquil, who has been envisioned as a true virago; and there are those
who believe that her portrayal in Livy served as a model for Tacitus'
Livia. 39 Livy may have memorialized Lucumo as afortis ac strenuus vir
who had risen to the top of the political heap (1.34.6), but he is less
sympathetic to the Etruscan's wife, whose exemplum is deficient in the
virtues idealized in the Augustan age. 40 Driven by ambition, Tanaquil
ignores love of country, abandons her people, and marries a man who is
both an advena and humilior, dispised by her compatriots (1.34.3-5). As
Smethurst notes, Livy holds his approval in reserve; 41 one of his methods
for doing so is his use of gender terms. Since Tanaquil is well-born
(summa loco nata), one would expect her to be characterized as afemina
or a matrona. Instead, she is stigmatized as a peregrina mulier (1.47 .6),
who, moreover, serves as inspiration for the muliebres furiae of the
demented Tu Ilia (7). 42
As virtus embodies the courage and steadfastness which are to be

39M.P. Charlesworth, "Livia and Tanaquil," CR 41 (1927) 55-57.

40Her marriage to an advena of humble birth would have been frowned upon by Augustus
(Suet. Aug. 40.3), as would her active participation in public life. Cf. Suet. Aug. 64.2.
Smethurst (supra, n. 1) 81.
41 Ibid., Loe. cit.
42 Ogilvie believes that Livy intended muliebribus instinct us furiis to remind his readers

of Orestes' hounding by the furies (supra, n. 8) 190.

 LIVIAN LADIES: CARDBOARD CHARACTERS IN FEMININE ATTIRE 89

emulated by the Roman vir, muliebris implies cowardice and mutability

worthy of foreigners. Livy makes this point repeatedly. Tanaquil has
bestowed her muliebre donum of regnum first upon Tarquinius Priscus
and then upon Servius Tullius, who, as an old man, falls prey to another
mulier, his daughter Tullia (1.47 .1). A variation of the topos appears in
book 24: the nonegenarian Adranadorus, regent of Syracuse, succumbs
dies noctesque to the muliebribus blanditiis of his wife, Damarata,
daughter of the late tyrant Hiero (24.4.4 ). Livy characterizes Damarata 's
exhortations to seize the tyranny and resist the Romans at all costs as
muliebria consilia (24.22.11). Like their Etruscan predecessors, both
Adranadorus, swayed by womanish importunings, and Damarata, who
offered them, meet violent ends (24.24.4; 25.10). 43

The Peregrina Mulier and the Foreign Cult

Feminine participation in foreign cults is a recurrent theme for Livy. 44
Such groups were pernicious menaces, particularly during wartime. 45
Queen Tanaquil might be regarded as the "horrible exemplum" of the sort
of woman who partakes in non-Roman rites. Besides peregrina mulier,
Livy brands her perita ... caelestium prodigiorum mulier (1.34.9). Femi-
nine interpretation of the omina was a foreign custom which had no place
in the religious life of the Roman matrona. Omens belonged to the
arcana imperii of the pontifices and augurs, to be properly evaluated
after due consultation of the Sibylline books. The omina were an
instrument of power, employed by the Senate as an excuse to justify
potentially unpopular policies. 46 They were not open to speculation by
amateurs, 47 particularly women who occupied a subordinate role in the
Roman State religion. 48 Livy makes it evident that female divination was
an Etruscan practice (1.34.9). One may consider it implicit that such a

43 Another peregrine, the Macedonian Perseus, possesses a muliebris animus as he

resorts tofraus and see/us (typically muliebres failings) to usurp Philip's throne (40.5.3). It
is only Roman dementia which spares him a fate similar to that of Adranadorus and
Damarata (45.7.5).
44 e.g., 25.1.6-12; 26.9.7; 34.3.8; 39.8-19. Cato viewed foreign cults to be an excuse for

women to make trouble (34.3.8).

45 C. Hermann, "Le role judiciaire et politique des femmes sous la Republique romaine,"

Collection Latomus 67 (1964) 56.

46 Such as living burial (22.57 .6).
47 Ogilvie cites the emphatic use of mulier at the end of the sentence and notes that

Tanaquil behaves like another foreign queen, Dido; he adds that amateur diviners needed the
aid of a professional soothsayer (supra, n. 8) 144.
48 Rene Pichon, "Le role religieux des femmes dans l'ancienne Rome," Paris, Musee

Guimet: Anna/es, Bibliotheque de Vulgarisation 39 (1912) 81.

90 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

custom was non patrio more, and therefore to be shunned by Roman

feminae. Tanaquil's dabblings in divination would qualify her for the
term, mulier, even were she not a foreigner.
The problem of externa religio erupted during the middle years of the
Hannibalic War when mulierum turbae surged through the forum and up
to the Capitoline in the wake of petty priests and sidewalk prophets
(25.1). The episode to which Livy devotes an entire chapter, seems to
foreshadow the Bacchanalian Conspiracy. 49 Both accounts have com-
mon elements: the cults are foreign, secret, originally run by sacrijiculi
ac vates, who have drifted in from the country; they appeal to women,
and meet at night. A second outburst occurs when Hannibal is at the gates
of Rome in 211 (26.9.7-8): 50
Ploratus mulierum non ex privatis solum domibus exaudiebatur, sed undique
matronae in publicum effusae circa deum delubra discurrunt crinibus passis
aras verrentes, nixae genibus, supinas manus ad caelum ac deos tendentes
orantesque ut urbem Roman am e manibus hostium eriperent ...

The mulier who participates in foreign cults and the femina who upholds
the ideals of the Roman State religion are contrasted in the Bacchanalian
affair through the personae of Hispala Faecinia and Sulpicia. Livy seems

49 C. Hermann sees the problem of foreign cults to be one of public order rather than

religious intolerance (supra, n. 45) /oc. cit. State piacular rites were strictly orchestrated;
various groups, including the matronae, were assigned specific tasks: J .H. W. Liebeschuetz,
Continuity and Change in Roman Religion (Oxford, 1979) 6-10.
50 The episode may well represent a manifestation of proto-Bacchanalianism: Livy

indicates that the cult had been on hand for many years before it was suppressed (39.12.6-
7). Matronae discurrentes, brushing the altars crinibus passis, are behaving in a suspiciously
bacchanalian manner which is recalled in the events of 186 (39 .13.12):
Matronas Baccharum habitu crinibus sparsis cum ardentibus facibus decurrere ad
Tiberim, demissasque in aquam faces, quia vivum sulpur cum calce insit, integra
llamma efferre.
R.A. Bauman denies links between cultic outbursts of 213 and the later furor of 186, on
grounds that measures taken against the former were aimed "exclusively at cult practices
carried out in public." "Vimfieri veto: apropos of a recent work," Antichthon 7 (1962) 69.
He has overlooked a passage in which Livy specifically states that the cultists of 213 had
been practicing rites behind closed doors, indicating that they had done so before bringing
them out into the open (25.1.7):
nee iam in secreto modo atque intra parietes abolebantur Romani ritus, sed in publico
etiam ac foro Capitolioque mulierum turba erat nee sacrificantium nee precantium
deos patrio more.
Livy reiterates implications of secrecy in 26.9.7, where there is a renewed outburst. He is
clearly indicating that externa re/igio, which had made its debut in the wake of Hannibal's
march through Italy, had burst out in the climate of hysteria. Others believe the events of213
to be an early manifestation of Bacchic rites: e.g. L. Labruna (cited by Bauman, p. 69), Vim
Jieri veto: a/le radice di una ideologia, Scuola di perfezionamento in diriuo civile dell'
Universita di Camerino (1971) 70 sqq.; A. Bruh I, Liber Pater: Origine et expansion du culte
dionysiaque aRome et le monde romain (Paris, 1953) 96; C. Gallini, Protesta edintegrazione
nel/a Roma antica (Bari, 1970) 31.
 LIVIAN LADIES: CARDBOARD CHARACTERS IN FEMININE ATTIRE 91

indebted to Plautus' Bacchides for the former, who is a familiar figure:

an older woman, a freed slave, prostitute, and lover of the teen-aged
Aebutius, a boy of good family (v. supra, chapter two, p. 45). Hispala,
whom Livy repeatedly designates a mulier, 51 hysterically denounces the
Bacchic cult to the noble Sulpicia, who, in contrast, epitomizes the
decorum and dignity inherent in the Roman matrona. She is the mother-
in-law of the consul A. Postumius Albinus, and Livy reiterates that she
is afemina gravissima. 52
Smethurst sees Hispala to be an exception to Livy's pasteboard
female characters: her portrayal is called "vivid", and it is likened to that
of a courtesan in New Greek Comedy, although the freed woman is said
to lack "the poise of a Menandrian heroine;" Smethurst, nevertheless,
enrolls Hispala among Livy's "good" women, citing her "selfless love"
for Aebutius as motivation for turning State's evidence. 53 Smethurst's
estimation, however, falls short of the mark, for Hispala's character,
although better drawn than most of the other Livian women, is neverthe-
less a literary topos, the "whore with the heart of gold", concocted,
whether by Livy or his sources, to illustrate the attraction of the cult for
foreigners and members of the servile orders. The woman's dubious
background is evident in her very name. Hispala implies Spanish ori-
gin, while Faecinia, although an actual Roman name, derives from
faex-faecis and suggests the degradation of one born in the squalour
of servitude. 54 Moreover, Livy terms her scortum nobile (39.9.5). 55
Though Balsdon, in a "free translation" renders this a "courtesan of

51 39.10.2; 12.5; 13.1; 19.6; with /ibertina: 39.13.2.

52 gravemfeminam: 39.11.4; tam nobilem et gravemfeminam: 12.2; ta/is femina: 12.4;
gravissima femina 13.3. There is a progression of laudatory adjectives.
53 Smethurst (supra, n. 1) 82.
54 J. Perin (Onomasticon Totius Latinitatis [Padua, 1913] s.v. Faecius) writes that the

name Faecinius derives from the Greek phaikos, equivalent of splendidus. Common usage,
however, would more likely associate it with faex-faecis, denoting dregs or sediment.
Meanings range from cosmic effluvium (Lucretius, 5.497) to must of the wine (Hor. Odes,
3.15.16; Columella, Rust. 12.47.6). Pliny (NH 14.27) tells of the Faecinian grape, which he
deems ignobilis, and Columella, similarly, observes that wines from certain grapes are called
Faecinian for producing great amounts of sediment (3.2.14). Faex, by transferrence, is
employed by Cicero to connote the social dregs (All. 2.1.8). The English "feces" derives
fromfaex, and Cicero gave the word similar meaning when he noted that Cato thought he
was living in Plato's republic instead of upon Romulus' dungheap (/b.). Juvenal (3.61) also
uses faex negatively. Apropos to Livy's Hispala is a verse in Horace (Odes, 1.35.25-28),
which associates faex with the rabble and the meretrix:
at volgus infidum et meretrix retro/periura cedit, diffugiunt cadis/cum faece siccatis
amici/ferre iugum pariter dolosi.
Latin usage seems to have lost sight of phaikos. The name was therefore likely to evoke
visions of a Spanish harlot.
55 The figure is an oxymoron, and not complimentary.
92 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

distinction," 56 it is clear that Livy had something less gentlemanly in

mind, me re trix being the genteel term for the followers of that venerable
profession. 57
Hispala is a denizen of the Aventine, a mixed neighbourhood outside
the pomoerium, inhabited alike by the respectable and the reprehensible:
plebeian families, foreign merchants (and their cults), freedmen, runa-
way slaves, and other quisquilia. 58 Its high walls and dense laurel groves
harbour exotic religious rites of the sort in which the penitent Hispala
once participated. 59 An ex-Bacchante, she has practiced foul nocturnal
sacrifices. It is therefore logical that she corrupts the young and behaves
in an unseemly manner. 60 There are those who choose to believe that
Hispala and Aebutius were real personages. 61 They may well have been,
but their historicity has become so smothered in webs of topoi that the
truth is almost unrecognizable. More to the point is Livy's preservation
of those topoi. As R.M. Ogilvie observes, Livy not only used secondary
sources, but he also reshaped events; furthermore, "scenes of moral

56Balsdon (supra, n. 21) 37.

57S. Lilja, Roman Elegists' Allitudes towards Women (Helsinki, 1965) 36.
58 A. Merlin, L' Aventin dans /' antiquite (Paris, 1906) 218; the quarter always had a bad
reputation for foreign cults. The temple of Diana (a Nemi import) was the haunt of runaway
slaves: W.W. Fowler, Roman Festivals (London, 1899) 203.
59 Laure/um: D.Hal. 3.43; Pliny, NH 15.138; Merlin viewed the Aventine as a source of

unrest with its large foreign population which imported its own cults (supra, n. 58) 240.
Livy's Cato implies that the district was in peril of seizure by droves of infuriated women
(34.7.14).
60 v. supra, chapter two, p. 45.
61 H. Balkestein deduces Hispala 's historicity on the basis of Liv. 39.19.3-5, opining that

Livy must have seen the actual s.c .. "Defiguurvan Fecenia Hispala," Hermeneus 15.2 (1942)
19, 22. D.W.L. van Son agrees, noting that "scortum nobile" is a genuine expression of the
2nd century B.C., and not a later projection: Livius behandeling van de Bacchanalia
(Amsterdam, 1969) 112. Neither argument is convincing. Balsdon believes in Hispala,
writing that Livy has recorded the terms of the S.C. (39.18.8-9) with "complete accuracy,"
and that it would be "sheer willfulness to discard his account of the decree by which the two
informants were rewarded." (supra, n. 2 I) 37. While it is true that Livy's version does echo
the phraseology of the decree, C/L 1. 2 581, it does not reproduce it with verbal accuracy.
Moreover, the decree's authenticity does not guarantee that Livy ever saw it, or one
recording the Senate's reward to Hispala and Aebutius. The story could have been picked
up from an annalist. J.A. North notes Livy's account to be based upon very tendentious
sources reflecting hostile tradition. It is therefore open to much scepticism. "Religious
toleration in republican Rome," PCPS 25 (I 975) 87. As for scortum nobile, van Son provides
no ancient evidence for his hypothesis. Antiquity of the term is no measure of Hispala 's
historicity; it only indicates that Livy may be echoing the words of an earlier source. He may
well have coined the oxymoron for ironic effect, emulating Plautus, who gave his meretrices
ludricously suggestive names; e.g., Gymnasium in Cistel/aria. Scortum nobile is Livy's way
of saying that the bawd-next-door had "class." While Faecinius is an actual Roman name,
among several inscriptions bearing the nomen, none are from the city of Rome itself. All date
from the first century A.D. and only demonstrate that an L. Faecinius, or more than one,
manumitted a number of slaves: CIL 5.3398; 9.2282; 14.355; 14.997. W. Schulze, Zur
Geschichte lateinischen Eigennamen (Berlin, 1904) s.v. Faecinius.
 LIVIAN LADIES: CARDBOARD CHARACTERS IN FEMININE ATTIRE 93

episodes were designed to bring out the characters of the leading

figures. " 62 This is true in the Bacchanalian Conspiracy. Hispala Faecinia,
real or not, is stereotypical of the average bacchante, and one cannot fail
to perceive an implicit contrast in the antithetical portraits of the mulier,
Hispala and the femina, Sulpicia. However golden-hearted, Hispala is
still a scortum and seducer of the young. Her emotional outbursts befit
one of her class as well as a self-confessed ex-practitioner of a foreign
cult. Significantly, although Hispala is rewarded by the Senate who
decrees that any vir who marries her will not lose his status, Livy persists
in calling her a mulier (39.19.6). The edict demonstrates the stigma
attached to the marriage between a vir ingenuus and a libertina (to say
nothing of a scortum), who, despite the removal of a social blot, will
never be regarded as a femina. 63 Sulpicia, on the other hand, is the
epitome of Roman womanhood. A patrician matrona of advanced age,
she is the quintessence of gravitas, pietas and sapientia: a femina in
every sense of the word, who upholds the pristine values of the State
religion.
There were three priorities ingrained into the aristocratic tradition:
respublica, family, and the individual; 64 and the greatest of these was
respublica. Thus when Aebutia is about to inform upon her late brother's
wife Duronia (Aebutius' mother), setting the interests of the Republic
before family considerations, she is portrayed as a proba et antiqui moris
femina (39.11.5). Note, however, how Livy, perhaps unconsciously,
changes his terminology when the aunt fails to live up to these ideals;
when she dissolves into tears upon cross-examination by Postumius,
Livy resorts to the word mulier (39.11.7).
Her ex-sister-in-law Duronia is also a mulier. Since she is of the
plebeian aristocracy, 65 one would expect her to be either a matrona or a
femina. She is, however, a confirmed bacchante, and consequently a
mulier. Not only has she succumbed to a degenerate cult, but she has also
even attempted to recruit her adolescent son into its mysteries (39.9-11 ).
Such disgraceful actions make her unworthy of terms of respect. 66

62 R.M. Ogilvie, Roman Literature and Society (Brighton, 1980) 156.

63 A.M. Duff, Freedmen in the Early Roman Empire (Oxford, 1928) 59.
64 D.C. Earl, The Political Thought of Sallust (Cambridge, 1961) 27.

65 The widow of an eques equo publico, she remarried a Sempronius (39.9.2). By

furnishing her personal statistics, Livy seems to imply that the cult had infiltrated the
plebeian aristocracy. Cf. C. Gallini (supra, n. 50) 32-36. Duronia represents what journalists
call a "composite": a typical Bacchante.
66 v. infra, pp. 179-80: Petronius' spoof on Bacchanalianism.
94 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

The Juxtaposition of Vir/Mulier and Vir/Femina

Throughout Ab Urbe Condita, Livy has occasion to refer to men and
women collectively. Sometimes he employs viri mulieresque, and at
others, viri feminaeque, particularly in the latter decades. It is important
to distinguish between the two, for their employment is not a random
one, as Adams seems to suggest. 67 When Livy couples viri with mulieres,
he is referring to men and women in general; when, however, he joins
viri with feminae, he has something more specific in mind. The latter
combination signifies members of the upper classes and is often used in
contexts where a specific message is intended for Livy's aristocratic
reading public. 68
The general nature of virilmulieres is indicated repeatedly. For in-
stance, after her father's murder, the curses of the populace follow Tullia
wherever she goes: exsecrantibus quacumque incedebat invocantibusque
parentumfurias viris mulieribusque (l.59.13). 69 Viri and mulieres are
often identified with the multitude, as are those who cover M. Curtius'
body with fruit after he has plunged into a pit in an act of devotio (7 .6.5);
or the throngs of spectators who pour out of the fields and pastures to line
the road as the army of G. Claudius Nero passes by (27.45.7).
According to Livy, the multitudo at the city gates waiting for news of
the battle ofTrasimennus consisted maior prope mulierum quam virorum
(22.7.11 ). There is a distinct difference, however, when Livy informs his
readers that metus and necessitas forced evenfeminas to mix with the
turba virorum in the forum after the battle of Cannae (22.60.2). Nothing
prevented an ordinary mulier from going downtown; however, the
femina's place was in the domus. Livy is referring to ladies of the
aristocracy.
When a disorganized crowd mills about the city's shrines, imploring
the gods for forgiveness after an outburst of dire prodigies, Livy terms
them viri and mulieres (3.5.14). On the other hand viri andfeminae, the
ladies and gentlemen of the upper classes, offer the proper supplications
at piacular rites organized by the State. 70
67Adams (supra, n. 5) 243.
68Cicero rarely uses male and female gender terms together; when he does, one can see
the general nature of viri and mulieres, and the one time in which it is employed, the specific
of viri and feminae: ut non modo omnium generum, aetatum, ordinum omnes viri ac
mulieres ... viderentur ... laetari (Pis. 52); omnes te di homines ... viri mulieres, liberi servi
oderunt (Phil. 13.45); omnes viri, mulieres .. .in iudicium vocantur (Cluent. 148); quae
(migratio commutatioque vitae) in claris viris et feminis dux in caelum soleret esse (Tusc.
1.27). Claris accents the status of the terms. Haight (supra, n. 7) 37.
69 Quacumque demonstrates the generality of the expression.
70 Pomeroy (supra, n. 3) 180.
 LI VIAN LADIES: CARDBOARD CHARACTERS IN FEMININE ATTIRE 95

The viri andfeminae in the debate over the repeal of the Lex Oppia
are equally aristocratic. 71 The issue is luxuria muliebris (34.6.2), specifi-
cally the possession of gold, riding in closed carriages and the wearing
of purple and brightly coloured garments. These problems would hardly
apply to the lower classes. Although C. Hermann, taking Cato's universae
Jeminae literally, would have one believe that the matter was part of an
anti-feminist reaction, 72 it is evident that the Lex Oppia was a sumptuary
law which would hardly be applicable to the multitudes. Livy uses
universae Jeminae as an element of Catonian hyperbole. The Jeminae in
question are behaving in a manner that is thoroughly muliebris, but
despite their faults, they remain Jeminae-ladies of the aristocracy. 73
Acceptance of the differences between virilmulieres and virilfeminae
may affect interpretation of Livy's lengthy presentation of the Baccha-
nalian Conspiracy, where both expressions are used. 74 Where, on the one
hand, Livy is at pains to demonstrate the ubiquitous nature of a cult
which, he states, comprised alterum iam prope populum (39.13.14), he
is also clearly emphasizing the part taken by the members of the upper
classes. This can be inferred from allusions to vice in his nobiles
quosdam viros Jeminasque, who numbered among the multitudinem
ingentem (39.13. 14), and by the Senate's preoccupation over the possi-
ble involvement of some of its own members (39.14.4).
A step-by-step analysis of the passages in which Livy employs gender
terms is instructive. He commences with generalities, explaining that at
first the rites were known only to a few, but that subsequently they spread
among the public: lnitia erant, quae primo paucis tradita sunt, deinde

71 The extreme length of the episode which Briscoe terms a "minor question" shows that

Livy has used it as an exemplum for his aristocratic readers. J. Briscoe, A Commentary on
Livy: Books 34-37 (Oxford, 1981) 39.
72 Hermann (supra, n. 45) 52.
73 One may surmise that Cato's "frequent harangues" about the avaritia and luxuria of

feminae and viri (34.4.1) were directed at those of social status, since avarice and luxury
hardly concerned the lower orders:
Saepe me querentem de feminarum, saepe de virorum nee de privatorum modo sed
etiam magistratuum sumptibus audistis, diversisque duobus vitiis, avaritia et luxuria,
civitatem laborare, quae pestes omnia magna imperia everterunt.
Livy has Cato reiterate mulier and muliebris with pejoratives, even though he makes it
clear that he is referring to feminae. Valerius, however, offering rebuttal, speaks only of
matronae andfeminae, except in passages where he is paraphrasing Cato. While Cato has
castigatedfeminae repeatedly for muliebres failings, Valerius lauds dee us matrona/e ...pudorem,
sanctitatemque feminarum (34.6.8). Cato: coniuratione muliebri (34.2.3); consternatio
muliebris (34.2.6); seditioni ... mu/iebri (34.3.8); luxuriam muliebrem (34.4.6). He also
mentions ancestral omnia muliebria iura (34.3.1), designed to restrain /icentia among
females. Cato's use of femina: 34.2.1; 7; 11; 14; 4.1.
74 North calls Livy's account contradictory and inadequate (supra, n. 61) 86.
96 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

vulgari coepta sunt per viros mulieresque (39.8.5). The word vulgari
indicates that viri mulieresque is a general term.
Livy next uses feminae in an expository passage that contains the
definitive anti-Bacchanalian rhetoric. The upper class term is used for
shock-value to emphasize that the excesses of the cult were practiced not
only by the disreputable, but also by the respectable. Livy first employs
the adjectival/emina (always used in tandem with mas), which prepares
the readers for the feminae (aristocratic ladies) and ingenui who are
committing stupra promiscua .15 Since stuprum was a crime that applied
only to the free-born, 76 stupra promiscua ingenuorum feminarumque
seems redundant unless Livy is emphasizing that the cult, which he says
was brought to Rome by an obscure Greek, had, like a cancer, spread to
the upper strata of Roman society. 77
Livy emphasizes the indulgence of viri and feminae in the most
degenerate aspects of the cult; their presence renders the Bacchanalian
rites even more obscene (39.13.10-12):
Ex quo in promiscuo sacra sint et permixti viri feminis, et noctis licentia
accesserit, nihil ibi facinoris, nihil flagitii praetermissum. Plura virorum inter
sese quam feminarum esse stupra. Si qui minus patientes, dedecoris sint et
pigriores ad facinus, pro victimis immolari. Nihil nefas ducere, hanc summam
inter eos religionem esse. Viros, velut mente capta, cum iactatione fanatica
corporis vaticinari; matron as Baccharum habitu crinibus sparsis cum ardentibus
facibus decurrere ad Tiberim, demissasque in aquam faces, quia vivum sulpur
cum calce insit, integra flamma efferre.

J.A. North believes the membership to have been widely based,

cutting across class lines. He postulates groups similar to collegia, with
both free and slave participants. 78 Livy seems to be presenting the cult
in this light when he relates that Hispala, as a young ancilla, was
recruited into the Bacchic mysteries by her domina (39.12.6). While a

75Additae voluptates religioni vini et epularum, quo plurium animi illicerentur. Cum
vinum animos incendisset, et nox et mixti feminis mares, aetatis tenerae maioribus,
discrimen omne pudoris exstinxissent, corruptelae prim um omnis generis fieri coeptae,
cum ad id quisque, quo natura pronioris libidinis esset, paratam voluptatem haberet.
Nee unum genus noxae, stupra promiscua ingenuorum feminarumque erant, sed falsi
testes, falsa signa testamentaque et indicia ex eadem officina exibant; venena ind idem
intestinaeque caedes, ita ut ne corpora quidem interdum ad sepulturam exstarent.
Muha dolo, pleraque per vim audebantur. Occulebat vim quod prae ululatibus
tympanorumque et cymbalorum strepitu nulla vox quiritantium inter stupra et caedes
exaudiri poterat (39.8.6-8).
76 P. Csillag, The Augustan laws on Family Relations (Budapest, 1976) 179.
77 The ignoble nature of the Greek, however, must not be taken seriously, as it probably

reflects Senatorial attempts to associate the group with foreigners and the lower classes.
78 North (supra, n. 61) 87. Gruen sees the servile aspect to be negligible: Studies in Greek

Culture and Roman Policy in Cincinnati Classical Studies, N.S., vol. 7 (Leiden,1990) 60.
 LIVIAN LADIES: CARDBOARD CHARACTERS IN FEMININE ATTIRE 97

group that ignored class divisions would be especially obnoxious to the

Senate for whom the State religion represented a means for keeping
public order, 79 one must be cautious with this interpretation. Promiscu-
ous mingling of the classes was a favorite topos of coniuratio, and hints
of collusion between the aristocracy and the servile orders may pertain
to Senatorial propaganda designed to raise the spectre of a slave revolt. 80
When the consul, Postumius, speaks before the people, he is careful
to refer to the Bacchanalians only in the most general terms: multa milia
hominum ... mulierum magna pars (39.15.8-9). When he dwells upon the
lurid practices of cult members, he does so in a cursory manner: deinde
simillimi feminis mares, stuprati et constupratores, fanatici, vigiliis,
vino strepitibus clamoribusque nocturnis attoniti (39.15.9). Note that
Postumius uses the adjectivalfeminislmares, vague indicators of gender
that are regularly applied to animals and infants of uncertain sex. 81
Postumius asks, rhetorically: Quates primum nocturnos coetus, deinde
promiscuos mulierum ac virorum esse creditis? (12) The word order
emphasizes nocturnos coetus. It is significant thatfeminis and mulierum
precede mares and virorum; almost invariably the masculine terms
precede the feminine. By putting the expressions back-to-front, Postumius
is hinting that the women prodded the men onto the primrose path of
procacity. Livy has made similar assertions about Duronia and Aebutius
(39.11.1-2), as well as Paculla Annia and her two sons, Minius and
Herrenius Cerrinius (13.9). 82 Again, mulieres and viri, whatever the
word-order, is the general term; there are no virilfeminae in the consul's
speech. Since the patres conscripti themselves were disturbed about the
possible incrimination of their own adfines ( 14.4), 83 Postumius has soft-
pedaled aristocratic involvement when delivering an oration before the
people (39.15). Livy, however, in presenting his account of the affair to
his Augustan-age readers, was under no such constraints, and indeed he
has used viri andfeminae in tandem throughout the episode to illustrate
the erring ways of the post-Hannibalic War aristocracy, who had not
learned the lesson on which he has been harping since book 21: proper
respect for the State religion.
A final passage demonstrates the interplay between the general viril

79 Gallini (supra, n. 50) 34. Gruen believes that the Senate suppressed the cult in 186 in

order to maintain their control over "the regulalion of religion." (supra, n. 78) 75.
80 As does Cicero in the Catilinarian speeches.
81 Packard (supra, n. 4) s.v. mas, in its various cases.

82 North (supra, n. 61) 89.

83 van Son (supra, n. 61) 198; an astule observation in a book largely uncritical of Livy's

version of the events of 186.

98 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

mulieres and the particular viri/feminae: the denunciation and condem-

nation of the conspirators (39 .17 .5-6).
Multi ea nocte, quae diem insecuta est, quo in contione res palam facta est,
custodiis circa portas positis fugientes a triumviris comprehensi et reducti
sunt; multorum delata nomina. Quidam ex iis viri feminaeque mortem sibi
consciverunt. Coniurasse supra septem milia virorum ac mulierum dicebantur.

The number 7000 calls for the general term in the genitive plural.
Although Livy might use viri andfeminae, partly for variation, the terms
serve to call attention to those persons who at least had the grace to take
an honourable way out. Their identification with the plebeian elite may
be postulated from Livy's next words. He alludes to the plebeian leaders
of the cult, one of whom, Minius Cerrinius, was removed to Campania
under armed escort with express orders to prevent him from comitting
suicide (39.17.6-7; 19.2).
Once again, Livy employs the general terms, virilmulieres, in refer-
ence to the condemned conspirators: Magna vis in utraque causa
virorum mulierumquefuit. Mulieresdamnatascognatis ... (39. 18.6). General
terminology is appropriate for the condemned (who no longer merit
terms of respect) and reflects Ciceronian usage. 84
The text of the original S.C. de Bacchanalibus (C/L 1.2 581) employs
the general terms, viri and mulieres (10; 12; 19; 20). Livy, however, has
made no attempt to mirror the terminology of the senatusconsultum.
Although one might attribute his use of virilmulieres and viri/feminae to
variatio, in light of the evidence in Cicero and in Livy's own history,
where vir andfemina are distinguished from homo and mulier, one must
consider the probability that the collective terms also had sharp distinc-
tions; that when Livy wrote of the activities of viri andfeminae, he meant
to distinguish them from the average viri and mulieres.
Livy's feminine terminology is specialized. Although he resorts to
familiar patterns exhibited in the rhetoric of Cicero, he establishes new
paradigms which become part of the historiographical vocabulary. This
is indicated by his failure to use the Ciceronian mulier with pejorative
adjectives, and his tendency to employ femina in reference to women of
the upper classes, whose bad behaviour, nevertheless, he characterizes
as muliebris. Livy's tearful mulier in the crowd will be encountered

84 Although Cicero has no occasion to refer to condemned persons collectively, when he

docs so individually, he uses homo and mulier: mulier amens ... condemnaretur: Cluent. 187;
hominem ... condemnat: Verr. 2.22; hominem condemnaret: 14; hominem omnium
nequissimum ... condemnatum 15; cf. Phil. 2.56; damnata, with mulier: C/uent. 32; homo:
Verr. 3.90; 5.10; 11.
 LI VIAN LADIES: CARDBOARD CHARACTERS IN FEMININE ATTIRE 99

again in Tacitus, as will the valiant barbaric femina, who will be

metamorphosized into the noble savage of the Agricola, Germania, and
the Anna/es.
Although many of the rhetorical features displayed in the speeches of
Cicero find their way into historiography, Livy seems to have tran-
scended the limitations of mulier with pejoratives, supplanting it by
muliebris, an adjective virtually ignored by Cicero in his invective.
Muliebris embodied all the negative characteristics that were to be
shunned by both men and women in a Republic that prized virtus. In
emphasizing muliebris as a term of abuse, Livy has opened the door of
history to the atroxfemina of the Roman empire.
 CHAPTER SIX

VELLEIUS PATERCULUS: HISTORICUS PATRIOTICUS

Until very recently, scholarly opinion of Velleius Paterculus as an

historian was so low, that were a Gallup Poll of Ancient Historians to be
taken, the Tiberian author would be included in the category, "Other." 1
According to J. Hellegouarc'h, Velleius has suffered from comparisons
to Livy and Tacitus, confrontations from which he has emerged scathed,
being dismissed as a perjured panegyrist and trafficker in rhetoric; both
charges having led to his conviction as a "minor historian." 2 Now,
however, thanks to the advocacy of scholars such as A.J. Woodman, the
case of the only extant historian between Livy and Tacitus has been
reopened. 3 Woodman has argued that Velleius is a "patriotic historian",
writing in the grand old tradition of Sallust and Livy, his final 38 chapters
on Tiberius being the logical conclusion of a work intended to show that
great events of the past were foreshadowing an even greater present. 4
Woodman has furthermore demonstrated the absurdity of the complaint
upon the rhetorical nature of the opus, noting that "all ancient historians,
without exception" dealt in literary ani:l dramatic topoi, and that their
writings must be "de-rhetorized" in order to be evaluated historically. 5
Velleius conceived a composition of broad scope that dates back to
the primordial dawning of Athenian history. In order to cope with the
breadth of his theme, he presents his readers with a "portrait gallery" of
character sketches in which great events have been reduced to a series
of individual actions. 6 Like Livy, Velleius is dealing in historical
exempla. 1

1 J. Hellegouarc'h, "L'histoire romaine de Velleius Paterculus," in ANRW 32.1, 404-5.

2 Ibid., 405,419,436; cf. Vel/eius Paterculus, The Tiberius Narrative (2.94-131 ), ed. and
intro. by A.J. Woodman (Cambridge, 1977) ix; 54-56.
3 Ibid., loc. cit.

• Ibid., 35; 38. Woodman notes that the final chapters in Ab Urbe Condita were about
Augustus' career. Since Livy's work is more in-depth than that of Velleius, and since his
final chapters on Augustus are missing, the Augustan perspective of the work passes
unnoticed.
5 Woodman (supra, n. 2) 35-36.

• Hellegouarc'h (supra, n. I) 420.

7 Velleius' work is often compared to Valerius Maximus' compendium of anecdotes,

facts and sayings, published in 31, book nine of which is dedicated to Tiberius. Also a
patriotic work, its emphasis is on the deeds of the greats rather than on the men themselves;
Valerius organized his opus into iilustrative rubrics. L. Alfonsi, "Carracteristiche della
 VELLEIUS PATERCULUS: HISTORICUS PATRIOT/CVS 101

A work that concentrates upon brief character likenesses and depends

upon rhetoric is an ideal vehicle for the study of gender terminology;
indeed, Velleius' history is a gold-mine of gender epithets. He uses vir
over 100 times and homo in apposition only six;Jemina seven times, and
mulier, never. Do these figures mean that vir has "taken over" the prose
of the Roman Empire, as Axelson has hypothesized femina has? 8 Is the
omission of mulier and rare employment of homo indicative of semantic
disuse, or is there another explanation?

An Embarrassment of Viri
Imitation, according to Velleius, nourishes genius (1.17 .6); and the
nonpareil of forensic oratory and elegant prose was M. Tullius Cicero
(1.17.3). Velleius' dictum holds true insofar as his use of gender
terminlogy is concerned; for the author imitates Cicero over and over
again, stocking his historical larder with great viri of the past. He
introduces a character, such as Crassus Mucianus, and adds a laudatory
epithet to his name-in Crassus' case, vir iuris scientissimus, an appel-
lation that encapsulates both his career and pre-eminence (2.4.1).
A rehearsal of Velleius' JOO Great Viri of All Time would be as
tedious as it would be repetitious; for we have already encountered many
of them in Cicero, Sallust and Livy. A partial sampling, however, in
categories, shows Velleius' traditional use of vir as an indicator of high
status or moral worth.
1. Great Kings and Lawmakers: e.g., King Codrus, vir nonpraetereun-
dus, who exchanged regal robes for shepherd's skins in order to die for
Athens (1.2.1 ); Lycurgus, vir generis reg ii and severissimarum
iustissimarumque Legum auctor (1.6.3).
2. Immortal Bards: e.g., Hesiod, vir perelegantis ingenii et mollissimi
dulcidine carminum memorabilis: second only to Homer (tanto viro)
( 1. 7 .1 ); similarly, a single epoch of a few years' duration brought
brilliance to tragedy per divini spiritus viros, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and
Euripides (1.16.3).

letteratura Giulio-Claudia," ANRW 32.1, 11; cf. G. Maslakov, "Valerius Maximus and
Roman historiography: a study in the exempla tradition," ANRW32.1, 437 sq. The difference
between Velleius' and Valerius' emphasis is apparent in the latter's gender terminology, for
although vir and femina prevail over homo and mu/ier, all fall into familiar polarized
concepts. The compiler of deeds is less prone to use gender terms as epithets, which Velleius
does almost exclusively.
1 B. Axelson, Unpoetische Worter, einBeitrag zur Kenntnis der lateinischenDichtersprache

(Lund, 1945) 55-59.

102 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

3. Formidable Foreigners: e.g., Mithridates, Ponticus rex, vir neque

silendus neque dicendus sine cura, bello acerrimus, virtute eximius
(2.18.1); and what list would be complete without the inclusion of
Minatius Magius, dux Italicorum, who, besides being Velleius' great-
grandfather, was the grandson Campanorum principis, celeberrimi et
fidelissimi viri (2.16.2); or the historian's grandfather, a vir nulli secundus
(2.76.1)?
4. Notable Consulars, Past and Present: e.g., P. Scipio Aemilianus,
vir ... virtutibus simillimus to his illustrious forefathers (1.12.3); Aelius
Lamia, consul of 3 A.D., vir antiquissimi moris et priscam gravitatem
semper humanitate temperans, who failed to achieve honours only
through lack of opportunity (2.116.3).
5. Lesser but Nonetheless Distinguished Notables: e.g., Statius Murcus
and Cris pus Marcius,praetorii viri (2.69 .2); Augustus' father, C. Octavius,
praetor inter nobilissimosviros creatus (2.59.2); C. Maecenas, equestri
sed splendido genere natus vir, noted to be otio ac mollitiis paene ultra
feminamfluens (2.88.2); and Velleius provides history's only hint about
the lighter side of L. Aelius Sejanus, vir laetissimae hilaritatis priscae
severitatis (2.174.4 ).
Even this abbreviated roster demonstrates that Velleius, whose work
teems with the clarissimi, is employing vir in the accepted rhetorical
patterns of Cicero. 9 Furthermore, it is Velleius' repeated use of vir as an
appositive epithet that contributes to the work's encomiastic flavour and
re11ders him vulnerable to the charge of being a panegyrist.
Velleius, however, is not entirely uncritical of his viri, especially
when he can present a paradoxical exemplum that balances the good with
the bad. An instance is his treatment ofGn. Pompey; while acknowledg-
ing the unquestionable greatness of the man, the historian, nevertheless,
takes the general to task for an insatiable thirst for glory:
Neque eo viro quisquam aut alia omnia minus aut gloriam magis concupiit, in
adpetendis honoribus inmodicus, in gerendis verecundissimus, ut qui eos ut
libentissime iniret, ita finiret aequo animo, et quod cupisset, arbitrio suo
sumeret, alieno deponeret (2.33.3).

Velleius presents Cicero's hero as a petty squabbler who trades insults

with Lucullus over the command of the Mithridatic war (2.33.2). Nor did
Pompey stamp out the pirates alone: multis et praeclaris viris ... ads ump tis,
he made the world safe from piracy (2.32.4). Despite his faults, vir is the
only term that can possibly apply to Pompey, three times consul-a man
9 C/ari,praec/ari, and c/arissimi viri: 1.6.3; 2.2. l; 13.2; 32.l; 4; 77.3; 118.4; consuls and

consular viri: 1.9.3; 2.1.4; 23.l; 43.4; 54.2; 69.l; 129.l

 VELLEIUS PATERCULUS: H/STOR/CUS PATRIOT/CVS 103

so great that Velleius could fill many volumes with his exploits, were
space to permit, cuius viri magnitudo multorum voluminum instar exigit,
sed operis modus paucis eum narrari iubet (2.29.2). According to
Velleius, Pompey is the vir of the century (2.53.4), and he is honoured
with a closing epitaph:
Hie post tres consulatus et totidem triumphos domitumque terrarum orbem
sanctissimi atque praestantissimi viri in id evecti, super quod ascendi non
potest, duodesexagesimum annum agentis pridie natalem ipsius vitae fuit
exitus, in tantum in illo viro a se discordante fortuna, ut cui modo ad victoriam
terra defuerat, deesset ad sepulturam (2.53.3).

Velleius sums up the lives of the few viri who have cast indelible
shadows upon history in a tradition that began with Sallust and was to
reach its zenith in the works of Tacitus. 10 These obituaries, often double-
edged, enable the historian to dispose of the bad and preserve the good
at the same time. An example is that of Marius: vir in bello hostibus, in
otio civibus infestissimus quietisque impatientissimus (2.23.1). Some-
times such a pronouncement will appear at the beginning of a character
sketch, as with Sulla: vir qui neque adfinem victoriae satis laudari neque
post victoriam abunde vituperari potest (2.17.1). Although Velleius
deplores the proscriptions (2.28.3), 11 he is grateful that the dictator
restored the courts to the Senate (2.32.3), and laments that when C.
Gracchus had transferred their jurisdiction to the equites, 12 so many
clarissimi atque innocentissimi viri had been condemned, including P.
Rutilius, who surpasses Pompey in that he is not merely vir of his own
century, but omnis aevi optimus (2.13.2).
Velleius sometimes excuses the peccadillos of his great viri by
resorting to "vir alioqui ... " 13 Ti. Sempronius Gracchus is the foremost
example. The historian's emphasis is on the man the tribune might have
become had he played the game of the cursus honorum according to the
established rules (2.2.1-2):
Quippe Tiberius Gracchus, Tiberii Gracchi clarissimi atque eminentissimi
viri filius, P. Africani ex filia nepos, quo quaestore et auctore id foedus ictum
erat, nunc graviter ferens aliquid a se pactum infirmari, nunc similis vel iudicii
vel poenae metuens discrimen, tribunus plebis creatus ...

The departure of the vir alioqui vita innocentissimus, ingenio florentissimus,

proposito sanctissimus from the pale of the boni, however, as well as his
10 Woodman (supra, n. 2) 33-34.
11 Hellegouarc'h notes an otherwise favourable treatment of Sulla (supra, n. I) 426.
12 /bid., 425; he cites Velleius' criticism of C. Gracchus.
13 Crassus is a vir cetera sanctissimus, but for money (2.46.2): Woodman, Velleius

Paterculus, the Caesarian and Augustan Narrative (2.42-93), (Cambridge, 1983) 72.
104 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

agrarian reforms, only served to push the Republic to the brink: in ...anceps
periculum (2.2.2-3).
A second vir alioqui ... is L. Opimius who, in addition to killing C.
Gracchus, assassinated a consularem ac triumphalem virum, Fulvius
Flaccus. This deed in itself was not censurable, because Gracchus had
made Flaccus a socium regalis ...potentiae. Opimius' unforgivable crime
was to offer a bounty in gold on the head of a Roman citizen (2.6.4-5).
The consul, to whom Gruen has attributed a "taste for violence and
cruelty," 14 furthermore, established crudeles ... quaestiones and was re-
sponsible for the death of Flaccus' innocent son. Despite conspicuous
lapses, however, Velleius grants Opimius the epithet, vir alioqui sanctus
et gravis, but adds that no one was sorry when the consul himself was
prosecuted and condemned (2.7.2-3).
L. Licinius Lucullus is Velleius' third representative. A luxuriae
primus auctor, who frittered his fortune upon frivolous fishponds and
other useless engineering projects, Lucullus is, nevertheless, summus
alioqui vir (2.33.4 ).
All of the above are anomalies if one is writing a history with strong
moral overtones. Gracchus had become a national symbol who had,
nevertheless, acted against the interests of the Senate; Opimius, as
consul, had persecuted the hero's brother and followers; and although
Lucullus' extravagance was proverbial, he was, nevertheless, a consular
in good standing. Velleius therefore terms them viri alioqui ... , rather
than using homo with pejoratives, a device that he saves for persons of
demonstrably questionable motives, such as the tribunes Clodius and
Curio; and for those whom he considers beyond redemption, since they
have given offence to the reigning princeps or his family, notably M.
Lollius and M. Aemilius Lepidus (v. infra).
Velleius is clearly dealing with what Time Magazine would term the
"movers and shakers" of Roman history. His viri are mostly senators:
consulares and imperatores, with an occasional equestrian or tribune
who contributes his share. L. Alfonsi evaluates Velleius' work as the
first great summary of history in which the entire often turbulent
chronicle of the world is gravitating toward the quies, the pax, and the
tranquilitas of the Roman-Italic based empire. 15 In Velleius' mind, the
Tiberi an Age acts as a magnet (2.131.1 ), and all great viri-including ille
vir, Augustus (2.91.1), who casts omnes omnium gentium viros into

14 E.S. Gruen, Roman Politics in the Criminal Courts (Cambridge, 1968) 73.
15 Alfonsi (supra, n. 7) 10.
 VELLEIUS PATERCULUS: HISTORICUS PATRIOT/CVS 105

caliginous obscurity (2.36.1 )-all, are foreshadowing Tiberius, who, by

implication, is the greatest of them all: the princeps optimus (2.126.4 ). 16
Time after time, Velleius alludes to Tiberius, often indirectly, even
before he reaches the final 38 chapters. For instance, inclusion of famous
literary viri cannot but remind astute readers of their emperor, who,
Suetonius writes, was adept at Greek and Latin literature (Tib. 70). 17
Another subliminal memo is the unusual spelling-out of the praenomen
of Ti. Gracchus (2.2.1), 18 as is continual reference to characters of
notable verecundia and modestia, such as Codrus and Q. Lutatius
Catulus, moderation and modesty being two of the salient virtues upon
which Tiberius prided himself. 19 All are devices to anticipate the en-
trance of the Emperor.
Another contrivance to exalt the emperor is the artful praise of his
opponents-in-battle, such as Maroboduus. This historiographical ploy
serves either to excuse Roman defeats; to explain why Roman victories
were so hard-won; or to inflate what might have been a routine win. The
characterizaton of enemy generals, such as Mithridates, as viri-plus-
superlatives, not only renders the eventual favourable outcome for the
Romans more creditable, but also serves to explain why it took them so
long to accomplish the job in the first place. This is why, for instance,
Pontius Telesinus, dux Samnitum, is noted to have been a vir domi
bellique fortissimus penitusque, Romano nomini infestissimus, who
marshalled 40,000 fortissimae pertinacissimaeque... iuventutis and con-
fronted the Romans at the Colline Gate (2.27 .1 ), a battle that brought the
Republic ad summum discrimen. The noun homo that customarily
signifies the average foreigner 20 does not serve because it would dimin-
ish the stature of the adversary and imply that the victory was cheaply
won. Consequently, Velleius calls attention to the perilous nature of the
encounter, and, at the same time, distracts the reader's attention from the
fact that the Romans barely won. Vir-with-superlatives accentuates the
military prowess of a man whom Velleius characterizes as the greatest
threat since Hannibal (2.27 .2-4 ).
Velleius applies similar rhetorical tactics to Maroboduus, chief of the
Marcomanni, and thus makes Tiberius' ensuing victory over him seem

16Hellegouarc'h (supra, n. l) 426.

17Their inclusion, according to Alfonsi, transforms an otherwise historical tract into an
excursus on Graeco-Roman civilization (supra, n. 7) 10.
18 v. supra, p. 103.
19 R.S. Rogers, Studies in the Reign of Tiberius: Some Imperial Virtues of Tiberius and

Drusus Julius Caesar (Baltimore, 1943) 60-62.

20 v. supra, chapter one, pp. 19-20.
106 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

spectacular. The historian introduces the subject of the German warrior:

Nulla festinatio huius viri mentionem transgredi debet. Maroboduus
was, he says, ... genere nobilis, corpore praevalens, animo ferox, natione
magisquam ratione barbarus (2.108.2). By accentuating his nobility, his
strength, his ferocity and his civilized nature, Velleius has created an
opponent worthy of his future sovereign. Note that Maroboduus is not
seeking regnum, but imperium; no barbaric migrations by disorderly
hordes are these, but planned systematic invasions designed to subju-
gate; and Velleius employs the word statuit to define the chieftain's
intentions (2.108.2). The author then spends an entire chapter upon
Maroboduus and his 70,000 disciplined troops, and adds that military
escalation by the Northern Peril had made all Italy tremble; he reminds
the reader that the summits of the Alps, the nation's boundary, are less
than 200 miles from Rome (2.109.4).
The would-be German Hannibal has, however, met his match in
Tiberius Caesar, whom Velleius, again using statuit, portrays as having
plans of his own: Hunc virum [Maroboduum] et hanc regionemproximo
anno diversis e partibus Ti. Caesar adgredi statuit (2.109.5). The
iterated verb, statuit, suggests two intellectual opponents, planning their
every move, as in a game of strategic skill. Repetition of vir not only
stresses the gigantic stature of Tiberius' adversary but it also confirms
the mettle of the future emperor.

Homo: Linguistical Relic or Fossil Aforethought?

Infrequent use of homo in face of what must seem an overwhelming
preference for vir, might indicate, at first glance, that distinctions in the
early Empire have become so blurred that there is no longer any
difference between the terms. This assumption would imply that Velleius'
employed his gender terminology without thought. The historian's
prose, however, demonstrates a mastery of the art of rhetoric; 21 it
therefore seems unlikely that Velleius would employ any word care-
lessly. To attempt an analysis, one must test his use of homo to determine
whether there is a pattern.
Two of the weeds in the historian's garden of viri are P. Clodius and
G. Curio. Both portrayals, according to Woodman, are couched in
similar terms. He further believes that Clodius' portrait was painted from

21 Woodman (supra, n. 2) 35.

 VELLEIUS PATERCULUS: HISTORICUS PATRIOT/CVS 107

a sketch of Q. Curius, by Sallust. 22 It is more likely that Velleius'

depictions derive from that of the rhetorical tribune, as did Sallust's.
Well-born tribunes who sabotage the machinery of State are part of the
Tiberius Gracchus syndrome. Both Clodius and Curio are described as
nobiles, but where Clodius is a homo nobilis, disertus, audax (Veil.
2.45.1), Curio is a vir nobilis, eloquens, audax (2.48.3). Lest one think
that the word vir sets the seal of approval upon Curio, Velleius instantly
rectifies the illusion with an application of homo-plus-pejoratives. A
homo ingeniosissime nequam, Curio is ever striving for the public bad:
facundus malo publico. As Clodius is a malorum propositorum executor
ace rrimus, and infamis because of his relationship with his sister (2.45 .1 ),
Curio is pudicitiae prodigus; he furthermore squanders both his and
other people's money (2.48.3-4). Audax, an adjective equated with
popularis, was used traditionally for both Clodius and Curio. 23 The homo
popularis, as we have seen in chapter one, was synonymous with the
tribune of the plebs. As with Ti. Gracchus, the continual emphasis upon
the nobility of these men demonstrates their betrayal of the boni; and the
boni-always viri-are the antithesis of the audaces-with the excep-
tion of Curio-always homines.
Woodman notes that audax, in reference to Clodius, effectively
cancels out the salubrious effects of nobilis and disertus in a Tacitean
manner. 24 Nobilis, however, as we have seen, is not a political compli-
ment;25 similarly, disertus is a double-edged adjective that often con-
notes "glib" in Cicero, who uses it of orators, adolescents and old men. 26
Homo audax was an epithet that Cicero employed repeatedly of Clodius; 27
Velleius has neutralized nobilis and disertus not only with audax but also
with homo, the former terms being enclosed by the traditional pejorative
epithet. 28

22 Woodman (supra, n. 13) 65-66.

Sed in ea coniuratione fuit Q. Curius, natus haud obscuro loco, flagitiis atque
facinoribus coopertus, quern censores senatu probri gratia moverant. Huie homini non
minor vanitas inerat quam audacia; neque reticere quae audierat, neque suamet ipse
scelere occultare, prorsus neque dicere neque facere quicquam pensi habebat (BC.
23.1-2).
23 C. Wirzubski, "Audaces, a study in political phraseology,"JRS 51 (1961) 18. cf.

Seager, "Cicero and the word popu/aris," CQ N.S. 22 (1972) 332.

"Woodman (supra, n. 13) 65.
25 W.K. Lacey "Boni atque improbi", G&R, ser. 2, 17 (1971) 8-9; M. Tu/Ii Ciceronis Pro

M. Caelio Oratio, ed. R.G. Austin, 3rd ed. (Oxford, 1960) 64.
26 H. Merguet, Lexikon zu den Reden Ciceros mil angabe samtlicher Ste lien (Jena, 1877)
s.v. disertus.
27 e.g., Sest. 86; 100; of Clodius and his henchmen, Dom. 5; 54.

2.1 Velleius may have picked up the epithet from Cicero, whose invective for the terrible
tribune must have become canonical thanks to his published speeches and the schools of
108 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

Curio's epithets deserve comment. Vir contributes a positive aura to

nobilis, eloquens, audax; eloquens connotes none of the glibness of
disertus. The two adjectives, in fact, are often contrasted to the latter's
detriment. 29 Audax, which is pejorative with homo, when employed with
vir and eloquens, suggests that Curio is bold and innovative in his
oratory. The reader is taken off guard when he is suddenly informed that
the eloquent and daring young vir nobilis is, in fact, a homo ingeniosissime
nequam. This is not variatio, but pure Ciceronian invective. Nequam is
almost at the bottom of the vitriol barrel, being one drop removed from
nequissimus, adjectives Cicero was wont to hurl in the faces of slaves,
freedmen, gladiators in general, and G. Verres in particular. 30
Velleius revelled in antithetical character traits in the same man. 31 Vir
nobilis, juxtaposed with homo ... nequam, creates an antithesis. The
adverb ingeniosissime establishes Curio as a double-dealer through his
oratory. Note how Cicero, in a similar passage, casts doubts about C.
Gracchus by juxtaposing homo with vir, citing an oration
hominis ... ingeniosissimi atque eloquentissimi f Gracchi], filled with
insinuations against Piso, about whom Cicero apostrophizes: "At in
quern virum!" Piso's virtus was so remarkable that Gracchus, upon being
asked "Which Piso?", was forced to praise his political enemy as Piso the
Worthy by uttering his cognomen, Frugi (Font. 39). It will be recalled
that Cicero, in his pose as popularis consul, hailed the Gracchi as
clarissimi, ingeniosissimi ... viri, an epithet meant to be pleasing to the
populace, but which was, in reality, fraught with double meaning (Leg.
Agr. 2.10). Homo ingeniosissime nequam emphasizes the betrayal by
Curio, the vir nobilis. Equivalent to "side-winding snake-in-the-grass",
the epithet is apt for the man who not only ignited the brand that
detonated the Civil War, but who, Velleius hints, actually switched sides
because of bribery (2.48.3; 55.1 ). 32 The antithetical epithets vir and
homo reveal Curio's true nature. 33

rhetoric which recycled threadbare topoi and hackneyed expressions. Maslakov (supra, n.
7) 445.
29 Austin (supra, n. 25) 64.
30 Merguet (supra, n. 26) s.v. nequam.
31 Hellegouarc'h (supra, n. l) 426; examples are Sulla (2.17.l) and Marius (2.23.l).
32 E.S. Gruen writes that Curio "claimed Caesar's backing while he engaged in virulent

criticism of Pompey." The Last Generation of the Roman Republic (Berkeley, 1974) 481.
33 M. Caelius is a pocket edition of Curio; Velleius terms him vir e/oquio animoque

Curioni simillimus (2.68.l). Caelius, nevertheless, surpasses Curio in both spirit and
eloquence: sed in utroque perfectior. He is, however, just as crafty and sneaky: nee minus
ingeniose nequam. Perhaps Velleius has omitted homo because he has already ranked
Caelius among the great orators of all time (2.36.2).
 VELLEIUS PATERCULUS: HISTORICUS PATRIOT/CVS 109

Velleius Paterculus uses homo twice in non-pejorative contexts for

which there are Ciceronian precedents. In the first instance, the noun is
placed in apposition to the name of Cato the Younger, homo Virtuti
simillimus et per omnia ingenio diis quam hominibus propior (2.35.2). 34
Homo, in the sense of human being, is contrasted to the personified
Virtus; a similar contrast may be seen between diis and hominibus. 35
Homo, used by Cicero for adulescentes and tribunes, is suitable for
Cato. 36 It emphasizes the youth of the designated Tribune of the Plebs,
who, "at an age when most senators, even of the most noble stock, rarely
ventured to utter a sound in the curia," was called on to present his
sententia last, during the debate over the fate of the Catilinarians (2.35.3-
4).37 Hellegouarc'h sees this passage to demonstrate Velleius' ambiva-
lence toward Cato, about whom the historian divides his judgment, as he
did earlier of Scipio Nasica (2.3). 38 Cato's portrait is painted in bloodless
tones, as one who is so cold-hearted that he can use his ingenium (as did
Curio) to overturn the will of the majority. Cato's "blistering speech" 39
caused Julius Caesar and the others who argued for leniency to be
suspected of complicity. Homo, customarily used with adulescens,
emphasizes Cato's brash youth. 40

34 • • •qui numquam recte fecit, ut facere videretur, sed quia aliter facere non potuerat,
cuique id solum visum est rationem habere, quod haberet iustitiae, omnibus humanis
vitiis immunis semper fortunam in sua potestate habuit (2.35.2).
35 H.D. Jocelyn, "Homo sum: humani nil a me a/ienum puto," Antichthon 6 (1977) 33.
36 Adu/escens homo: Cicero: Merguet (supra, n 26) s.v. adu/escens; Sallust: BC 38.1;

52.26; Ep. 1.5.5; Liv. 2.18.10; 28.40.7. An adu/escens is a homo by nature of being a half-
baked vir. Prone to imprudent impulses and mindless loquacity, he is easily led by the
nequissimi of the world. On adu/escens as a term of abuse, I. Opelt, Die Lateinischen
Schimpfwoerter und verwandte sprachliche Erscheinungen: eine Typo/ogie (Heidelberg,
1965) 56; 152; 156; 187.
37 Gruen (supra, n. 32) 53.

Hie tribunus pl. designatus et adhuc admodum adulescens, cum alii suaderent, ut per
municipia Len tu Ius coniuratique custodirentur, paene inter ultimas interrogatus sententiam,
tanta vi animi atque ingenii invectus est in coniurationem, eo ardore oris orationem
omnium lenitatem suadentium societate consilii suspectam fecit, sic impendentia ex
ruinis incendiisque urbis et commutatione status publici pericula exposuit, ita consulis
virtutem amplificavit, ut universus senatus in eius sententiam transiret
animadvertendumque in eos, quos praediximus, censeret maiorque pars ordinis eius
Catonem prosequerentur domum.
31 Hellegouarc'h (supra, n. I} 426.
39 Gruen (supra, n. 32) 55.
40 When Cato"grows up" and refuses the imperium of the Pompeians, Velleius terms him

a vir, noting that he preferred to yield the honour to P. Scipio, Pompey's father-in-law, a vir
consu/aris (2.54.2-3). He coins an epigram, noting that where the vir antiquuset gravis (e.g.,
Cato) sided with the Pompeians, the vir prudens followed Caesar (2.49.3). Velleius implies
that the conservatism of the former is outdated, while the prudentia of the latter foreshadows
the moderation of the emperor Tiberius: Rogers (supra, n. 19) 60-62. It is perhaps Cato's
intransigent lack of foresight that causes Velleius to pass over his famous suicide, although
he records the bloody deaths clarissimorum virorum, including Cato's son (2.71.1). The
110 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

The other non-pejorative instance of homo refers to Q. Lutatius

Catulus, Velleius' exemplum of auctoritas and verecundia (2.32.1). The
historian juxtaposes the unassuming homo, Catulus, with the glory-
seeking vir, Pompey. 41 The tribune, A. Gabinius, has just proposed that
Pompey be given carte blanche to clear the shipping lanes of maraud-
ers.42 He calls on the ex-consul, Catulus, hoping that he will back the
proposal. Gabinius' plan backfires, however, when Catulus informs the
people that Pompey is a praeclarus vir who has grown too great for a free
Republic (2.32.1). "What," he asks, "will you do should Pompey meet
with misfortune? Who will replace him?" The unanimous "You!" drives
the unassuming ex-consul out of the assembly, and Velleius comments
(2.32.2):
Hie hominis verecundiam, populi iustitiam mirari libet, huius, quod non ultra
contendit, plebis, quod dissuadentem et adversarium voluntatis suae vero
testimonio fraudare noluit.

Pompey, it will be recalled, was portrayed as power-hungry (2.33.3).

There is a specific contrast between him, the praeclarus vir, and Catulus,
the homo of verecundia. Velleius clearly employed vir and homo to
demonstrate the gulf between the overweening general and the modest
ex-consul. Homo exudes the humility concomitant in the auctoritas of
the wise consular or ruler. The astute reader will recognize the allusion
to the man who was so modest that he had to be begged to take the reins
of power, and after having done so, persistently refused excessive
honours for himself and his family. 43 Tacitus and Suetonius may have
twisted the facts of Tiberius' accession and its aftermath into a travesty
of modesty that supposedly masked the tyrant's true intentions, but their
rhetorical permutations and innuendos nevertheless reflect as much an
historical aspect of the emperor's reign, as does Velleius' highly lauda-
tory version. 44

historian comments on Cato's success in leading Pompey's legions despite difficulties of

terrain and lack of supplies, but says nothing of his demise. His suicide may have "earned
him the cognomen Uticensis and everlasting repute" (Gruen [supra, n. 32) 53), but V. seems
never to have heard of it.
41 Cicero often employed homo with adjectives denoting moderation of the privatus who

did not choose to enter public life, or who had retired from office. Adjectives applied to homo
in these cases are positive, although they may be used sarcastically of perceived scoundrels
such as Antony (e.g. Phil. 10.13); examples: frugi, modestus, prudens, pudens, sane/us,
temperans and verecundus. Merguet (supra, n. 26) s.v. adjectives noted above; Cicero
himself cites Catulus as a sapientissimus homo,but adds optimus cives et vir (Red. Sen. 9).
42 For an account of which, Gruen (supra, n. 32) 50.
43 Suet. Tib. 24; cf. Tac. Ann. 1.11; 12; 14.

""Hellegouarc'h comments that just because Tacitus and Suetonius contradict Velleius,
it does not mean that he is wrong (supra, n. 1) 427.
 VELLEIUS PATERCULUS: H/STOR/CUS PATR/OTICUS 111

Velleius may use homo rarely, but his employment of the word is
evocative of Ciceronian rhetoric. This is particularly apparent when he
uses the term with traditional pejoratives for two persons who were his
near contemporaries, M. Aemilius Lepidus, the triumvir, and M. Lolli us.
The historian has absolutely nothing good to say about Lepidus, and
he says it in no uncertain terms, anticipating Tacitean innuendo. Noting
that Lepidus was pontifex maximus in C. Caesaris locumfurto creatus
(2.63.1), he compares him unfavourably to the other triumvir who lost
his reputation along with the Civil War: cum etLepido omnes imperatores
forent meliores et multis Antonius. 45 Lepidus is a vir omni um vanissimus.
The adjective used with the aristocratic term suggests vacuous arro-
gance, and that the triumvir had flaunted his high position. The historian
clearly considers Lepidus perfidious. Remarking that Lepidus had the
audacia to denounce Octavian, Velleius further relates that when that
youth, unarmed and draped in a simple mantle, entered Lepidus' camp,
the homo pravissimus unleashed a barrage of lances, one of which
penetrated the lad's cloak. Octavian, however, countered audacity with
audacity, and sauntered out of the encampment, brandishing a stolen
eagle (2.80.1-3). Velleius closes the episode with an image of Lepidus
skulking at the end of a line of admiring soldiers in order to throw himself
at Octavian's feet and beg for mercy. The future Augustus magnani-
mously grants him his life and property, but strips him of the dignitas of
which he was not capable (2.80.4). Velleius has emphasized Lepidus'
base nature with traditional Ciceronian pejoratives in the epithet, homo
pravissimus.
Velleius' ultimate homo is M. Lollius, consul of 21 B.C. and grand-
father of the empress, Lollia Paullina, whose notorious emeralds Pliny
the Elder saw with his own eyes (NH 9.117-118). 46 Lollius, homo in
omnia pecuniae quam rectefaciendi cupidior et inter summam vitiorum
dissimulationem vitiosissimus, has lost the eagle of the fifth legion,
forcing Tiberius Caesar to drop important affairs in the city and rush to
Gaul (2.97.1). Velleius' disgust is compacted into the Ciceronian epi-
thet, homo ... vitiosissimus.
One might ask why Velleius designated Lollius, who had lost one
"Velleius levels a Ciceronian pot-shot at Antony, adding dum erat sobrius (lb.) He
intimates that the Falernian must have been flowing freely when Antony yielded his titulum
imperii to Lepidus, even after his own troops had deserted him. V. later provides gratuitous
information that Lepidus was married to Junia, Brutus' sister, and that his son, a iuvenis
forma quam mente melior, numbered among plouers against Octavian (2.88.1)-leaving the
reader with the idea that assassination runs in families.
46 Lollia's baubles derived from her grandfather's fleecing of Asia. R. Seager, Tiberius

(London, 1972) 34.

112 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

eagle, a homo, and Quinctilius Varus, who had lost three, a vir. Varus,
whose clades in the Teutoberger Wald inspired the portrait of the
shaggy, unshorn Augustus in the throes of a temper tantrum, demanding
the return of his eagles (Suet. Aug. 23), is usually viewed in a hostile
light. Velleius' account, in fact, accents the governor's segnitia. The
historian's presentation of the dead general, however, is not altogether
negative. Velleius' portrait is that of an administrator and iudex, who
mistook German barbarians for human beings (2.117 .3-4 ): 47
Concepit esse homines, qui nihil praetervocem membraque haberent hominum,
quique gladiis domari non poterant, posse iure mulceri. Quo proposito mediam
ingress us Germani am velut inter viros pacis gaudentes dulcedine iurisdictionibus
agendoque pro tribunali ordine trahebat aestiva.

Note that inter viros signifies "civilized gentlemen," calling attention to

the enormity of Varus' misjudgment. There is nothing reprehensible
about the hearing of lawsuits; that these actions may have been ill-timed
probably stems from what R. Seager deems to have been the "overcon-
fidence" of Augustus, who believed that the area was pacified. 48 Velleius
states specifically that the Germans, in his opinion, mendaces, had
concocted an excessive number of spurious lawsuits in order to divert
Varus' attention so that the governor was lulled in summam socordiam
(2.118.1). Socordia and segnitia can signify inactivity as well as lazi-
ness, and it is Varus' segnitia of which the treacherous Arminius takes
advantage (2.118.2). Varus, whom Seager terms an "administrator", 49
displayed no torpidity in the exercise of his judicial duties; as Velleius
remarks, he was so busy acting as praetor urbanus in the forum that he
did not have time to give attention to the army (2.118.1).
Velleius' account is by no means as "bitter" as Seager suggests. so
When the governor is warned of the brewing conspiracy through Segestes-
per ... v irum eius gentis fide/em clarique nominis (2.118.4)-Velleius
censures not Varus' disbelief, but rather fatum, which distorts his
judgment: he preferred to stand by his provincials until their benevolentia
was proven otherwise (lb.). After the disaster, Tiberius had Varus' head
given honourable burial in the family tomb (2.119.5). That the gentilicius
tumulus was that of the Julio-Claudians, and not that of the Quinctilii,
is indicated by the fact that Varus was married to Augustus' grand-niece,
47 Ibid., /oc. cit.; Seager writes of Velleius' "bitter attack" (supra, n. 46) 269. cf.

Woodman who notes that Yarus' vice of sloth "runs like a refrain" throughout the episode
(supra, n. 2) 42.
41 Seager (supra, n. 46) 44.
49 Ibid., loc. cit.

so Seager (supra, n. 46) 269.

 VELLEIUS PATERCULUS: HISTORICUS PATRIOT/CVS 113

Claudia Pulchra. 51 It is likely that considerations of the sensibilities of

the imperial family rest behind Velleius' use of vir, and his compara-
tively sympathetic report of the clades which fixes the blame on German
treachery and the vicissitudes of fate that clouded an otherwise clear
judgment. Suetonius seems also to have picked up a sympathetic source
in his observation that between the Varian and the Lollian clades, the
latter was by far the more disgraceful:
Graves ignominias cladesque duas omnino nee alibi quam in Germania
accepit, Lollianam et Varianam, sed Lollianam maioris infamiae quam detrimenti,
Varianam paene exitiabilem tribus legionibus cum duce legatisque et auxiliis
omnibus caesis (Aug. 23).

Seager observes that Velleius • account of the disaster is "inconsistent

with his earlier claim that Tiberius had virtually pacified Germany."52
The reasons for the inconsistency hark back to G. Flaminius and the
numerous Flaminiana ostenta that Cicero notes were concocted in order
to explain the loss of the battle of Trasimennus (Div. 2.67). Quinctilius
Varos had one essential element in common with G. Flaminius: he was
killed in battle and could therefore be served on a platter to the Roman
people as the ideal scapegoat. One does not attribute the loss of consular
armies to bad judgment on the part of the Senate or the Emperor and his
son, the field marshal. However, firm establishment of the blame on the
dead commander who is in no position to contradict, preserves appear-
ances and reinforces confidence in governmental policy. Where G.
Flaminius' impiety served the exigencies of 217 B.C., which were to
convince the people that the gods were enraged (Liv. 21.52-22.1),
Varos' segnitia later removed the onus from Augustan policy and
Tiberian commandership. Velleius • sympathy for the fallen general is
evident in Varos' epitaph where he is termed a vir of the best intentions:
Ex quo apparet Varum, sane gravem et bonae voluntatis virum, magis
imperatoris defectum consilio quam virtute destitutum militum se
magnificentissimumque perdidisse exercitum (2.120.5).

Varos may have lost three consular armies, but he had been married to
the emperor's grand-niece, a second cousin once-removed of Velleius'
ruler, Tiberius, who, moreover, had given what was left of the slain
commander honourable burial in the family tomb. Vir is the only word
that is suitable. The term homo with its traditional pejorative adjectives,
so often employed to stigmatize persons as seditious or as public
s, Seager (supra, n. 46) 44.
52 Ibid., 269.
114 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

enemies, is out of the question when dealing with imperial connections

(in a family riddled with sufficient scandal). Its use would be tantamount
to maiestas. 53
Velleius may also have had Tiberius' sensibilities in mind when he
termed Lollius a homo ... vitiosissimus; for the rapacious consular, the
mentor of Augustus' grandson, Gaius, in 1 B .C., 54 had begun a whisper-
ing campaign about Tiberius which almost succeeded in alienating him
completely from his step-father (Suet. Tib. 12.3). 55 While Velleius
passes over this embarassing lapse in Tiberius' past, he nevertheless
wreaks vendetta on his emperor's behalf, by employing traditional
Ciceronian invective, designating Lollius, homo ... vitiosissimus.

Velleius' Women: Flyspecks on the Panorama

The history of the world, according to Velleius, begins with the fall of
Troy and the founding of new cities by heroes of both sides in the
subsequent diaspora (1.1.1 ). From almost the very beginning of Velleius'
history, it becomes apparent that women are to occupy a tangential
position in his roster of luminaries, and a minimal one at that. In a
chronicle that centers upon character sketches of famous and distin-
guished men, there are only 21 (human) females mentioned by name;
most references resemble entries in a telephone directory, or, more to the
point, a marriage registry. Consequently, with notable exceptions, Velleius
Paterculus' feminine portrayals make Livy's paper-doll characters seem
three dimensional by comparison.
Most Velleian females are fixed as an appendage to some great vir;
women do not merit comment, and yet their presence is felt in their
designations as alicuius uxores, alicuiusfiliae, or alicui nuptae, demon-
strating their indispensability as pawns in the marriage game. 56 For
example, it is of the utmost importance that Lucilia, Pompey's mother,
is stirpis senatoriae (2.29.2), but this is all that Velleius reveals about
her. Likewise, Atia, C. Octavius' wife, is of consequence only as the
daughter of Julia, demonstrating thereby Augustus' relationship to

53 Velleius had the same problem with Julia, the daughter of Augustus; on how he solved
it, v. infra, 117-18.
54 Seager (supra, n. 46) 34.

ss Ibid. 35.
56 J.P. Hallell terms such women (usually in their early teens) "hot political properties,"

"The role of women in Roman elegy: counter-cultural feminism," Arethusa 6 (1973) 107.
She notes that daughters were considered extensions of their fathers' identities: Fa/hers and
Daughters in Roman Society (Princeton, 1984) 338.
 VELLEIUS PATERCULUS: HISTORICUS PATRIOT/CVS 115

Julius Caesar (2.59.2). Caesar's daughter Julia, uxor Magni, is simply

perceived as glue in the alliance of the dynasts that swiftly disintegrates
upon her death (2.44.3; 47 .2). 57 Even her value asfecundatrix is negated
with the demise of her baby, whose importance to its father is indicated
in the designation parvus Pompei.
The brief entrances of Cinna' s daughter, Cornelia, and of her mother
Annia, first married to Cinna and then to Piso, illustrate the extent to
which Roman women were passed from gens to gens in the manner of
broodmares being sent from one studfarm to the next. 58 The reader is
intended to feel admiration for Caesar (in his role as sanguine
coniunctissimus of Marius) who refused to yield to pressure to divorce
Cornelia when Sulla came into power (Cornelia, apparently, being
"above suspicion"); and disgust for Piso, a consularis, who untied the
connubial knot in order to elicit favour from the dictator (2.41.2). What
the women in question might have felt is not an issue.
Junia's only existence is dependent upon M. Aemilius Lepidus (son
of the triumvir) and her deceased brother, Brutus. She seems to have
been dragged into the narrative for the sole purpose of insinuating that
any man who is married to the sister of a conspirator will, consequently,
hatch a plot against Augustus (2.88.1). The emperor's sister Octavia's
presence in the history has the insubstantial quality of a wraith that
materializes first to Antony, whose wife she is (2.78.1), and then
vanishes when her son Marcellus dies (2.93.1). She is either identified
as soror Caesaris or soror Augusti, but has no personality of her own. 59
Even the sanctified Cornelia arouses Velleius' interest only insofar as
she is the daughter of Africanus and the mother of the Gracchi (2. 7 .1 ).
Perhaps Velleius thought that Vergil had said all that there was to say
about Dido, since the only information that the historian contributes is
that her real name was Elyssa and that she came from Tyre (1.6.4).
Historic Helen's face may have launched a thousand ships for Christopher
Marlowe, but it stirred nary a breeze in Velleius' sails, as he recalls her
merely as the wife of Menelaus and the mother of Hermione, on whose
behalf Orestes took revenge on Achilles' son, because the matricide
wanted her for himself ( 1.1.3); and Caesar's Calpurnia is memorialized
only as a woman who was disturbed by nightmares (2.57 .2).

57 If "a genuine warmth developed between husband and wife," (Gruen [supra, n. 32]

450) it does not concern Velleius.

51 2.53.2; 2.41.2; v. supra, n. 56.
59 Hallett, in FDRS, notes that Octavia was identified as soror Augusti on her tombstone
(supra, n. 56) 48, n. I 9.
116 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

In order to catch Velleius Paterculus' attention, a woman had to

swallow live coals, as did Servilia, the wife of Lepidus (2.88.3); and
Velleius' sanctimonious pronunciamento, that Servilia compensated for
her premature death by the consequent immortality accrued to her name,
cannot quite hide the relish with which he savours the tale. Velleius
compares Servilia's ghastly suicide with that of the wife of Antistius,
Calpurnia Bestiae filia, who after her husband was murdered, seized his
sword and thrust it into her breast (2.26.3). The historian's subsequent
remark echoes a vicarious sado-masochistic enthusiasm for feminine
suicide that pervades Roman history: Quantum huius gloriaefamaeque
accessit nunc virtute feminae! 60 In the historiographical tradition of
Livy, here is another moral message for feminae of the aristocracy to act
accordingly in a similar situation.
Most women, however, are not nearly so accommodating. From the
beginning, the reader is made aware that members of the female sex are
going to contribute to the general uproar and destroy the world's
tranquillitas, by Velleius' announcement of the crime of Clytemnestra
(1.1.2), who is closely followed by her daughter Electra, virilis animi
femina and socia consiliorum of the matricidal Orestes ( 1.1.3 ). Her
rhetorical prototype has been encountered before in Sallust's Sempronia,
noted, however, to have been a mulier, who committed her crimes with
virile audacia (BC 25.1); or in Damarata who breathed muliebria
consilia into the ear of Adranadorus (Liv. 24.22.11). Note, however, that
Sallust and Livy expressed their disapproval with mulier and muliebris.
Velleius, on the other hand, has usedfemina. For one thing, Electra was
the daughter of wide-ruling Agamemnon, and therefore femina is the
appropriate term for one of her class. Moreover, Velleius actually shows
a tacit approval of her actions, as he notes that Orestes' deed must have
been proper, because the gods allowed him a prosperous reign of seventy
years (1.1.3). Femina is likewise appropriate to a tragic heroine, since
masculine audacity was a feminine characteristic in Greek tragedy,
being expressed in the term androphron gyne. 61 The exalted termfemina
is appropriate to the lofty themes of tragedy; and virilis animi femina
suits Mycenean Electra admirably.
As Livy did, Velleius uses muliebris to connote undesirable charac-
teristics. Fulvia, Antony's spouse, also displays virile boldness as she
foments a tumult in the army and seizes the hilltown of Praeneste. The
60 Woodman regards Servilia's swallowing of live coals as being "beyond belief', but

nevertheless notes the addiction of Roman authors to female suicides (supra, n. 13) 246; 235.
61 R.M. Ogilvie, A Commentary on Livy, Books J.5 (Oxford, 1965) 188.
 VELLEIUS PATERCULUS: HISTORICUS PATRIOT/CVS 117

historian, however, expresses Fulvia's transference of gender roles in a

negative manner, noting that she had nihil muliebre about her except her
body (2.74.2), an expression totally devoid of the tragic overtones that
are conveyed in virilis animi femina. Fulvia has been identified as the
daughter of the aforementioned Sempronia; 62 Velleius seems to believe
in the adage "like mother, like daughter." Fulvia is the prototype of the
duxfemina who will be met again in Tacitus. 63
Cleopatra is introduced in a vivid passage that seems to blame her for
Antony's betrayal of his country as well as his passion for bacchanalianism
(2.82.4): 64
Crescente deinde et amoris in Cleopatram incendio et vitiorum, quae semper
facultatibus licentiaque et adsentationibus aluntur, magnitudine, bell um patriae
inferre constituit, cum ante novum se Liberum Patrem appellari iussisset, cum
redimitus hederis crocataque velatus aurea et thyrsum tenens cothurnisque
succinctus curru velut Liber Pater vectus esset Alexandriae.

Vellei us grants Cleopatra grudging admiration, however, when he writes

that, after the sting of the asp, she yielded up her spirit expers muliebris
metus (2.87.1). Womanly fears, as Livy has illustrated, are to be avoided
at all costs. Velleius' remarks about Fulvia and Cleopatra demonstrate
that muliebris has lost none of its pejorative thrust.
Julia, the daughter of Augustus, also receives attention. Her portrait,
however, is devoid of any of the rhetorical stereotypes in which Velleius
might have indulged, given the circumstances. As with Varus, Velleius
is treading a tightrope. Since Augustus relegated Julia to Trimerus (Tac.
Ann. 4. 71 ), the historian must account for her moral failings but at the
same time be mindful that she was the wife of his emperor and the
daughter of his ruler's predecessor (2.100.3-5). He solves the problem
with gender terms. He designates Julia afemina (2.93.2; 100.3) and even
seems to place the onus of guilt on her lovers: Iulus Antonius is a violator
eius domus [Caesaris]; Quintius Crispinus' austere countenance masked
his singularem nequitiam; and Appius Claudius, Sempronius Gracchus,
62S.B. Pomeroy, Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves (N.Y., 1975) 185.
63v. infra, chapter seven, pp. 131-34.
"Except for Cleopatra's death, Velleius is not favourable to her. He leaves the
impression that Antony's vices were contingent upon his passion for the queen. Their
triumphal procession seems to be an evocation of Alexander's Indian triumph of Dionysus;
(2.82.4); Alexander was drunk at the time too: Arr. Anab. 6.28; cf. Q.C., 9.10.24, sqq.; Plut.
Alex. 67; Diod. 17.106.1; on the Indian triumph of Dionysus, F. Matz, "Die dionysischen
Sarkophage," ASR 4:2, pl. 116; F.E. Santoro L'hoir, "Three sandalled footlamps, their
apotropaic potentiality in the cult of Sarapis," AA 98.2 (1983) 234. Velleius cannot decide
whether Cleopatra is cowardly, or, whether, like Antony's other wife, she has a virilis anima.
He notes that the queen was the first to flee after Actium (2.85.3), but observes that Antony's
troops considered her to be the one who gave the orders (2.85.6).
118 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

Scipio, and aliique minoris nominis utriusque ordinis viri paid the
penalty for their adultery as if Julia had been an ordinary wife and not
the daughter of Caesar (2.100.3 ). Velleius betrays a note of sympathy
and rises above stereotypical commonplaces with a rare and genuine
glimpse of the grief of two women: Julia who is banished to her island,
and her mother, Augustus' discarded wife, Scribonia, who accompanies
her and remains to share her exile (2.100.5). Repetition of the aristocratic
word femina has allowed Velleius to convey the respect due to an
imperial connection, and, at the same time, relate the reasons for her
disgrace.
Not surprisingly, Tiberius' mother Livia takes a stellar role in Velleius'
history; and it is a very different Livia from the conniving crone in
Tacitus' Annales. Velleius describes her in terms reminiscent of the
heroine of a gothic novel: young and beautiful, Livia undergoes no end
of danger and tribulations before being swept off her feet by the
handsome brooding hero. Velleius, commenting on the vagaries of
fortune, emphasizes Livia's noble birth (2.75.2-3):
Quis fortunae mutationes, quis dubios rerum humanarum casus satis mirari
queat? Quis non diversa praesentibus contrariaque expectatis aut speret aut
timeat? Livia, nobilissimi et fortissimi viri Drusi Claudiani filia, genere,
probitate, forma Roman arum eminentissima, quam postea coniugem Augusti
vidimus, quam transgressi ad deos sacerdotem ac filiam, tum fugiens mox
futuri sui Caesaris arma ac man us bimum hunc Tiberium Caesarem, vindicem
Romani imperii futurumque eiusdem Caesaris filium, gestans sinu, per avia
itinerum vitatis militum gladiis uno comitante, quo facilius occultaretur fuga,
pervenit ad mare et viro Nerone pervecta in Siciliam est.

The fact that the heroine of the tale was encumbered by husband and
child and conspicuously pregnant, matters not a whit when one is dealing
with divi and the objects of their affections. Livia is reminiscent of a
gravid Helen as she is abducted by her august Paris, a vir humana ope
invictus (2.79.2-3). Furthermore, she has the approval both of Republic
and her ex-husband who, rather than over-reacting as did Menelaus,
gives the bride away. The precipitate appearance oflittle Drusus Claudius
intra Caesaris penates seems to have bothered no one (2.95.1). 65
A mother who is a heroine will naturally give birth to heroes, as
Velleius makes patently clear in his final 38 chapters. As far as women
are concerned, the historian saves the best for the last, and his apostrophe
for the deceased Livia exhibits femina in its quintessence. Tiberius,

65 The story, apparently, is so entertaining that Velleius tells it twice (once in an

abbreviated form: 2.94.1 ).

 VELLEIUS PATERCULUS: HISTORJCUS PATRIOTICUS 119

afflicted with the calamities visited on him by his ungrateful daughter-

in-law and grandson, has also been bereaved of his beloved mother
(2.130.5):
Cuius temporis aegritudinem auxit amissa mater, eminentissima et per omnia
deis quam hominibus similior femina, cuius potentiam nemo sensit nisi aut
levatione periculi aut accessione dignitatis.

This epitaph is very different from the acerbic double-edged obituaries

of Velleius' great viri of the past. It is compassionate and demonstrates
what may very well be the genuine gratitude of a man who owed his
elevation to the emperor and perhaps to his august mother as well. 66 At
any event, what other word butfemina could Velleius use for one whom
he has exalted to a level almost equal to the gods?
Velleius' almost exclusive use of vir andfemina is by design, not by
chance. Like Vergil, he is dealing with heroes of epic proportions, as his
opening scenes of the aftermath of Troy indicate. He presents his readers
with a pageant of heroic viri, all marching through time towards the
emperor who surpasses all viri. There are no rude slaves or uncouth
Liberti to represent the homo humillimus; even the foreigners are larger-
than-life and therefore merit the label vir. Likewise, there are no
mulieres, because the few women who claim the historian's attention are
not only aristocats, but some of them are also extraordinary; their deeds
raise them far above the humdrum mulier.
Velleius' gender terminology is consistent with that of Cicero, Sallust
and Livy. Vir is employed persistently as an appositive because Velleius
is tenaciously preoccupied with the prominent persons who "made
history", and vir-plus-superlatives encapsulates the significant attributes
of the greats whose lives-in-brief he is highlighting. In short, vir and, to
a lesser extent, femina, predominate his vocabulary, not because the
words had become "popularized" in the prose of the Roman Empire, but
because they were the aristocratic terms which best served Velleius'
purposes.

"Alfonsi (supra, n. 7) 10.

 CHAPTER SEVEN

TACITUS: THE TRADITION AND ITS BREAKING

Because of the multiplicity of his works and his skill in the art of prose,
Tacitus' use of gender terms ranges from the conventional to the subtle.
At times he is traditional: in Agricola, Germania and the Histories,
works said to reflect elements of Cicero and Livy, 1 Roman viri, of whom
Agricola is the foremost, arefortissimi, militares, or inlustres; 2 and their
feminae are nobilissimae, primores and conspicuae. 3
Tacitus often applies gender epithets to minor characters in order to
clarify their position in the hectic events of the narrative. 4 In the Annales,
he uses vir and femina with adjectives of rank in order to emphasize
Julio-Claudian oppression of the aristocacy; in such cases the nouns
preserve their traditional overtones of moral excellence. The repetition
of words has a cumulative impact upon the reader. 5 Thus the iteration of
feminae inlustres in contexts of victimization stresses the brutal tyranny
of the Julio-Claudians against women of the senatorial class. Mulieres
in general are not being oppressed, but rather Rome's finestfeminae with
all their inherent virtues. For instance, Junia Silana, nobilis femina, is
hounded out of her home by Messalina (Ann. 11.12.7); Calpumia,
inlustris femina, falls victim to Agrippina's jealousy (Ann. 12.22.12;
1 R.M. Ogilvie notes Tacitus' debt in his early works to Cicero, Sallust, and Livy: Corne Ii

Taciti de Vita Agrico/ae (Oxford, 1967) 22; 26; cf. R. Martin, who cites Ciceronianisms in
the Histories: Tacitus (London, 1981) 231.
2 Agricola does not lament muliebriter for the deaths of fortes viri, including his son (Ag.

29.1); the g/oria viri [Agrico/ae] is hailed (Ag. 41.1); and he is a bonus vir and magnus
(44.2). Militares viri: Ag. 41.2; Martin equates this with persons distinguished in military
action (supra, n. 1) 32. In the Histories: c/ari viri, who have died well, 1.3.5; the duty acrioris
viri to do so, 1.21.16; Cluvius Rufus, a vir facundus, 1.8.3; Sempronius Densus, centurion,
insignis ilia die vir, 1.43. 1; fortissimi viri: 2.28.7; 3.31.13; 4.24.12; 64.19; arma virique
(and/or equi): 1.51.8; 67.3; 2.22.2; 70.5; 3.55.4; 4.12. 10; 58.15; 64.9; militares viri: 2.75.2;
3.73.10.
3 Feminae nobilissimae: Ag. 45.1; primores: Hist. 1.81.1; conspicuae: 4.42.23; there are,

predictably, fewer feminine paragons.

• In the first three works, Agricola is the only major character to be assigned gender
terms; all are in keeping with the Ciceronian tradition. Martin notes a twelve month time span
for the first three books of the Histories (supra, n. 1) 101. Note how the epithet, ce/ebris
ingenii vir, contributes to the status of Votienus Montan us, whom Tacitus is presenting as
a victim of Tiberius (Ann. 4.42). Seneca the Elder, however, is not so unstinting in his
estimation of Montanus' intellect, as can be seen from his epithet, homo rarissimi, etiamsi
non emendatissimi ingenii (Contr. 9.5.15).
5 H.W. Benario notes the care with which Tacitus selected his words, particularly in the

Anna/es: An Introduction to Tacitus (Athens, Ga., 1975) 91.

 TACITUS: THE TRADITION AND ITS BREAKING 121

14.12.15); and A. Plautius' wife, Pomponia Graecina, insignis femina,

is indicted as superstitionis externae rea (Ann. 13.32.6). All are to be
pitied the more because they are feminae of the aristocracy. Conversely,
there exists a sense of outrage when it is discovered that inlustres
feminae have disgraced themselves in the arena (Ann. 15.32.6) or have
allowed Nero to degrade them in his private lupanaria during one of his
obscene spectacles (Ann. 15.37.11).
With the exceptions of the victims of Julio-Claudian rapacity, how-
ever, one notes a decline of the tendency to impose moral overtones onto
gender terminology in the Anna/es, where Tacitus is said to have rejected
neo-Ciceronian oratory. 6 Little concerned with the lower classes indi-
vidually,7 Tacitus probes the personalities of the viri and especially the
feminae who revolved around the emperors. His gender terms are based
upon high rank. Afemina, for instance, may be thoroughly depraved, but
she remains, most often, afemina. Like Livy, Tacitus will censure her
behaviour as muliebris. 8 In special cases, however, when a female
character has excelled in odium, Tacitus will apply traditional Ciceronian
terms of abuse, which because of their rare use in his works, become
particularly effective instruments of innuendo. 9
Tacitus' use of gender terminology is complicated even further by his
development of the "noble savage" theme-also evident in Livy-
where barbarians of pristine virtue serve as "teachers" to Roman viri and
feminae, and the terms, applied to primitives, exude moral connotations
that pertain to the Roman aristocracy. 10 Whereas the barbarian vir is
invariably valorous, his feminine counterpart-termed femina-upon
occasion, acts in an unacceptable manner, such as actively participating
on the battlefield. Thefemina as dux, in fact, is a Tacitean preoccupation

• Martin (supra, n.1) 214; G. Kennedy The Art of Rhetoric in the Ancient World
(Princeton, 1972) 523.
7 Of the few specified with gender terms: Acte (for whom Tacitus uses the diminutive

muliercula as meretrix or concubina). Acte has been provided to keep Nero from venting his
lust in stuprafeminarum inlustrium (Ann. 13.12); cf. Cicero, Verr. 2.192; 3.31; 78; 79; 5.63;
100; 131; cf. Livy, 27.15.9; Epicharis, infra, 135-37. Whetherornot mulier, used of Locusta,
a professional poisoner (Ann. 12.66), indicates servile status, it can only be pejorative. On
Acte, C.W. Mendell, Tacitus, the Man and his Work (London, 1957) 153; cf. B. Baldwin,
"Women in Tacitus," Prudentia 4 (1972) 85. He notes that Locusta is foreshadowed by
Martina (Ibid., 89), a poisoner who is not specified by gender.
8 L.W. Rutland, "Women as makers of kings in Tacitus' Annals," CW 72 (1978) 15-17;

v. supra, chapter five, pp. 80-83.

9 One searches in vain for homines nequissimi, but T. uses mulier in pejorative contexts

for characters such as the younger Agrippina and Poppaea whom he judges to be paragons
of impudicitia (Conversely, he usesfemina to illustrate the courage of the liberta Epicharis
(v. infra, pp. 135-37).
1° K.V. Muellendorf, Die Germania des Tacitus (Berlin, 1900) 308.
122 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

that finds space in all of his works (v. infra, 131-34). Thefeminae in
question are of high rank, and the historian clearly takes a dim view of
women's participation in public affairs, a sentiment which he develops
fully in theAnnales. In such contexts, the termfemina implies a message
to women of the aristocracy who might have similar inclinations.
Tacitus' characters are far better developed than those of his pred-
ecessors; 11 consequently, he has less need to employ capsule gender
epithets for his protagonists. Such "instant" devices of identification,
particularly when used in apposition, had become hackneyed through
overuse. 12 Rather, Tacitus weaves such terms skillfully into the narra-
tive, sometimes employing them, as did Sallust, to reflect the thoughts
of his characters. Because of their traditional moral nuances, the words
lend subtle colouring to his description. 13

Tacitus' Feminine Ideal vs. the Feminine Reality

Much of the Roman Empire's malaise in the days of the Julio-Claudians,
according to Tacitus, can be blamed upon the women of that family, who
persistently meddled in affairs of State, scheming and plotting, in
particular, in matters of the imperial succession. 14 Probitas is a salient
feminine ideal, and the Julio-Claudian/eminae seem to have had not the
slightest concept of the traditional aristocratic propriety demanded of a
member of the nobility. Tacitus implies as much of Livia in a tribute that
is invalidated by censure: sanctitate domus priscum ad morem, comis
ultra quam antiquis feminis probatum; mater impotens, uxor facilis et
cum artibus mariti, simulatione filii bene composita (Ann. 5.1). Livia,
the wicked noverca, hovers over the narrative like a sinister miasma, in
order to foreshadow the entrance of another "monstrous dowager", the
younger Agrippina; both women are characterized as symbols of muliebris
impotentia. 15 Rutland has noted Tacitus' entirely negative concept of

11 S.G. Daitz, "Tacitus' technique of character portrayal," AJPh 81 (1961) 30. cf.

Mendell (supra, n. 7) 139-40.

12 While the epithets v. clarissimus and h. nequissimus may have had a powerful impact

when spoken by Cicero, in written retrospect, the expressions become trite and show the
orator's transparent motives. Such terms seem particularly sterile in the prose of Velleius
Paterculus (v. supra, chapter six).
13 Because of the complexity of the subject, the usual rubrics based upon class, citizen-

ship, etc., will not be used. Since T. clearly envisioned the ills of the pre-Flavian era to have
been caused by the women who dominated the imperial rulers, the subject will be approached
from that point of view.
1• Rutland (supra, n. 8) 15.
15 Baldwin (supra, n. 7) 194; Rutland (supra, n. 8) 16.
 TACITUS: THE TRADITION AND ITS BREAKING 123

muliebris, an adjective that she sees to connote "unreason," [violent]

"emotion, and deception." 16 She has, however, not remarked upon
Tacitus' almost exclusive reservation of muliebris for women of the
imperial family (or those closely connected to them, such as Plancina).
For instance, Livilla fires the usually socors Sejanus muliebri cupidine
(Ann. 4.39) as she prods him (flagitante) to marry her. Tacitus-via the
mind of Tiberius-notes that an aemulatio feminarum is likely to
explode over the prospective nuptials due to the probable reaction of the
elder Agrippina (Ann. 4.40). The rivalry in question is clearly about to
rage amongfeminae of the highest order. A similar aemulatio muliebris
has seethed around Livia, Plancina, and Agrippina the Elder (2.43), 18
whom Tacitus has characterized as afemina ingens animi (1.69).
Tacitus has cast the ill-fated Messalina in the role of libidinous
conniver, who brings about the ruin of the consular Valerius Asiaticus
because she covets his pleasure gardens. 17 He, however, opens his veins
rather than submit to Messalina, who has caused his downfall fraude
muliebri (Ann. 11.3). It becomes increasingly apparent that antique
probity is in short supply among the Julio-Claudian feminae, who are
supposed to serve as exempla for women of the aristocracy as well as for
the female population at large.
Since Tacitus portrays each of the family's principes as being under
the thumb of one or more of these women, there is not much hope for
leadership in the masculine quarter either. Muliebris impotentia reigns!
And Tacitus states 19 in "fiercely emotive" language that the princeps-
indeed the entire nation-has become a slave to afemina (Ann. 1.4.17-
19).20
This unprecedented situation is so depressing that Tacitus cannot
even turn to great viri of the past for hope, in the Livian manner; indeed,
he laments that everything to be said on that subject has already been
written by claris scriptoribus (Ann. I.I). A measure of the historian's
pessimism is that even in the Germania, Tacitus looks not to Rome for
moral inspiration, but to the simple societies of her barbarian neigh-

16 Ibid. 15-16. Seneca uses muliebris similarly. e.g. muliebris inpotentia,Ben. 7.9.4, He/.

14.2.4; m. pertinacia, lb. 16.1.5; m. exscusatio, lb. 16.1.4; m. dolor, lb. 3.2.3; m. vitia, lb.
16.2.3; m. mollitia, Trn. 17.4.7; m. ira, Ira, 1.20.3.
17 Baldwin (supra, n. 7) 96; Tac. Ann. 11.1.2; R. Syme, "Princesses and others in

Tacitus," G&R, ser. 2, 28.1 (1981) 48.

" Rutland (supra, n. 8) 16.
19 And restates: Ann. 12.7.
2° F.R.D. Goodyear, Annals of Tacitus (Cambridge, 1972) 124.
124 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

bours, where viri andfeminae have not been spoiled by the gratification
of prosperity and opulence. 21
Barbarian warriors, like their Roman adversaries, are viri, a term in
keeping with their bellicose nature and standing as worthy, formidable
opponents. They are not thwarted by their feminae, as Roman viri are,
but are fiercely supported to the very last drop of blood. Like vir, the term
femina, when applied to German women, oozes traditional Roman moral
overtones; and since barbarian viri and feminae are exponents of what
passes for an aristocracy among primitive peoples, they serve as exempla-
most often of pristine virtues, but sometimes of vices-that are to be
emulated or shunned by Roman viri andfeminae. 22
The barbarian institution of marriage is particularly admired by
Tacitus. The Germanfemina, unlike the Roman, knows her proper place
and is frugal and chaste; her portrait, therefore, serves as a mirror for the
femina of the Roman aristocracy. 23 There is no need to pass a Lex Oppia
to curtail her spending on wild-coloured clothing: Tacitus informs his
readers that the German femina wears exactly the same clothes as the
German vir (Ger. 17). He furthermore states that the husband brings his
dowry to the wife, and moreover, it is not squandered upon deliciae
muliebres, but spent wisely upon the worthwhile things of life, such as
oxen, harness and weapons. This latter fact, according to the historian-
ethnographer, is the real vinculum of their union, which he manages to
make seem like the mating of a pair of draught horses. It is in this passage
that Tacitus employs the word mulier, the one and only time in Germania.
It is used as a synonym for uxor and juxtaposed to vir, an equivalent word
to maritus, employed at the beginning of the chapter (Ger. 18). Mulier,
the general term for woman, assume.d a secondary significance of wife,
and J.N. Adams cites a colloquial usage in which a man refers to "his
woman". 24 The vir/husband-mulier/wife relationship is an unequal one
symbolized by the virile and chauvinistic overtones of the first term and
the humble and therefore docile ones of the second. A sense of ownership
is implied, as if the mulier is the property of the vir; this is conveyed in

21 J.C.G. Anderson, De Origine et Situ Germanorum (Oxford, 1938) xvi; c.f. Martin

(supra, n. 1) 51.
22 G.E.F. Chilver, A Historical Commentary on Tacitus' Histories, vols. I & II (Oxford,

1979) 22; cf. Martin (supra, n. 1) 49.

23 Muellendorf (supra, n. 10) 307-8.
24 J.N. Adams, "Latin words for "woman" and "wife"," G/o11a 50 (1972) 249.
 TACITUS: THE TRADITION AND ITS BREAKING 125

Tacitus' words which contain a cautionary message for wives "back

home" (Ger. 18.4). 25
Otherwise, when Tacitus is not expounding upon the ideal of femi-
nine marital servitude, the barbarian woman is a femina, and one who
knows her place in the domus. In consequence, the historian assures his
readers, even the most fortissimus and bellicosissimus warrior, home
from a hard-day's slaughter, is delighted to relinquish pre-eminence in
the household to her. All the chores, in fact, are left in the capable hands
ofthefeminae, the aged, and the infirm (15.1). Feminae,juxtaposed with
senes and infirmissimi, preserves all its familiar connotations of coddled
propriety, as valued by the Roman [male] aristocracy. The message is
sounded in clarion tones and will most certainly not be lost upon Roman
viri who will be equally delighted to yield any such household decisions
to theirfeminae, if only they will stay put! Tacitus oberves that the do mus
and penates are the proper sphere of the German femina, and K.
Muellendorf remarks that the passage refers to men and women of the
warrior aristocracy, since Tacitus employs sedes et penates to indicate
slaves. 26
With thefemina tending to her proper duties, the warrior-vir-at-home
becomes the lion tamed, and Tacitus lapses into the terminology of the
privatus, describing him in his abdicated status, as homo: 21
I psi hebent, mira diversitate naturae, cum idem homines sic ament inertiam et
oderint quietem (Ger. 15.1).

German burial customs also elicit Tacitean praise, as he observes that

barbarian funerals are plain and lack vulgar displays of ostentation.
Furthermore, clari viri are cremated simply (Ger. 27). The brief period
of mourning among the Germans would have evoked Livian approval,
and Tacitus editorializes on the subject in an epigram: feminis lugere
honestum est, viris meminisse-another allusion to proper Roman com-
portment, or at least the way it ought to be (/b.). 28 Feminine mourning,
as long as it is kept within limits, is to be encouraged as it reinforces the

25 Ne se mu lier extra virtutum cogitationcs extraque bcllorum casus putet, ipsis incipientis
matrimonii auspiciis admonetur venire se laborum periculorumque sociam, idem in
pace. idem in proelio passuram ausuramque: hoc iuncti boves, hoc paratus equus, hoc
data arma denuntiant. Sic vivendum, sic pareundum; accipere se quae liberis inviolata
ac digna reddat, quae nurus accipiant rursusque ad nepotes referantur.
26 Muellendorf (supra, n. 10) 275.
27 Baldwin notes Tacitus' reticence upon the details of his own marriage (supra, n. 7) 97.

Tacitus' view of women in the Anna/es prompts one to wonder, not so much about his wife,
but about his mother!
28 Martin (supra, n. I) 219.
126 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

concept of the emotionally incapable female. 29 The viri, however,

buttress their notions of control and superiority by remembering, an
implication that they will take action and vengeance, if necessary.
The quality that Tacitus most admires in the barbarian femina,
however, is her saepta pudicitia. 30 Noting that she is totally ignorant of
spectacles and dinner parties-another allusion to the intrigues of
Roman society 31 -the historian remarks that viri and feminae do not
exchange secret letters (Ger. 19). Without wealth there can be no
intrigue, and Tacitus lauds the lowly Fenni tribe who display a nobility
even in their barbaric poverty. Possessing neither weapons, horses, nor
fixed abodes, they hunt and forage for herbs, dress in animal skins and
sleep in earthen beds under the stars, their only weal th, their arrows. Yet,
their viri and feminae share and share alike. In consequence, they are
happy in their simple penury_and want for nothing (Ger. 46).
It is to be severely doubted that Tacitus is suggesting that Rome's viri
locupletes divest themselves of their capital gains and relocate to the
wilderness in order to achieve marital bliss. Poverty and chastity in the
wilds are mere symbols of a return to simpler values. The viri and
feminae are moral exempla of the old Livian school.
Tacitus, however, does not confine such examples to the Germania.
One discovers another such in the Histories, where the historian cites an
unnamed femina from Liguria who emerges as a shining exemplum of
constantia at a time when Romans of the aristocracy are engaged in a
shameful internecine struggle (Hist. 2.13.5-9):
Aux it invidiam praeclaro exemplo femina Ligus, quae filio abdito, cum simul
pecuniam occultari milites credidissent eoque per cruciatus interrogarent ubi
filium occuleret, uterum ostendens latere respondit, nee ullis deinde terroribus
aut morte constantiam vocis egregiae mutavit.

Tacitus' application of femina with an ethnic adjective represents a

distinct departure from conventional usage. Sallust, it will be recalled,
referred to a Ligus mulier, and Livy, to a mulier Canusina and Apula,
among others. Tacitus, by designating the Ligurian woman a femina, is
emphasizing her moral excellence at a time when human nature is at its
Thucydidean worst. 32 Femina, furthermore, evokes a pathetic yet valiant
29 G. Clarke, "Roman women," G&R Ser. 2, 28:2 (1981) 207.
30 Muellendorf (supra, n. 10) 308.
31 Martin (supra, n. 1) 51.
32 Sall. H. Fr. 2.11; Liv. 22.52.7; cf. 22.54.3. Tacitus seems to evoke Thucydides

consciously in recounting the depths to which human nature could sink in the Histories;
Book 3.83, when Vitellius' forces sack Rome and the people act as spectators, is especially
reminiscent of Thucydides' account of the Corcyrean revolt, in which the populace disso-
ciates from the horrendous events and similarly become spectators, Thuc. 3.82.
 TACITUS: THE TRADITION AND ITS BREAKING 127

image of a woman who is noble, not by social status or Roman birth, but
by her refusal to compromise her principles even when faced by death.
Compare his treatment of Claudia Sacrata, whom he designates not
afemina but a mulier of the Ubians. Rumour has it that the woman has
passed a night of pleasure with Petilius Cerialis, preventing him from
being with his troops atthe time of a German sneak-attack (Hist. 5.22.15-
16):
Cerialis alibi noctem egerat, ut plerique credidere, ob stuprum Claudiae
Sacratae, mulieris Ubiae.

Claudia is an example of stuprum. As the words plerique credidere

indicate, Tacitus is engaging in innuendo, 33 and mulier, so often associ-
ated with pejoratives in oratory, is a component of the author's insinu-
ations. The word contributes to the negative picture, and will be noticed,
even if only subliminally, because all the other women in the Histories,
if specified by gender terms, are feminae. Claudia's barbarian birth is
irrelevant to the fact that she has kept a Roman general from performing
his duty: she is, therefore, a mulier of the worst sort.
Claudia Sacrata, however, seems but an anomaly included in the
narrative as yet another blot on the murky career of Petilius Cerialis. 34
In addition, she is a Gaul, and therefore not to be compared to the average
German femina, whom Tacitus envisions as the epitome of family
solidarity, as is illustrated in his depiction of her at the scene of battle.
The topos of the fightingfemina, encountered in Ab Urbe Condita, is
one which Tacitus exploits fully in Germania. The historian's unconcealed
admiration for the Germanfemina on the battlefield stems from the fact
that she takes a supporting role to her vir, who does all the fighting. Her
British cousin, on the other hand, is castigated for having the nerve to
participate actively in the hostilities, or the temerity to lead an army as
dux. Such audacity is to be deplored, for she is transgressing into the area
where she does not belong: that of her warrior vir.
Tacitus explains that the German fighting vir's courage comes, in
part, from his worship of Hercules, who is hailed in song before every
battle as primus ... omnium virorum fortium (Ger. 3.1). The historian
makes it evident, however, that the secret weapon of the barbarian vir
fortis is the equally courageousfemina, who with her children stands on
the sidelines, urging him on with vociferous moral support (7.3-4): 35
33 Daitz (supra, n. I I) 46.
34 Baldwin (supra, n. 7) 88.
35 Similar family solidarity: in the Histories when the Batavian Julius Civilis marshalls

his female relatives to rally his men on to victory (Hist. 4. 12:18):

128 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

quodque praecipuum fortitudinis incitamentum est, non casus nee fortuita

conglobatio turmam aut cuneum facit, sed familiae et propinquitates; et in
proximo pignora unde feminarum ululatus audiri, unde vagitus infantium.
Femina, as has been demonstrated, embodies moral excellence, and like
in/ans-the original meaning of which was "one who is unable to
speak"-36 it also connotes helplessness. Both the femina and infans are
unable to fight physically, but each can lend moral support to the warrior
vir by their respective ululationes and vagitus. Tacitus, in fact, remarks
that thefeminae are sanctissimi testes and the infantes, maximi laudatores
(Ger. 7.4). The historian is demonstrating the heroism of the non-
combatants. These are not the disorganized Livian agmina of mulieres
and pueri who continually indulge in the tearful supplications of the
defeated-the words fletus, ploratus, and lacrimae, punctuating their
actions-who are first encountered in Julius Caesar's commentaries
(B.G. 1.51); whom Tacitus echoes in the Britanni pa/antes mixtoque
virorum mulierumque ploratu after Agricola's victory at Mons Graupius
(Ag. 38), and parodies in the muliebre et miserabile agmen of Agrippina,
her friends and their children, leaving Germanicus' camp in shame
during the mutiny. 37
According to Muellendorf, the ululations of the German feminae
constitute not a Wehklage, but a Valkyrian battle cry, designed both to
encourage their warrior viri and to strike terror into the hearts of the
enemy as well. 38 Tacitus notes that many a hopeless battle has been won
at the last minute due to the constant prayers of the feminae who strip the
very tunics from their breasts in a demonstration of solidarity (Ger. 8.1).
The femina has, in effect, staked her pudicitia on the outcome of the
engagement, and Tacitus states emphatically that it is the sight of his
femina in this condition, together with the thought that she might be
enslaved (or worse) when captured, that spurs the German warrior on to
victory (Ger. lb).
Tacitus makes it evident, however, that his admiration extends to the
femina in battle only as long as she takes a passive role and confines her
support to whooping and hollering. In the Anna/es, he portrays the
British feminae at the battle of Anglesey as part of what G. Webster
Civilis captarum cohortium signis circumdatus, ut suo militi recens gloria ante oculos
et hostcs memoria clad is terrcrentur, matrem suam sororesque, simul omnium coniuges
parvosque liberos consistere a tergo iubct, hortamenta victoriae vel pulsis pudorem. Ut
virorum cantu, feminarum ululatu sonuitacies, nequaquam par a legionibus cohortibusque
red di tur clamor.
36 C.T. Lewis & Ch. Short, A New Latin Dictionary (N.Y., 1984) s.v. in/ans.
37 Goodyear (supra, n. 20) 279-80.
38 Mucllcndorf (supra, n. 10) 205; Liv. 38.17; Cacs. B.G. 7.80.
 TACITUS: THE TRADITION AND ITS BREAKING 129

characterizes as "an unruly mob in a state of high excitement," confident

that their superior numbers will overwhelm the Roman forces. 39 Still
terming themfeminae, Tacitus employs Bacchanalian rhetoric to create
a picture of disorganized madness that has a devastating effect upon the
Roman legions who are terror-stunned at the sight (Ann. 14.30): 40
Stabat pro litore diversa acies, densa armis virisque, intercursantibus feminis;
in modum Furiarum veste ferali, crinibus deiectis faces praeferebant; Druidaeque
circum, preces diras sublatis ad caelum manibus fundentes, novitate aspectus
perculere militem, ut quasi haerentibus membris immobile corpus vulneribus
praeberent.

Note Tacitus' negative use of muliebris as he depicts Suetonius Paulinus

calming his troops' fears, assuring them that the enemy is only a
muliebre et fanatic um agmen and no match for the organized Roman
forces. His words inspire the Romans to cut the barbarians to pieces
systematically (14.30. 7).
The passive but supportive role of the Germanfemina in the life of her
vir constitutes an endorsement for the Romanfemina to do likewise, not
on the battlefield-the gods forbid!-but in all affairs that are best left
to Roman viri. 41
Tacitus' position about Roman women anywhere near the scene of
battle is unequivocal: they are a pernicious nuisance. The historian
makes this point repeatedly, but especially in a mini-debate modelled
upon Livy's discussion over the repeal of the Lex Oppia (Ann. 3.33-34).
Whereas the central issue of the Livian debate was the rights of feminae
to own and display wealth, there was also a secondary topic that
concerned feminine mobility. 42 Tacitus has re-set the argument, concen-

39 G. Webster, Boudica: the British Revolt against Rome, A.D. 60 (London, I 978) 99.
•0 cf. Ann. 14.32. Note how Tacitus continues the Bacchic imagery to depict utter chaos
and hysteria at the fall of Camulodunum:
Et feminae in furorem turbatae adesse exitium canebant, externosque fremitus in curia
eorum auditos; consonuisse ululatibus theatrum visamque speciem in aestuario Tamesae
subversae coloniae: iam Oceanus cruento aspectu, dilabente aestu humanorum corporum
effigies relictae, ut Britannis ad spem, ita veteranis ad metum trahebantur.
41 Baldwin (supra, n. 7) 90-91.
41 The feminae and matronae, it will be recalled, were forbidden to ride in a vehiculum

either in or within one mile of the city (Liv. 34.1.4); furthermore, Cato inveighed against
their leaving home and going about in public: Qui hie mos est in publicum procurrendi et
obsidendi vias et viros alienos appellandi? (Liv. 34.2.9).This section, written in 1984 in
Rome for my doctoral dissertation (University of Missouri, 1988), was also given as a paper
at the 1992 meeting of CAMWS in Hamilton, Ontario. At that time I learned that J. Ginsberg
had, independently, been working on the same debate, and had drawn similar conclusions.
Her article, "In Maiores certamina: past and present in Tacitus' Annals," is appearing in a
book forthcoming from Princeton, T.J. Luce and A.J. Woodman, eds., Tacitus and the
Tacitean Tradition.
130 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

trating upon this latter subject, which in the Annales centers upon a
proposal that wives be prohibited from accompanying their magistrate-
husbands to their provincial commands. 43
Tacitus' gender terms present a micro-version of Livy's. Each debate
concerns feminae, i.e., aristocratic women. In Livy's presentation this
may be inferred from the subject matter, which was the possession of
gold, the wearing of purple garments and riding in a vehicle. In that of
Tacitus, the issue is specifically the wives of magistrates. Both Livy's
Cato and Tacitus' Caecina and their adversaries refer to feminae, but
only the former pair, arguing against the women, mention mulieres. As
Cato cited an agmen mulierum blocking the streets and meddling with
the business of the forum, Caecina invokes a mulierum comitatus,
clogging the roads and interfering with provincial administration in
peace and war (3.33.13-14). As such disorganized throngs ran hither and
thither (procurrerint) in Cato's day, in Caecina's, they are capable of
converting an organized march into a barbarian onslaught (a description
that recalls the British intercursantibus feminis of Ann. 14.30). When
Caecina describes the "second State" being run by the provincial gov-
ernors' wives, he employs the word mulieres, noting that if a magistrate
is charged with maladministration he has only his wife's despotism to
thank: pervicacibus mag is et impotentibus mulierum iussis ... (Ann. 3.33.20-
21 ). Whether mu/ier in this context means woman or wife, Tacitus, like
Livy, has employed it in a negative setting.

43 The episode has been subjected to much debate; A.J. Marshall sets forth the various

theories, many of which concern a supposed Tacitean discourse upon women's public and
moral emancipation, "Tacitus and the governor's lady: a note on Annals 3.33-34," G&R, ser.
2, 22 (1975) 13. Marshall sees the real issue to be the effect of women upon "military
planning and manoeuvres," their continual interference in camp and garrison affairs, and
undue influence upon provincial and civil administration (Ibid., 16). He writes that the
episode is "replete with bland generalities, abstract debating points and rhetorical ques-
tions," and adds that the sequence is presented as one more step down the declining path of
Roman virtus (Ibid., /oc. cit). Although the debate may well have taken place upon the very
issues addressed, several suspicious factors demonstrate it to be part of a rhetorical exercise
in direct emulation of Livy. The first is the fact that the subject of women's presence in the
provinces is not the central issue, but a digression (Ann. 3.32). The second concerns the
names of the principal participants: e.g., even though Caecina plays a prominent part in
books one and two, his cognomen, Severus, is not introduced until 3.18, suggesting that T.
is presenting him as the counterpart to Cato the Elder, who argued against the Lex Oppia
severissimis moribus (Liv. 34.6.2); T.'s Valerius Messalinus is the equivalent of L.'s
Valerius Tappo. The third is the passage's direct reference to the Lex is Oppia; and the last
is Tacitus' use of themes and gender expressions which mirror those employed by Livy in
what has been noted to be an entirely imaginary rhetorical tour de force: A.E. Astin, Cato
the Censor (Oxford, 1978) 25; cf. J. Briscoe, A Commentary of Livy: Books XXXIV-XXXVl/
(Oxford, 1981) 39-43; v. supra, chapter five, p. 95. cf. S.B. Pomeroy Goddesses, Whores,
Wives and Slaves. Women in Classical Antiquity (New York, 1975) 180.
 TACITUS: THE TRADITION AND ITS BREAKING 131

The Femina as Dux: a Tacitean Obsession

Tacitus employs femina repeatedly in contexts of usurpation of male
power. He couples the noun with catchwords such as dux, dominatio, and
imperium that imply that the femina has imposed servitium and loss of
libertas on her nation. 44 Repetition offemina in pejorative contexts not
only conveys Tacitus' general disapproval of feminine behavior but also
reveals his negative opinion of women as field-marshals and rulers, and
reinforces Roman phobias about women in power. Tacitus' use of the
noun femina with terms denoting male authority is significant. He is
placing the culpability not on mulieres but on feminae of the highest
order. Eachfemina either wields power in her own right or is portrayed
as usurping power that rightfully belongs to a magistrate or emperor.
In Agricola, the phrasefemina duce in contexts of saevitia, servitus,
and lost libertas, not only illustrates Boudicca's ruthlessness, but also
implies her role as dominatrix 16.1;
( 31.4 ). Tacitus makes war seem the
logical consequence of feminine rule:
Boudicca generis regii femina duce (neque enim sex um in imperiis discemunt)
sumpsere universi [Britanni] helium (Ag. 16.1 ).
Tacitus echoes these words in an oration by the chieftain Calgacus, who
cites Boudicca's abortive attempt to cast off the Roman yoke: Brigantes
femina duce exurere coloniam (Ag. 31.4). Noting that socordia neutral-
ized her efforts, Calgacus then implies the undesirability of feminine
leadership by comparison, noting that his Caledonians are real viri who
are integri and indomiti in libertatem (lb.).
Boudicca is the epitome of the femina dux, and Tacitus presents her
as the virago who defies a mighty power. 45 The historian has created an
unforgettable portrait of the Icenian queen in the Annales, where she
rides with her children in a chariot, exhorting tribe after tribe to action,
because Roman envoys have scourged her and raped her daughters.
Boudicca begins her oration, explaining that although Britons are used
to being led by afemina in war (feminarum ducto bellare), she is now
addressing them not as a queen, but as una e vulgo; and like a Livian
tribune of old, Boudicca presents herself as an ultrix of lost libertas and
violated pudicitia (Ann. 14.35). Then she spits a final alliterative epi-
gram at her warriors: id mulieri destinatum; viverent viri et servirent!
Webster notes that the line is so tightly epigrammatic that its meaning
44 D.C. Earl connects dominatio with loss of libertas, The Moral and Political Tradition

of Rome (Ithaca, 1967) 59.

0 Webster (supra, n. 39) 13. He also notes that Boudicca's name (which he spells with

one C) means Victoria, but Tacitus probably did not know its Celtic signification.
132 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

is lost in most translations, the point being: "Follow me, a mere woman,
or as strong men, submit to the Roman yoke and live in servitude!" 46
Tacitus has created a chiasmus of ideas; for mulieres normally serve, and
viri customarily lead. Boudicca, however, demands just the opposite;
Tacitus implies that when afemina is dux, viri will, as a matter of course,
be enslaved.
Similarly, in Germania, Tacitus states that the tribe of Sithones
differs from other Germanic clans quod femina dominatur: in tantum
non modo a libertate sed etiam a servitute degenerant (45.9). He
reiterates the idea in the Histories, employing femina in context of
dominatio, of Veleda (5.24-25), who exercises auctoritas over her tribe
(4.61 ). He notes that if the Batavians must choose dominatio, according
to Julius Civilis, they should opt for that of the Romans rather than that
of afemina (Hist. 5.25.11):
Proximum id libertati; et si dominorum electio sit, honestius principes Romanorum
quam Germanorum feminas tolerari.
Military leadership is but a stepping-stone to absolute power; Tacitus
again equates feminine rule with slavery in the Annales. Femina coupled
with imperium illustrates the failed Armenian experiment with feminine
rule: temptato feminae imperio, the Armenians were led for a time by
Queen Erato, whose expulsion leaves the country magis sine domino
quam in libertate (2.4.6); similarly femina emphasizes Cartimandua's
misrule of the Brigantians: stimulante ignominia, ne feminae imperio
subderentur (12.40.16).
The femina as dux is a recurrent theme of the Annales. Iterated in
contexts of imperium, it emphasizes feminine usurpation of power and
eventual enslavement of the nation. The elder Agrippina is a feminine
dux, whose ingens anima does not negate the reality expressed by
Tiberius: when afemina reviews the maniples (with the infant son of the
rightful dux in tow) the imperator may as well resign (1.69). 47
Agrippina's foil, Plancina, likewise usurps male authority, Tacitus
implies: her supervision of military exercises exceeds the decora of a
femina (2.55); when the consul eventually exposes her to the Senate,
Tacitus writes: praesidisse nuper feminam exercitio cohortium (3.33.13-
14), which he echoes when Agrippina the younger, who, like Plancina

•• Ibid, 99-100. Boudicca has doffed her regal persona as ruler and, therefore,femina;
when speaking as una e vu/go, she is a mulier, the term that signifies "mere woman." Adams,
who calls her diatribe "a feminist statement", believes mulier to have been uttered "with
ironical self-contempt" (supra, n. 24) 244. His interpretation imposes anachronisms on
Tacitus' text.
47 Marshall (supra, n. 43) 14; Rutland (supra, n. 8) 16.
 TACITUS: THE TRADITION AND ITS BREAKING 133

has overstepped feminine decora, presides, conspicua in cloth-of-gold,

on her own tribunal (12.37. 15-16):
Novum sane et moribus veterum insolitum feminam signis Roman is praesidere:
ipsa semet pani a maioribus suis imperii sociam ferebat .

The Plancina episode is pivotal. Embedded in the debate over the

propriety of provincial governors taking their wives on military cam-
paigns where consequent licentia renders their sex saevum, ambitiosum,
and potestatis avidum, it foreshadows Agrippina's similar usurpation,
not only by iterating praesidere andfemina, but also by citing the repeal
of the Lex Oppia that once restricted muliebris inpotentia. Tacitus,
borrowing from Livy, characterizes the abrogation of the law as a
breaking of restraints: vinclis exsolutis. When Agrippina officiates on
her own tribunal, Tacitus literalizes the metaphor, referring to the
vanquished Britons, who file by paying her homage (12.37 .13-15):
Atque illi vinclis absoluti Agrippinam quoque, haud procul alio suggestu
conspicuam, isdem quibus principem laudibus gratibusque venerati sunt.

Agrippina's imperial arrogance has surpassed all bounds; success has

gone to her head. The epitome of hubris, she rides to the capitol in her
private carpentum. Tacitus, observing that the carpentum had been
reserved from time immemorial for priests and sacred objects, 48 implies
that afemina was actually being worshipped: concessus venerationem
augebatfeminae (12.42)-a precedent unparalleled in Roman history.
Agrippina has compounded her other iniquities by rivalling the gods,
and, as the baleful omina of the next chapter demonstrate, she will be cast
down from her pinnacle and destroyed (Ann. 12.43).
Feminae who preside over armies are obviously after greater stakes,
and Tacitus reiterates Agrippina's ulterior agenda, to become imperii
socia (12.37), when Nero explains why she had to be liquidated (14.11):
Adiciebat crimina longius repetita, quod consortium imperii iuraturasque in
feminae verba praetorias cohortis idemque dedecus senatus et populi speravisset.

Thefemina as dux epitomizes muliebris inpotentia; she furthermore

represents a reversal of gender roles: Tacitus brands Agrippina's rule a
virile servitium that has overturned (versa) the State. In the beginning of
the Anna/es he has employed femina of Livia in context of muliebris
impotentia to indicate a similar reversal (1.4.17-20):

48 Mendell (supra, n. 7) 150; Tacitus has forgot that the carpentum was Tanaquil 's

transportation (Liv. 1.34.8). Dio relates that both Agrippina and Messalina had been granted
the privilege of riding in a carpentum (60.2; 60.33.2).
134 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

Accedere matrem muliebri impotentia: serviendum feminae duobusque insuper

adulescentibus qui rem publicam interim premant quandoque distrahant.

Once again, the empire is in thrall to afemina (12.7.10-15):

Versa ex eo civitas et cuncta feminae oboediebant, non per lasciviam, ut
Messalina, rebus Romanis inludenti. Adductum et quasi virile servitium:
palam severitas ac saepius superbia; nihil domi impudicum, nisi dominationi
expediret. Cupido auri immensa obtentum habebat, quasi subsidium regno
pararetur.

Impotentia muliebris is again triumphant (12.57.12), but now with

portentous results. Where formerly the domus Caesaris was the chief
victim of feminine-imposed servitude (1.10), now the entire empire has
been so subjected. Tacitus almost makes Messalina's bacchanalian
excesses sound like the good old days 49 as he unsexes Agrippina with her
almost virilis chastity. 50 ~grippina's despotism is an exaltation of
impotentia muliebris that the elevated term,femina, running like a gilded
thread through the narrative, has intensified.

Tacitus, the Verbal Artist

Although it has been repeatedly denied that Tacitus is misogynistic, 51 his
continual harping upon the femina as du.x who aspires to dominatio or
imperium demonstrates a genuine belief that the decline and fall of the
Julio-Claudians and the subsequent evils that overwhelmed the empire
could all be laid at the doors of that family's overweening and imperious
feminae. His philosophy is put into the mouth of Tiberius (Ann. 1.69).
Tacitus' disgust for that emperor does not prevent him from assigning
49 Tacitus has employed the classic method of defamation for Messalina, the Bacchanale
(Ann. 11.31):
At Messalina non alias solutior luxu, adulto autumno simulacrum vindemiae per
domum celebrabat. Urgeri pre la, fluere lac us; et feminae pellibus accinctae adsultabant
ut sacrificantes vel insanientes Bacchae; ipsa crine fluxo thyrsum quatiens, iuxtaque
Silius hedera vinctus, gerere cothurnos, iacere caput, strepente circum procaci choro.
Ferunt Vettium Valentem lascivia in praealtam arborem conisum, interrogantibus quid
aspiceret, respondisse tempestatem ab Ostia atrocem, sive coeperat ea species, seu
forte lapsa vox in praesagium vertit. ·
S. Dickison cites the episode as one of the few comic moments in the Anna/es and
believes that Tacitus is inverting gender roles: "Claudius, Saturnalicius Princeps," Latomus
36 (1977) 635; J. Colin takes it to represent an actual Bacchic rite: "Tacite et Messaline,"
LEC 24 (1956) 25-39. The passage patently evokes the usual rhetoric of Cicero, Livy, et. al.,
intended to tarnish a woman's reputation; it was very likely concocted soon after Messalina' s
death in order to justify her murder. Tacitus has chosen his words in order to defame
Messalina.
50 Rutland (supra, n. 8) 23.
51 Baldwin (supra, n. 7) 84; Syme (supra, n. 17) 41; perhaps "maliciously chauvinistic"

would be more apt.

 TACITUS: THE TRADITION AND ITS BREAKING 135

Tiberius significant "truths". Note that as the Emperor's thoughts be-

come more pessimistic the femina becomes a mulier in the context of
seditio (lb. 11-16):
Nihil relictum imperatoribus, ubi femina manipulos intervisat, signa adeat
Jargitionem temptet, tamquam parum ambitiose filium ducis gregali habitu
circumferat Caesaremque Caligulam appellari velit. Potiorem iam apud exercitus
Agrippinam quam legatos, quam duces; compressam a muliere seditionem,
cui nomen principis obsistere non quiverit.

Tacitus is an artist, applying his words like tints and shades from a
richly coloured pallette. Mulier not only lends variety to the passage, but,
employed in a pejorative context with seditio-a condition that has been
termed muliebris by Livy (34.3.8), the noun also contributes a somber
tone to the darkening mirror of Tiberius' mind. LS. Ryberg has desig-
nated the "choice and arrangement" of words as one of the most subtle
of all forms of innuendo; and R. Martin seconds this, noting that Tacitus
uses his vocabulary to influence his readers' opinions, often drawing
from the works of his predecessors for words and phrases that will lend
emphasis to an idea or character. 52
Tacitus is said to have made his reputation in oratory. 53 His use of
gender terms constitutes a miniscule testimonial to his skill and artistry.
For although he is able to hammer home a point with the obviousness of
Cicero, as when he harps upon the viri andfeminae inlustres, nobilissimi,
primores, etc., who are victims of the Julio-Claudians, he is equally
capable of subtly weaving his gender terms into the narrative as compo-
nents of variatio and verbal antithesis that contribute to his technique of
characterizaton. 54 This is illustrated in his portrait of Epicharis, the
freedwoman of the Pisonian conspiracy against Nero.
Epicharis is a libertina mulier (Ann. 15.57.11), but she is vastly
different from the stereotypical Hispala, Livy's once-Bacchanalian
scortum-with-the-heart-of-gold who burst into hysterics when con-
fronted by consular authority. There was a patent falsity about Hispala
due to Livy's one-dimensional portrait, which seems to have been
predicated upon comic as well as prejudicial class stereotypes. 55 Tacitus'
portrait of Epicharis is far from one-dimensional. There is an element of
ambiguity in her persona, 56 based perhaps upon the idea that she is an ex-

52 I.S. Ryberg, "Tacitus' art of innuendo," TAPA 73 (1942) 390; Martin (supra, n. I) 225.
53 Ibid., 29.
54 Daitz (supra, n. 11) 46.

55 v. supra, chapter two, p. 45, for stereotypes depicted in the Two Bacchises of Plautus.

Also v. supra, chapter five, p. 99, sq.

56 Baldwin (supra, n. 7) 85.
136 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

slave and a conspirator-facts which are offset to some extent in that the
object of conspiracy is the tyrannical Nero. Gender words contribute to
the ambiguous picture and also heighten the eventual heroism that
overrides Epicharis' dubious background. Epicharis is introduced with
a malicious comment (15.51.2-3): 57
... Epicharis quaedam, incertum quonam modo sciscitata (neque illi ante ulla
rerum honestarum cura fuerat).

Tacitus continues to dwell upon the unsavoury side of her character by

hinting darkly at an alliance with a disgruntled assassin of Agrippina
(15.51.7-13):
Erat nauarchus in ea classe Volusius Proculus, occidendae matris Neroni inter
ministros, non ex magnitudine sceleris provectus, ut rebatur. Is mulieri olim
cognitus, seu recens orta amicitia, dum merita erga Neronem sua et quam in
inritum cecidissent aperit adicitque questus et destinationem vindictae, si
facultas oreretur, spem dedit posse impelli et pluris conciliare.

While mulier is the appropriate word based upon Epicharis' position as

freedwoman, Tacitus again indulges in innuendo, as is indicated by the
word seu. 58 Mulier juxtaposed to amicitia with a base assassin contrib-
utes to the pejorative picture, and one might feel that Epicharis has
earned her just deserts when Proculus, in fact a dastardly delator,
informs upon her to Nero--except for the fact that she has recognized the
true enormity of the tyrant's crimes: et omnia see/era principis orditur,
neque senatui quidquam mane re (15.51.17). It has been said that Tacitus
chose the vocabulary that went into his verbal slurs with great care. 59 Is
mulieri olim cognitus, seu recens orta amicitia is a pungent phrase full
of hidden implications that mulier with its customary pejorative over-
tones intensifies.
Note Tacitus' use of muliebre when Epicharis has been arrested and
brought to the palace for interrogation. The historian describes her
through Nero's eyes in a passage that seethes with cruelty as the Emperor
gloats upon her muliebre corpus and reflects that it is undoubtedly impar
dolori as he orders her to be put on the rack (Ann. 15.57.1-2). Tacitus now
takes the role of omniscient narrator, and employs femina as part of a
value judgment as Epicharis refuses to betray the conspiracy, and the
tormentors redouble their efforts rather than be thwarted by a femina
(15 .57 .3-5):

57 Baldwin (supra, n. 7) 85.

58 Daitz (supra, n. 11) 46.
59 Ibid., 46.
 TACITUS: THE TRADITION AND ITS BREAKING 137

At illam non verbera, non ignes, non ira eo acrius torquentium ne a femina
spernerentur, pervicere, quin obiecta denegaret.

As Tacitus has demonstrated in the Histories (2.13.5-9), afemina does

not give into pain or threats of death. 60 The historian, nevertheless,
resists the temptation to "promote" Epicharis herself to the status of
femina, a patently Ciceronian device employed by Livy. 61 When Epicharis
strangles herself in her bonds rather than talk, Tacitus praises her as a
clariore exemplo libertina mulier (Ann. 15.57.11). His precise purpose
is to emphasize Epicharis' low status in order to offset the aristocratic
viri who are informing upon their relatives, even without having submit-
ted to torture (15.57 .11-14 ):
clariore exemplo libertina mulier in tanta necessitate alienos ac prope ignotos
protegendo, cum ingenui et viri et equites Romani senatoresque intacti
tormentis carissima suorum quisque pignorum proderent.

The historian is equally artful in his application of gender terms for

Nero's mother, Agrippina. They are used to indicate her high status, and
to reflect the opinions of others upon her character. Although Tacitus has
employed various rhetorical devices to illustrate her malevolent charac-
ter,62 Agrippina is far from being a stock villainess, thanks to Tacitus'
verbal artistry. 63 The historian introduces her in sympathetic contexts
that emphasize her erudition as well as her imperial family connec-
tions. 64 He also presents her-along with the nobilis femina, Junia
Silana-as a victim of Messalina, noting that the empress' persecution
of Agrippina evoked popular pity (Ann. 11.12). In the sweepstakes for
Claudius' new wife-a competiton that nee minore ambitu feminae
exarserant (Ann. 12.1.4)-Agrippina is praised by Pallas as a femina
expertaefecunditatis, integra iuventa (Ann. 12.2.11-12). Femina, in this
context, implies more than social status; it belongs to the language of
laudatio, and implies the moral superiority of the aristocratic woman
whose fecundity will perpetuate the domination of the ruling classes. 65
Soon, however, rumours of inclitus amor and avuncular incest are
rampant. The love-blinded Claudius, though, obviates any objections
that the Senate might raise, announcing that he has decided to choose a

60 v. supra, pp. 133-34.

61 v. supra, chapters one and five. The device rings falsely when Petronius applies it to
the Widow of Ephesus, v. infra, pp. 182-84 .
62 Baldwin (supra, n. 7) 94; Rutland (supra n. 8) 22-23.
63 Mendell (supra, n. 7) 148-50.
64 Ibid.
65 P. Csillag, The Augustan Laws on Family Relations (Budapest, 1976) 20.
138 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

feminam nobilitate puerperiis sanctimonia insignem. He thereupon

informs the conscript fathers that he graciously accepts their choice of
a wife, even though she be his own brother's daughter (Ann. 12.6).
Claudius has "pulled the wool over the eyes" of the Senate by perpetrat-
ing an incestuous marriage upon SPQR. Such an act can only have
disastrous results for the country.
Tacitus has employed femina to emphasize Agrippina's imperial rank
as well as her abuse of power. He changes his terminology, however, in
relating her sudden plummet. When she begins to lose control, she
shrieks and rages muliebriter (Ann. 13.13), and Agrippina's superbia
muliebris disgusts Nero (13.14). 66 Subsequently rediscovering her dor-
mant sexuality, Agrippina lavishes blandimenta upon her increasingly
disaffected son; and what Suetonius states lewdly, Tacitus sneers ob-
liquely. 67 As Agrippina oversteps the limits of decency, Tacitus dusts off
the Ciceronian mulier with pejoratives to express the disgust of Nero's
friends (13.13.16-18):
Quae mutatio neque Neronem fefellit, et proximi amicorum metuebant orabantque
cavere insidias mulieris semper atrocis, tum et falsae.

Tacitus has used "mutatio": as Agrippina changes from the abnormally

chaste and power-crazed dowager to the revolting degenerate who
would use sex with her own son to recoup her lost pre-eminence, Tacitus'
gender terms also undergo permutation. The once proud femina is now
a mulier, as atrox andfalsa as the insidiae hatched in her warped brain.
Tacitus uses mulier as a key-word in contexts of impudicitia; it serves
as a verbal Leitmotif for Poppaea Sabina, Pontia, and Satria Galla. Syme
remarks that Poppaea is immediately established as a "seductive and
potent influence for evil," whose character, if not fully developed, is
nevertheless highly stylized. 68 Poppaea, the beautiful temptress, is pre-
sented according to one side of her personality only, like many of
Tacitus' minor characters. 69 The historian foreshadows her entrance
with the tale of another seductress, Pontia. 70 The word mulier in the
pejorative context of impudicitia helps set the stage.

66 Rutland (supra, n. 8) 25.

67 Tum Agrippina versis artibus perblandimenta iuvenem adgredi, suum potius cubiculum
ac sinum offerre contingendis quae prima aetas et summa fortuna expeterent: quin et
fatebatur intempestivam severitatem et suarum opum, quae haud procul imperatoriis
aberant, copias tradebat, ut nimia nuper coercendo filio, ita rursum intemperanter
demissa (Ann. 13.13.9-15).
68 Syme, Tacitus (Oxford, 1958) 353.
69 Mendell (supra, n. 7) 146; 159.
70 Baldwin notes Poppaea 's swift introduction after the story of Pontia (supra, n. 7) 86.
 TACITUS: THE TRADITION AND ITS BREAKING 139

Pontia is a mulier nupta whose affair with Octavius Sagitta, tribune

of the plebs, is a sordid one which Tacitus describes in terms of
vaecordia that Cicero might have used of Clodius ( 13.44.1-4): 71
Per idem tempus Octavius Sagitta plebei tribunus, Pontiae mulieris nuptae
amore vaecors, ingentibus donis adulterium et mox ut omitteret maritum
emercatur, suum matrimonium promittens ac nuptias eius pactus.

Pontia, however, coyly holds out for a better offer (13.44.5-7):

Sed ubi mu lier vacua fuit, nectere moras, adversam patris voluntatem causari
repertaque spe ditioris coniugis promissa exuere.

After bemoaning lost reputation and funds, the frustrated tribune waits
until dark and steals into Pontia's bedroom where he hurls recrimina-
tions and a dagger at her, the murder taking place amidst a barrage of
Bacchanalian rhetoric. 72
AlthoughPontia's murder seems to be based upon fact (Tacitus refers
to it in the Histories (4.44) where he terms Sagitta, impotens amoris.),
the circumstances of the episode are, very likely, fictitious. Pontia, an
ensign of impudicitia, called a mulier twice, has probably been intro-
duced solely to foreshadow another adulteress and mulier, who transfers
her affections for gain, and who will suffer an equally ignominious end
at the hands of her paramour. Tacitus frequently uses rhetorical empha-
sis in the Annales73 and Quintilian cites the introduction of fictitious
characters and circumstances as well as the repetition of words as an
important factor when an orator wishes to exaggerate a point (Inst. Orat.
9.1.31; 33). As Pontia has procrastinated in the fulfillment of promises
to the tribune, so Poppaea leads the Emperor on (but not too long). As
Pontia has driven Octavius insane with love, so Poppaea drives Nero to
distraught rage. Each mulier pays for her adultery with her life.
lmpudicitia is the common denominator between the two portrayals,
and Tacitus, just before introducing Poppaea, remarks:
Non minus insignis eo anno impudicitia magnorum rei publicae malorum
initium fecit. Erat in civitate Sabina Poppaea ... (13.45.1-2).

71 Sest. 117; Har. Resp. 19; Dom. 141; I. Opelt notes that vecordia is an attribute of
Marius in Sall. B.J. 94.9, Die Lateinischen Schimpfworter mit verwandte sprachliche
Erscheinungen: eine Typo/ogie (Heidelberg, 1965) 142.
72 Statuitur nox, et Pontia consciae ancillae custodiarn cubiculi mandat. Ille uno cum

liberto ferrum veste occultum infert. Tum, ut adsolet in arnore et ira, iurgia preces,
exprobatio satisfactio; et pars tenebrarum libidini seposita; ex qua quasi incensus nihil
metuentem ferro transverberat et adcurrentem ancillam vulnere absterret cubiculoque
prorumpit (Ann. 13.44.11-17).
73 J. Cousin, "Rhetorique et psychologie chez Tacite: un aspect de la deinosis," REL 29

(1951) 238.
140 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

Poppaea's entire portrait is a literary and rhetorical pastiche. Syme and

others have commented upon its resemblance to Sallust's Sempronia,
the alleged Catilinarian. 74 There are not only Sallustian evocations,
however, but also Petronian and Ciceronian as well. Tacitus has couched
Poppaea' s introduction in the language offabula reminiscent of Petronius'
initial presentation of the Widow of Ephesus, only in reverse, since that
fabulous creature was the epitome of pudieitia:
Matrona quaedam Ephesi tam notae erat pudicitiae, ut vicinarum quoque
generum feminas ad spectaculum sui evocaret (Sat. 111).

Because of Poppaea's splendid forebears, one would expect her to be

designated a femina, were anyone but Tacitus writing. Poppaea, how-
ever, is sailing under false colours, having filched the name of her
maternal grandfather in order to avoid that of her father Ollius, who was
a friend of Sejanus-a fact in itself enough to assassinate her character.
Consequently, the historian invokes Sallust's Sempronia in a passage
that emphasizes Poppaea's deceit: 75 Huie mulierieuneta alia fuere
praeter honestum animum (Ann. 13.45.6).
Tacitus next turns to Cicero, recalling the Pro Caelio, where the ghost
of Appius Claudius compares the mulier Clodia to the great Claudian
feminae of the past (Cael. 34). Tacitus writes: Quippe mater eius, aetatis
suae feminas pulehritudine supergressa ... (Ann. 12.45.7). One cannot
help but notice the difference between mulier andfemina when the two
are juxtaposed, especially after the former has been used pejoratively for
the third time in close succession, and the latter has been contrasted in
a positive context with the former.
Words as well as ideas have been carefully arranged in the portraits
of Pontia and Poppaea. Tacitus repeats forms of adulterium, matrimonium,
libido, and mora. Where the adulteress Ponti a puts off marriage: sed ubi
mulier vaeuafuit neetere moras (13.44.4), the adulteress Poppaea does
just the opposite: nee mora quin adulterio matrimonium iungeretur
(13.45.20). The language of both portraits is highly artificial and dem-
onstrates that Tacitus was striving for special effect, and that his choice
of the negative mulier and the positive femina was deliberate.
Tacitus resorts tofemina when Otho extols his wife's elegant beauty
to Nero (13.46.1-3). The historian usesfemina editorially as he offers his

74 Syme (supra, n. 68) 139; Martin (supra n. 1) 225. There are also evocations of Sallust's

Aurelia Orestilla, cuius praeter formam nihil umquam bonus /audavit (BC 15.2) and Tacitus'
later portrayal of Satria Galla: quam degenerem et so/a corporisforma commendatam ... ( 15.59).
75 Sallust, B.C. 25.
 TACITUS: THE TRADITION AND ITS BREAKING 141

usual alternative motives for his characters' behaviour: 76 Otho was either
amore incautus, or else he wanted to assert his own influence over the
Emperor, mutual possession of the same femina forging a bond between
them. Tacitus' choice offemina in this instance is based upon rank: the
word emphasizes Poppaea's beauty and refinement as well as her
nobility.
Poppaea's character has been envisioned as an embodiment of anti-
stoic ideas. 77 Although this may be so, Poppaea, like Agrippina before
her, is little more than the stereotype of the mulier who influences the
tyrant figure by a strong application of blandishments. 78 Like Agrippina,
Poppaea will receive her just deserts; but her demise must be properly
foreshadowed by another mulier who is a symbol of impudicitia, Satria
Galla. Satria is the wife of the conspirator Piso, who, for her sake, left
a will filled with grovelling praise for Nero. There are definite allusions
to the Otho-Poppaea-Nero triangle in the passage (15.59.21-26):
Testamentum foedis adversus Neronem adulationibus amori uxoris dedit,
quam degenerem et sola corporis forma commendatam amici matrimonio
abstulerat. Nomen mulieri Satria Galla, priori marito Domitius Silus; hie
patientia, ilia impudicitia Pisonis infamiam propagavere.

Like the mulier Poppaea, Satria is to be praised only for her beauty; a
paragon of impudicitia, she has gone from her husband's bed to Piso's
(as Poppaea has gone from Otho's to Nero's). Satria is also responsible
for Piso's name living on in infamy, and Tacitus implies that Nero's
women have performed the same function for him.
All the threads of the narrative from Pontia through Satria to Poppaea
are gathered up when Tacitus announces Poppaea' s death. As Pontia was
killed by her lover in an outburst of amor and ira, so Poppaea is murdered
76 Daitz (supra, n. 11) 46.
77 Mendell (supra, n. 7) 158.
78 Sed accepto aditu Poppaea primum per blandimenta et artis valescere, imparem

cupidini se et forma Neronis captam simulans, mox acri iam principis amore ad
superbiam vertens (Ann. 13.46.8-10).
Agrippina and Poppaea employ artes as well as blandimenta to seduce Nero (13.13.9;
13.46.8). These imply incantations to procure love; T. has also stated that Agrippina has used
artes upon Claudius, whom she poisoned (12.59.2). Blandimenta and artes pertain to the
language of witchcraft. Verbs of transformation (i.e. vertens; versis) and blandimenta and
artes in night-time scenes of seduction derive not only from the rhetoric of magic, but also
of the Bacchanale. T. has cast both of these women in the subliminal roles of witches; cf.
Livy's Damarata (24.22.8). Tacitus also stresses Agrippina's erudition (4.53.9-12) and
implies that Poppaea was of high intelligence (13.45.10) in a Sallustian passage. Sallust
employed the word doc ta for Sempronia. Doc ta is another name for witch. E.E. Burris, "The
terminology of witchcraft," CP 31 (1936) 139. Brewers of love-potions were veneficae (lb.).
cf. E. Massoneau, La Magie dans I' Antiquite Romain (Paris, 1934) 87. These ideas pertain
to the adulteress-poisoner topos, as employed by the Orator of Ad Herennium (4.16.23); the
elder Seneca (Contr. 6.6; 7.3.6); and Quintilian (Inst. Oral. 5.11.39).
142 THE CICERONIAN TRADITION AND ROMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

by her lover-turned-husband in an explosion of iracundia, prompted by

the excessive love of his wife: amori uxoris obnoxius erat (16.6.1-5).
Otho, Piso and Nero are each amore uxoris incautus: Otho has foolishly
praised his wife's beauty and lost her; Piso, out of misplaced love, has
betrayed his principles by stooping to flatter the very tyrant he was trying
to overthrow; and Nero has destroyed those things of which he was the
most desirous, the hope of an heir, and the wife with whom he was so
insanely in love. As for the mulieres, impudicitia has been the ruin of all;
and Tacitus finishes Poppaea's portrait as he began it, by recalling her
impudicitia (16.7.1-2).
R. Syme notes a "sharp divergence in structure and emphasis" in the
latter books of the Anna/es, and cites the "high show" given to the
imperial women, whom he terms "arrogant and criminal females",
brushing aside scholarly objections about rhetorical exaggeration and
distortion. 79 He insists that such objections serve "to misconceive the
nature of court life under the Caesars. " 80 He also expresses doubts about
any "lessons of morality" contained in Tacitean portrayals, noting that
the historian's moral and political doctrines are "not unequivocal." 81
Syme's faith in the criminality and arrogance of the Julio-Claudian
women, as well as his "dubitation" of Tacitus' moral position, is
testimony to the historian's consummate literary artistry. As R. Martin
notes, Tacitus adapted his language "to the expression of his thought,
which is both subtle and complex, with its intermeshing of objective and
subjective, and its frequent displacement of emphasis from statement of
action to the suggestion of motive or the reaction of interested parties."
He adds that it is "only by understanding the nature of Tacitus' linguistic
virtuosity" that comprehension of the historian's purposes in its appli-
cation can be reached. 82 Tacitus' equivocal moral position in the Anna/es
lies in the fact that he has taken conventional attitudes toward virtue and
vice (which are so apparent in his early works) and has disguised them
in a masquerade of linguistic and rhetorical brilliance, based upon
brevity, asymmetry, and the careful selection of a colourful vocabu-
lary. 83
Tacitus' use of gender terminology is but a minute example of his
linguistical virtuosity. Martin also comments upon Tacitus' selection

79 Syme (supra, n. 17) 40-41.

•• Ibid., 41.
11 Ibid., 43.
12 Martin (supra, n. 1) 10.
13 Ibid., foe. cit.
 TACITUS: THE TRADITION AND ITS BREAKING 143

and arrangement of material for emphasis and special effect, and calls
attention to the fact that the "unity of the whole is sustained by a style
that combines brilliance with tonal subtleties." He concludes that "much
of Tacitus' originality consists of putting new wines into old bottles." 84
Tacitus' novel and artful use of gender terms in the Anna/es-designa-
tions which connote moral overtones-is illustrative of this proposition;
although one cannot help but conclude that the "new wine" has been
carefully blended and decanted with a measure of the aged Ciceronian
vintage.
84 Martin (supra, n. l) l l.
 PART TWO

THE LETTER, THE BIOGRAPHY, AND THE NOVEL

 CHAPTER EIGHT

C. PLINIUS SECUNDUS: MAN OF LETTERS

It is difficult to read the epistles of Pliny the Younger without being

reminded of Cicero. Like the republican senator, Pliny, as a young man,
journeyed from the provinces to Rome, made a career in oratory and
scaled the cursus honorum, reaching the consulship. Like his predeces-
sor, Pliny was a compulsive writer of letters to his amici andfamiliares. 1
But whereas Cicero's briefs were spontaneous and chatty-often reveal-
ing the genuine joys and frustrations that were usually cocooned in
swathes of oratorical afflatus-Pliny's epistles, though they may have
originated as actual letters, were honed and refined for publication. 2
Their "studied simplicity" is smudged by traces of lamp-soot, as it were,
particularly when one compares them to his official correspondence with
the Emperor Trajan, a compendium that shows no signs of revision. 3
Like Cicero, Pliny was susceptible to flattery; but where his repub-
lican predecessor remained blissfully impervious to his monumental
conceit,4 Pliny self-consciously risks being thought "iactantior" as he
imparts how Fadius Rufinus, a municipal equestrian, has made his day
by pointing him out to a visiting friend-from-the-country as a famous
orator. Fadius' perspicacity earns him the appellation, vir egregius
(9.23.4). 5 In a similar manner, Pliny applauds the excellent taste of
Pomponius Mamilianus, consul suffect for 100 A.D. The author, who
has just sent a book of his poetry to Pomponius, elicits a favourable
review by hailing him as vir eruditissimus, gravissimus ac super ista
verissimus (9.25.2). These examples are yet another demonstration of
the possibilities of vir in the lexicon of the sycophant.
A.N. Sherwin-White maintains that Pliny, who revelled in simple
vocabulary but complex sentence structure, imitated Cicero very little;
consequently, Pliny's letters are not "Ciceronian". 6 Although the obser-

1 A.N. Sherwin-White, The Letters of Pliny: a Historical and Social Commentary

(Oxford, 1966) 69.

2 Ibid., I I.
3 Ibid., 5.

• Reflected in vir-plus-superlatives, which Cicero used to flatter those who agreed with
his opinion.
5 v. infra, n. 13.

• Sherwin-White (supra, n. I) 2.
148 THE LETTER, THE BIOGRAPHY, AND THE NOVEL

vation may hold true for the substance of the letters, it does not apply to
their gender terminology, which frequently resounds with distinct
Ciceronian echoes. In fact, Pliny uses some of the same gender expres-
sions with their accompanying politically-oriented adjectives as did the
Republican orator. In Pliny's letters, however, the terms seem curiously
archaic, as if they have been retrieved from the cobwebbed corner of
some lexical museum, dusted off, and repolished for use. This is because
Pliny is living in a Rome that has changed vastly since the golden era of
cutthroat factional politics, when "novus homo" was a dirty word, the
man from the next town was an inquilinus, and the term "tribune" was
synonymous with "tumult". Now, novi homines enter the Senate by
droves, foreign is fashionable, and tribune trouble has been defused by
juggling the cursus honorum so that the office is open only to established
senators. 7
Pliny was a Transpadane serving a Spanish emperor; he had migrated
to Rome in Flavian days, studying rhetoric with Quintilian in order to
make a career at the bar. 8 Although the Roman political world had
undergone cataclysmic permutations, forensic training had become
crystallized into aconstantrehearsal of artificial suasoriae and controversiae
that utilized the same stale topoi and perpetuated their accompanying
rhetorical cant. 9 In Pliny's letters, familiar-sounding terms often appear
in an alien setting. An instance is his designation of Claudius Aristion,
princeps Ephesiorum, as homo munificus, et innoxie popularis (6.31.3).
Homo munificus reflects Ciceronian condescending praise for munici-
pal leaders and lesser foreigners, an appropriate epithet for a man whose
family has held the franchise only a short time. 10 Popularis, however, has
travelled far from the days when it was slung at tribunes of the plebs; in
the modern world of second-century Rome, the term may be applied to
foreigners who have been enlisting clients by inviting them to extrava-
gant banquets. 11 Thus has familiar rhetoric of the Republic, because of
political realities, assumed new overtones.
As in Cicero's day, the boni are on hand in the persons of optimi and
summi viri; 12 but where in the olden days the title signified those who
1 Ibid., 73.
1 Ibid., 70.
9 D.L. Clark, Rhetoric in Greco-Roman Education (N.Y., 1957), suasoria: 218-28;

controversiae: 228-50; cf. L. Alfonsi, "Carracteristiche della letteratura Giulio-Claudia," in

ANRW 32.1, pp. 4-6.
10 Sherwin-White (supra, n. 1) 392.
11 D.C. Earl writes that political terms were constantly being redefined according to

expediency: The Moral and Political Tradition of Rome (Ithaca, 1967) 19-20.
12 Optimi viri: Mettius Modestus, a judge of the Centumviral Court (1.5.5); Vestricius
 C. PLINIUS SECUNDUS: MAN OF LETTERS 149

happened to lean on the same side of the political fence, in the enlight-
ened Trajanic era, that barrier itself has been transformed into the
forensic bar; and optimus, summus, or egregius vir can be applied to legal
colleagues-equestrians, praetorians and consulars, most of whom in
Pliny's circle are aficionados of literature and the arts. 13 The term boni
itself has assumed a fusty air, as can be deduced from a letter of
recommendation for an up-and-coming quaestor elect, Asinius Bassus,
addressed to Pliny's close friend, Minicius Fundanus (4.15.1). Pliny
writes that Bassus is the son of Asinius Rufus, homo eximius, and, with
a Ciceronian turn of phrase, amantissimus bonorum. The obsolescence
of the republican catchword can be inferred from Pliny's wry remark:
"Cur enim non me quoque inter bonos numerem?" Since Rufus was a
praetorian senator, 14 and the homo praetorius of Cicero's day had been
upgraded to the vir praetorius of Pliny's, one would think that he would
employ vir. 15 The scope of the letter, however, is to highlight Rufus' son
and to portray the father as a loyal client of the consular Cornelius
Tacitus, of whom Pliny writes, scis quern virum. 16 The juxtaposition of
homo and vir emphasizes the unequal status of Asinius Sr. and Tacitus.
By terming the father homo eximius, bonorum amantissimus, Pliny not
only indicates that Rufus is a loyal subordinate to the boni, if they still
exist, but he also implies that the son, who is ipso patre melior, will
surpass the father in public life (4.15.6).17
Whereas in Cicero's day amantissimus rei publicae had strong
overtones of factional politics, representing the conservative element in
the Senate, 18 in Pliny's brave new world, factionalism has been kept
successfully in check (notwithstanding an occasional imperial homi-
cide), and Trajan, despite the fact that he is addressed as domine,
symbolizes res publica, the emperor ostensibly being nothing more than

Spurinna, cos. II (1.5.9): Verginius Rufus, cos. III, writer and historian (2.1.2-3; 6.10.1);
Avidius Nigrinus, attorney (7 .6.2); Pompei us Saturninus, literary fami/iaris (7 .8.1 ); Titinius
Capito, equestrian lillerarum iam senescentium reductor ac reformator (8.12.1-2); Pompei us
Quintianus, deceased iuvenis (9.9.2). Summi viri: Arulenus Rusticus, supporter of Helvidius
Priscus (1.14.1); great orators and summi viri who exercise their minds (7.9.12).
13 Sherwin-White notes that egregius vir blended over class lines, not yet being a title for

the equestrian (supra, n. 1) 507. P. uses it of senators junior senators, and knighls. Trebonius
Rufus, a duovir from Vienna Narbonensis, amicus of P. (4.22.1); Cornutus Tertullius, cos.
desig. (2.11.19); Fadius Rufinus, eques Romanus (9.23.4); Gabi us Bassus, praefectus orae
Ponticae (10.21.1).
14 Sherwin-White (supra, n. 1) 292.
15 Cicero,praetorii homines: Font. 43; Verr. a. pr. 38; cf. vir praetorius, Plin., Ep. 5.4.1.
16 Tacitus was consul suffect in 97 A.D., Sherwin-White (supra, n. 1) 745.
17 P. is anticipating Fundanus' designation as consul, counting him among the sapient es

viri who choose their political children as if they were their natural offspring (4.15.9).
11 As long as it concurred with the orator (supra, p. 15).
150 THE LETTER, THE BIOGRAPHY, AND THE NOVEL

that institution's princeps. 19 This is illustrated by Pliny's reference to

Julius Ursus Servianus---one of the "props of the Trajanic regime" 20-
as optimus vir tuique amantissimus (10.2.1). The optimus vir, a logical
extension of the bonus and the boni, has lingered on as a memento of the
Republic, but its political overtones have been neutralized.
The nature of public scoundrels has also altered, although the verbal
abuse to which they are subjected retains its old familiar sting. Invective
that was once cast in the impudent faces of tribunes and intransigent
magistrates is now hurled at unscrupulous courtroom adversaries and
Verres' successors in extortion, the rapacious ex-governors of prov-
inces. An example from the former category is M. Aquilius Regulus, a
praetorian senator, who had become a leading attorney of the centumviral
court, amassing a huge fortune in the process. Pliny characterizes
Regulus as an "ambulance chaser" and legacy hound. 21 In an anecdote
he dubs an aureafabula, the unprincipled lawyer and former Neronian
delator 22 has the temerity to pay a professional visit to Verania, the ailing
wife of Galba's adopted son Piso, despite the fact that Regulus had been
inimicissimus and invisissimus to her late husband (2.20.2). According
to Pliny, the incident demonstrates the impudentia hominis, who took
advantage of the old woman's weakened condition and tricked her into
including him in her will (lb.). Penultimate lucidity, however, is granted
to Verania, and her death-rattle is a Ciceronian imprecation: Hominem
nequam, perfidum, ac plus etiam quam periurum (2.20.5).
Another of Regulus' victims is Aurelia, an ornata femina with
consular relatives (2.20.10). She has put on all her finery for the purpose
of signing her will. Regulus not only admires her costly attire, but he also
covets the very garments on her back-after she is dead, that is, and will
no longer need them. Aurelia, who prefers to take them with her, at first
thinks that the homo is joking (Aurelia ludere hominem putabat), but the
indefatigable fortune hunter compels the mulier to write him into her will
(2.20.11):
Coegit mulierem aperire tabulas ac sibi tunicas quas erat induta legare;
observavit scribentem, inspexit, an scripsisset.

19 M. Hammond, The Transmission of the Powers of the Roman Emperor from the Death

of Nero in A.D. 68 to that of Alexander Severus in A.D. 235 (Rome, 1956) 64.
20 Sherwin-White (supra, n. 1) 66.
21 Sherwin-White (supra, n. 1) 739.
22 Ibid., loc. cit. Pliny employs homo pejoratively for another informer, Fabricius

Veiento, whom he depicts sprawling across the Emperor Nerva's lap, and remarks: Dixi
omnia cum hominem nominavi (4.22.4).
 C. PLINIUS SECUNDUS: MAN OF LETTERS 151

In this preposterous tale, which Pliny dubs his third Regulus fabula, he
has employed some familiar rhetorical tricks. Aurelia, like Verres'
victims, is introduced as an ornatafemina to demonstrate her respect-
ability and wealth and to glean an amount of gratuitous sympathy. The
episode, which is humorous, is apparently exaggerated in order to make
Regulus, who displays a limited sense of humour (1.5), appear ridicu-
lous. 23 Homo sums him up properly. Coegit mulierem contributes an aura
of violence. One does not compel afemina to do anything, and mulier is
an accustomed part of the vocabulary pertaining to the victim. 24 Regulus
horror stories are a recurrent feature of the correspondence. 25 In another
epistle, Pliny abhors the hominis crudelitas, and repeats a current
calumny: "Regulus [est] omnium bipedum nequissimus!" which he
believes to be a fair estimation of the man's character (1.5.13-14).
Needless to say, the individual whom Pliny notes to be insumma avaritia
sumptuosus, in summa infamia gloriosus (4.2.5) is always a homo, and
never a vir. Very probably, since Regulus has sneered at Pliny for
imitating Cicero (1.5.12), the latter-day orator has carefully lambasted
the incorrigible pettifogger with typical Ciceronian vituperation.
As in Cicero's day, homo with pejorative adjectives is the accepted
means of defaming witnesses for the opposition in the courtroom. Pliny
was involved in several extortion cases during his judiciary career,
which began at the age of eighteen. 26 In one, he represented the province
of Baetica against the late, unlamented Caecilius Classicus, homo foedus
et ape rte malus who governed non minus violenter quam sordide (3.9.2).
Charged with perjury in the same case was Norbanus Licinianus, 27
Classicus' legatus et inquisitor, whom Pliny envisions to be a second
edition of his late superior: homo alioqui flagitiosus et Domitiani
temporibus usus (3.9.31 ). Gender epithets play their part in keeping the
protagonists straight in this complicated case; in the manner of black

23 Sherwin-White talces Regulus stories seriously (supra, n. 1) 202-5.

24 In Cicero and Livy, verbs denoting physical force, compulsion or harm, take mulier
and homo in the accusative, as do verbs of penalty. e.g. mulierem ... necavit (Cluent. 31);
mulierem veneno interfecit (lb.); prima potione mulierem sustulit (lb. 40); mulierem ... rei
capita/is esse damnatam (lb. 32); hominem modestum .. .facile coercet (Verr. 1.134); hunc
ego hominem ... compu/issem (Cat. 3.17); cum tot homines innocentes necarit (Verr. 1.9);
securi esse percussos homines innocentes nobi/es (1.76) Q. Metellus ... oprimet hominem
(Cat. 2.26); Hermippum hominem eruditum ... percussit (Flacc.46); consul es spo/iari hominem
et virgas expediri iubent (Liv. 2.55.5); Poe nus comprehendi hominem vinctumque attrahi ad
sese iussit (23.7.7-8); Verginius arripi iubet hominem et in vincula duci (3.13.4).
25 1.5; 2.11.22; 2.20; 4.2; 6.2.
26 Sherwin-White (supra, n. 1) 71.
27 It is thought that the trial took place in 100 A.D., Ibid., 60.
152 THE LETTER, THE BIOGRAPHY, AND THE NOVEL

togas for the villains and white for the heroes, the defendants are
homines, but the attorneys are viri. Pliny's colleague, Lucceius Albinus,
is called vir in dicendo copiosus, ornatus (3.9.7); his participation in the
case has drawn him closer to Pliny. 28 As 20th century courtroom courtesy
prompts opposing attorneys to speak well of each other as "learned
friends" and "worthy opponents", so, in the second century, did it prompt
them to defer to each other as respected viri. For instance, the orator
designates the attorney for the defense, Claudius Restitutus, vir exercitatus
et vigilans et quamlibet subitis paratus (3.9.16). Such a description
serves to highlight Pliny's victory, since it implies that he was even more
cunning and shrewd. This verbal tactic is similar to the historiographical
ploy that builds up barbarian generals to formidable proportions in order
to glorify Roman victories and excuse Roman defeats. 29
Mitigation of a near defeat probably lurks behind the epithet vir
paratus et vehemens, used of the prosecutor, Pomponius Rufus (4.9.3).
Except for a technicality, Pliny would have lost the case in the trial of
Junius Bassus, who seems to have spent his entire career under a cumulo-
nimbus cloud that periodically discharged its contents onto his person.
Bassus, homo laboriosus et adversis clarus (4.9.1), was delated twice
under Vespasian; he was also under constant suspicion by Titus because
of amicitia with Domitian, who eventually reciprocated his loyalty by
exiling him. Upon being recalled by Nerva, Bassus was allotted the
province of Bithynia, but was slapped with a prosecution for extortion
upon his return (4.9.1-4). Pliny explains that the homo simplex et
incautus had accepted munera from the provincials; the prosecution,
however, splitting hairs, interprets the gifts as furta ac rapinae (4.9.6)
(Pliny adds that such fine distinctions are beside the point since provin-
cial rewards and plunder are one in the myopic eyes of the law.). This
letter, written in a light-hearted manner, demonstrates Pliny's dexterous
handling of a thorny case in which he was fully aware of his client's guilt.
Homo with mildly pejorative adjectives, allows Pliny to separate himself
from the man's demonstrable culpability, and yet to discharge his
obligations as attorney for the defense.
Although we are dealing with reported accounts of the trials and can
only take Pliny's words as indicators of any epithets used at the bar, very
likely, they approximate those demanded by courtroom etiquette. Fur-
thermore, it is very likely that Regulus-always an odious homo in the

21 On a similar epithet for Hortensius, v. infra, p. 157, n. 49.

29 v. supra, chapter six, pp. 105-106.
 C. PLINIUS SECUNDUS: MAN OF LETTERS 153

letters-as soon as he set foot into court, became a vir eloquentissimus

et copiosissimus, as such formalized hypocrisy was taken for granted.
Since the centumviral court was hearing legacy cases, Pliny did not have
the compelling need to degrade his adversaries with infamia as did
Cicero in his criminal trials.
Respected colleagues of the bar are viri by benefit of their member-
ship in the club, no matter how flagrant the crimes of those on whom they
are called to defend. Thus Pronto Catius, counsel for the rapacious ex-
governor of Africa, Marius Priscus-alleged to have sullied his admin-
istration with blood-money-is acknowledged as a consummate juridi-
cal artist by the epithet vir movendarum lacrimarum peritissimus (2.11.3).
In a feat of lachrymose prestidigitation, Cati us has managed to have the
charges reduced from murder to extortion, causing the consul designate,
Julius Ferox, vir rectus et sanctus, to order the creation of a special
quaestio (2.11.5). In the subsequent trial, Catius conjures omnes artes
suas for the defense; his fellow-pleader, Marius Salvius Liberalis, vir
subtilis, dispositus, acer et disertus, assists him ably. Cornelius Tacitus,
leading for the prosecution, replies eloquently, after which Catius, in
response, harangues the sun below the horizon in an apparent attempt to
wear out the jury with his summation (2.11.17-18). Pliny, who consid-
ered Pro Cluentio Cicero's greatest speech (1.20.8), finds the marathon
proceedings reminiscent of the good old days: / am hoc ipsum pulchrum,
antiquum, senatum nocte dirimi, triduo vocari, triduo contineri; and the
case closes when one of the consuls designate, Cornutus Tertullus, vir
egregius et pro veritatefirmissimus, raps a HS. 700,000 fine on Priscus,
banishing him from Italy (2.11.19). In the course of a judicial career, one
was called on to defend all sorts; the guilt or innocence of the client was
irrelevant, as long as one acted in a reasonably ethical manner.
Tuscilius N ominatus did not exercise professional ethics, and Pliny
refers to him not as vir exercitatus as he did Claudius Res ti tutus (3.9 .16),
but as homo in dicendo exercitatus (5.13.3). Nominatus' services had
been engaged by the townspeople of Vicetia who were complaining that
a vir praetorius, one Sollers, who had made part of his estate available
for a market-cum-carnival, had misappropriated his property (5.4.1).
Apparently, Nominatus did not give satisfaction, for the Vicetians
returned to court, minus their attorney, whom they were now suing for
malpractice (5.4.2-4): the lawyer had charged not one but two fees.
Nominatus' summation in his own behalf might be dubbed the "cold-feet
defense" by modern students of jurisprudence: it was not his /ides, but
his constantia that failed; senatorial pressure, furthermore, had been
154 THE LETTER, THE BIOGRAPHY, AND THE NOVEL

applied, and Nominatus had the distinct impression that he was to disist
from blocking one of their own whose dignitas depended upon the
nundinae (5.13.2-3). The craven attorney closes his oration by collaps-
ing into maudlin supplications; 30 and Pliny comments (5.13.3):
quin etiam tota actione homo in dicendo exercitatus operam dedit, ut deprecari
magis (id enim et favorabilius et tutius) quam defendi videretur.

Homo conveys the revulsion that Pliny feels for a man who would
succumb to the acceptance of fees for his services. 31

Pliny and Martial: a Hole in the Hypothesis?

The term homo ingeniosus acutus acer has a very singular tone when
Pliny applies it to the poet Martial, whose obituary occupies an entire
letter (3.21.1). On the surface, the appellation might throw serious
doubts upon the theories set forth in these pages, especially since the
epistle expresses sympathy for the Spaniard, who had come to Rome and
amassed enough wherewithal to be enrolled among the equestrians, 32
and who was considered an amicus of Pliny (3.21.2). Martial's Spanish
birth is of no consequence to the discussion since everybody who was
anybody in the early second century came from Spain anyway. One must
cast into deeper waters, as P. White has done, in order to determine the
exact nature of Pliny's relationship to the poet. 33 The problem rests, in
part, with historical hindsight, founded, according to White, in modern
conceptions of literary patronage which becloud the situation as it truly
existed in the Roman Empire. 34 He furthermore emphasizes the unequal
nature of amicitia. 35 Relying upon internal evidence from the poetry of
Martial and Juvenal, as well as on information furnished by Pliny's
epistles, White has concluded that far from being in a position of social
equality, supported by philanthropic beneficence, Roman poets adhered
30 Illustrating the difference between proper and improper use of /acrimae- it was

acceptable to weep for one's client, but not for oneself.

31 Sherwin-White (supra, n. 1) 70. Pontificating from the lofty pulpit of the rich, Pliny

expounds:
Quam me iuvat, quod in causis agendis non modo pactione dono munere verum etiam
xeniis semper abs1inui! Oportet quidem, quae sunt inhonesta, non quasi inlicita, sed
quasi pudenda, vitare (S.13.8).
32 P. Howell, A Commentary on Book One of the Epigrams of Martial (London, 1980) I.
33 P. White, "Amicitia and the profession of poetry in early imperial Rome," IRS 68

(1978) 74-92.
34 Ibid. 79.
3s Ibid., 80; B.K. Gold notes that poets were often part of the aristocratic household and

treated like other domestic retainers, Literary Patronage in Greece and Rome (Chapel Hill
and London, 1987) 40-41.
 C. PLINJUS SECUNDUS: MAN OF LETTERS 155

to the fringes of the domestic entourage of the Great Man whose domus,
but not his purse, was open. 36 The generous entrepreneur, envisioned by
Sherwin-White, who mingled liberally on the same social footing with
his learned inferiors, 37 is the man-who-never-was. The chief function of
the literary patron was to provide a platform 38 and lots of free publicity. 39
White notes that Martial' s agenda was always crammed with myriad
activities that involved scurrying after his various patrons with their
numerous clients in order to make the customary display in the forum or
at court. 40 The poet, in short, was a literary limpet clinging to the rock
of patronage along with all the other sponges and barnacles that included
"astrologers, parasites, fortune-hunters [and] social climbers." 41
White remarks upon the "peculiar tone" of the letter in which "one
would scarcely recognize ... that Martial was a celebrity at all." 42 He
further observes that this was not a lapse due to overwhelming emotion,
since the letter was meticulously calculated ex post facto down to the last
epigrammatic clausula, and penned from a deliberate viewpoint. 43 Pliny's
emphasis, he continues, is not on Martial, the eminent poet, but on
himself, the charitable provider of the boat-ticket that allowed Martial
to go back to Spain and retire. As White puts it: 44
We do not perceive Martial as a prominent public figure, because he is being
described as another individual gathered into the web of personal services and
obligations. The public figure presented to us in fact is not Martial but Pliny.
The letter is so framed as to disclose the courteous attention shown to a
promising senator and the magnanimous friendship which ensued.

The epithet homo ingeniosus acutus acer contributes to the situation that
White describes. It is condescending praise, and perhaps understandable
when one considers that Martial's poem, quoted by Pliny, was penned
during the latter's years as a junior senator; it is an effort that has been

36 Other than an occasional bequest, White (supra, n. 33) 83. Gold cites innate Roman

embarassment over payment for services rendered (supra, n. 35) 65.

37 Sherwin-White (supra, n. I) 759.
31 Such as Rome's band-box auditorium of Maecenas, a small semi-circle of seats, above

which are frescoes of birds and trees by the artist of Livia's villa at Prima Porta; it is in the
form of an antro-nymphaeum, where one could have poetry readings in an ambience of ferns
and fountains. Roma Capitale, 1870-1911: l'archeologia in Roma Capitale tra sterro e
scavo (Venice, 1983) 225-4 7.
39 White (supra, n. 33) 85.
40 Ibid., 74-77; Gold remarks that "clients and parasites" constantly cadged invitations

(supra, n. 35) 182, n. 18.

" White (supra, n. 33) 76.
42 Ibid., 83.
43 Ibid., /oc. cit.
44 Ibid., /oc. cit.
156 THE LETTER, THE BIOGRAPHY, AND THE NOVEL

evaluated as standard fare for the second-rate figures of Roman society. 45

Although ostensibly praising them, Pliny dismisses Martial' s lines as
versiculi, and takes it for granted that Cornelius Priscus, a consular, may
not only be unfamiliar with the stanzas, but that he also may not have read
anything else of Martial's either (3.21.4):
Quaeris, qui sint versiculi quibus gratiam rettuli? Remitterem te ad ipsum
volumen, nisi quosdam tenerem; tu, si placuerint hi, ceteros in libro requires.

The poem itself provides additional clues as it compares Pliny to the

sainted orator from Arpinum. The charge, "cum Cicerone aemulatio",
was a sore point with Pliny, who had been taunted with being a Cicero-
clone by the spiteful Regulus between sessions of court ( 1.5 .11- 12). The
amount of space Pliny devotes to the petty squabble, even rationalizing
his supposed imitation, demonstrates that the assertion rankled:
Regulus: "Satrius Rufus, cui non est cum Cicerone aemulatio, et qui contentus
est eloquentia saeculi nostri."Pliny: Respondi nunc me intellegere maligne
dictum quia ipse confiteretur; ceterum potuisse honorificum existimari.
"Est enim," inquam, "mihi cum Cicerone aemulatio, nee sum contentus
eloquentia saeculi nostri. Nam stultissimum credo ad imitandum non optima
quaeque proponere."

Regulus' snide remarks, perhaps intended to throw Pliny off his stride
in the case at hand, imply that the orator was not only an imitator but also
hopelessly old fashioned; besides which, it must have been galling for
an attorney of considerable pride to be constantly compared to one
whose reputation loomed so high that there was no hope to surmount it.
Is there not, perhaps, an element of ingenious double-talk in Pliny's
seemingly solicitous enquiry about Martial's poem? (3.21.6):
Meritone eum qui haec de me scripsit et tune dimisi amicissime et nunc ut
amicissimum defunctum esse doleo?

A redolentdisingenuosness lingers around Pliny's homiletic pronounce-

ment: Tametsi quid homini potest dari maius, quam gloria et /aus et
aeternitas? 46 And his final scathing judgment condemns Martial's po-
etry to eternal mediocrity: At non erunt aeterna quae scripsit: non erunt,
fortasse, il/e tamen scripsit, tamquam essent futura.Vale (3.21.6).
It would be well to recall several points about the epithet, homo

0 Sherwin-White (supra, n. I) 263.

"The remark is reminiscent of contemporary American backstage "praise". uttered

when one does not wish to commit oneself on the merits of the performance: "Darling, you'll
never be better than you were tonight!"
 C. PLINIUS SECUNDUS: MAN OF LETTERS 157

ingeniosus acutus acer. 41 It will be remembered that Cicero employed

the adjectives separately and sometimes in combination with homo, as
part of his invective against tribunes of the plebs and other major ne'er-
do-wells. Acutus has connotations of scheming for the main chance, and
acer denotes keen ruthlessness. 48 Jngeniosus, on the other hand, denoted
the clever speaker, the quibbler who dealt in covert innuendoes, as
Cicero indicated in his remarks about the oration of C. Gracchus. 49 We
have seen how Velleius Paterculus, echoing Cicero, used the epithet for
tribunes who straddled the factional fence, hopping off on either side that
suited their momentary purposes. 50 M. Valerius Martialis, literary para-
site and scribbler of mordant epigrams that depended upon "verbal
dexterity and versatility," was an abject sycophant of Domitian, who,
after that emperor's assassination, added his voice to the "chorus of
obloquy" and transferred his adulation first to Nerva and then to Trajan. 51
Pliny, who himself rose to the top under Domitian and prospered in
subsequent regimes, had limited patience with others who did so; he was
ever-ready to criticise such turncoats. At the same time, a supposed
eulogistic necrology was hardly the place to do so openly. Instead, he
reduces the writer of what he seems to consider doggerel, who has
pronounced him to be, in effect, a second-rate Cicero, to his proper
insignificance. Pliny was a subtle man, who could not be "simple even
in official correspondence." 52 By calling Martial homo ingeniosius
acutus acer, Pliny has strung the poet up with the noose of that
ingeniosissimus orator, M. Tullius Cicero.
The term homo, applied to a poet, would not have seemed that unusual
in a society where the patron-client system was taken for granted. It was
left to Cornelius Priscus to read between the lines for additional nuances.
It is only historical retrospect that regards Martial as a celebrity-partly
because his poems have survived-which presupposes that the poet
occupied a position of pre-eminence and therefore social equality with
Pliny and his circle. Since Pliny's gender epithets are so consistent with
47 v. supra, chapter one, p. 28; chapter six, p. 108.

•• Cicero's description of the actions of Steanus, a bribed juror in Pro Cluentio,

illustrates this quality (67):
Tum ab Steiano, sicut ab homine ad excogitandum acutissimo, ad audendum
impudentissimo, ad efficiendum acerrimo-haec enim ille et aliqua ex parte habebat
et maiore ex parte se habere simulabat-auxilium capiti ac fortunis suis petere coepit.
49 v. supra, chapter six, p. 108. H. ingeniosissimus et copiosissimus may have been
Cicero's way of saying that Hortensius, as prosecuting attorney, was a double-talking
windbag (Muren. 48).
50 v. supra, chapter six, p. 108.
51 Howell (supra, n. 32) 3.
52 Sherwin-White (supra, n. I) 6.
158 THE LETTER, THE BIOGRAPHY, AND THE NOVEL

those of his predecessors, especially historians versed in rhetoric, it

would be unreasonable to assume that a hackneyed pejorative expres-
sion, such as homo ingeniosissimus acutus acer, has suddenly sprouted
wings of cherubic innocence. Pliny is expressing himself in a manner
every bit as subtle, sharp and biting as Martial ever did.

Liberti, Privati, and Other Human Beings

In Pliny's other letters, homo retains its customary nuances. It remains
the accepted term for retainers of inferior social station, such as freed-
men. Pliny exhorts one Sabinianus to take back his wayward ex-slave,
reminding him: "Amasti hominem!" (9.21.2); and shades of Cicero's
Dionysius hover over the dying libertus Zosimus. 53 Pliny describes him
as homo probus, officiosus, litteratus (5.19.3). A skilled comic and lyre-
player, Zosimus also excelled in history, oratory and poetry. The word
homo in this context does not negate Pliny's genuine affection for
Zosimus; it merely reflects the realities of the unequal patron-client
relationship. Freedmen may have come into their own since the days of
Cicero, but no matter how rich, powerful, or educated they had become,
they were still regarded as second-class citizens. 54
Vir in Cicero's prose signified persons who participated actively in
public life; conversely, homo sometimes referred to the privatus, in
which case it held no pejorative associations. 55 Pliny also had occasion
to allude to homines privati. An example is the great Verginius Rufus,
who had quelled the Vindex rebellion, eventually attaining his third
consulship only to take a fatal tumble on the marble floor of the Senate
(2.1.1-3). 56 Pliny regarded Verginius as the foremost vir of his age, and
the orator notes that the old consular preferred the fastigium hominis
privati although he could have been emperor.
In a similar vein, Pliny recalls the homo felicior who once owned
Calpurnius Macer's country house and lived there before he entered
public life. Pliny remarks on the pleasures of rural life that Macer will
enjoy as a privatus: his wife and son, hunting and fishing (5.18). The
homo privatus has the leisure to pursue the gentle pastime of creative
writing, and Pliny cites several doctissimi, gravissimi, sanctissimi homines
who scribbled light verse (5.3.3). Leisure to write poetry is a recurrent

53 v. supra, chapter one, pp. 17-18.

s, A.M. Duff, Freedmen in the Early Roman Empire (Oxford, 1928) 58.
ss v. supra, chapter one, p. 11.
56 Sherwin-White (supra, n. 1) 761.
 C. PLINIUS SECUNDUS: MAN OF LETTERS 159

theme for Pliny who, upon one occasion, enquires sardonically: "So you
want to know how a homo ... severus like myself took up poetry?" (7.4.1).
There may have been pensive envy behind such thoughts from the busy
magistrate who was to die in office in far-off Bithynia. 57
It is important to remember that the primary meaning of homo is
"human being", and as such, the word is neutral. 58 Thus one may cite a
vir, and yet in the next sentence, in reference to the same man, relate to
the virtues of the homo-virtues being qualities that pertain to human
beings. Thus Pliny can praise the high-ranking Corelli us as sapientissimus
vir (4.17. 9) and providentissimus vir (4.17 .10), and yet write of the
dignitas hominis (4.17 .3). Similarly, he can recommend Julius Genitor
as tutor for Corellia's son, calling him vir ... emendatus et gravis, and at
the same time, note the caritas hominis (3.3.5). In its sense of human
being, homo may actually be a term of affection, as when G. Fannius, a
fellow lawyer and biographer of Nero's victims, dies: Pliny writes that
he loved the hominem elegantem disertum (5.5.1).
Human beings presuppose human failings as well as virtues, and
Pliny, commenting upon his own love of a good laugh and his penchant
for penning salacious verse, quotes Terence's Chremes: "Homo sum!" 59
Perhaps it is the human element that renders homo prone to use with
pejoratives: a vir should rise above human foibles.

The Blue-Bloodless and the Red-Blooded Society Femina

It remains to subject the women in Pliny's letters to scrutiny. Without
exception, both the several recipients of his epistles and those of whom
he writes are women of rank; 60 and Adams notes Pliny's repeated
employment of femina with adjectives connoting aristocratic status. 61
Two examples of aristocratic integrity are Arria, the widow of symbolic
"Republicanism", Thrasea Paetus, and her daughter, Fanni a, relict of the
elder Helvidius Priscus, a second emblem of libertas. 62 She and Arria are
noted to be optimae feminae (9 .13.16), an expression which, in light of
their dead husbands' political stance, is fraught with Ciceronian over-

57 Sherwin-White (supra, n. I) 81.

51 H.D. Jocelyn, "Homo sum: humani nil a me a/ienumputo,"Antichthon 6 (1972) 33.
59 5.3.2; Ibid., 14-16.
60 Twofeminae, we have already met: the uxor of Piso, and the ornataf., Aurelia. v.

supra, p. 150.
61 J.N. Adams, "Latin words for 'woman' and 'wife'," G/011a 50 (1972) 235.
62 Sherwin-White (supra, n.1) 243. cf. Tac. Ann. 16.34.
160 THE LETTER, THE BIOGRAPHY, AND THE NOVEL

tones. 63 When Fannia is about to succumb to tuberculosis, 64 contracted

while tirelessly nursing a kinswoman, the Vestal Junia, Pliny laments
that so great afemina will be lost to the world (7 .19.4). It is perhaps her
designation as a matrona andfemina maxima, the paragon of castitas,
sanctitas, gravitas, constantia, and related virtues that prompts Sherwin-
White to deplore her and her mother as a "tedious pair" and nonpareils
of"tiresome obstinacy", who relentlessly hound Publicius Certus, against
whom they hold a grudge for having informed upon their husbands. 65
Pliny certainly feels genuine love and admiration for them; it is the
expression of that affection, however, in what have become trite lauda-
tory terms, that disturbs the credibility of the reader, creating a saccha-
rine "too-good-to-be-true" aura. Pliny's cloying portrait of Arria and
Fannia is reminiscent of Livy's sugar-coated replicas of Cloelia and
Verginia, prototypes that were lampooned by Apuleius in his one-
dimensional confection of Plotina (v. infra, chapter ten, n. 54).
A far more human representative of the sex is Ummidia Quadratilla,
who lived until the age of 79. The daughter of the Neronian consular and
mother of Pliny's protege, 66 she is termed princeps femina and is noted
to have harboured in her villa a troupe of mimes, whose ribald perform-
ances whiled away the hours of otium that she acknowledged to be
inherent in the life of the femina (7 .24.4-5). U mmidia' s statement clearly
pertains to the aristocratic matrona. The author has applied/emina in its
pristine aristocratic sense; it is totally cleansed of the sugary moral
accretions that cleave to the word as it is employed of Arria and Fannia.
As a result, Ummidia towers above the improbably valiant duo on human
terms; her portrait reveals a visceral red-blooded matron with a delicious
sense of the vulgar, whose company of mummers with their laughter-
provoking antics has brightened her otherwise dreary old age.

Tacitus and the Feminae of Misenum (6.20.14).

One can only speculate on Pliny's choice of words when he tells of the
terrified shriekingfeminae of Misenum fleeing Vesuvius' ardent shower
of pumice and flying debris, so thick that it had blotted out the sun's light:
audires ululatus feminarum, infantum quiritatus, clamores virorum.
Does this passage indicate thatfemina is supplanting mulier and "losing
its tone of respect," occurring "as a neutral equivalent of mulier in the
63 v. supra, chapter one, p. 11.
64 Dr. Sherwin-White's diagnosis (supra, n. I) 351; 424.
65 Ibid., 243.
66 Ibid., 762.
 C. PLINIUS SECUNDUS: MAN OF LETTERS 161

educated language," as Adams postulates? 67 Or is Pliny's oratorical

training at work again?
The author's choice of words may perhaps be predicated upon the fact
that his addressee is Cornelius Tacitus. Pliny is essaying to convey an
eye-witness account of a cataclysmic natural disaster that not only
convulsed the area around the bay of Naples, but also altered its
topography beyond recognition. He is presenting the episode in as
straightforward a manner as possible. His choice of femina over the
general mulier may well reflect rhetorical and historiographical trends
which have turned the howling mulier into a maenad. 68 Agmina of
weeping mulieres had been a topos since Julius Caesar wrote them into
his commentaries to emphasize the despair of the defeated (B.G. 1.51);
and Tacitus, himself, was to incorporate them similarly into the Agricola
(38.1) and the Annales (1.40). 69 When writing an eminent historian,
Pliny would be particularly careful to employ the mot Juste. Therefore,
when given the choice between the maudlin mulier and the frantic
femina, Pliny opts for the latter. Mulieres in tears have too many negative
historiographical associations, while feminae, petrified, clutching their
helpless infants to their breasts, will evoke maximum empathy. Pliny's
anomalous use offemina may therefore stem from the author's desire to
avoid what had become an historiographical cliche. 70
Otherwise the orator's gender terminology falls into well-worn pat-
terns: vir andfemina refer to the socially relevant and to public figures;
homo, when it is not being used as a component of invective, indicates

67 Adams (supra, n. 61). 238.

61 v. supra, chapter five, p. 91. Notable among Livy's sobbing and disorderly mulierum
agmina are the mu/ieres of Uscana (Liv. 43.10.5):
et ad clamorem erumpentium ingens strepitus e muris ortus ululantium mulierum cum
crepitu undique aere.
69 An exemplum of the wailing woman is Antistia Polliua: do/ore atrox, drenched in her

father's blood, she plants herself in front of the palace door and assaults Nero: modo muliebri
eiulatu, aliquando sex um egressa voce infensa clamitabat (Tac. Ann. 16.10). On the positive
image of the shrieking femina, v. supra, chapter seven, p. 128.
70 Pliny employs mulier only three times in his leuers. One example has been discussed

(supra, p. 151). In the second, m. denotes "woman" in the biological sense. The situation
concerns a story in which Curtius Rufus has a phantasmal vision: mulieris figura humana
grandior pulchriorque (7.27.2). The spectre predicts that the terrified Rufus will someday
be governor of Africa. The third, in a leuer about the outcome of an inheritance case, P. writes
of a mulier natalibus clara, a widow with children, who incurred disapproval by marrying
a senescent invalid, thereby becoming a suspected legacy hunter. Her devoted care 10 the
patient, however, redeems her reputation. Pliny has not identified the woman other than uxor
of Domitius Tullus, so mu/ier could be the general term to indicate an unnamed woman. On
the other hand, mu/ier could represent Pliny's subconscious disapprobation for a match he
terms parum decore (8.18.8); Seneca uses mu/ier as a term of abuse when he tells how Julia
ruined Julius Antonius: et iterum timenda cum Antonio mulier (Brv. 4.6.4).
162 THE LETTER, THE BIOGRAPHY, AND THE NOVEL

the undistinguished, the servile orders, and persons who have retired
from public life. Vir and femina predominate his gender vocabulary
because Pliny's orbit revolved closely around the imperial sun. Al-
though his correspondence is directed to men of all ranks, from consulars
to otherwise unknown equestrians and privati,11 reference to the greats,
employing aristocratic terms, in letters to persons of lesser stature, was
a way of putting the recipients at ease, flattering them that they too were
included in the circle.
Except for recommendations and official correspondence, the mis-
sives act as an epistolary society column; their subjects often deal with
the "beautiful people", marking their transition in the Roman scene.
Many contain juicy items, giving readers the inside story on what, for
example, Ummidia Quadratilla was "really like." Occasionally, a "no-
body" enters into the report; but inclusion of the freedman Zosimus-
although reflective of Pliny's concern and affection--can only call
attention to the consular posing squarely at center stage, bathed in the
rose-tinted arclight of charity: the caring patron with the welfare of his
clients at heart. 72 Viri and feminae predominate the letters because, other
than taking a vicarious delight in seeing the Reguluses of the world
punctured by Ciceronian vituperation, Pliny's gentle readers cared not
a whit about homines and mulieres, the silent majority of the Roman
world.
71 Sherwin-White (supra, n. 1) 65-67.
72 v. supra, 145.
 CHAPTER NINE

SUETONIUS: CICERONIAN SHORTHAND

Literary activity flourished in the post-Flavian era; and although the

otium of the homo privatus may have been conducive to the pastime of
creative writing, Suetonius Tranquillus and his prolific literary friends,
Pliny the Younger and Cornelius Tacitus, all combined writing with
active careers in public life. 1
Like Pliny and Tacitus, Suetonius was skilled in rhetoric, and oratori-
cal dexterity is evident in his works. Even the most casual perusal,
however, demonstrates profound differences in his literary approach
from that of his contemporaries. Suetonius' style has been termed
"mundane" and "artless. " 2 Operating within a biographical framework
in De Vita Caesarum, Suetonius is a reporter of "facts" (sometimes
contradictory); he makes no attempt to delve into "behind-the-scenes"
motivation, as does Tacitus in his role of "omniscient" historian. 3 The
differences are evident in Suetonius' gender terms, which reflect his
training in neo-Ciceronian rhetoric. 4
In the biographies of the Caesars, each "Life" is divided into set
rubrics that center upon the virtues and vices of the individual emperors. 5
Consequently, almost all of the characters, except for the imperial
protagonists, are ancillary to the narrative. Some of them, in fact, appear
within the space of one sentence and vanish with the onset of the next.
Suetonius, like Vellei us, used gender epithets as a shorthand to establish
social position or to emphasize moral characteristics in as few words as
possible. Suetonius employs such expressions for individual characters
more frequently in the first half-dozen books, very probably because he
invested more of his literary energies and utilized more words in the

1 Suetonius' equestrian career and his prolific literary output are recounted by A.

Wallace-Hadrill in Suetonius (Old Woking, 1983) 2-8; 38-49; R. Martin reviews Tacitus'
career and writings in the second chapter of Tacitus (London, 1981) 26-~8.
2 Wallace-Hadrill (supra, n. 1) 19.
3 Ibid., /oc. cit.; cf. Martin (supra, n. 1) 215. R.C. Lounsbury notes that Suetonius "did

not seek to impose his ethos on his material after the appreciable fashion of Tacitus," The
Arts of Suetonius (New York, 1987) 102.
• Wallace-Hadrill notes that Suetonius attended lectures at Rome during the time that
Quintilian held the chair of rhetoric (supra, n. I) 3; on Quintilian and the tradition of Cicero,
G. Kennedy, The Art of Rhetoric in the Ancient World (Princeton, 1972) 523.
'Wallace-Hadrill (supra, n. 1) chapter seven, "Virtues and Vices," 145 sq.
164 THE LETTER, THE BIOGRAPHY, AND THE NOVEL

early Lives than he did in the later. 6 The biographer's gender terminology
is notably devoid of innovation: it falls into the familiar patterns used
with variations, according to genre, by Cicero, Livy, and Pliny. 7

The Lower Classes, Foreigners,and Pejorative Gender Terms

Context, according to I. Opelt, determines whether a word is pejorative

or not, 8 and this observation applies to homo and mulier when the words
are used to indicate members of the lower orders and foreigners. For
instance, the following example from the life of Augustus demonstrates
that rank (or lack of it) is the determining factor in the author's choice
of words. Before Actium, Octavian meets a homo named Eutychus, an
asinarius by profession, who owns a donkey called Nicon. The not-yet-
Augustus, demonstrating the gambler's faith that seems to have run in
his family ,9 interprets the encounter as a hunch of success, since the two
are so fortunately named (Aug. 96.2). The term homo is based purely
upon Eutychus' profession, since viri do not engage in such vulgar
occupations. Homo is therefore devoid of pejorative moral overtones.
Suetonius is said to display the usual aristocratic disdain for the lower
orders, though he does not employ the scathing epithets to plebs that
Tacitus does. 10 Suetonius, however, will attach homo to plebs or plebeius
in instances where the persons in question are definitely acting in an
unacceptable manner. An example is the anonymous e plebe homo,
caught near the bed of the Emperor Claudius with a drawn daggar (Cl.
13.1). The specification of the culprit as such places responsibility for

6 B. Baldwin, Suetonius (Amsterdam, I 983) 484. The question whether Suetonius has

created his own gender terms or has picked them up from his sources is probably unanswer-
able. Nevertheless, the biographer has chosen to employ them to emphasize a character's
social rank or moral status. Baldwin notes that an author's sources influence his choice of
words either "consciously or unconsciously." Ibid. 485.
7 S. 's gender terms fall into the usual categories: h. and m. are used for the lower classes,

foreigners, and sometimes as pejoratives, while v. and/. are employed exclusively for the
upper echelons of society.
8 I. Opell, Die /ateinischen Schimpfwoerter undverwandte sprach/iche Erscheinungen;

eine Typo/ogie (Heidelberg, 1965) 265.

9 The Emperor Claudius was an unabashed dice player (C/. 5; 33.2; 39). One deduces his

mania by the fact that he not only published a book on the theory of the game, but invented
the first portable dice board to be used while travelling. The author of Apocolocyn1osis,
incidentally, uses Ciceronian pejoratives, addressing him as homo crudelissime (13), and
dispatches him to the underworld with a "holey" dice board ( 14). Also of interest is the fact
that Claudius had the Senate award the name Claudia Pia Fide/is to the seventh and eleventh
legions who had remained loyal during the revolt of Camillus (Dio. 60.16). Those numbers
are lucky in the modern game; there may be some connection!
10 Baldwin (supra, n. 6) 341-42.
 SUETONIUS: CICERONIAN SHORTHAND 165

the attempt upon the lower classes. The author's addition of e plebe
homines to the names oflunius Novatus and Cassius Patavinus, banished
for having scurrilously slandered Augustus, serves a similar purpose
(Aug. 51.1 ). "E plebe homines" stresses the fact that the perpetrators of
the outrages were not "top drawer".
Although Suetonius has resisted the temptation to brand P. Clodius
with the usual homo-plus-pejoratives, he has gratuitously attached homo
to plebeius to indicate the tribune's adoptive father, compressing Clodius'
ulterior motives into one relative clause:
qui ob expellendum urbe Ciceronem plebeio homini atque etiam natu minori
in adoptionem se dedit (Tib. 2.4).

Plebeius homo not only demonstrates the downward step in social status
that the once-patrician Clodius has taken, but it also conveys the
impression that any plebeian who would have the bad judgment to adopt
P. Clodius and thereby facilitate his nefarious schemes must be equally
censurable. 11
Social status and negative moral judgment overlap in the statement
that the reputation of future Emperor Claudius suffered because of the
prodigality of his youth, misspent in tippling and gambling ex contubernio
sordidissimorum hominum (Cl. 5). Homo, it will be recalled, is the
customary gender term for libertus. Although Suetonius' treatment of
freedmen is said to be relatively fair, the biographer, nevertheless,
"utters the usual canards" about Narcissus, Pallas and the other Liberti in
Claudius' service. 12 When one considers Claudius' subsequent career
and his elevation of freedmen in the State bureaucracy, sordidissimi
homines, to the post-Flavian reader, will suggest the ex-slaves whom
Claudius made into millionaires. The term will furthermore imply that
the Emperor's future actions were predicated upon exposure at an early
age to such socially dubious companions.
Suetonius takes less interest in freedwomen. 13 Among those he does
mention is an anonymous mulier libertina to whom the Emperor Gaius
paid HS. 800,000 for not revealing the guilt of her patron, even though

11 Note that where Cicero may have inveighed against individual members of the plebs

as homines populares, nefarii, etc., he was very careful not to insult the class itself, on whose
votes he counted. Although he used the adjective p/ebeius on occasion, he refrained from
applying it to homo, a noun so often pejorative in his vocabulary. H. Merguet, lexikon zu
den Reden des Cicero (Jena, 1882) s.v. p/ebeius.
12 Baldwin (supra, n. 6) 344. On Cicero's use of homo sordidus as a term of abuse, v.

infra, n. 25.
13 Baldwin cites the following references: Aug. 65.2; Cal. 16.4; Cl. 40.2; Ner. 28.2; 0th.
2.2; Vil. 2.4; Vesp. 3 (supra, n. 6) 344.
166 THE LETTER, THE BIOGRAPHY, AND THE NOVEL

she was subjected to the most severe torture (Cal. 16.4). Although she
has been characterized as an "Epicharis with a happy ending," 14 as far as
development of character is concerned, there is absolutely no resem-
blance between the two women. Tacitus develops Epicharis' personal-
ity, where Suetonius has no other interest in his freedwoman, except to
hint that Gaius' motives were suspect in the first place: Quoque magis
nullius non boni exempli fautor videretur (lb.).
One wonders why Suetonius found it necessary to specify the woman
as a mulier libertina when libertina or liberta would have done just as
well. 15 Suetonius' words of doubt on Gaius' intentions cause one to
wonder whether mulier has not been gratuitously added to libertina in
order to contribute a pejorative tone to the episode: the woman may well
be yet another example of Caligula's outrageous extravagance, upon
which the biographer elaborates in chapter thirty-seven. 16
One holds similar reservations about the slave Telephus, whom the
author lumps among homines of the lowest sort who conspired against
the life of Augustus (Aug. 19.1). 17 It is notTelephus' designation as homo
that causes concern, but his specification as a mulieris servus nomenculator
who, under the delusion that he is destined to rule, aspires to dominatio
(19.2).
On the one hand, mulieris servus (i.e., Gaiae servus) is a technical
term; it therefore ought not to be pressed too hard. 18 Suetonius, who has
enumerated various conspiracies, beginning with the upper classes and
working his way down via a hybrid Parthian to Telephus, may have used
mulieris servus to demonstrate just how far down the social ladder these
plots extended. A mulieris servus was the lowest of the low. The
secondary status of a female slaveowner (unless a member of the
imperial family) is evident from the fact that only her sex and not her

14 Baldwin (supra, n. 6) 346.

is Mulier, it will be recalled, is often coupled with libertina (e.g. Tac. Ann. 15.57.12) as
homo is with libertus (e.g. Cic. Cat. 3.14). Cicero employs liberta alone (Div. Caec. 55); also
libertina (Sest. 110). He couples libertus with h. when making a negative point: e.g., Verres
makes brazen demands for assistance upon homines inferiores, homines rusticanos, and
libertinos homines: 1.127; cf. Verr. 1.124; Phil. 2.3; Cat. 3.14; 4.16; Balb. 28; 56; Scaur.
11; Sex. Rose. 19.
16 Suetonius notes that Caligula squandered the incredible sum of HS. 2,700,000,000 of

Tiberius' legacy in less than a single year (Cal. 37.3).

17 Baldwin writes that Suetonius has little to say about slaves (supra, n. 6) 343.
11 A.M. Duff, Freedmen in the Early Roman Empire (Oxford, 1928) 51. Although one

finds no mulierum servi in CIL 6, there are, however, mulierum Liberti,## 19083; 27209; v.
infra, n. 19.
 SUETONIUS: CICERONIAN SHORTHAND 167

name was used in her slave's nomenclature. 19 In this sense, Telephus is

a second-rate slave of a second-class slaveowner.
On the other hand, mulieris servus could reflect innuendo: a mulieris
servus, conspiring against the life of Augustus, in hopes of dominatio,
is tantalizing in consideration of Tacitus' dark hints of plots emanating
from Livia, whom he casts as a dominatrix, as far as the imperial
succession is concerned. 20 Suetonius could have termed Telephus
simply a servus, or even a nomenculator, that profession being synony-
mous with the servile orders. 21 The combination of mulieris servus
nomenculator suggests that Telephus was under the thumb of his
mistress; furthermore, as nomenculator he was in a position to observe
the comings and goings of all and would therefore be in an ideal situation
to foment a plot. 22 Considering the nature of Suetonius' subject, imperial
conspiracies, mulieris servus, can only intensify Telephus' unreliability
and suspicious nature.
As with the lower orders, context determines whether homo or mulier,
when used of foreigners, is pejorative or not. Suetonius, like most
Romans of his class, was ethnically prejudiced. 23 He displays his bias
upon various occasions. 24 Foreigners commit socially unacceptable acts.
For instance, the Emperor Nero decides that he must eliminate quidquid
in urbe hominum Gallicanorum esset lest they be plotting against him
(Ner. 43.1 ). Suetonius also records the prediction that Vitellius would
fall at the hands Gallicani hominis (Vi. 18). There is only one foreign
woman designated specifically by gender: a Chatta mulier. Suetonius
hints that her vaticinations may have prompted Vitellius' to murder his

19 Duff (supra, n. 18) 52; cf. H. Thy lander, E1ude sur /' Epigraphie Latine (Lund, 1952)

62-63; e.g. CIL 6,19083: P. GRANIUS/ FELIX/ MINOR/:).:). MULIERUM [sic]/LIBERT/

GRANIA. IARINE/CONLIBERTO/SUO/MERENTISSIM; 27209: M. TERENTI/MULIERIS
LIBERTI/ RESTITUTI VIXIT/ ANNOS VIGINT UNUM; 11182: AESIA:).L ARECUSA;
But, 4352: PRIMA AUGUST!/ ET AUGUSTAE L/ NUTRIX IULIAE GERMA/NICI
FILIAE.
20 Tac. Ann. 1.4.17, serviendumfeminae. If the nation is a slave to Livia, she is a domina.

As for the innuendo of murder: Haec alque lalia agilantibus gravescere valetudo Augus1i
el quidam see/us uxoris suspectabanl (Ann. 1.5).
21 e.g. ZOSIMIANUS/ AUG. LIBERT. NOMENCLATOR, C/L 6.8940; M. AURELIUS

AFRODISIUS AUG. LIB/ NOMENCLATOR, 8931; C. EGNATIUS C.L. EURIPUS/

NOMENCLATOR/ ATTIAE C.L. HERMIONE, 9689; a related job was the Praeco, as in
A. GRANIUS M.L. STABILIO/ PRAECO, 3231 I.
22 Ifthis auributes too much subtlety to the artless Suetonius, consider that Livia actually
had manumiued a TELEPHUS, LIVIAE L., whose tombstone for his sisters may be seen at
the Capitoline Museum, left of the main door leading into the room of the centaurs (C/L
6.4193). S's words may reflect a prevalent rumour, or at least, a common source behind
Tacitus' insinuations of Livia's murderous plots.
23 Baldwin (supra, n. 6) 354.

i, e.g., Aug. 40.3.

168 THE LETTER, THE BIOGRAPHY, AND THE NOVEL

own mother (Vi. 14.5). Homo and mulier cannot help but add to the
pejorative depiction of these persons: they are anonymous, foreign, and
engaging in activities that will only contribute to civil strife.
That foreigners came in for a large share of suspicion is indicated by
the biographer's observation that the Emperor Claudius issued an edict
forbidding peregrinae condicionis homines from talcing Roman gens
names (Cl. 25.3).
With its servile-foreign associations, the term homines when applied
to Christiani (Ner. 16.2) dissociates the practioners of that new and
malefic superstition from members of the aristocracy and neatly catego-
rizes them as base non-Romans.
Like Cicero, Suetonius used homo and mulier to degrade members of
the aristocracy. The biographer employs this device for Nero's mother,
Agrippina, and the Emperor Vitellius. In the first instance, Suetonius
enhances his salacious allegations of incest with mulier-plus-pejorative
adjectives, noting that there was not a soul who disbelieved that Nero not
only courted sexual satisfaction with his mother, but that the ferox atque
impotens mulier actually took advantage of the situation in order to exert
her power over him (Ner. 28.2). Juxtaposition of ideas suggests that
abnormal thirst for power and incest, a natural condition in the ferox
world of beasts, go hand in hand.
Vitellius the glutton is succinctly portrayed by the epithet homo non
profundae modo sed intempestivae quoque ac sordidae gulae (Vit.13.3).
The expression prepares the reader for Vitelli us' stealing and gobbling
the very oblations from the altars of the gods, thereby making a mockery
of his sacred post as pontifex maxim us. Gluttony is an attribute of beasts,
and Vitellius-a disgrace to his consular ancestors and his mother, a
probatissima nee ignobilisfemina (Vi. 3.1)-is appropriately dragged to
his death on a hook, like an obscene side of meat (Vi. 17.2).
Both Agrippina and Vitellius have violated the standards of behav-
iour expected of a femina and vir of the Roman aristocracy. 25 Besides
incest, Agrippina is an adept in poisoning (Cl. 44; Ner. 34.2), which, as

25 The animalistic connotations of ferox are self-evident. Impotens also holds such

connotations when Cicero uses it of Antony (Phil. 5.42; cf. 5.22; 11. 16), or in the context
of inhumanitas (Deiot. 32). Vitellius' epithet recalls Cicero's intempestus, of dire connota-
tions, used with nox as an appropriate time for slave uprisings (Verr. 4.94; 5.186), pirate
attacks (lb. 5.92) and the unfolding of villainous plots (Phil. 1.8; Pis. 93). C. uses sordidus
repeatedly with homo in contexts of baseness and penury: Cluent. 87; F/acc. 52; Vat. 10;
Scaur. 23. It is unlikely that such adjectives would be used withfemina or vir. Mulier and
homo, as Suetonius uses them of Agrippina and Vitellius, are therefore terms of abuse.
 SUETONIUS: CICERONIAN SHORTHAND 169

every Roman knows, is part and parcel of peregrina superstitio. 26

Vitelli us not only frequents wayside cookshops, the haunts of the lower
orders, but he may also be a matricide because of a foreign woman's
cultic ravings (Vi. 14.5). 27 Clearly, the respective nouns mulier and homo
are intended to degrade the aristocratic Agrippina and Vitellius, whose
actions have not lived up to the moral obligations expected of a member
of their order, but have been worthy of the meanest slave, fanatic
barbarian, or slavering beast. 28

Viri and Feminae: a Touch of Class

As Suetonius couples pejorative modifiers with homo and mulier, so he
repeatedly joins the laudatory adjectives consularis, inlustris, nobilis
and princeps to vir and femina for persons of rank. For instance, the
biographer relates that the Emperor Claudius once characterized L. Otho
as vir quo meliores liberos habere ne opto quidem; and Otho's wife,
Alba Terentia, is designated splendidafemina (0th. 1.3). 29
In other instances, one can deduce high rank, as in triumphalis vir
(Aug. 30.1; Ner. 30.2); and even without Tacitus' identification of
Lepida as Aemilia, the daughter-in-law of Augustus (Ann. 3.22-23),
Suetonius' muddled account identifies the generosissima femina with
the aristocracy, since he states that she had once been married to the
consularis who was charging her with poisoning (Tib. 49.1). 30
The moral obligations of aristocratic birth are evident when Tiberius
warns Livia not to meddle in affairs unbecoming to afemina (Tib. 50.3).
One can also assume that when Suetonius writes of Tiberius' crackdown

26 E. Massoneau, La Magie dans l'Antiquite Romain (Paris, 1934) 177 sqq., names

several magic trials under Tiberius where many of the defendants are charged with a form
of foreign superstition and/or poisoning/adultery. e.g., Aemilia Lepida: astrology, adultery,
poison (Tac. Ann. 3.22); Claudia Pulchra: adultery, poisoning, enchantment and impudicitia
(Tac. Ann. 4.52); Numantina: incantations, and poison (love philtres) (Tac. Ann. 4.22); R.S.
Rogers, "A Tacitean Pattern in Treason Trials," TAPA 83 (1952) 279.
17 At least, S. states that the emperor supplied his parent with a poison which he had no
difficulty obtaining (Vi. 14.5).
11 J.H.W.G. Liebeschuetz, Continuity and Change in Roman Religion (Oxford, 1975)

126-39, discusses the connection between foreign superstition, astrology, magic and poison-
ing in the trials mentioned in Tacitus. On the adulteress/poisoner, supra, chapter two, n. 36.
19 A.A. Howard, C.N. Jackson, Index Verborum C. Suetonii Tranqui/i (Cambridge,
Mass., 1922) s.v. vir consu/aris; inlustris; insignis; nobilis; praetorius; princeps; femina
consu/aris; probatissima.
30 One may presume that when Caligula invited members of the senatorial and equestrian

orders to a banquet, the gifts presented to viri,feminae and pueri were made to those of the
invited orders (Cal. 17.2; cf. Ve. 19.1).
170 THE LETTER, THE BIOGRAPHY, AND THE NOVEL

on the immorality of "both orders," that the feminae famosae, who had
registered as prostitutes to evade the laws iure ac dignitate matronali,
were members of those orders (Tib. 35.2). 31 Likewise, the probrosae
feminae, whom Domitian prohibited from riding in sedan chairs, must
have been of the privileged classes, since their feminine inferiors were
not customarily carried in litters (Dom. 8.3).
If one accepts use of femina for ladies of the aristocracy, Augustus'
edicts regarding gladiatorial events assume additional significance.
When the princeps ruled thatfeminae could sit only in the upper rows of
the amphitheatre, it is clear that he was concerned for the moral
sensibilities of the ladies of his own class, and that the women of the
multitudes could sit wherever they liked. This may be inferred from
Suetonius' added note that Augustus excluded muliebre secus omne
from athletic contests. There is an evident distinction between feminae
and muliebre secusomne. Furthermore, the biographer relates that when
boxers were scheduled to appear at the pontifical games, Augustus
forbade mulieres to attend until the fifth hour. Mulieres is the general
term, and Suetonius clearly means that all women, without exception,
were banned from the boxing matches (Aug. 44).
Assumption thatfemina signifies women of the upper classes renders
some of the biographer's passages more comprehensible. For instance,
Claudius' habit of havingfeminae as well as pue llae and pretextati pueri
closely searched at his morning audiences is intended to demonstrate not
only the emperor's preoccupation about assassination plots but also his
outrageous behaviour toward the aristocracy (Cl. 35.2). Furthermore,
Claudius' case against the Roman knight 32 makes more sense when one
considers that he was charged with behaving in an obscene manner

31 Tacitus (Ann. 2.85) notes Vistilia to be one of these women. R. Syme identifies her as

a cousin of Domitius Corbulo: "Princesses and others in Tacitus," G&R 2nd ser. 28: 1 (Apr.,
1981) 51.
32 P. Garnsey notes that the humble were tried before the urban prefect, but that the

Emperor and Senate heard cases of the upper classes, although, now and then, persons of low
status were brought to the upper courts for punishment. Social Status and Legal Privelege
in the Roman Empire (Oxford, 1970) 99-100. One might therefore assume that the femina,
who refused to acknowledge her son and was forced to marry him by way of proof, was of
high station (Cl. 15.2). One has more difficulty with Claudius' award of the ius 11/l liberorum
tofeminae (Cl. 19), since that privilege was granted to freedwomen (Duff, supra, n. 18) 93
(see Iustin. Inst. 3.3.2). One should recall the spectacular social rise of freedmen under
Claudius' aegis (Cl. 28), and assume similar (if lesser) ascents to prominence by libertinae.
Were such women honoured, they would be acknowledged as feminae. One thinks of
Claudius' paelices, Calpurnia and Cleopatra, who had ready access to him, and whose
advice he heeded about Messalina's "wedding" to Silius (Tac. Ann. 11.29-30).
33 S.B. Pomeroy, Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves. Women in Classical Antiquity

(New York, 1975) 149.

 SUETONIUS: CICERONIAN SHORTHAND 171

before feminae-those officially sheltered ladies of refinement, accord-

ing to the prevalent Roman social myths. 33 One can further understand
the defendant's fury when scorta were called as witnesses. Suetonius has
deliberately contrasted/eminae and scorta (lb. 15.4).
Femina, as we have seen in Cicero, Livy and Pliny, had a high
"sympathy quotient", and was often exploited to arouse pity in the
reader. Suetonius is equally expert in coaxing every drop of pathos out
of the word, as when he notes thatfeminae and pueri were among those
hurled down the Gemonian stairs and hauled away on meathooks to be
dumped into the Tiber (Tib. 61.4). Whether or not the victims of
Tiberius' supposed blood-lust were members of the upper classes,
Suetonius' use of the elevated termfemina would likely play upon the
feelings of the aristocratic reader who might identify the victims with the
feminae of his own family. In a similar manner, the reader is supposed
to feel disgust with Domitian, who pitted viri and/eminae-members of
the privileged orders-against each other in gladiatorial combat (Dom.
4.1); and Suetonius' graphic description of the voracious Nero, clad
ferae pelle (a true son of his ferox mother), springing from a cage and
"devouring" virorum ... ac feminarum ad stipitem deligatorum inguina,
seems designed to evoke not only outrage, but also a salacious shiver in
what must have been the avid reader of his sensational biographies (Ner.
29).
Suetonius' gender terminology follows patterns established in Cicero's
speeches. Where the biographer's contemporary, Tacitus, transcends the
limitations of forensic speech and incorporates gender terms artfully into
the texture of his characterization, Suetonius has made no such innova-
tions. Rather, he sticks to stock epithets, using Ciceronian gender terms
as substitutes for character delineation, particularly for the personalities
of minor figures, which he does not otherwise develop. 34 Suetonius' use
of gender terms remains mundane, artless, and totally conventional.

14 Baldwin cites all of Suetonius' passages in which the words/emina and mulier appear.

It should be noted, however, that/emina/is, taken by Baldwin to be the adjectival form of

the former, refers to Augustus' thighbones, which he kept wrapped in wool during the damp
winter months (Aug. 82.l) (supra, n. 6) 374.
 CHAPTER TEN

PETRONIUS AND APULEIUS: THE GOOD; THE BAD;

AND THE NEQUISSIMI

Despite their bawdy framework, both Satyricon and Metamorphoses are

said to be highly moral tales. 1 As such, they share common ground with
Livy's history, and serve as excellent sources for the investigation of
Latin gender terms, which themselves were fraught with moral over-
tones. Furthermore, both novelists, though they employ the idiom of the
lower classes, are men of standing, writing for an educated audience.
Petronius, Nero's arbiter elegantiae, like most men of his class, was
trained in rhetoric; and Apuleius himself was skilled at oratory and has
even been called a second Cicero. 2

The Petronian Homo

The Satyricon is a mordant commentary upon Neronian "upstairs-
downstairs" society, in which "downstairs" has-to the dismay of
anyone who matters-moved upstairs: the freedmen have taken over the
world! The story is said to be a conscious evocation of historical prose
as well as Greek and Roman epic. 3 A roisterous odyssey, its more than
slightly maculate hero encounters, among other dubious personages, a
series of libidinous "ladies" each more lecherous than the last. The story
asks this question (and answers it in the affirmative): Will man's virtus
and woman's pudicitia crumble when confronted by naked opportunity
and unsheathed lust? 4 When exposed to the brutal light of Petronian
satire, the mantle of Augustan moral excellence, as venerated in Livy and
"enshrined in historiography and love romance," is revealed as a soiled
and shopworn piece of goods. s
Like the historical prose it parodies, the novel allows its author
greater freedom of usage for its gender terms than did the political or

1 P.G. Walsh, The Roman Novel: The Satyricon of Petronius and the Metamorphoses of

Apuleius (Cambridge, 1970) 23.

2 Ibid., 141.
3 1/bid., 179-181.

'Ibid., 11.
5 Ibid., 12.
 PETRONIUS AND APULEIUS 173

courtroom oration. Nevertheless Petronius' gender terminology is re-

flective of Ciceronian usage. Homo is used of the lower orders and
foreigners. 6 And, upon the two occasions that vir signifies "man", it is
clearly a status word. 7
Like Cicero, Petronius couples homo withprudentissimus. Unlike the
orator, who employed such terms in a non-pejorative setting, the novelist
uses homo prudentissimus with tongue-in-cheek (69; 105). Similarly, he
converts homo verecundissimus into an insult, by addition of Cyclops
and archipirata, putting the words into the mouth of the disreputable
Eumolpus, who is expressing his opinion of Lichas of Tarentum, a sea-
going man of affairs (101). 8
The dissolute setting of Satyricon allows its characters to utter homo
with choice pejoratives of which Cicero would have approved. For
instance, Encolpius, who habitually says the wrong thing, is twice called
homo stultissime (10; 65). He lives up to this epithet when, asking for an
ithyphallic cup (unaware of the latest slang), he is brought instead an
ithyphallic cup-bearer. His hostess, Quartilla, indicating that he has just
fallen off the carrot carrus, exclaims: 0 ... hominem acutum atque urbanitatis
vernaculae fontem! (24) 9 When an undulating cinaedus croons a lurid
lay, Our Hero, who cherishes no illusions about his surroundings,
describes him as homo omnium insulsissimus etplane ilia domo dignus
(23).
At the notorious banquet, Trimalchio and his cronies discuss a
business associate, Chrysanthus, who has set sail with Charon a few days
previously. He is noted to have been a homo negotians (43), an expres-
sion proper for one of his class, according to Ciceronian thought. 10 The
late ex-slave begins well as homo bellus, tam bonus (42), but panegyrics
soon degenerate into the truth. 11 The reader is further informed that
Chrysanthus was salax and that not even a dog was safe from his amorous
advances; moreover, he was a pullarius ... homo (43). Pullarius, in
modern slang, would be termed a "chicken-hawk", or an older man who
takes an inordinate interest in young boys.

6 Servus homo. (73; 71 ); h. peregrinus ( 127); h. C appadox (63). Segebade & Lommatzsch,

Lexicon Petronianum (Leipzig, 1898) s.v. homo.

7 V. infra, pp. 174-75.

• Apuleius, however, uses modes/us homo in a straightforward manner (8.25).

9 "O hominem acutum ... " implies that Encolpius is not "cool" or "with it".
10 V. supra, chapter one, p. 17.
11 De re tamen ego verum dicam, qui linguam caninam comedi: durae buccae fuit,

linguosus, discordia, non homo (43).

H. equals "human being"; but use of vir, of a freedman being cut to verbal ribbons by his
colleagues, is improbable.
174 THE LETTER, THE BIOGRAPHY, AND THE NOVEL

The conversation eventually shifts to Glyco, a sestertiarius homo,

who tossed his dispensator to the wild beasts, when, after the master had
played Candaules-Gyges with his wife and slave, the former fell in love
with the latter (45). Sestertiarius connotes "two-bit", or worthless.
Trimalchio, several sheets to the wind, uses a similar expression. When
contemplating his wife Fortunata, a Cassandra-in-boots, he laments that
he-homo dupundiarius that he was-could have married someone
worth ten million, but did not (74). A dupondius is worth even less than
a sestertius, being equivalent to two asses.
A slave notes that the egregious Trimalchio is a lautissimus homo who
keeps a clock in his triclinium and a uniformed trumpeter to sound the
hour so that he will know how fast the years of his life are slipping by
(26H). On the surface, lautissimus seems complimentary. It is not. If one
considers Ciceronian usage, one finds that the orator employed lautus as
a compliment for the second rate, or as an outright insult, as in the case
ofVerres and his henchmen (Verr. 1.17). He furthermore once chided G.
Trebatius, who had neglected to reply to his letters, as having become
lautus (i.e., too big for his toga) (Fam. 7.14.1). By terming Antony's
plunder lauta supel/ex, Cicero suggets tastelessness, implying that his
enemy grabbed everything in sight of value without discrimination
(Phil. 2.66). 12 By putting the words lautissimus homo into the mouth of
a slave, Petronius implies a lack ofrespect by the servant for an ex-slave-
turned-master.
The author's persistent use of homo with pejoratives in Satyricon
reflects his characters' opinions of each other, as when Encolpius
remarks that Trimalchio is a homo tam putidus (54). Significantly,
Petronius employs vir twice of the freedman, and to great effect, as the
word, which preserves its sense of status, emphasizes his ridiculous
nature. For instance, when a slave stumbles and crashes into Trimalchio,
who bellows as if he had been mortally wounded, Encolpius worries
about the fate of the slave; he is relieved when the boy is manumitted on
the spot, lest anyone think that tantum virum, Trimalchio, had been
injured by a mere slave (54 ). In a later episode, the insufferable host
brags about his courage. He may have lost 30 million sesterces in a single

12 Ostentatious lack of taste applies to the freedman-shipping magnate who, boasting

about his prized bronze dinner-service, launches into an exegesis on Graeco-Roman history,
explaining that Hannibal, homo vafer et magnus ste/io, invented Corinthian bronze by
melting down statues at the burning of Troy (50). Homo reduces even Hannibal to insignifi-
cance. cf. Cic.: provincial equites Romani are lautissimi (Phil. 3.16); and Suessa is a
lautissimum oppidum, nunc municipium honestissimum (Phil. 13.18); In Halesina civitate
tam lauta tamque nobili ... (Fam. 13.32. I). Lautus has definite provincial connotations.
 PETRONIUS AND APULEIUS 175

day because of a shipwreck, but undaunted by Fortune's about-face, he

went on to build bigger and better vessels:" ut nemo non me virumfortem
diceret!" (76). The word vir is of great import to Trimalchio; and
Petronius' use of the time-honoured epithet of military valour for this
churl is supremely ironical. 13

Petronian Bawds and Strumpets

Petronian females are deemed to be women of marked individuality,
who more than in any other kind of ancient literature, serve a primary
function in the narrative. 14 Full-blooded, they take direct part in the
action, as did Livy's Tullia or Tacitus' Agrippina. Where the historians,
however, writing within the confines of their idiom, were able to present
only a skeletal form of the ambitious woman who stops at nothing,
including murder and sacrilege, to achieve her self-seeking goals,
Petronius was able to develop the stereotype, drawn-as Livy's evi-
dently was-from comedy, romance and Menippean satire. 15 Petronian
women are just as rapacious as those of Livy or Tacitus. Their characters
are, however, multifaceted and undergo changes: thus Encolpius' initial
perception of women is often faulty. 16
Perhaps the most fitting description of Petronian women is provided
by Seleucus, one of the libertine deipnosophistai at Trimalchio's ban-
quet who, speaking of women in general, compares mulieres to vultures
(42). The episode serves as a starting point for the study of mulier and
femina, since it is complete. Petronius is clearly dealing with a world
where vulgarity is the keyword; 17 he employs mulier repeatedly either in

13 Except in poetical sections (89.27; 57; 119.21; 27; 121.110; 118; 123.194) vir is used

only seven times. Four of these denote "husband": 67; 111; 112 (bis); v. supra, chapter two,
n. 4. Three other instances set vir into a sexual context; it assumes its inherent connotations
of masculine prowess: (1) when Quartilla informs the artless-but-willing-to-learn Encolpius
that she had enjoyed her first vir before the age of seven (25); (2) when the beauteous Circe
recommends herself as partner to the not-much-wiser hero, assuring him that she is afemina
ornata (an expression intended to certify her virtue and suggest that her erstwhile virginity
is ofrecent memory) who has known her firs I vir that very year (127); (3) when the lubricious
Tryphaena taunts Encolpius that if he were a vir, he would not be visiting the sphinctrian,
or professional sodomite (113).
14 F.F. Abbot, "The use of language as a means of characterization in Petronius," CP 2

(1907) 288.
"Ibid., 267-8.
16 Walsh (supra, n. 1) notes character changes in Quartilla (p. 91) and Fortunata (p. 119);

and J.P. Sullivan sees similar alterations in the personae of Tryphaena and Circe, The Satyri-
con of Petronius: a Literal Study (London, 1968) 64; 122.
17 Walsh calls Fortunata's characterization "superbly vulgar" (supra, n. 1) 119.
176 THE LETTER, THE BIOGRAPHY, AND THE NOVEL

reference to women at the banquet, or to those discussed by the guests. 18

None of these females are termed feminae, a word that the author
reserves for Trimalchio! 19 The mulieres Fortunata and her girlfriend
Scintilla are jewel-bedecked bawds who seem to have escaped from the
Plautine stage, or from Catonian invective as conceived by Livy. It is as
if all of Cato's horrors of luxuria and avaritia have been realized in the
worst possible way; for Fortunata and Scintilla are not aristocratic
matronae but common libertae.
Where the women of Cato's day, until the repeal of the law, were
restricted to one-half ounce of gold and forbidden to wear parti-coloured
garments (Liv. 34.1.3), Fortunata, clad in garish red and yellow, is
weighed down by at least six-and-a-half pounds of the metal-according
to Trimalchio, who sends for a scale to prove it. He terms her finery
mulieris compedes (67). Scintilla, equally prodigal, possesses the finest
pair of gold earrings in all Rome, which are so valuable that she keeps
them locked in a gold casket chained to her neck. Her husband, Habinnas,
laments that if it were not for mulieres, the best things in life would be
cheap, if not free, and he adds that if he had a daughter, he would cut off
her ears! (67). Catonian verecundia (Liv. 34.1.5) is unheard of with these
two, and it follows that Fortunata lands, indecentissima, flat on her back,
heels-over-head, with a vir alienus-other than her husband, that is (67;
cf. Liv. 34.2.9).
Fortunata has all the attributes of a mulier of the worst sort, and none
of the desired qualities of afemina. As Trimalchio's topanta, she has a
finger in every pie, and is the type to whom Cato alluded: in publicum
procurrendi et obsidendi vias et viros alienos appellandi (Liv. 34.2.9). 20
This is evident from Encolpius' enquiry: "Quae esset mulier ilia quae
hue atque illuc discurreret?" (37) He is informed that his hostess is up
from the gutter in caelum, a lupatria who has amassed a fortune quae
nummos modio metitur (37); her name not only implies good luck, but
hard cash. Although Balsdon, oddly, includes her in his chapter on happy
marriages,2 1 it is evident that the union ofFortunata and Trimalchio is far
from blissful. He is henpecked; she, a nit-picking termagant. To Trimalchio,

18 J.N. Adams, "Latin words for "woman" and "wife"," G/011a 50 (I 972) 250. The

scholar notes that Petronius' freedmen always call their wives mulieres, and he attributes
such usage to a "sub-literary level" of Latin. One notes that the few inscriptions from the city
of Rome that employ the word mu/ier as wife belong to freed slaves. CIL 6. V. supra, chapter
two, n. 13.
19 V. infra, pp. 177-78
20 On procurro and discurro, v. supra, chapter five, p. 90, n. 50.
21 J.P.V.D. Balsdon, Roman Women, their History and their Habits (London, 1972) 206.
 PETRONIUS AND APULEIUS 177

Fortunata is certainly no femina; he states that she is not even a mulier

but rather a codex (74), the connotations of which range from "account
book" to "block of wood," or blockhead, by transference. 22 Trimalchio
growls that mulieres born under the sign of Virgo are in a class with
runaway slaves (fugitivi) and members of a chain-gang (compediti) (39).
Mulier in this case not only denotes woman but also wife, and since the
original meaning of codex was the trunk of a tree to which persons were
bound for punishment, 23 Fortunata (with her mulieris compedes), in the
slang of the 1930's, may be considered Trimalchio's "ball-and-chain."
Petronius employs mulier in two situations during the course of the
freedman's banquet: in dialogue or description. Axelson notes that the
freedmen always use the term mulier. 24 One might argue that their
remarks usually concern women in general, and that mulier therefore
merely represents the neutral "woman." Nevertheless, the fact remains
that all comments about mulieres are invariably negative. They further-
more concern women of the lower classes, for whom the term femina
would be inappropriate; and although real-life freedmen did usurp the
aristocratic term for use on tombstones, 25 these Petronian jades have
failed to live up even to libertine standards.
Otherrefractory freed women include a mulierchariot driver (45), and
one who, dry-eyed at the funeral of her late unlamented husband,
prompts Seleucus' complaint: Sed mulier quae mulier milvinum genus
(42); others are strigae, and Trimalchio warns ominously of mulieres
plussciae ... nocturnae (women who know a little more than they should,
and congregate at night)-witches (63).
Speech is said to be an essential element of Petronian characteriza-
tion, reflecting the extremes of Latin, from educated usage to its
opposite. 26 One might therefore conclude that the novelist did not supply
mulier carelessly, but was well aware of its nuances. This is demon-
strated by Trimalchio's cynical use of femina. Well into his cups, he
confesses to having served, while a slave, as his dominus' femina. As the

22 C.T. Lewis and Ch. Short,ANewLatinDictionary (N.Y., 1894) s.v. caudex; cf. P.G.W.

Glare, Oxford Latin Dictionary (Oxford, 1982-88) s.v. caudex.

23 Ibid.
24 B. Axelson, Unpoetische Woerter, ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Lateinischen

Dichtersprache (Lund, 1945) 55.

25 v. supra, chapter two, n. 13. B. Boyce demonstrates that Petronius uses the language

of freedmen to illustrate their fundamental lapses in literacy and education as well as their
social pretensions: The Language ofFreedmen in Petronius' Cena Trimalchionis, Bibliotheca
Classica Batava, Mnemosyne, Suppl. 117 (Leiden, 1991) 37-102.
20 J. Tatum, Apuleius and the Golden Ass (Ithaca and London, 1979) 149. cf. Walsh

(supra, n. I) 121-123.
178 THE LETTER, THE BIOGRAPHY, AND THE NOVEL

status word vir was important to Trimalchio, so isfemina. Fraught with

psychological overtones, it places him in his own mind on a level with
his dominus in what was, from his subsequent remarks, a humiliating
experience. Trimalchio was no man's mulier; he states that there was
nothing turpe in his actions-he was only obeying orders-and adds that
he used to give satisfaction to his domina as well (75). Both vir and
femina, placed into Trimalchio's mouth, help delineate his character,
exposing the freedman as a status-conscious upstart.
Petronius' persistent use of homo of Trimalchio and his fellow louts
and mulier of Fortunata and her trashy chum, of whom he has nothing
good to say, may be a reflection of personal antipathy towards a class
which had made great advances in the preceding fifty years. 27 It may also
be an evocation of romantic historiography as represented by Livy, who
employed similar methods in dealing with the freedwoman Hispala
Faecinia. 28 Most of all, it reflects Petronius' skill at characterization, in
providing his personages with the appropriate words. By no stretch of the
imagination are Trimalchio and company conceived of as viri, or
Fortunata and her co-hussy thought of, even ironically, as feminae.
Quartilla is another mulier who is no femina. 29 While the episode is
fragmentary, it is unthinkable that Petronius ever envisioned her as a
femina in the lost parts of the story. The Neronian novelist makes it
patently clear that Quartilla's sole purpose in the tale is to sustain the
reader's prurient interest and that she is a woman of no redeeming social
importance. Quartilla is a priestess, the customary epithet for which is
femina. 30 The mulier, however, not only practices nocturnal rites behind
closed doors, but she is also a priestess of Priapus. Petronius notes that
the cult's mascot was a pet goose that was omnibus matronis acceptissimus
(137). About the fowl's exact function he does not hint, but one may be
certain that it boded ill for matronly pudicitia. 31 The goose has porno-

27 L.R. Taylor, "Freedmen and freeborn in the epitaphs of imperial Rome," AJP 82.2

(1961) 131.
21 V. supra, chapter five, pp. 91-93.
29 She and her maids are called mulieres: 15; 16; 18; 19.
30 e.g., the high priestess of Venus, the misericordior feminarum of Plautus' Rudens

(281), v. supra, chapter two, p. 32.; an epigraphical example: Flavia Epicharis, Sacerdotia
deae virgini caelestis praesentissimo numini loci montis Tarpei, bears the title honorifica
femina in a dedication of 259 A.D. (C/L 6. 37170). Adams notes that nuns were designated
feminae in the post-Roman period (supra, n. 18) 236.
31 One recalls the phallic-headed fowl on a Dionysiac pedestal at Delos: French School

of Athens, Guide de Delos (Paris, I 965) 131; Livy notes geese to be sacred to Juno (5.47.4.),
but given the Satyricon 's salacious setting, Petronius doubtless had something less whole-
some in mind. J.M.C. Toynbee quotes Sat. 136-37, but offers no revelations on the fowl's
significance, Animals in Roman Life and Art {London, 1973) 263.
 PETRONIUS AND APULEIUS 179

graphic implications and is mentioned with comic purpose in order to

delineate the orgiastic nature of the cult as well as matronly participa-
tion. As for its high priestess, Quartilla, her character degenerates during
the course of the narrative. As Walsh remarks: [her] "elegant respect-
ability melts away to reveal the bawdy woman of wealth, the predatory
huntress whose secrets 'scarce a thousand men have shared' ." 32 Recol-
lections of lost innocence and virginity are enshrouded in the mists of
personal antiquity (25). She rewards Encolpius' peep at her priapic
devotions with another such: the erotic exertions of the boy Giton with
her seven year-old ancilla, the appropriately named Pannychis, and
Encolpius objects that she is not old enough ut muliebris patientiae
posset accipere (25).
Walsh envisions this and other episodes in which the mock-epic hero
is buffeted by the wrath of Priapus to be scathing commentaries upon
"prevalent religious and moral attitudes" reflected in "pietistic fiction,"
as well as an assault by Petronius' picaresque Aeneas on the "canons of
pietas and virtus, dignitas andpudicitia." 33 It is all these things and more.
The Quartilla episode is a spoof on Livy, replete with slogans and topoi
continually applied to cults perceived as threats to the State; 34 the
episode could be well sub-titled: "Behind Closed Doors; Nocturnal
Mysteries Revealed!" As Walsh observes, Petronius parodies historians
and "introduces all manner of literary allusions." 35 Though it may be
pure coincidence that Quartilla is a Campanian priestess, like Paculla
Annia, whom Livy credited with converting the original Dionysiac cult

31 Walsh quoting Sullivan (supra, n. l) 91.

33 Ibid, 79; cf. Sullivan (supra, n. 16) 92.
34 It should be recalled that Priapus was an associate of Bacchus-Dionysus. Their

common attribute was the ass; R. T. v. der Paardt observes that the animal was connected with
the lusty god because of apparent shared physical endowments: L. Apuleius Madaurensis:
a Commentary on Book 3 with Text and Introduction (Amsterdam, 1971) 7; the ass appears
on many Dionysiac sarcophagi either as a mount for Silenus, or else pulling his wagon. Both
are drunk, F. Matz, Die Dionysischen Sarkophage (Berlin, 1975) vol. l, pp. 70-71. The
activities of Quartilla and her coterie reflect the popular conceptions prompted by the
rhetoric of on-going official propaganda promulgated against nocturnal rites in general and
orgiastic cults in particular. Official perceptions and fears are reflected in Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, who notes that in Augustus' day, there were no frenzied corybants or
bacchanals; no secret ceremonies or nocturnal sacrifices attended by men and women
together (2.19 .2); Philo Judaeus observes that Augustus allowed the Jews to meet in
synagogues, as their religious observances were not based upon roisterous carousals which
were merely excuses to disturb the peace (De Legat. 311-12). Pliny the Younger writes that
he can find no evidence that the Christians are meeting for criminal intent or adultery (10.96).
These passages demonstrate the continuing worry about religious observances being pre-
texts for coniuratio. Furthermore, the persistence of anti-Bacchanalian rhetoric shows that
the issue of prava religio had never died out.
3' Walsh (supra, n. l) 66.
180 THE LETTER, THE BIOGRAPHY, AND THE NOVEL

into a degenerate Bacchanal, 36 all the other ingredients of the topos are
present: nox, vinum, mulieres and adulescentuli, the recipe for a first-rate
bacchanalian binge.The torches are lit, the mulieres are awash with
Falernian, and Quartilla is libidine accensa. 31
Where the clash of cymbals in Livy's book 39 is said to have drowned
out the vociferations of stuprum and murder (39.8.8), Petronius' gongs
are sounded to awake the exhausted devotees and incite them to further
stuprum (22-23). There are similar evocations of Livy in the ebriae
mulieres longum agmen plaudentes who attend the children's "wed-
ding" (26), agmina of mulieres being a favourite Livian source of
trouble. 38
The episodes of Tryphaena and Circe, like that of Quartilla, are
fragmentary. Nevertheless, they provide examples of Petronius' em-
ployment of mulier andfemina, both synonyms being used to designate
each woman. Tryphaena, whose name is a common one for slaves, is
seen by Walsh to be the superstitious, hedonistic cosmopolite. 39 She is,
furthermore, wealthy and beautiful; and Eumolpus, in an attempt to
reassure the suspicious Encolpius about her presence on board ship,
describes her in glowing terms as omniumfeminarumformosissima, who
is roaming the earth in search of voluptates (101). This line, and the use
of femina, is likely to provide the reader-who has already been in-
formed that the "lady" is being deported to Tarentum (100)-with a
chuckle. Justasfemina was an important element in Palaestrio's salespitch

36 Livy, 39.13.9
37 Cum vinum animos incendisset, et nox et mixti feminis mares, aetatis tenerae
maioribus, discrimen omne pudoris extinxissent, curruptelae primum omnis generis
fieri coeptae, cum ad idquisque, quo natura pronioris libidinis esset, paratam voluptatem
haberet (Liv. 39.8.6-7).
31 Ag men mulierum, indicative of disorderly female behaviour: v. supra, chapter five, pp.

83-85. The children's wedding reminds Walsh of Nero's marriage to Pythagoras (Tac. Ann.
15.37.9) (supra, n. 6) 91. It seems to be a composite spoof on the topoi of historiography,
being even more reminiscent of the wedding of Cupid and Psyche, as enacted by cavorting
amorini upon first century wall paintings and later Dionysiac sarcophagi: S. Reinach,
Repertoire de Reliefs Grecs et Romains, vol. 3 (Paris, 1912) 471; Cupid and Psyche appear
as immature lovers or as infants: M. Borde, La Pi11ura Romana (Milan, 1958) 236; Reinach,
op. cit. vol. 3, 229, no. 2. They engage in amorous activities as if fully grown. There is also
a sarcophagus depicting the infant Psyche as a Maenad, and Cupid as Dionysus (294, no. I).
The former appears by himself or with other erotes paying homage to Priapus, either
crushing grapes or dancing around a wine vat (295, no. 3). In other scenes, Cupid sits at a
nuptial couch with a winged feminine counterpart, attended by a procession of inebriated
cherubs to the accompaniment of music (366, no. 2). All seem to have been inspired by
Petronius who himself seems to evoke Livy and the long tradition of anti-Bacchanalian
rhetoric (C/L 14.3565 presents a long incantation to Priapus that mentions Cupid and
Bacchus.). On the wrath of Priapus, Sullivan (supra, n. 16) 92.
39 Walsh (supra, n. I) 100.
 PETRONIUS AND APULEIUS 181

of the ingenua-next-door to Pyrgopolynices, 40 so femina is used by

Eumolpus to confirm the supposed respectability of Tryphaena.
Cracks, however, soon appear in the brittle veneer of Tryphaena's
civility, and Encolpius' estimation of her true nature is substantiated.
She is a mulier damnata (108) and a mulier libidinosa, who disburses
blanditiae and quenches her lust with young boys (113). Is it any surprise
that she wears high heels and false eyebrows, and declaims epic poetry
in stentorian tones on the subjects of Medeafurens, love scorned, death,
floods, and savage seas (109)? As Walsh notes, Tryphaena is the
embodiment of "cruelty and luxury". 41
Her partner in libido, Lichas, addresses her in exasperation: "O
te ..feminam simplicem!" (106), which remark Adams deems to be a rare
example of the neutral use of femina. 42 This interpretation seems un-
likely since simplex rendersfemina pejorative, and Lichas is furious with
Tryphaena. Both characters fancy themselves as wealthy cosmopolites,
and they speak in an elevated rhetorical style. 43 Petronius chose his
words carefully, 44 and femina is the mot juste for the self-proclaimed
man-of-the-world to use. Employed in tandem with simplex, femina
lends the insult an ironic flavour, reminiscent of the piccante repartee of
a Noel Coward comedy.
Circe is a matrona of extraordinary beauty, in whom Walsh sees the
archetype of the high-born lady of mime: a predatory nymphomaniac
who seeks sexual gratification from a slave. 45 Petronius hints at her true
character when her maid Chrysis expounds upon certainfeminae who are
consumed with lust for slaves, actors, or dust-covered gladiators (126).
As Adams notes, Chrysis is referring to "women of standing." 46 She
observes that her domina is such, and that when she attends the theatre,
she always purchases seats fourteen rows back from the orchestra so that
she can seek a lover from among the plebs (126) (Paradoxically, Chrysis
herselfnever sits anywhere but among the knights.). As with Tryphaena,
however, Circe's beauty is skin deep. She is the namesake of the
enchantress, and Chrysis utters opaque allusions to mulieres who etiam
lunam deducunt (129). 47 Furthermore, Encolpius damns Circe as a

40 v. supra, chapter two, pp. 31-32

41 Walsh (supra, n. 1) 41.
42 Adams (supra, n. 18) 239, n. 46.
43 Walsh (supra, n. 1) 100.
44 Tatum (supra, n. 26) 149.
45 Walsh (supra, n. 1) 105-7.
46 Adams (supra, n. 18) 237.
47 V. infra, p. 191. Cf. Verg. Eel. 8.69; Apul. Met. 1.8.
182 THE LETTER, THE BIOGRAPHY, AND THE NOVEL

pitiless mulier who has assaulted him in revenge for his impotence ( 132).
Petronius' judgmental applications of mulier and femina are well
illustrated in the "Milesian Tale" of the Widow of Ephesus. This fable,
which exposes the Augustan sham of upper class feminine pudicitia, is
preserved in its entirety. An illustration of muliebris Levitas, its moral,
proclaimed by Eumolpus, is that there is no femina so pudica that she
cannot be driven adfurorem by peregrina libidine (110). 48
The sorrowing widow is envisioned as a "latter-day Lucretia," 49 and
an "anti-Dido", 50 whose portrait is painted in the umbrageous shades of
the palette of Senecan consolatio and sepulchral rhetoric, as well as in
the candid tints of romantic historiography. 51 Her story is told by the
seedy Eumolpus, and the gender terms which Petronius puts into his
mouth lend insight to his thoughts as he describes the Widow who, as
long as her chastity persev.eres, 52 is afemina. From the very beginning,
however, Petronius' reader is well aware that he is dealing with the
fabulous:
Matrona quaedam Ephesi tam notae erat pudicitiae, ut vicinarum quoque
gentium feminas ad spectaculum sui evocaret. (111)

The indefinite quaedam is the customary introduction to the fairytale, 53

and one might render this one as: "Once-upon-a-time, there was a
married woman of Ephesus so renowned for her virtue that all the well-
born ladies for miles around would gaggle together to gaze upon such a
wondrous sight!"
This tale, which exalts the image of the perfect matrona, whom
feminae can never hope to emulate, is a spoof on aristocratic values (and
historical exempla), and Petronius' sophisticated readers will not fail to
perceive its eventual moral implications.
Not content to mourn her husband vulgari more ...passis ... crinibus
nudatum pectus, the distraught widow follows his bier into the hypogeum,
where Graeco more corpus custodire ac flere totis noctibus diebusque
coepit. In consequence, she herself is mourned by the populace as a
singularis exempli femina(111). This expression, and others similar,
which Petronius seems to have borrowed from eulogistic rhetoric, was
to become a commonplace upon Roman sepulchral inscriptions of the
41 0. Pecere views the episode as a bitter denunciaton of the vices of rampant luxury and

revolting hypocrisy, Petronio: la Novella de/la Matrona di Efeso (Padua, 1975) 7-8.
• 9 Walsh (supra, n. 1) 12.
50 A. dell'Era, Problemi di lingua e stile in Petronio (Rome, 1970) 181.
51 lbid. 16; 20; Walsh (supra, n.l) 11-12; 52.
52 Adams (supra, n. 18) 237.
53 Pecere (supra, n. 48) 42.
 PETRONIUS AND APULEIUS 183

late first century and afterwards. 54Enclosed within the tomb, the widow
becomes an effulgent and solitary exemplum of true pudicitia,fides, and
amor. However, intimations of sexuality intrude upon Petronius' tableau
of pious solitude. A soldier, guarding some crucified felons, hears a
noise and descends into the sepulchre; when, in the half-gloom, he spies
a pretty woman (visaque pulcherrima muliere), he first mistakes her for
a revenant or vampire. 55 He is greatly relieved to discover that she is, in
reality, afemina, who cannot bear the loss of her husband (111 ). Adams
notes that "at this point in the story [she] is still a singular model of
chastity. " 56
Petronius, through his knavish narrator, Eumolpus, is foreshadowing
the Widow's eventual downfall. As a pulcherrima mulier, she is the
object of the normal appetites of the miles; moreover, her faithful
ancilla-cast as Anna to her mistress' Dido 57-is a muliercula, whose
own appetite can be stimulated with food (111). Although A. Marbach
notes connotations of weakness as well as an element of despite in the
term, he fails to see the sexual implications as found in Ciceronian
rhetoric; muliercula and meretricula were synonymous. 58 The ancilla,
no better than she should be, makes it clear to the miles that her domina
is prone to stubborness and afflicted by muliebri errore (111). These are

~ Lutatia Casta, singu/aris exsemplifemina (sic) (CIL6. 21732); IuliaSevera Kyriagathe,

magni et rari in omnibus exemplis vitae suae femina (sic) (6.20679). Gavia Flora, rari
exemp/i femina (6.18930); Unnamed, rari exempli femina (6.19029); Aurelia Iusta, unici
exemp/i atque egregiae castitatis femina (6.31955); Flavia Tertia, rarissim( i) exempli
femi(na) (6.10697); Aur. Mariame, rari exemplifemina (13356). Such figures of speech
recur in Apuleius' one-dimensional portrait of Plotina, another woman of perfection. Walsh
sees her as evidence of Apuleian romanticism, which he believes to be in direct contrast to
Petronian cynicism in the character of the Widow (supra, n. 1) 161-2. Plotina is memorial-
ized as a raraeftdei atque singu/aris pudicitiae femina (7 .6), who shuns the city's fleshpots
in order to share her husband's exile; and a sanctissima-vera enim dicenda sun,_, unicae
fideifemina (7.7), who relentlessly badgers Roman authorities for justice on her husband's
behalf. Actually, Apuleius• cynicism seems even more scathing than that of Petronius: in
characterizing this colourless paragon-who seems to have stepped off the same tiresome
pedestal as Livy's Cloelia or Pliny's Fannia-in tombstone rhetoric, he conveys a subtle
message; in consideration of the other ghastly women of the Metamorphoses, the only
perfect/emina seems to be a dead one. cf. J .J. Winkler, who notes that the peerless Plotina
has sold out Theron's band to the Roman authorities, Auctor and Actor: a Narratologica/
Reading of Apuleius's "The Golden Ass" (Berkeley, 1985) 28. Plotina •s gender epithets are,
very likely, ironical.
55 Her prototype is Phaedrus' widow, apu/cherrimafemina (A 15.17) and, in what Pecere

terms a sarcastic moral qualification, when she is spied by the soldier, a sancta mulier (A
15.28) (supra, n. 48) 12-13.
56 Adams (supra, n. 18) 237.
57 Dell'Era (supra, n. 49) 180; cf. Walsh (supra, n.l) 12.
58 J.S.T. Hannsen, Latin Diminutives: a Semantic Study (Bergen, 1951) 198; cf. A

Marbach, Wortbildung, Wortwahl und Wortbedeutung a/s Miue/ der Charakterzeichnung

bei Petron (Gie8en, 1931) 50.
184 THE LETTER, THE BIOGRAPHY, AND THE NOVEL

encouraging words to the warrior, and Eumolpus encloses the couple

inside the tomb for three nights. When they emerge, they have undergone
what is seen to be a transformation of roles: 59 the Widow, four times
designated a mulier (112), becomes the aggressor, and the miles, the
weakling.6() When he wishes to commit suicide after persons unknown
have filched one of the corpses he was supposed to have been guarding,
the obliging Widow invites him to nail up her late husband. Eumolpus
characterizes her sardonically as a mulier non minus misericors quam
pudica, and Petronius writes an epitaph for feminine virtue as the the
soldier takes advantage of the woman's cleverness, lauding her, in the
ironic phrases of the tombstone, as a prudentissima femina. Now the
populace flocks to marvel not at the Widow's wondrous pudicitia but
rather at the miraculous corpse, which has, somehow, reappeared on the
cross (112).
Petronius is said to have constructed an ironical language to describe
the conventional manifestations of the matrona's grief as well as the
ritual of mourning; evocative of epic poetry, the language also serves to
lend the Widow's character two dimensions. 61 The author's use of mu lier
andfemina have contributed to the bi-dimensionality.

Apuleius and the Ciceronian Homo

The prose of the Metamorphoses has been labeled "bizarre", being full
of alliteration and assonance, ornaments of style at which Cicero would
have sneered. 62 Even though the novelist used vir to refer to specific
persons far more than he did homo,63 his employment of the latter, in two
instances, reflects Ciceronian vituperation. In the first, Lucius asks
directions to Milo's house and is told that his future host is a rich usurer:
verum extremae avaritiae et sordis infimae infamis homo. Milo keeps
one maid and a wife clad in rags, and counts coins all day long ( 1.21 ).
Upon learning this, the hero-soon-to-be-an-ass exclaims that his old
chum Demeas has certainly recommended him to "tali viro"! Although
Cicero might have shunned the epithet sordis infimae infamis homo,
59 Ibid., 184.
60 Walsh (supra, n. I) 12; mulieres are habitually bold.
61 Pecere (supra, n. 48) 16.
62 A. Scobie, Apuleius' Metamorphoses (Asinus Aureus) I; A Commentary (Meisenheim

am Gian, 1975) 21-22.

63 Homo, of specific persons, is used 16 times in undisputed passages; vir, 22 times

(Homo, meaning men in general-e.g., "men think" or "hundreds of men"-used 36 times,

is not under consideration in this study which concerns gender terms only as applied to
individual persons.)
 PETRONIUS AND APULEIUS 185

there is no mistaking its pejorative nature and its contrast to vir, which
has been uttered ironically.
Ciceronian evocations are very apparent in the second instance, in
which Apuleius places homo with Bacchanalian rhetoric into the mouth
of the now asinine Lucius:
Quod oleum flammae, quod sulpur incendio, quod flagellum Furiae, hoc et
iste sermo truculentiae hominis nutrimento fuit. lamque ad extremam insaniam
vecors, suspendium sese ettotis illis et ipsis legibus mandare proclamans ... (9 .36).

The homo in question, who seems to be a direct spiritual descendent of

P. Clodius, is vesanus as well as vecors; he has tried to chisel his
verecundus neighbour out of his domus and surrounding farmlands by
honeyed promises (blanditiis permulcentibus) and tyrannical superbia.
Apuleius has told the tale in language evocative of Cicero's castigation
of Clodius. 64 Both episodes, in fact, recall the orator's use of homo as a
term of abuse.

The Apuleian Vir: a Stranger in an even Stranger Land

Although Apuleius' use of vir is reminiscent of that of Cicero, Livy and
other writers of the first century, 65 in the metamorphic world of Lucius,
traditional laudatory epithets occur in unexpected contexts. Characters
and situations undergo constant reidentification. 66 This is illustrated in
the adventure of Lamachus, a fearless bandit chief, in which vir and
virtus-cornerstones of the Republic and Empire-are seen darkly
through the blood-spattered glass of the brigand. A fellow free-boater
relates how Lamachus, tantus vir, was destroyed by too much virtus
(4.8). When, confident spectatae virtutis suae, he plunged his arm
through a hole in the door of a house he was attempting to burgle, a low-
down two-footed varmint (omni um bipedum nequissimus) named Chryseros
nailed his hand to the door (4.10). Debating whether to abandon their
leader or to stay and die fighting, his loyal confederates choose the better
part of valour and effect Lamachus' escape by parting him from his hand
at the shoulder. Although he entreats them to end his misery, his
comilitiones refuse to commit parricidium on a confrere. Ever mindful

64 Blanditiae rank high among the tactics of prostitutes and tribunes (supra, chapter one).

Winkler cites Apuleius' parody of Cicero's first Catilinarian ullered by Lucius the Ass (3.27)
(supra, n. 54) 87.
65 He employs the noun in contexts of bravery, strength and virility; as an indicator of

status and wealth; and sometimes as an instrument of llauery or even sarcasm.

66 Winkler (supra, n. 54) 87.
186 THE LETTER, THE BIOGRAPHY, AND THE NOVEL

of his comrades' welfare, Lamachus, vir sublimis animi virtutisque

praecipuus, grasps his sword (with his remaining hand), and, with one
thrust, runs himself through (4.10-11 ). The parody of vir and virtus
contribute to the humour of the bloody episode.
In another lurid story, 67 a newcomer, hailing the gang as fortissimo
deo Marti clientes, asks them to receive a virum magnanimae vivacitatis
vole ntem into their company. He introduces himself as a praedo famosus,
Haemus ille Thracius, son of Theron, an equally notorious bandit, and
brags that he has been suckled on human blood (7 .5). 68 Haem us, Charite' s
husband in disguise, has used vir to enhance his image as a swashbuck-
ling desperado.
An expression of the Republic, strenuus vir69 is parodied in the "Tale
of the Tub". When her husband is about to sell the vat under which her
lover is concealed, for five denarii, the backsliding wife chides:
Magnum ... is tum virum ac strenuum negotiatorem nacta sum, qui rem, quam
ego mulier et intra hospitium contenta iamdudum septem denariis vendidi,
minoris distraxit (9.6).

Likewise, prudens vir, which connoted conservatism in Cicero and

political expediency in Livy, 70 is converted into baneful flattery as
another errant wife, about to poison a perfidious physician with one of
his own venemous distillations, lulls him into a sense of false security,
assuring him that he is tam prudens tamque doctus vir (10.26).
Otherwise the term falls into familiar expressions of physical supe-
riority 71 and social or moral worth. 72 In the following passage, in which
Aristomenes fears that no one will believe his fantastic story, Apuleius
juxtaposes vir with homo and mulier:
Proclamares saltem suppetiatum, si resistere vir tantus mulieri nequibas: sub
oculis tuis homo iugulatur, ut siles? (1.14).

The masculine terms help the reader distinguish between the two friends.
Also implied is the strength of the immobile vir against the onslaught of
a mere mulier, as well as the helplessness of the victim. When a listener
67 Winkler notes Apuleius' sensationalism (supra, n. 54) 95.
68 Winkler cites Haem us repeated re identification of character in his numerous disguises,
which include that of a mulier asinaria (supra, n. 54) 88.
69 v. supra, chapter four, n. 11.
70 v. supra, chapters one and four.
71 Vir signifies virility when, about to engage in amatory combat [Walsh (supra, n. I)

152-3), the nubile Photis issues a challenge that if Lucius be a vir, he will fight to the finish
(2.17).
72 Charite 's suitors are viri, including wicked Thrasyllus, who is well-born, rich and
handsome (8.2). In contrast: servulus homo (8.22; 26);frugi autem et so/itarii homines: those
who must struggle for a living (4.9).
 PETRONIUS AND APULEIUS 187

expresses doubts about the tale, its narrator turns to Lucius and asks:
"Vir, ut habitus et habitudo demonstrat, ornatus, accredis huic/abulae?"
As can be seen by the appositive phrase, vir authenticates the respect-
ability of the well-bred Lucius who believes every word of Aristomenes'
grotesque tale (1.20).
Good family and wealth are implicit in vir when Lucius, arriving at
Plataea, encounters Demochares, a vir et genere primarius et opibus
plurimus et liberalitate praecipuus, who, dig no fortunae suae splendore
publicas voluptates instruebat (4.13). Respectability is also implied
when the robbery of Milo is reported, and Lucius is horrified to discover
that he (in his human form) is the prime suspect; the malefactor is
described as a nescioqui Lucius, who has masqueraded as a vir bonus
(7 .1). The donkey then philosophizes that veteris priscaeque doctrinae
viros were right in portraying Fortune as blind; he concludes that where
a scoundrel continually basks in the boni viri Jama, the pure-of-heart,
constantly getting the shafts of outrageously myopic Fortune, loses his
reptutation (7 .2). The tormented ass also finds consolation in philosophy
when his peregrinations have brought him to the comfortless shelter of
a baker's stable. 73 Now lodged amongst a cluster of spavined, mangy
nags, he contemplates the wisdom of the divine Homer who counselled
that he who has travelled far, to many places, and has observed and
accrued many experiences along the way, is a summae prudentiae vir
(9.13).74
As priestesses are feminae ,75 so priests are viri-as is that of Isis: ille
viralioquin gravis et sobriae religionis observationefamosus, clementer
ac comiter (11.21)-except when Lucius falls in with a group of
castrated cenobites of the Syrian goddess, in which case they are semi-
viri (8.28). Placing her image on his back, with clanging cymbals and
rattling tambourines, they make a noisy entrance into a well-appointed
town where the patron is a vir principalis et alias religiosus et eximie
deam reverens (8.30). Vir, in reference to the priest oflsis and the town-
father, is synonymous with moral worth. 76
73 Lucius judges his new employer, the baker, to be a bonus alioquin vir et adprime

modestus with a singular lack of aptitude in choosing a marriage partner: pessimam et ante
cunctas mulieres /onge deterrimam sortitus coniugam, poenas extremas tori, Larisque
sustinebat (9.14).
1• The phi/osophans asinus as wandering Odysseus represents disunity, according to

W inkier, who believes that such passages invoke the authority of the narrator rather than the
actor. He translates summae prudentiae vir as "man of supreme discrimination" (supra, n.
54) 165-67.
75 v. supra, n. 30.
76 Winkler characterizes the extremus homo of 4.9 as a "leprous pauper", despised by

Fortune (supra, n. 54) 90-91.

188 THE LETTER, THE BIOGRAPHY, AND THE NOVEL

The Witch, the Poisoner, and the Adulteress

Apuleius' use of mulier and femina in many ways parallels that of
Petronius. Not only does he apply the former to members of the lower
classes, 77 but like the Neronian author, he also uses it in reference to
witches and adulterous women (who may also be poisoners), with which
the Metamorphoses abounds. The novelist furthermore demonstrates the
conventional use of femina, employing it as an indicator of high station
or salient virtue. 78 Although Apuleius' characters may not seem as well
drawn as those of Petronius, the former author's application oflanguage
is better developed than that of the latter. As Tatum remarks, Petronian
verisimilitude of speech is not an Apuleian factor: "no matter how
depraved a character ... [,] no matter how uncouth, his language is never
anything less than elegant or grammatical." 79 Apuleian linguistical
floridity may render his characters less colourful than those of his
predecessor, but it also contributes to more subtle application of speech.
This becomes particularly evident in his usage of mulier andfemina, the
latter of which, like vir, sometimes crops up in odd contexts or with a
reversal of its customary implications-often with pejorative adjectives
in the midst of a series of mulier-plus-negative modifiers. Adams holds
Apuleius responsible for the supposed degeneration of the aristocratic
term. 80 The Madauran novelist, however, was not the first to have
employedfemina with pejoratives, as readers of Tacitus will recall, and,
as shall be demonstrated, the term-which Adams himself notes to be
indicative of the upper classes until the sixteenth century 81 -has degen-
erated not one jot in the vocabulary of an author who chose every word
with forethought.
It must again be emphasized that nothing in the Metamorphoses is as
it appears to be at first glance. Characters as well as figures of speech
undergo multiple permutations. 82 The words mu lier and femina contrib-
ute in varying degrees to the ephemeral atmosphere of the tale. For

77 Low born mulieres: Meroe, a female innkeeper who is also a witch (1.12); a gardener's

wife (4.3); Haem us, disguised as a female muleteer (7 .8); a shepherd woman (8.17); and the
impoverished wife of a blacksmith (9.5).
78 e.g., Byrrhaena, a lady of rank, infra, p. 190.
79 Tatum (supra, n. 26) 149.

•• Adams (supra, n. 18) 238.

" Ibid. 235.
12 Tatum writes that "the essence of the Golden Ass is that no event or character ... can be

trusted to remain what it may seem to be. Nothing that is said- even by the narrator- can
be taken at face value." (supra, n. 26) 21. cf. Walsh (supra, n. 1) 151; 172; Winkler (supra,
n. 54) 87.
 PETRONIUS AND APULEIUS 189

instance, Charite, who enters the story as a puella and virgo, 83 is

perceived by Lucius to be matronatus and to have come from a good
family (4.23). The death of her husband, however, transforms her into
a bacchata virago (8.6). Her ex-suitor, Thrasyllus, contemplates her
with Tarquinian lust and thinks of her as a mulier ripe for the picking
(8.7). After being visited by the spectre of her husband who informs her
of his murder at the hands ofThrasyllus, Charite cunningly wards off the
latter's advances, protesting that she is a miserrimafemina, who needs
more time to mourn (8.9). Feigning to submit to Thrasyllus' suit, Charite
is termed afallaciosa mulier as she fills his ears with promises that she
never intends to keep (8.10). The episode is related in the idiom of
historia (8.1), and the subsequent account of Charite 's revenge is replete
with feminine topoi that derive from historical prose. 84 The girl induces
her nurse to ply Thrasyllus with blandishments and a soporific potion
(8.11): Tune anus de iussu dominae blandiens ei furtim depromptis
calicibus et oenophoro, quod immixtum vino soporiferumgerebatvenenum.
Then, masculis animis, Charite utters an incantation over his drugged
body, declaring that only after they are blinded will his eyes be pleasing
pudicae mulieri (8.11-12). Invoking the furies, the vaticinata mulier jabs
out Thrasyllus' eyes with a long hair-needle (8.13). The scene has built
to a violent climax, and Charite's eloquent diatribe is delivered in
"rhymes and rhythms" that emphlfsize its fury. 85
The wordfemina is subtly employed as part of Charite's deception.
Its respectability masks her true motives when she is dissembling before
Thrasyllus. Lucius, however, as narrator, terms her a false mulier. The
noun mulier is appropriate to the furor of the vaticinatrix; furthermore,
it contributes to the rhythmic pattern of Charite' s incantation. 86
Psyche and her sisters are the daughters of kings (4.28); therefore they
are properly termedfeminae. As the sisters plot mischief against Psyche,
they are see lestaefeminae (5. 12; 15 ), and they caLI her pessima femina
in turn (5.16). Note, however, the thrust of mulier when one of them, in
a fit of jealousy, complains that Psyche, a mere mulier, acts as if she were
83 B. Brotherton, "The introduction of characters by name in the Metamorphoses of

Apuleius," CP (1934) 38.

14 Walsh considers Charite's story to be in "deliberate contrast" to "the ethos of

Petronius' widow of Ephesus." He also secs Catiline as Thrasyllus' literary forebear, and
Dido as Charite' s. The episode also recalls the rape of Lucretia, only in this case, "Lucretia"
seems to have had a course in self-defense; and, in the current idiom, she "puts out
'Tarquin's' lights." (supra, n. 1) 164.
15 Tatum notes Apuleius' fondness for poetic measures at the beginning and endings of

sentences. He likens Charite's tirade to a coloratura aria of vengeance (supra, n. 26) 146-
49.
86 lbid. 149.
190 THE LETTER, THE BIOGRAPHY, AND THE NOVEL

a dea, commanding the winds as her hand-maidens (5.9). As homo is

generally contrasted to deus, 81 so mu lier is to dea; the latter also presents
a greater contrast to the former than wouldfemina. A similar contrast is
implied when Psyche's predicted lover, an extremus homo despised of
Fortuna, proves to be a deus. 88
The rustica squalentisque femina (5.30), cited by Adams as evidence
of degeneration of the term, 89 is not a woman at all, but Sobriety, a
personification woven into the story with allegorical intent. 90 Venus may
disparage Sobrietas, but she nevertheless intends to invoke the aid of her
inimica;femina is a term of equality. Ceres, similarly, explains to Psyche
that she does not wish to incur the displeaure of Venus, a bonafemina
or go against their foedus antiquum (6.3); foedus connotes a treaty
between equals, 91 and Venus and Ceres are equal in rank. Juno, on the
other hand, speaks as a sovereign when she appeals to the love goddess,
invoking her maternal instincts: "Mater autem tu et praeterea cordata
mulier" (5.31). A patron-client relationship seems to exist between the
goddesses in which Juno's augusta dignitas (6.4) precedes that of her
daughter-in-law Venus. Juno's use of mulier is consistent with her
august stature when relating to an inferior.
The differences between mulier and femina are further illustrated
when Lucius first encounters his foster aunt, Byrrhaena. Ignorant of her
identity, Lucius describes her as mulier quipiam, attended by a large
retinue; the words aurum in gemmis et tunicis, ibi inflexum, hie intextum
reveal her to be a wealthy matrona. However, when Byrrhaenademands
to know the reason for Lucius' silence, he answers: "Vereor ... ignotae
mihifeminae!" (2.2). Adams sees this to be a neutral instance of femina, 92
but the term's application is much more complex. On the surface, it is
an expression of polite address to one of obviously high station: indeed,
we are told later that B yrrhaena is a primas femina (2.19). The lady may
be ignota and Lucius might think of her as a mulier, but nevertheless, to
her face he calls her afemina, as he himself was addressed as vir by the
stranger at the inn. There is, however, a more serious reason for polite
address. Lucius has just heard a hair-raising tale about strange women
who are witches. The aforementioned stranger had related the story of

17 V. supra, chapter one, n. 32.

88 Winkler (supra, n. 54) 90.
89 Adams (supra, n. 18) 238.
90 Tatum, "The tales in Apuleius' Metamorphoses," TAPA 100 (1969) 509.
9 ' OLD (supra, n. 22) s.v. foedus.
92 Adams (supra, n. 18) 239.
 PETRONIUS AND APULEIUS 191

the anus Meroe, whom he described as a mulier, a potens ... regina

caupona (1.8), and a mulier whose chief attribute is saeva crudelitas
(1.14). Meroe is a saga, as capable of snuffing out the starlight as she is
of transmogrifying unfaithful lovers into beavers ( 1.8; 9). When, in the
fabula, Aristomenes refers to her as a scortum scorteum (in Scobie's
words, a "stringy strumpet"), 93 his companion Socrates (upon whom
Meroe later performs open-heart surgery) becomes extremely flustered.
Circumspiciens tutamenta sermonis, he warns: "Tace! Tace! ... Parce .. .in
feminam divinam! Ne quam tibi lingua intemperante noxam contrahas!"
(1.8).
Femina in this instance is not only the polite term but it is also an
euphemism for what Meroe really is (1.8):
Saga, inquit, et divina potens caelum deponere, terram suspendere, fontes
durare, montes diluere, manes sublimare, deos infimare, sidera extinguere,
Tartarum ipsum illuminare.

Saga-wise woman-itself is euphemistic. 94 In ancient times as well as

in the middle ages, complimentary names were substituted for those that
might annoy maleficent forces, in order to ward off evil. 95 Thus were the
Furies renamed Eumenides by the Greeks, and in later centuries, were
witches dubbed "good dames". 96 By calling Meroe afemina, Socrates is
"speaking well" of her. The fact that his apotropaic formula does not
work is irrelevant and only emphasizes the saga's potency. There are
also very probably euphemistic implications in Lucius' statement:" Vereor
ignotae mihifeminae!" Apuleius' hero is fascinated with magic as well
as being extremely credulous. He has only just heard of the horrific
Meroe upon his entry into Thessalian Hypata, the habitat of witches. 97 He
is therefore wary of strange women. The Meroe story serves as a
harbinger for later events, and elements of such prognostications are
repeated throughout the story. 98
J.N. Adams maintains thatfemina had become debased "in the hands
of Apuleius", who used it repeatedly "with uncomplimentary adjectives
and without any implication that the woman in question belongs to the

93 Scobie (supra, n. 62) 97.

94 According to Cicero, the verb sagire derives from sentire acute, Div. 1.31.65; E.E.
Burris, "The terminology of witchcraft," CP 31 (1936) 128. By transferrence, a saga is one
who senses things before they happen; cf. E. Massonneau, La magie dans I' anti quite romaine
(Paris, 1934) 5 I.
95 E. Clodd, Magic in Names (London, 1920) 88.
96 Ibid. 238.
97 Tatum (supra, n. 90) 522.

98 Scobie (supra, n. 62) 100.

192 THE LETTER, THE BIOGRAPHY, AND THE NOVEL

upper class." 99 Adams refers in particular to a series of adulterous

murderous women 100 for whom Apuleius employs femina with pejora-
tive adjectives. These include the baker's wife of whom Lucius fumes
nee enim vet unum vitium nequissimae illi feminae deerat (9.14), and
seethes over the pessimae feminae f[agitia (9.15); 101 the "Phaedra"
noverca, whom he denounces as dira illafemina (10.5), and whose son
he decries as a proprius pessimae feminae filius (lb.); and a condemned
poisoner, whom he brands a truculenta femina (10.26) as well as a
scelesta pollutaque femina ( 10.34). 102
Issue must be taken with Adams' assessment. The word "debase-
ment" implies indiscriminate choice of words. It furthermore does not
allow for the variations in speech that the author employed. Tatum notes
the care with which Apuleius chose his words, and remarks that the
author took it for granted that his readers would absorb both the
"substance of his prose" and its "wording and style. " 103
Adams, furthermore, omits to mention that Lucius has expressed his
disdain for these women with the customary rhetoric, using mulier with
pejoratives. 104 For instance, Lucius introduces the baker's wife as ta/is
illa mulier (9.15); he later spies on her to observe cunctas facinerosae
mulieris artes (9.22), and the outraged ass relates how the procax et
temeraria mulier hypocritically denounces the fuller's wife as illam
perfidam, illam impudicam, who has fouled her connubial nest
lupinari ... infamia (9.26). Lucius contrives to upset the former' s applecart-
or rather her tub--in order to reveal to the cuckolded baker the scaenam
propudiosae mulieris (9.27). Similarly Lucius deplores the noverca as
mulier ilia, whose heart Bacchatus Amor renders vesanum (10.2), and he

99 Adams (supra, n. 18) 238.

100 Apuleius' women seem to have stepped out of a Ciceronian nightmare: practitioners
of nocturnal religion, purveyors of witchcraft, murder by poison and carnal luxury, the
mulieres of the Metamorphoses are personifications of Cicero's vituperation. Their insatia-
ble appetites not only make an ass out of man, but also embroil him in endless trouble.
Clearly, physical love must be set aside in the Platonic manner and exchanged for worship
ofa universal feminine, Isis Regina. Walsh (supra, n.1) 142; Brotherton, (supra, n. 83) 41;
cf. van der Paardt, who believes that the work may be interpreted on many levels, an
important one being symbolism (supra n. 34) 7. Winkler sees the tales of adultery to be a
theme and variations (supra, n. 54) 15-16.
101 Adams (supra, n. 18) 238.
102 Adams only quotes the Latin; the identifications are the words of the author of this

study. Tatum considers the noverca a stock character of the Phaedra type (supra, n.26) 521.
103 Tatum (supra, n. 26) 136. "Every page of the Golden Ass is a mosaic that sparkles with

glittering metaphors, archaisms, and newly coined words; with phrases that scan and rhyme
like verse ... " (lb.) 522.
104 Adams (supra, n. 18) 238.
 PETRONIUS AND APULEIUS 193

dips into a vat of vintage Ciceronian vitriol for the epithets with which
he excoriates the condemned woman, who must copulate with him (as
an ass) in the arena before being thrown to the beasts. Repeatedly called
a mulier, 105 the hussy is, more specifically, audax ilia mulier ( 10.26),
truculenta mulier (10.26), and crudelissima mulier (10.28). Further-
more, Lucius agonizes lest the scelerosae mulieris contagio pollute him
(10.29).
Why then does Apuleius interlard his stories with femina plus pejo-
rative adjectives? 106 To attempt a hypothesis, it is necessary to return to
an earlier episode where Apuleius uses femina with a laudatory super-
lative adjective. Lucius, in his human form, has just walked into Milo's
kitchen where the lovely silken-tressed Photis is fluttering over a pot of
stew, prompting the youth to wax eloquent upon the subject of hair
eximiae pulcherrimaeque feminae which, he says, must never be cut
(2.8). Photis is, as Scobie puts it, the Sorceress' apprentice, 107 and Lucius
enlists her to help him gain Pamphile's secret for flying. She provides
him with ajar of the maga's magic ointment which he proceeds to smear
all over his body. Unfortunately, Photis forgot to read the label, and, as
Lucius sprouts ears, tail, and all the other accoutrements of a four-footed
ass, he feels betrayed (3.26):
Diu denique ac multum mecum ipse deliberavi an nequissimam
facinerosissimamque illam feminam illam spissis calcibus feriens et mordicus
appetens necare deberem.

Lucius has just been precipitated into an ambivalent nightmare world

where no-one and nothing can be trusted. Everything is topsy-turvy. 108
As Tatum remarks, "nothing that is said, even by the narrator, can be
taken at face value": 109 Lucius' sermo in particular is subject to semantic
change and parody .110 In such a distorted milieu, even the feminae, who
are eternally optimae and sanctissimae, have suddenly become pessimae

105 10.26 (bis); 27; 28; 29; 34 (bis).

106 Adams is mistaken when he writes that there is no indication that the women come
from the upper class (supra, n. 18) 238. The condemned woman is a /ocuplesfemina (10.27);
her late husband spent his money liberalissime (10.23); "Phaedra's" husband is dominus of
a large estate (10.2); the Baker is dominus of a plantation equipped with both domestic and
field-slaves, work-animals and gear, all of which are sold at auction after his death (9.3 I).
He and his wife are friends of the decurion, Barbarus and his wife, the matrona nobi/is Arete
(9.17; 18). Since provincial birth in Apuleius' day was an asset, rather than a liability, they
represent solid municipal "respectability".
107 A. Scobie, Aspects of the Ancient Romance and its Heritage (Meisenheim an Gian,

1969) 57.
10• Tatum (supra, n. 26) 34.
109 Ibid., 21.
110 Tatum, "Apuleius and metamorphosis," Al Phil 93 (1972) 309.
194 THE LETTER, THE BIOGRAPHY, AND THE NOVEL

and nequissimae. It is only after Lucius' metamorphosis that he begins

to assess the character of others. 111 In his animal form, he can see human
beings as they really are. It is as if the word femina itself has been
metamorphosized and the truth behind the empty rhetoric of laudatory
superlatives has been disclosed. As Scobie notes, Apuleius' language is
"deliberately unusual"; 112 besides revelling in alliteration, assonance
and metrics, 113 he repeatedly indulges in oxymora, such as regina
caupona. 114 In light of common Latin rhetorical usage, pessima femina
and related expressions may be viewed as oxymoric.
Tatum notes Apuleius' passion for rhyming adjectives, 115 and cites a
series of these, including nequissimae illi feminae, used to characterize
the baker's wife. It should be noted that Apuleius (in the "persona" of
Lucius the Ass) persistently applies/emina with pejoratives in the dative
or genitive singular: nequissimae illi feminae (9.14); perditae feminae
(9.23); deterrimae feminae (9.26); pessimae feminae (10.5); scelestae
pollutaequefeminae (10.34 ); truculentaefeminae (10.26). The feminine
genitive or dative singular endows each of these expressions with an
uneven, almost sing-song effect. Tatum has demonstrated how Apuleius
portrays Lucius-the-donkey's lurching gait in a "monotonous clippety
clop of dactyls and rhymes of 0." 116 The cretics of pessimaefeminae or
the bacchic/trochees of scelestae pollutaeque feminae and related ex-
pressions with their aye-ee-aye sounds, which Lucius reserves for
women with whom he is infuriated, give the impression of a donkey's
bellowing (One can almost picture him laying back his shaggy ears and
baring his teeth.). It is perhaps significant that each of the women in
question is an adulteress/poisoner, a type that was almost synonymous
with witch in the ancient world. 117 Far from showing semantic degenera-
tion,femina with pejoratives gives further evidence of Apuleius' subtle
use of the language: in the mouth of the quadruped Lucius, it might
represent nothing more than an apotropaic asinine bray!
Apuleius is obsessed with magic. He is a Roman Prospero whose
rough enchantments are bent upon beguiling, until he abjures his charms
and they melt into thin air, revealing the true light of Isis to his lectors: 118

111 Scobie (supra, n. 107) 68.

112 Scobie (supra, n. 62) 25.
113 lbid., 21-25.
11 • Ibid., 81.
115 Tatum (supra, n. 26) 151-2.
116 /bid., 150.
117 Massoneau (supra, n. 94) 52-53.
118 Wm. Shakespeare, The Tempest, Acl V, scene I.
 PETRONJUS AND APULEIUS 195

And as the morning steals upon the night,

Melting the darkness, so their rising senses
Begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle
Their clearer reason.

Apuleius' sorcery goes beyond sheer narrative; like the poet whose
verses are quoted above, who used the Roman's work as inspiration to
transform another fool into an ass, 119 Apuleius' very words are imple-
ments of illusion which themselves contribute to the evanescent nature
of the work.
It is a mistake to think in terms of linguistical degeneration in the case
of Apuleius. 120 Such an estimation implies careless, thoughtless, or
random utilization of vocabulary, and, as Tatum and others have dem-
onstrated, every word written by Apuleius was carefully calculated for
nuance and significance. "Degeneration" does not comply with Adams'
own observation on the persistence of the upper class and aristocratic
overtones that adhered to f emina for some fifteen centuries. 121 Assump-
tions of disintegration seem to be based upon notions of "decline and
fall" or "golden and silver" Latin, and imply that Apuleius, because of
the times in which he lived, was in consequence an inferior rhetorician,
whose written prose reflected his even less discriminating reading
public-none of whom knew the difference between the terms mulier
andfemina. Apuleian scholarship stresses the author's meticulous use of
language. 122 Furthermore, Apuleius' repeated employment of mulier
with Ciceronian pejoratives for the women he calls pessimae, nequissimae
and scelestae feminae proves that he was well aware of traditional
invective. The singular usage offemina with pejoratives calls for another
explanation: that Apuleius was striving for special effect. Just because
gender terms were generally employed within a conventional framework
does not mean that one could not expand those customary limits. Cicero
was able to do this by turningfemina into an insult for Clodia (Cael. 63),
and vir fortis ac strenuus into contumely against Fufius (Phil. 8.11). But
whereas the Republican orator utilized positive adjectives and relied
upon a sarcastic context, Apuleius has resorted to the device that Tacitus
used, of applyingfemina with pejorative adjectives when called for. 123
Degeneration is not even considered in the case of Tacitus.

119 Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream; G.& B. Lloyd Evans, Everyman' s Compan-

ion to Shakespeare (London, 1978) 239.

120 As Adams does (supra, n. 18) 238.
121 Ibid., 235-236.
122 v. supra, p. 188; cf. Walsh (supra, n. 1) 141.
123 v. supra, chapter seven.
196 THE LETTER, THE BIOGRAPHY, AND THE NOVEL

As Walsh reminds us: 124

[Apuleius was an] indefatigable traveller, precocious litterateur, popular
philosopher interpreting Plato for Roman readers, professional advocate as
the polish of his Apology demonstrates ... [,] a non-political Cicero in the
changed conditions of second-century western society.

Moreover, he was a "darling of the Roman Establishment", whose

narrative reveals an ambivalent "tension between Milesian ribaldry and
Platonist mysticism" as well as religious syncretism. 125 Apuleius' trans-
formation of femina in certain cases may be bizarre, but then, it is no
more so than the story of Lucius, a young man smitten with a pulcherrima
femina and, consequently, transformed into an ass.

124 Walsh (supra, n. 1) 141.

125 Ibid. 142-143.
 CONCLUSION

Cicero's speeches best illustrate the rhetorical use of gender epithets.

Viri clarissimi and virifortissimi-paragons of the Senate and bulwarks
of the Republic-abound in them, as do viri praestantissimi and other
exemplars of the Roman oligarchy. Likewise, feminae clarissimae and
feminae primariae materialize occasionally, if not as appendages of one
of the above viri, then as friendly witnesses, or as victims of villains such
as Verres, Clodius, or Antony, against whom the orator may currently be
fulminating.
Homines and mulieres also get Cicero's attention. When the words
are not used in their general or biological sense, they are applied in a
positive but patronizing manner-often with the modifiers splendidi or
nobiles-to the cream of municipal society or to the brighter (but not
brilliant) lights of those realms beyond the confines of Italy. Cicero also
employs homines to denote persons uninvolved in public life, such as
privati, or learned authorities, who may be sapientissimi or prudentissimi.
Although such expressions, including homo moderatus or homo frugi,
may be used in a positive sense, the belittling remarks that often follow
epithets of this nature, prove that Cicero can employ them as a form of
mild invective. Homo frugi, in fact, is utilized in a letter to Atticus as an
epithet of condescending praise for the freedman Dionysius upon whom
Cicero also bestows a grudging compliment: "Sit igitur sane bonus vir!".
Since homo and mulier are traditionally applied to members of the
lower classes, including slaves and freedmen, when used with pejorative
adjectives, they become ideal instruments with which to degrade a
member of the aristocracy, who would normally be termed a vir or a
femina. This hypothesis is tested by the numerous pejorative adjectives
used only with homo and mulier, and by the many positive modifiers
employed solely with vir and femina. Ciceronian vituperation, in fact,
reveals a plenitude of homines audacissimi, sceleratissimi and nequissimi.
Epithets such as these are utilized persistently in the invective against
Cicero's most unrelenting enemies, either in the courtroom, as with
Verres, or in the Senate, as with Clodius, Piso, and Antony. Although the
distaff side is less well represented, several women-namely Clodia and
Sassia in the courtroom, and Fulvia in the political arena-are subjected
to Cicero's most virulent verbal abuse. Defamatory epithets such as
mulier audax, mulier amens, and mulier crudelissima-employed with
198 CONCLUSION

a large dose of "Bacchanalian" rhetoric-vilify the name of Cluentius'

mother Sassia; denigrating appellations such as mulier proterva, mulier
procax, and mulier potens quadrantaria-all steeped in sexual innu-
endo-stain the reputation of Clodia, the sister of Cicero's mortal
inimicus Clodius; and, similarly the slanderous epithet mulier avarissima
tarnishes the character of Fulvia, Antony's current wife, and character-
izes her as a gold-digger. Likewise, a number of Sicilian women, such
as Pipa, a libidinosissima mulier, and Tertia, a mulier deterrima, are
given similar treatment in order to demonstrate Verres' guilt by associa-
tion. Both homo and mulier, even when used without modifiers, can also
convey negative nuances, because of repeated usage in pejorative
epithets.
Ciceronian oratory cast a long shadow over the gender terminology
employed in Latin prose. Since oratory was the cornerstone of Roman
education, and historians were trained in rhetoric, the rhetorical uses of
gender epithets are also apparent in Roman historiography. Cicero's
contemporary, Sallust, for instance, reflects the orator's usage. The
historian often employs his terms, however, from an opposite perspec-
tive: a person who is a vir with positive adjectives in Cicero's speeches
may be represented as a homo with pejorative modifiers in Sallust's
narrative, and conversely, a Ciceronian homo may be transformed into
a Sallustian vir.
The political changes brought about by the transition from Republic
to Empire had little effect upon the gender terms used in contemporary
prose. Perhaps due to Augustus' emphasis upon moral reform, vir and
femina retain their overtones of virtues traditionally associated with the
aristocratic values of the Republic. This is illustrated by the iteration of
vir with adjectives that had their origins in factional politics, such as
bonus and optimus, used by Livy, Velleius and Pliny as well as Apuleius.
One notes a similar phenomenon withfemina, employed with adjectives
of politically oriented praise such as optima and sanctissima in contexts
of matronly pudicitia, examples of which are seen in the writings of
Petronius, Pliny and Apuleius.
Because of their dichotomous connotations, gender epithets served a
particularly useful purpose for Livy, whose history of Rome is based
upon a series of moral episodes, and whose characters serve as exempla
to illustrate the inherent virtues and vices of oligarchical society. The
historical idiom, moreover, allowed the author of Ab Urbe Condita to
work within a broader framework than that allotted by the political
speech or the courtroom summation. Livy reflects Cicero's usage by
 CONCLUSION 199

applying vir and femina to persons of status, as well as to those whom

he deems to be acting in a morally acceptable manner, in particular,
persons loyal to the Republic. Whereas the historian, like the orator, does
use homo and mulier for those who are behaving reprehensibly, he
sometimes retains the aristocratic terms vir andfemina and employs the
adjective muliebris to condemn bad comportment among the upper
classes, a device also used by Tacitus. In addition, Livy has broached the
topic of the "noble savage" vir and femina, who serve as exempla of
pristine virtues, a topos to be exploited fully by Tacitus in Germania.
The demise of the Roman Republic and the advent of the Empire
brought an end to factional politics. Consequently Ciceronian anti-
tribunician rhetoric with its transparently political gender epithets be-
came largely a thing of the past. Thus tribunes of the plebs, who in
Cicero's speeches were usually homines audaces, facinerosi, etc., in
Livy's history, become viri impigri, strenui, or acres. The historian,
unlike the orator, has no need to defame them. A change can likewise be
seen in the epithets used by Velleius Paterculus. Although he employs
vir and femina traditionally to indicate the important personages who
shaped Roman history, all of whom may be placed in the upper echelons
of society, he reserves homo with pejoratives in the traditional Ciceronian
fashion for only Clodius and Curio, and for those odious individuals
deemed to have excelled in trangressions against the Imperial family:
Aemilius Lepidus and M. Lollius. Velleius, like Livy and later Tacitus,
makes use of the "noble savage" theme. As Livy used vir to magnify the
stature of the Carthaginians Hannibal and Hasdrubal in order to drama-
tize the victories of Marcellus and Scipio, so Velleius employs vir to
amplify the military prowess of the German Maroboduus in order to
heighten the triumph of Tiberius. Velleius' repeated use of vir in
apposition to a character's name thereby imbues his compendium of
Roman history with the pungent essence of panegyric.
The Flavian era brought a recrudescence of Ciceronian rhetoric.
Consequently, a revival of epithets as used by the Republican orator is
evident in the letters of Pliny, the biographies of Suetonius, and in the
early works of Tacitus, which reflect Livian elements as well. Vir and
femina preserve their aristocratic moral nuances, and are employed by
Tacitus and Suetonius especially to emphasize Julio-Claudian oppres-
sion of the aristocracy.
It is in the Annales that Tacitus reaches beyond what have become
stale gender epithets. Since he is primarily concerned with viri and
feminae of the nobility, he refrains from employing homo pejoratively;
200 CONCLUSION

likewise, he uses mulier in pejorative contexts only for rare effect.

Tacitus prefers the Livian device of branding the nobility's bad behav-
iour as muliebris. Nevertheless, the historian does use mulier in a
pejorative context for several women who are exempla of impudicitia.
Mulier is a key-word of innuendo for Poppaea, Pontia, Satria Galla, and
the younger Agrippina; it therefore indicates Tacitus' opinion in no
uncertain terms. Conversely ,femina expresses Tacitean approval for the
bravery of the freedwoman Epicharis. Rare use renders the device
particularly effective. By verbal and linguistical artistry, Tacitus has
broken the Ciceronian tradition. Because they are skillfully woven into
the narrative, Tacitus' gender terms are no longer trite labels; rather the
words mulier andfemina have become integral components of charac-
terization.
Both oratorical and historiographical traditions are evident in the
gender terms used by the novelists, Petronius and Apuleius. Petronius,
who confines the word vir (in its sense of 'man') to Trimalchio in order
to illustrate his ostentation, uses homo and mulier with traditional
Ciceronian pejoratives, and employs femina to illustrate the notable
pudicitia-as long as it lasts-of the Widow of Ephesus. Apuleius, who
was particularly adept in Ciceronian oratory, likewise uses terms remi-
niscent of his Republican predecessor. Furthermore, despite the highly
unusual nature of his prose, said to mirror his theme of metamorphoses,
Apuleius' gender terms, thanks to the static nature of Roman oratory,
reflect traditional social and moral implications, and demonstrate little
change from Cicero's era. The novelist, however, in his own way, is as
artful with his epithets as was Tacitus, sometimes employingfemina as
a trope to illustrate the exact opposite of its conventional connotations.
Since Apuleius demonstrates that he is very much at home using mulier
with choice Ciceronian pejoratives, his employment of femina with
negative modifiers, of adulterous poisoners, is done for special effect, in
keeping with the protagonist's upside-down world where even/eminae-
traditionally sanctissimae-are nequissimae.
Throughout Latin prose vir and femina continue to be employed in
apposition to laudatory adjectives such as clarissimus/a and inlustris, to
signify members of the senatorial order. 1 Such epithets often seem
insincere in Cicero's speeches, as if they constituted quasi-arbitrary

1 Other laudatory adjectives used exclusively for the aristocracy include consularis,

insignis, praec/arus/a, praestantissimus/a, and primariusla, and primoris.

 CONCLUSION 201

titles, particularly when applied to magistrates. 2 The persistence of

traditional aristocratic moral themes is demonstrated in epigraphy, on
inscriptions such as that of Fl. Merobaudius, a member of the sacred
consistorium in 435 A.D., noted to have been aeque fortis et doctus vir,
as well as vir antiquae nobilitatis, novae gloriae (C/L 6.1724); well-
worn topoi are also evident in the commemoration of the magisterial
career of Vettius Agorius Praetextatus, which refers to the Republic as
if it were still in operation, lauding time-worn republican decorum;
noting that the nomen viri Agori is decus (Cll 6.1779). Accustomed
ideals of matronly fruitfulness are seen in the tombstone of Fabia
Fuscinilla, clarissima et omnium virtutum fecundissima femina, who,
though she had not yet completed her 24th year, was, nevertheless, noted
to have been univira (Cll 6.31711); and chastity and fidelity remain
salient aristocratic virtues when Caecilius Candidianus, V.P. (vir
praestantissimus) remembers Aurelia lusta, C.M.F. (clarissimae memoriae
femina) with whom he lived 31 years, as unici exempli adque (sic)
egregiae castitatis femina (C/L 6.31955), demonstrating that the tomb-
stone rhetoric-mocked by Petronius in his presentation of the wayward
Widow of Ephesus, singularis exemplifemina (Sat. 111), and parodied
by Apuleius in his one-dimensional portrait of the syrupy Plotina, rarae
fidei atque singularis pudicitiae femina (Met. 7.6)-had not changed. 3
The humble connotations of homo and mulier, as found in Latin prose,
are mirrored in the epigraphy of the city of Rome, revealing that almost
all sepulchral inscriptions employing homo as an epithet belong to

2 Emptiness of the terms is reflected in epigraphy, where c/arissimus and inlustris vir

become titles, sine qua non, in post-Diocletianic Rome; their perfunctory nature is indicated
by abridgement to V.C and /NL. V., initials customarily appended to the names of urban
prefects and consuls. E.g., C/L 6.1664: SIMULACRUM MINERBAE/ ABOLENDO
INCENDIO/ TUMUL TUS CIVILIS IGNI/ TECTO CA DENTE CONFRACTUM/ AN ICIUS
ACILIUS AGINATIUS/ FAUSTUS VC *ET* !NL.* PRAEF * URBI/ VIC* SAC* IUD
* IN MELIUS/ INTEGRO PROVISO PRO/ BEATITUDINE. TEMPORIS. RESTITUIT.
Almost every inscription cited for post-Diocletianic magistrates uses V.C. or /NL. V.: Cll 6,
pp. 356-405. C/arissimafemina is also abbreviated to C.F. upon tombstones of women of
thesenatorialorderafterDiocletian.e.g.C/l6 1• 1458; 1461; 1469; 1470; 1478; 1519; 1525;
1536. The sterility of V.C. and C.F. is further illustrated by the fact that gender terms upon
Roman tombstones progressively become more elaborate and baroque, especially as the
names of the deceased become more foreign: e.g., an epitaph of the daughter of Narses, vir
excellentissimus Patricius (Cll 6. 32021); and a commemorative inscription of that gener-
al's victory over the Goths in 565 A.O., where he is termed vir gloriosissimus (Cll 6.1199),
a title that has come a long way from the vir fortissimus of Cicero's day. One sees a similar
taste for the elaborate in the title honorificafemina, itself abbreviated to H.F. on the statue
base of a priestess of Dea Virgo Caelestis (praestantissimum numen of Mons Tarpeius) ( Cll
6.37170).
3 On a tombstone of 395 A.D. Hermogenianus Ulybrius, V.C. and consul ordinarius,

recalls Anicia Faltonia as an inlustrissima et sanctissima castissima femina (6.1756).

202 CONCLUSION

members of the lower orders, particularly slaves and freedmen. 4 And the
same is true of those that employ mulier in apposition. 5 Significantly,
homo becomes synonymous with vassal in Mediaeval Latin, in which the
word denoting the homage or fealty due to a feudal lord is hominium. 6
It is important to distinguish between gender terms in the interests of
clarity. An example is Livy's statement upon fetial law, where the priest
enters enemy territory and delivers his ultimatum to the first vir he meets
(1.32.8); or Suetonius' explanation of Augustus' sanctions against
feminae at the amphitheatre (Aug. 44).
A clear understanding of the rhetorical applications of gender terms
grants insight into an author's intentions or bias. This is illustrated in
Cicero's use of vir orfemina as instruments of flattery; or of the former
noun to characterize tribunes and others whom he deems to be favour-
ably disposed towards him and his cause. He furthermore employs

4 Evidence is drawn from inscriptions found in the city of Rome: CIL 6: 8467: T. Fl. Aug.

lib. Epagathus. the vir (husband) of Aelia Plusia was a homo optimus et indulgentissimus;
9384: Sex. Cornelius Vitalio, exonerator ca/carius, was a homo dulcissimus; 9545: G.
Ateilius Serrani I. Euhodus, margaritarius, was a homo bonus; 9989: the domina of
Sabinianus, a vilicus, honours him as a homo bonus; 13109: L. Aurelius Fortunatus, a
nectarius: homo dignissimus; 14799: C. Cicereius Secundus I. is a homo infelicissimus who
misses hispuel/a; 14487: Cassius: homo bonus; 14978: Ti. Claudius Aug. I. Coeranus: homo
sanctus; 14887: Claudius: homo optimus; 15298: Ti. Clau. Trophimus, homo optimus was
the conlibertus of Ti. Claudius Calocaerus, homo dulcissimus; 17104: An unnamed domina,
Egnatia, commemorates Q. Egnatius:>.l. Pollio: Qui se hominem meminit securo pectore
vivat. Nam meus libertusl hie iacet in tumulo; 17308: Eucarus was a homo optimus, whose
single name suggests servile origins: H. Thy lander, Etude sur I' epigraphie /atine (Lund,
1952) 57; 22659: C. Munatius Eustomus commemorates C. Munatius Felix, his conlibertus,
as a homo optimus; 22747: Onesimus: homo optimus; 26044: L.l. Scurra: homo -ssimus;
27448: Titedia remembers her coniunx L. Titedius Fortunatianus as homo rarae innocentiae.
The husband and wife have the same nomen, revealing them to be conliberti from the same
slave family: L.R. Taylor, "Freedmen and freeborn in the epitaphs of imperial Rome," AJP
92.2 (1961) 123. The following four epitaphs are of probable servile origin: 13112: Aur.
Gelasius, a ten-month old baby: homo innocentissimus; 15231: Flavia Primitiva recalls
Ti.Claudius Proclus as a homo bonus; 23890: Vibia Sabina remembers C. Pedus Iunianus as
a homo probissimus. There is only one inscription employing homo which commemorates
a demonstrably freeborn person: 6.28422: C. Veius T.f. Mai: homo frugi.
5 The following inscriptions from CIL 6 use mulier in apposition: 13084: Aur. Augg. lib.

Epictetus remembers his mother Valeria Capitolina as dulcissima mulier et incomparabilis;

20395: Iulius Callimorphus calls his uxor Iulia Beronice mulier incomparabilis, which he
enhances with rarissimafemina; 35037: A. Cornelius Pumidius Magnus honours his nutrix,
Pumidia Attica, as mulier optima; 37811a: Procula, ornatrix of Magna Julia: mulier
incomparabilis; 38645: Mummia: mulier miserrima. The following inscriptions use mulier
as wife and also demonstrate servile orgins: 4776: Julia Bolae I. Glycera, Dardani Ti.
Caesaris Aug. et Augustae ser. Archeliani, mu/ier; 19269: Chaereas recalls Helvia Civitas
as his mulier fidelissima; 19448: T. Heterenus T.l. Hospes set up an inscription for Lezbia,
mulier sua; 28687: M. Vettius M.l. Surus made one for Vettia M.l. Callistene, mulier mea;
33195: L. Flavius L.1. Hilaris recalls Tryphaena, mulier sua.
6 K. Strecker, Einfuhrung in das Mittel/atein, tr. & rev. by R.B. Palmer (Berlin, 1957)

51.
 CONCLUSION 203

femina in contexts intended to elicit the sympathy of the senator or juror.

Conversely, one must recognize the full pejorative potential of homo
and mulier, used with negative adjectives never applied to vir and
femina-particularly when the terms are administered with a dose of
Bacchanalian rhetoric. Acknowledgment and appreciation of bacchic
themes reveals the strategic use and the questionable accuracy of the
terms when used in conjunction with characterizations of persons such
as Cicero's Sassia, Clodia and Ciodius, and Tacitus' Agrippina and
Poppaea.
There are no written rules for the use of gender terms. Cicero offers
no insight in his rhetorical treatises on how to upgrade one's clients-at-
the-bar or laud one's political amici with vir plus chosen laudatory
adjectives (orfemina in the case of said clients' or politicians' wives and
female members of the family); nor does he present any handy hints on
how to demolish witnesses for the opposition or to annhilate one's
political enemies by application of homo or mulier plus selected pejora-
tive modifiers. Likewise, one searches the works of Quintilian in vain for
relevant information on the subject. 7
This absence of explicit rules suggests that the positive overtones of
vir andfemina and the negative nuances of homo and mulier were taken
for granted in oratory; that since vir and femina were words that
pertained to the aristocracy, they were naturally imbued with overtones
of moral excellence; and that since homo and mu lier were appropriate to
the servile and foreign elements of society, the words were consequently
steeped in degradation. Despite the silence of the sources on the subject,
the persistent use of vir and femina with laudatory modifiers, and the
employment of homo and mulier with adjectives of abuse, strongly
indicates that such usage was indeed implicit in the language and may
well have been tacitly understood to be part of the arcana of the effective
orator.
We would do well to consider fully the many connotations of
masculine and feminine terminology in our interpretive readings of
Latin prose. These gender terms imply clear demarcations according to
social class as well as moral quality; they are used, often in the context
of stock rhetorical topoi, as epithets or devices of emphasis, not only in
oratory but also in the prose of the late Republic and early Empire.

7 The closest Quintilian comes to the subject is with an enigmatic sentence that is long

on nouns and short on copulae: Quando homo hos tis homo, which could be rendered: Quando
homo est hostis, hostis est homo (Inst. Oral 9.3.67). Quintilian presents this as a form of
geminatio, by which a word, repeated the second time, talces on additional emphasis.
204 CONCLUSION

Whether gender epithets are employed with the obviousness of Cicero

and Suetonius, or with the subtlety of Tacitus and Apuleius, they are
always replete with significance.
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 INDEX

Adams, J.N., 5, 34, 38, 78, 94, 124, 181, carpentum,and privileges granted to Tanaquil,
190, 191-92, 195 Agrippina and Messalina, 133, n. 48
Alfonsi, L., 104 [Cicero] Ad C. Herennium de ratione dicendi,
androphron gyne, 87, 116 41-42, n. 36; trans/atio criminis, 43-44
Apuleius-Metamorphoses, 172; 184-196 Cicero, 1, 3, 9-46, 47, 49, 50, 53, 54-55, 56,
characters: Aristomenes, 186-187, 191; 57,58,59,60,62,63,65,66,68, 74, 75,
Bacchatus Amor, 192; Baker's Wife, 80,83,85,86,98,99, 101,102,107,108,
192, 194; Byrrhaena, 190; Ceres, 190; 120, 121, 139, 140, 147, 148, 149, 150,
Charite, 189; Chryseros, 185; 151, 153, 156, 157, 158, 164, 168, 171,
Demochares, 187; Haemus, 186, 189; 173, 174, 184, 185, 196, 197-198, 199,
Juno, 190; Lamachus, 185-86; Lucius, 200,202,203,204
187,189,190,191,192, 193-94; Meroe, Catilinarian Conspiracy, 14, 22, 25, 26
190-91; Milo, 184,187,193; Pamphile, Cicero's downfall, equated with funeral
184,193; "Phaedra" noverca, 192,194; of Roman Republic, 15
Photis, 184, 193;condemnedpoisoner, men: consulars: Aemilius Scaurus, 49,
192-93, 194; priests of the Syrian God- 59; Caecilius Metellus Celer, 44;
dess, 187; priest of Isis, 187; Psyche, Caecilius Metellus Pius, 12, 18;
189-90; robbers, 185-86; Sobriety, 190; Calpurnius Bestia, 49, 59; Calpurnius
Socrates, 186, 191; Venus, 190; Bibulus, 12; Appius Claudius' Ghost,
Thrasyllus, I 89 45; Claudius Marcellus, 33, 38;
Homer, 187 Claudius Pulcher, Ap., 19; Cornelius
Isis, cult of, 187, 194-95 Sulla, 13; Domitius Ahenobarbus, 34,
magic, 191, 193 39; Hortensius, 12, 25; 157, n. 49;
rhetoric: bacchanalian, 185, 189; blan- Julius Caesar, G., 13, 20; Julius Cae-
dishments, 185, 189; Ciceronian rheto- sar, L., 14, 35; Licinius Crassus, M.,
ric, 184-85, 193; euphemisms, 190- 12, 34; LiciniusCrassus, P., 12; Licinius
91;/emina with pejorative adjectives, Murena, 13; Marcius Philippus, 38;
192-94; historia, language of, 189; Pompey, 12-13, 21; Servilius Isauricus,
mulier with pejorative adjectives, 193; 15
regina caupona, 194; rhyming adjec- enemies, political or courtroom:
tives, 194; scortum scorteum, 191; Antony, 9, 10, 17, 22, 25, 26, 27,
vaticinata mulier, 189; vecors, 185; 37-38, 40, 41; Calpurnius Piso
vesanus, 185;vir strenuus, 186; virtus, Caesoninus, 20, 25, 26, 27; Clodius,
parody on, 185-86 15, 21, 22, 23-25, 26, 27, 107,
"Tale of the Tub", 186 Bona Dea scandal, 23-24, 36, in-
witches, 190-91, 193, 194 cest with Clodia, 23,
women, 188-96 effeminatisation of Clodius, 24;
audax, 22 Gabinius, 19, 26, amatorof Catiline,
audience, determines orator's choice of gender 23; Sergius Catilina, 22, 23, 25;
terms, 25, 54-55 Vatinius, 34; Verres, 19, 25-26,
Aventine Hill, 92 37, 38-40
Axelson, B., 4, 101 foreigners: bias against, 20, 36;
Albucius, Graecus homo, 20;
Bacchanalian Conspiracy, 90-93, 95-98 Brogitarus, 20; Cleophantus, 20;
bacchantes, 90-93 Deiotarus, 20; Duris of Samos, 20;
Balsdon, J.P.V.D, 82, 91, 176 Gaditani, 20; Galli, 20; Graeci,
Baldwin, B., 166 20; Idutiomarus, 36; Scato, 20;
blandiens, 189 Themistocles, 20; Semiplacentius,
blandimenta, 44, 138, 141 20; Siculi, 20;
blanditiae, 21, 82, 83, 88, 89, 185 freedmen: Cossinius Anchialus, 16;
Buechner, K., 53, 59 Fadius, 17; Mallius Glaucia, 17;
210 INDEX

Phania, 16; Tullius Dionysius, 17- sane/us et diligens, used as trope,

18 19; sceleratus, 26; seditiosissimus,
learned authorities: Manlius Tor- 28;servus, 16; simple.x,26; stupidus,
quatus, 18, Lutatius Catulus, 18, 26; symphoniacus, 17; timidus, 25;
Mucius Scaevola, 18 turpissimus, 24, 26; vaesanus ac
praetors: Attius Balbus, 38; Flaccus furiosus, 24; unus vir, 23; vir,con-
and Pomptinus, 14, 56; trasted with homo, 23; vir bonus,
provincials: Aebutius, 36-37; 10-11; vir fortissimus, 13-14; vir
Ambivius, 17; Cluentius, 17, 19, primarius, 11-12; vir, with sexual
42; Capuans, 19; Fabricius, G. & innuendo, 23, 24; vir used as trope,
L., 19; Fonteius, 18, 36; Roscius, 23
Sex., 19; Sittius, 13 vocabulary: acer, 55, lautus, 174;
tribunes: 21-22; comparison with popu/aris consul, 28
Livy's portrayals, 63; Appuleius women: 29-46; e:xempla: 35-36; expected
Saturninus, 28; Cispius, 15; to put Republic before family, 35;
Fabricius, 15; Fannius, 21-22; Antonia, first wife of Antony, 37-38;
Gracchus, C., 28; the Gracchi, 55, Attia, mother of Octavian, 38; Caecilia
108; Labienus, 21, 28, 75; Metella, 35; Caesennia, 36; Claudia
Memmius, inferior orator, 55; Quinta, 35; mother of Claudius
Ninnius Quadratus, 15; Quinctius, Marcellus, 33-34; mother of Domitius
L., 21; Sestius, L. 15, 18, Sestius Ahenobarbus, 34; Fonteia, 36; Julia,
L.f, 18 Caesaris soror, 35; Junia, wife of
"tyrannicides": Annius Milo, 14-15; Marcellus, 34; wife of Crassus, 34;
Iunius Brutus, 14; Marius, 15; Terentia, 35; Tullia, 34; Vestals, 36
Opimius, I 5, 49, 59; Scipio Nasica, enemies, political or courtroom:
14, 15;ServiliusAhala, 15;Tullius Clodia, 23; 40-41, 43-45;
Cicero, 15 masculinization of, 23; Fulvia, 40,
other Romans: Fulvius Bambalio, 41; Sassia, 40-41, 43-45
father of Fulvia, 41; Caelius, 43- freedwomen: Agonis, 39
44; Gellius, 15, Laenius Flaccus, feminine gender terms: libidinem
15,PomponiusAtticus, 13, 17-18, muliebrem, 46; ista mulier, 44;
34; ScipioGn. f., welcomes Magna matrona, Cicero's rare use of word,
Mater, 35 33, n. 15; miserae mulieris
places: Aricia, 38; Milvian Bridge, 17; fecunditas calamitosa, 26; mulier
Tusculum, 38; Via Latina, 17 potens, 23; mulier synonymous with
rhetoric: and audience, 28, 55; baccha- u.xor and female members of fam-
nalian, 24-25; coniuratio, rhetoric of, ily, 34-35; mulier, term of abuse,
45-46, 75; gender epithets: and hyper- 40-46; nobilissimae feminae, ex-
bole, 9; redundancy of, 9-10; Greek pose Clodius, 36
prototypes, 27-28 rhetoric: bacchanalian, 42-43, 45,
masculine epithets; homo with pejo- 46; Feminine topoi: maenads, 45;
rative adjectives, 10, 21-28; ad- meretri.x, 41, 44; meretri.x and the
jectives used with homo: adulescens, 41, 44-45; nocturnal
adulescens,21;agrestis, 16;amens, cults, 43, 45; unchaste poisoners,
24; Arpinas, 19; audax, 22, 27; 41
avarus, 27; avarissimus et Sicilians: Callidama, 39; Chelidon,
libidinosissimus, 25; barbarus, 20; 39; Lamia, 39; Pipa, 39-40; Tertia,
detestabilis, 26; effeminatus, 22; 40
egens, 27; facinerosus, 23; works: De Legibus, 36; Pro Caelio, 40;
furibundus, 21, 22; Graecus ... ac Pro Cluentio, 40, 43; Pro Quinctio,
levis, 20; improbus, 26; impurus...ac 18, Philippics, 25, 37, 40; Verrine
levis, 20; inimicus, 27; libertinus, Orations, 19, 38, 40; second actio, 25-
16-17; nequissimus, 26; 26, 37
nocentissimus pecuniosissimusque, Claudia Pulchra, 112-13
25; novus, 11; pecuniosus, 25; Cleopatra, 88, 117
perditissimus atque alienissimus,
25, 26; popularis, 21-22, 28; Demosthenes, 27-28, gender epithets: andres
privatus, 11; profligatus, 26; Athenaioi, 28, anthropos, 27; hanthropos,
 INDEX 211

27; men: Aeschines, 27; Aristogeiton, 27 72; Antigonus Doson, 72; Areas,
discurrere andprocurrere, as pejoratives in 71; Archimedes, 71; Asians, ef-
characterisation of women, 85, 90, I 76 feminacy of, 80; Attalus of
Duckworth, G.E., 33 Pergamum, 72; Badiusand Bantius,
Campanians, 67; Bostar, 73;
Earl, D.C., 47, 56 CleomenesofSparta, 72; Cycliadas,
Achaian exile, 72; Decius Magius,
flaminiana ostenta, 113 75; Eupolemus and Hypatan ex-
Flaminius, G., 113 iles, 71; Evander, 70; Hannibal,
68, 71-72, 73, 75, 87, 90; Ismenias
Geffcken, K., 23, 24, 44, 45, 46 of Thebes, 72; Lucumo (Tarquinius
Gilbert, W.S., 2 Priscus), 82, 88, 89; Masinissa,
Gruen, E.S., 15, 104, 109 73; Mazaetullus, 87; Moagetes,
tyrant of Cibyra, 74; Pacuvius
Hanson, I.A., 32 Calavius, Campanian, 74-75; Philip
Hellegouarc'h, J., 100, 109 V, 72, 87; Servius Tullius, 66, 89;
Helen, 88, 115 Tarquinius, Sex., 66, 82; Taurea
Hermann, C., 95 Vibellius, Capuan senator, 68;
historiography: and gender terms, 63; Timastheus, 73; Vettius Messius,
Thucydidean tradition, 47-48, 63 Volscian, 69
history, ancient: exempla, 100; the rhetori- plebeians: Aebutius, 91, 93, 97;
cal nature of, 2-3, 100 Albinius, p/ebis homo, 70-71,
Horace, 88 Latini us, de plebe homo, 71, n, 27;
plebeian aristocracy, involved in
imitatio, 101 Bacchanalian affair, 95, 97;
ingeniosus, 28, 107-09, 155-57 Cerrinius, Herrenius & Mini us, 97,
98; tribunes, 65-66, comparison
Jocelyn, H.D., 5, 16 with Ciceronian portrayals, 66;
juxtaposition, as device of innuendo, 50 Laetorius,68,n. 18; ValeriusTappo,
64
Kennedy, G., 25 Romans, other: Brutus, founder of
Kinsey, T.E., 18 Republic, 66, 84; Coriolanus, 84;
Koestermann, E., 49 Curtius, devotio of, 94; flamen
Quirina/is, 70; Flamininus, 88;
lautus, 174 Marcius Phillipus, 74; Otacilius,
/ibertae, 31, 33 n.13, 39, 91-93, 136-37, 67; Postumius Regillensis, 74,
165-66; 175-78, 202 nn.4 & 5; marriage Scipio, Gn. f. and Magna Mater,
with vir ingenuus, 93 65; Romulus, 68; Tumus Herdonius,
Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, 63-99 66; Verginius, centurion at Algidus,
characterization, two-dimensional nature 69
of, 63 obituaries: Camillus, Scipio, Marius, and
cults, foreign: 89-99; sacrificu/i ac vales, Cicero, 72, n. 31
90; S.C de bacchana/ibus, 98 places: Aventine hill, 92; Cannae, battle
historiography, 63, polarization of moral of, 67, 69; Forum Boarium, 70,
values, 63; and Thucydides, 63 Janiculum, 70, Pons Sublicius, 70,
men: 63-76; consulars: Aelius Paetus, Ticinus, battle of, 68; Trasimennus,
65; Cato the Elder, 64, 95; Claudius battle of, 94
Nero, 65, 94; Fabius Maxim us, 66-67; religion, state: 70-71, 89; Fetial law, 76;
Fulvius Flaccus, 68; Livius Salinator, Magna Mater, 65
65; Menenius Agrippa, 65; Minucius, rhetoric: attributes, moral, 63: courage,
64; Postumius Albinus, 91, 97; Scipio 66-67, courage as compensation for
Nasica, 64; Scipio Africanus, 64, 73, humble birth, 69; Bacchanalian, 96;
86-87; Scipio Asiatic us, 65; Terentius catchwords, political: moderation and
Varro,69 prudence, 65; Cicero, 74-75, 98; hu-
non-Romans: Abelux, 73, 74; mour, 66-67; invective, Ciceronian,
Adranadorus, tyrant of Syracuse, 66, 74-75, 76; orations, Livian verisi-
89, 116; Alexander the Great, 79- militude in presentation, 64
80; Alexander,princeps Aetolorum, male gender epithets: and factional
212 INDEX

politics, 65-66; historiographical scortum nobile, 91-92; word-or-

idiom, effect on, 63; homo, hum- der to indicate feminine guilt, 97
ble term, 63 69-70; for foreigners, stereotypes: 138; bacchantes, 90-93;
63, 71; as term ofabuse,63, 73-76, barbarians, 86; crowds, 83-85,
plebs, 70-71; homo militaris, 68; 90; divination, 89; fear, 82, 85;
homo peregrinus contrasted to vir femina as term of abuse for sol-
peregrinus, 71-72; moral qualifi- diers, 79-80; foreigners, 86-89;
cations: disloyalty to Rome, 13- foreign cults, 89-93; helpless
15,fides to Rome, 73-75, patriot- femina, 85-86; meretrix and the
ism, 13-15;roburvirorum,68;unus adulescens, 90-9 l; nocturnal sac-
homo, 71, unus vir, 69; vir, aristo- rifices, 92, 97; tears, 83-85, 91;
cratic term, 64-65; vir acer, 65-66; mourning, 84; tragic chorus, 83;
vir clarissimus, possible official univira, 87
epithet, 64; vir et gubernator, 61; Lollia Paulina, 111
vir for tis ac strenuus, 65-66, vir
fortissimus, 68-69; vir militaris, Marbach, A., 183
67-68; vir prudens, 73; vir unus, Martin, R., 142-43
73-74; viri mulieresque and vir matrona, Cicero's rare use of word, 33, n. 15
feminaeque,94-99 Muellendorf, K., 125, 128
women: 77-99; Aebutia, 93; Busa, mulier mulier, used to include all female members of
Canusina and m. Apula, 86, 126; family, 33; in vocative, as rude address, 30,
Cloelia, 77, 78, and Mucius Scaevola, 45
79; Damarata, 89, 116; Duronia, 93, multitudo, as term of disparagement, 21
97; Helen, 88; Hispala Faecinia, 90-
93, 96-97; origins of name, 91, mar- Nisbet, R.G.M., 21, 37
riage of libertina with vir ingenuus, North, J .A., 96
93, recruited into cult as ancilla, 96;
Lavinia, 81; Lucretia, 66, 77, 82; Ogilvie, R.M., 74, 83, 92-93
Mandonii uxor, 86-87; Mazatulli uxor, Opelt, I., 9-10, 164
87; matronae, 19; mulier Campana,
88; Nabidis uxor, 87; Paculla Annia, perditus and coniuratio, 15
Campanian priestess, 97, 179; Sabine Petronius-33, trained in rhetoric, 173;
women, 82; Sophoniba, 77; Tanaquil, Satyricon, I 72-84
66, 77, 82, 88, 89-90; Theoxena, 87- characters: Ancilla to Widow, 183;
88; Tu Ilia, 77, 89, 94, murderof Servius Chrysanthus, 173; Chrysis, 181; Circe,
Tullius, 78-79; Verginia, 77, 84; 180, 181-82; Encolpius, 173, 174, 175,
Verginia, patrician, 79; Veturia, 84; 176, 179, 180-81; Eumolpus, 180, 182,
Volumnia, 84 183, 184;Fortunata, 176-77;Giton, 179;
feminine portrayals, 77, 114 Glyco, 174; Lichas, 181; the Miles,
Lex Oppia, 95 183-84; Pannychis, 179; Quartilla, 173,
rape 82, fear of in wartime, 87 178-80, as Campanian priestess, 179;
religion: bacchanalian conspiracy, Scintilla, 176, 177; Seleucus, 175; 177;
and women: 90-93, 97-99; subor- Tryphaena, 180-81; Widow of Ephesus,
dinate role of women in state reli- 140, 182-84
gion, 89; Vestal Virgins, 70; characterisation: transformation of gen-
Fortuna Muliebris, temple of, 84; der roles, 184
Patrician and Plebeian Pudicitia, Priapus, cult of, 178-79; goose, 178-9
temple of, 79 rhetoric: eulogistic, 182-84; historical and
rhetoric: catchwords relating to epic prose, evocation of, 172; 179-80,
women: blanditiae, 82, as charac- 181-82, 183; muliercu/a, 183
teristic of women, 88, 89; femi- women, 175-84
nine gender words:femina, as edi- Plautus, 30-33, Amphitrio, Mercury, Juppiter,
torial word, 78-80; ferox femina, and Alcumena, 31, 32, Bromia, 32;
88; matrona, 91; mulier as term of Aulularia, 31, Eunomia and Megadorus,
abuse, 80; mu/iercula, 88; muliebria 31; Bacchides, 45, 91, Bacchises and
consilia, 89, 116; muliebris, 77, Pistoclerus, 45, meretrix and adulescens,
78, 80-83, 88, 89;peregrina mulier, 45, nox, vinum,andmu/ieres,45; Cistel/aria,
88; procurrere and discurrere, 85; 30-31, Lampadio, Phanostrata, and Halisca,
 INDEX 213

30; Miles G/oriosus, 31-32, Pyrgopolinices 148

and Paelestrio, 31-32; Persa, 32, Dordalus, writing of verse, 159
32, Paegnium and Sophoclidisca, 33; women: Arria and Fannia, 159-60;
Rudens, 32, High Priestess of Venus, 32 Aurelia, 150-51; Corellia, 159; the
rhetoric: blanditiae, 21; feminine gender feminae of Misenum, 160-62; Verania,
terms, 30-33; mu/ier as synonym for wifeof Piso, 150; UmmidiaQuadratilla,
merelrix, 39; mu/ier and homo as rude 160,162; Domitii Tulli uxor, 161, n. 70
address, 30 feminine topoi: mu/ier and rhetoric
plebeians, on Aventine hill, 92; aristocracy of victimization, 151
involved in Bacchanalian Conspiracy, 98 Plutarch: Marius, 55
Pliny the Elder, 88, 111 Pompeia, Caesar's wife, 23
Pliny the Younger, 147-62, 163 Pomeroy, S.B., 41, 84
archaisms, 148
boni, 148-49 Quintilian: the adulterous poisoner, 42, n. 36;
career at bar, 148; Centumviral court, fictitious characters and situations,
150; Colleagues at bar: Lucceius introduction of 139; geminatio, 203, n. 7;
Albinus, 152; Cornelius Tacitus, 149, tropes, 19; weakness of Cicero's case on
153, 160-61; courtroom etiquette, 151- behalf of Cluentius, 43, n. 41
52; defense of: Baetica, 151; Junius
Bassus, 152; emulation of Cicero, regina meretrix, 88
accusations of, 151, 157; ethics.profes- Rutland, L.W., 81, 122-23
sional: Tuscilius Nominatus, 153-54; Ryberg, I.S., 135
extortion cases: Caecilius Classic us and
Norbanus Licinianus, 151; Junius Bas- Sallust, 47-62,
sus, 152; Marius Priscus, 153; judges: Catilinarian Conspiracy, 50, 56-59, 61,
Cornutus Tertullus, 153; opposing 62; Cato and Caesar, true heros of
counsels: ClaudiusRestitutus, 152,153; Conspiracy, 56
Pomponius Rufus, 152; Aquilius characterization, 58-59
Regulus, 150-51, 156; Fronto Catius, factional politics, 47, 49, 55, 56, 59
153 The Histories, 59-60
epistles, 147-48, 162; Cicero's letters, historiography: Sallust and moral
comparison with, 147-48 exemp/a, 50; Thucydidean tradition, 48,
flattery, Pliny's susceptibility to, 147-48 50,60
foreigners, respectability of, 148 Jugurthine war, 47-56, 61
men: Asinius Bassus, 149; AsiniusRufus, Mamilian Commission, 49
149; Claudius Aristion, princeps men:
Ephesorum, 148; Cornelius Priscus, Catilinarians: Sergius Catilina, 56-
156; Corellius, I 59;Fadius Rufinus, 59; Curius, Q., 56-57, 107; Piso,
147; Julius Genitor, 159; Martial, 56; Umbrenus, 58; Volturcius, 58;
Pliny's relationship with, 154-58; consulars: Aemilius Lepidus, 59;
Minicius Fundanus, 149; Pomponius Aemilius Scaurus, 48-49, 59;
Mamillianus, 148; Sabinianus, 158; Caecilius Metellus, 49, 51-52;
Trajan, 147; Salvius Liberalis, 153; Calpumius Bestia,49, 51, 59; Ap.
Verginius Rufus, 158 Claudius, 60; Scipio Aemilianus,
freedmen, 158, C. Plinius C.I. 52; Scipio African us, 51; Fabius
Zosimus, 158, 162 Maximus, 51; Junius Silanus, 57,
patronage, literary, 154-58 58; Julius Caesar, 57-58; Licinius
places: Calpurnius Macer's country Crassus, 50; Marcius Phillipus, 60;
house, 158; Vicetia, 153-54 Marius, 52, 53-55, his political
Pro C/uentio, Pliny's favourite speech, persona, 54; use of rhetoric, 54-55;
153 Opimius, 49, 59; Postumius
provincial binh, 148 Albinus, 51; Tullius Cicero, 57-58,
rhetoric: Ciceronian 150, 151; masculine as gossip monger, 50
epithets: homo ingeniosus acu1us acer, non-Romans: Adherbal, 52; Bomilcar,
155, 157-58; homo: to degrade 49; Gauda, 51; Hamilcar, 49;
opponents, 151; omni um bipedum Hiempsal, 52; Jugunha,49, 51, 52;
nequissimus, 151; Quinti- lian, study Masinissa, 52; Micipsa, 52, 60;
with, 148; suasoriae and controversiae, Mithridates, 60; Nabdalsa, 49, 51
214 INDEX

praetors, Valerius Flaccus and G. nomenculator, 166-67; Tiberius, 169;

Pomptinus, 56, 58, Sallust's Vitellius, 167-68
portrayal of them compared with rhetoric: gender epithets: e plebe homo,
Cicero's, 56 164-65;/erox atque impotens mulier,
tribunes: Gracchus, C., 49; the 168; generosissimafemina, 169; homo
Gracchi, 55; Licinius Macer, 60; sordidae gulae, 168 probatissima nee
Memmius, 55-56; called inferior ignobilisfemina, 168; sordidissimi ho-
orator by Cicero, 55; Porcius Cato, mines, 165; splendidafemina, 169
57 women: Augustus' edicts about, 170-71;
places: Milvian Bridge, 56 Aemilia Lepida, 169; Agrippina,
rhetoric: bacchanalian, 56; Ciceronian, poisoner, 168-69; Alba Terentia, Otho• s
Sallust's avoidance of, 48; mother, 169; Calpumia and Cleopatra,
foreshadowing, 51; huiuscemodi verba, Claudius' paelices, 170, n. 32; Challa
58, 60; juxtaposition and innuendo, 50; mulier, 167, 169; Caligula's
Marius' pleonasms, 54; political freedwoman, 165-66;/eminae, searched
vocabulary, perversion of 55; by Claudius 17l;GemonianStairs, 171;
semantical change, 55, 59; Vatican ma- ius Ill/ liberorum, 170, n. 32; Livia,
nuscript, 54 167, 169; mulier libertina, 166; rapes
catchwords: adulescens, 52; ambitio, by Nero, 168; scorta contrasted to
4 7, 53; dominatio, 47; egentissumi, f eminae, 171
53;/actio, 50; opportunissumi, 53; suicide, feminine, 82-83, 87, 116, 189;
pauci potentes, 59, potentia, 50; masculine, 186
satellites, 59-60; virtus, 47, 54 Sulla, dictator, 60, 75, 103
gender terms: contrast of homo and Syme, R., 48, 51, 53, 56, 142
vir,48-51, 58; homo nobilis,48-50;
homines militares, 58; non dig nos Tacitus, 85, 99, 120-43, 149, 153, 161, 163,
homines, 59; novus homo, 49, 53; 175, 188
patricius homo, 58; Sallust's gen- Agricola, 120, Agricola's victory at Mons
der terms contrasted to Cicero's, Graupius, 128
47, 59, 60; sapiens vir, 51; Anna/es, 120, Armenians, experiment
turpissumi viri, 54; vir acer, 51; 55 with feminine rule, 132; hysteria of
women, Corsa, Ligus Mulier, 61, 224, British warriors, 128-29; British
Fulvia, 61-62, Gal/iae mulieres, 61; rebellion, 131-32; Germania, 120,
Sempronia, 61, 62; femina, the non- German behaviour on battlefield, 127-
existance of, 60-61; mulier, 61-62, 28, burial customs, 125, Germans as
mulier ancilla, 61; rhetoric: exempla, 121, 124-26, the Fenni, 126,
bacchanalian, 62 Hercules, worship of, 127, the Sithones,
Scobie, A., 191, 193, 194, ruled by woman, 132
Scullard, H.H., 26-27 characterization: characters, development
Seager, R., 112,113 of, 122, emperors as weak tyrants, 123;
Seneca the Elder, the adulterous poisoner, 42, gender epithets as capsule
n. 36; criticism of Votienus Montanus' in- characterizations, 122
tellect, 120, n. 4; Sallust and the tradition of Historiae, 120, 126-27, 132
Thucydides,48,n.8 Livy, evocations of, 121, 125-26, 133
Shakespeare, W., 194-95 men: Calgacus, 131; Claudius, 137-38;
Sherwin-White, A.N., 147, 155, 160 Civilis, Julius, 132; Nero, 135, 136,
Smethurst, S.E., 77, 87, 91 140-41, 142; Octavius Sagitta, his
Suetonius, 105, 163-71; Christians, 168; murder of Pontia, 139; Otho, 140-41,
foreigners, 167-68; freedmen, 165; gender 142; Piso, 141, 142; Sejanus, 123, 140;
terms, substitute for character delineation, Suetonius Paulinus, 129; Tiberius, 123,
171; plebs, 164-65; Suetonius' rhetorical 134-35; Valerius Asiaticus, 123;
skill, 163 Votienus Montanus, 120, n. 4
men: Augustus and the asinarius, 164; rhetoric: neo-Ciceronian oratory, Tacitus
his edicts about games, 170-71; rejection of, 121; bacchanalian rhetoric,
Claudius, his misspent youth, 165; on 129, 134, n. 49; privatus, rhetoric of,
dice, 164, n. 9; Clodius, tribune of plebs, 125; rhetoric, Tacitus training in, 135;
165; Domitian, 170; Nero, 167, 168; variatio and antithesis, 135
Otho, 169; Telephus, mulieris servus Vocabulary: domus et penates
 INDEX 215

contrasted to sedes et penates, 125; 131-34; impudicitia of Pontia,

intercursantibus feminis, 130; Poppaea, and Satria, 138-42;
innuendo, 127, 136 woman dominating weak tyrant,
women: Acte, 121, n. 7; Aemilia Lepida, 123,141; women's mourning, 125-
42, n. 36; Agrippina the Elder, 123, 26; women's tears, 128
132; Agrippina the Younger, 120, 133- Tanaquil, as model for Tacitus' Livia, 88
134, 137-38, 141,hermasculinity, 134, Tatum, J., 188, 193, 194
her erudition, 137, victimofMessalina, Terence, Phormio and Demipho, 39; use of
137:Boudicca, 131-32:Calpurnia, 120; mulier as substantive for meretru, 39
Cartimandua, 132; Claudia Pulchra, 42, Thucydides: gender terms, 48, n. 8; political
n. 36; Claudia Sacrata, mulier Ubiae, vocabulary, perversion of, 55, 59, 74;
127; Epicharis, libertina mulier, 135- tradition in Sallust, 48, 60; tradition in
137; ambiguity in portrayal, 135-36; Livy, 63
Erato, Queen of Armenia, 132; Junia tribunes of the plebs, 21-22, 65-66, 106-109,
Silana, 120, victim of Messalina, 137; equated with prostitutes, 21: epithets: caecus
Livia Augusta, 122, 123, 133; Livilla, atque amens tribunus pl. 21; homo
123; Locusta and Martina, 121, n. 7; facinerosus, 21; perditus, 21; vir bonus et
Messalina, 120, 123, 134, 137; innocens.minime popularis, 22; homo
Numantina, 42, n. 33; Plancina, 123, maxime popu/aris, 21
132-33; Pomponia Graecina, 121;
Pontia, 138,139, 141:PoppaeaSabina, unus vir, 23, 69; vir unus, 73-74
62, 138-42, evocations of Sallust, Ci-
cero, and Petronius in her portrayal, Valerius Maximus, 100-101, n. 7
140,SatriaGalla, 138,141,142; Veleda, Velleius Paterculus, 100-119
132 historiography: Sallust and the
general: arena, alleged performance Thucydidean tradition, 48, n. 8
in, 121; barbarian women: Histories, epic scope of, 100, 119
battlefield, behaviour of German men: Aelius Lamia, 102; Aemilius
women contrasted to British, 127- Lepidus, 104, 111; Aeschylus,
28; foreign cults, charges of Sophocles and Euripides, 10 l;
participation in, 121; German Agamemnon, 116; Antony, Ill, 117;
women as exempla, 124-26, their Appius Claudius, lover of Julia, 117;
duty to mourn, 125, wife-husband Augustus, 104-105, 111,112, l 14;Cae-
relationship, 124-25; lupanaria, sar,Julius, 115; Cato the Younger, 109-
women's alleged performance in, 10, n. 40; Cicero, 101; Clodius, 104,
121; passivity as feminine ideal, 106-107; Codrus, 101, 105; Cornelius
129 Scipio, lover of Julia, 117; Crassus
gender terms: femina, 122-130; Mucianus, 101; Curio, 104, 106-107,
/eminaequated with weakness, 125; 108, 109; DrususClaudius, 118; Fulvius
femina Ligus as opposed to Ligus Flaccus, 104; Gabinius, 110; Gracchus,
mulier, 126; impotentia muliebris, C., 103, 104, 108; Gracchus, Ti., 103-
123, 134; muliebre et fanaticum 04, 108, spelling of praenomen, 105;
agmen, 129; muliebris, 122-23; Hesiod, 101; Homer, 101; Iulus
superbia muliebris, 138 Antonius, lover of Julia, 117; Lollius,
vocabulary: amor and ira, 141; M., 104, 111, 114; Lucullus, 104;
blandimenta, 138, 141; fletus, Lutatius Catulus, 110; Lycurgus, 101;
ploratus, and /acrimae vs. Marcellus, 115; Maecenas, 102; Marius,
ululationes, 128; mutatio, 138; 103; Maroboduus, 105-106; Minatius
saepta pudicitia, 126; venerati/ Magius, 102; Mithridates, 102, 105;
venerationem, and Agrippina's Octavius, C., 102; Opimius, 104;
hubris, 133; vine/is exsoluti/vinclis Orestes, 116; Piso Frugi, 108; Pompey,
absoluti, metaphor of Agrippina's 102-103, 110, 115; Pontius Telesinus,
power, 133, witchcraft, terminology equal of Hannibal, 105; Quinctius
of, 141, n. 78 Crispinus, lover of Julia, 117; Rutilius,
stereotypes: amore uxoris incautus, P., 103; Scipio, lover of Julia, 118;
141-42; blame of Julio-Claudian Scipio Aemilianus, 102; Sempronius
women, 122; crowds of women, Gracchus, lover of Julia, 117; Segestes,
130; femina as dux, 117, 121-22, 112; Sejanus, his sense of humor, 102;
216 INDEX

Statius Murcus and Crispius Marcius, White, P., 154, 155

l02;Sulla, l03;Tiberius, 104-105, 106, Wirzubski, C. 22
I 12,113,114, 119,moderationof, 105, women, Apuleius, 188-96; Cicero, 29-46;
110; Varus, Quinctilius, 112-13 Petronius, 175-84; Pliny the Younger, 150-
obituaries: 103 151, 159-61; Suetonius, 165-66, 168-69,
rhetoric: Velleius and, 100, 106; 170-171; Tacitus, 120-21, 122-30, 131-34,
Ciceronian invective, 108, 111 135-42; Velleius, 114-18
vocabulary: e/oquens as opposed to female divination, 89
disertus, 107-108; homo, with non- literary masculinisation of, 62, 87, 116,
pejoratives, 109; homo ingenios- 117, 134
issimus, 108; modestia and vere- matronae, 93
cundia, 105, 110; vir, to magnify mourning, 84, 125-26
Roman victories, 105-106; vir state religion, subordinate status of women
alioqui, 103-104 in, 89
women: 114-119, tangential position of suicide, 82-83, 87, 116, 189
women in V's history, 114-115; Annia, rhetoric: word order, to indicate feminine
115, Calpurnia, Bestiae f., I 16; guilt, 97
Calpurnia, Caesaris u.wr, 115; rhetorical stereotypes: adulteress-
Cleopatra, responsible for Antony's poisoner, 41, 41, n.36, 42, 43-44,
bacchanalianism, 117; Clytemnestra, 168-69, 192-93; crowds, 83-85, 90,
116; Cornelia, Cinnaef., 115; Cornelia, 128, 180; fearful, 82, 85; femina,
Caesaris uxor, 115; Cornelia, fighting, 85, 86, 127-28; femina
Gracchorum mater, 115; Electra, I 16; inermis, 85-86; foreign, 86-89;
Fulvia,Semproniaef., 117; Helen, 115; meretrix and adulescens, 41, 9 I,
Hermione, 115; Julia, Augustif., 117- 92, 93, 180, 181; bacchante or
18; Junia, Bruti soror, 115; Livia, I 18- nocturnal cultist, 43, 43, n. 39, 89-
19,abduction by Augustus, I 18;Lucilia, 93, 177, 178, 179-80; witches, 177,
I 14; Octavia, Augusti soror, 115, 188-94; women's tears, 83-85, 90,
Scribonia, I 18; Servilia 116 128
gender terms: muliebris, I 16, 117; rhetorical catchwords: blanditiae, 21,
virilis animi femina, 117 83, 88, 89, 185; blandimenta, 138,
general: masculinization of women, 141; impudicitia, 138-42;
116-117; suicide, 116 procurrere and discurrere, 85, 90,
Vergil, 67, 69, 115. 176; women who pursue viros
vindex libertatis, 60, 66 alienos, 62, 78, 85, 177
vir alienus, 78, 85 Woodman, A.J., 5, 100, 106, 107
Vretska, K., 50
Wallace-Hadrill, A., 163
Walsh, P.G., 63, 172, 179, 181, 182, 196
Webster, G., 128-29, 132
 SUPPLEMENTS TO MNEMOSYNE
EDITED BY A.D. LEEMAN, C.J. RUIJGH AND H.W. PLEKET

4. LEEMAN, A.D. A Systematical Bibliography of Sallust (1879-1964). Revised and

augmented edition. 1965. ISBN 90 04 01467 5
5. LENZ, F.W. (ed.). The Aristeides 'Prolegomena'. 1959. ISBN 90 04 01468 3
7. McKAY, K.J. Erysichthon. A Callimachean Comedy. 1962. ISBN 90 04 01470 5
8. SWEENEY, R.D. Prolegomena to an Edition of the Scholia to Statius. 1969.
ISBN 90 04 01471 3
10. WITKE, C. Ena"atio Catulliana. Carmina L, XXX, LXV, LXVIII. 1968.
ISBN 90 04 03079 4
11. RUTILIUS LUPUS. De Figuris Sententiarum et Elocutionis. Edited with Prolegomena
and Commentary by E. BROOKS. 1970. ISBN 90 04 01474 8
12. SMYTH, W.R. (ed.). Thesaurus criticus ad Sexti Propertii textum. 1970.
ISBN 90 04 01475 6
13. LEVIN, D. N. Apollonius' 'Argonautica' re-examined. 1. The Neglected First and
Second Books. 1971. ISBN 90 04 02575 8
14. REINMUTH, 0. W. The Ephebic Inscriptions of the Fourth Century B. C. 1971.
ISBN 90 04 01476 4
15. YOUNG, D.C. Pindar Isthmian 7. Myth and Exempla. 1971. ISBN 90 04 01477 2
16. ROSE, K.F.C. The Date and Author of the 'Satyricon'. With an introduction by
J.P. SULLIVAN. 1971. ISBN 90 04 02578 2
17. SEGAL, Ch. The Theme of the Mutilation of the Corpse in the Iliad. 1971.
ISBN 90 04 02579 0
18. WILLIS, J. De Martiano Capella emendando. 1971. ISBN 90 04 02580 4
19. HERINGTON, C.J. (ed.). The Older Scholia on the Prometheus Bound. 1972.
ISBN 90 04 03455 2
20. THIEL, H. VAN. Petron. Uberliejerung und Rekonstruktion. 1971. ISBN 90 04 02581 2
21. LOSADA, L.A. The Fifth Column in the Peloponnesian War. 1972. ISBN 90 04 03421 8
22. STATIUS. Thebaidos Liber Decimus. Edited with a commentary by R.D. WILLIAMS.
1972. ISBN 90 04 03456 0
23. BROWN, V. The Textual Transmission of Caesar's 'Civil War'. 1972.
ISBN 90 04 03457 9
24. LOOMIS, J.W. Studies in Catullan Verse. An Analysis of Word Types and Patterns
in the Polymetra. 1972. ISBN 90 04 03429 3
25. PAVLOVSKIS, Z. Man in an Artificial Landscape. The Marvels of Civilization in
Imperial Roman Literature. 1973. ISBN 90 04 03643 1
26. PARRY, A.A. Blameless Aegisthus. A study of &µ.uµ.wv and other Homm·c epithets. 1973.
ISBN 90 04 03736 5
27. GEORGE, E.V. Aeneid VIII and the Aitia of Callimachus. 1974. ISBN 90 04 03859 0
28. SCOTT, W.C. The Oral Nature of the Homeric Simile. 1974. ISBN 90 04 03789 6
29. BERS, V. Enallage and Greek Style. 1974. ISBN 90 04 03786 1
30. GEFFCKEN, K.A. Comedy in the 'Pro Caelio'. With an Appendix on the In Clodium
el Curionem. 1973. ISBN 90 04 03782 9
31. STARR, C.G. Political Intelligence in Classical Greece. 1974. ISBN 90 04 03830 2
32. BOEDEKER, D.D. Aphrodite's Entry into Greek Epic. 1974. ISBN 90 04 03946 5
33. MATTHEW, V.J. Panyassis of Halikarnassos. Text and commentary. 1974.
ISBN 90 04 04001 3
34. POE, J.P. Heroism and Divine justice in Sophocles' Philoctetes. 1974.
ISBN 90 04 04165 6
35. EDEN, P.T. A Commentary on Virgil: Aeneid VIII. 1975. ISBN 90 04 04225 3
36. SHANNON, R.S. The arms of Achilles and Homeric Compositional Technique. 1975.
ISBN 90 04 04249 0
37. SMITH, O.L. Studies in the Scholia on Aeschylus. 1. The Recensions of Demetrius
Triclinius. 1975. ISBN 90 04 04220 2
38. HIJMANS, B.L. Inlaboratus etfacilis. Aspects of Structure in Some Letters of Seneca. 1976.
ISBN 90 04 04474 4
39. SCHMELING, G.L. & J.H. STUCKEY. A Bibliography of Petronius. 1977.
ISBN 90 04 04753 0
40. WALLACH, B.P. Lucretius and the Diatribe against the Fear of Death. De rerum natura
III 830-1094. 1976. ISBN 90 04 04564 3
41. ANDERSON, G. Lucian: Theme and Variation in the Second Sophistic. 1976.
ISBN 90 04 04735 2
42. CLADER, L.L. Helen: The Evolution from Divine to Heroic in Greek Epic Tradition.
1976. ISBN 90 04 04721 2
43. ANDERSON, G. Studies in Lucian's Comic Fiction. 1976. ISBN 90 04 04760 3
44. THOMPSON, W.E. De Hagniae Hereditate. An Athenian Inheritance Case. 1976.
ISBN 90 04 04757 3
45. McGUSHIN, P. Sallustius Crispus, 'Bellum Catilinae'. A Commentary. 1977.
ISBN 90 04 04835 9
46. THORNTON, A. The Living Universe. Gods and Men in Virgil's Aeneid. 1976.
ISBN 90 04 04579 1
47. MORGAN, K. Ovid's Art of Imitation. Propertius in the 'Amores'. 1977.
ISBN 90 04 04858 8
48. BRENK, F.E. In Mist apparelled. Religious Themes in Plutarch's 'Moralia' and 'Lives'.
1977. ISBN 90 04 05241 0
49. HENRY, A.S. The Prescripts of Athenian Decrees. 1977. ISBN 90 04 05429 4
50. NORTH, H.F. (ed.). Interpretations of Plato. A Swarthmore Symposium.
1977. ISBN 90 04 05262 3
51. SUSSMAN, L.A. The Elder Seneca. 1978. ISBN 90 04 05759 5
52. WENDER, D. The Last Scenes of the Odyssey. 1978. ISBN 90 04 05710 2
53. NEWMYER, S.T. The 'Silvae' of Statius. Structure and theme. 1979.
ISBN 90 04 05849 4
54. BORING, T.A. Literacy in Ancient Sparta. 1979. ISBN 90 04 05971 7
55. GRIFFITHS, F.T. Theocritus at Court. 1979. ISBN 90 04 05919 9
56. The Letters of Apollonius of Tyana. A critical Text with Prolegomena, Translation and
Commentary by R.J. PENELLA. 1979. ISBN 90 04 05972 5
5 7. BOER, W. DEN. Private Morality in Greece and Rome. Some Historical Aspects. 1979.
ISBN 90 04 05976 8
58. BRIGGS, W.W. Narrative and Simile from the 'Georgics' in the 'Aeneid'. 1980.
ISBN 90 04 06036 7
59. CLAYMAN, D.L. Callimachus' 'Iambi'. 1980. ISBN 90 04 06063 4
60. JOHNSTON, P.A. Vergil's Agricultural Golden Age. A Study of the 'Georgics'. 1980.
ISBN 90 04 06111 8
61. Hieronymus' Liber de optimo genere interpretandi (Epistula 57). Ein Kommentar von
G.J.M. BARTELINK. 1980. ISBN 90 04 06085 5
62. MAEHLER, H. Die Lieder des Bakchylides. I. Die Siegeslieder. 2 Bde. 1982. 1. Edi-
tion des Textes mit Einleitung und Ubersetzung. 2. Kommentar.
ISBN 90 04 06409 5
63. HOHENDAHL-ZOETELIEF, I.M. Manners in the Homeric Epic. 1980.
ISBN 90 04 06223 8
64. HARVEY, R.A. A Commentary on Persius. 1981. ISBN 90 04 06313 7
65. MAXWELL-STUART, P.G. Studies in Greek Colour Terminology. 1. y)..aux6~. 1981.
ISBN 90 04 06406 0
66. MONTI, R.C. The Dido Episode and the Aeneid. Roman Social and Political Values
in the Epic. 1981. ISBN 90 04 06328 5
67. MAXWELL-STUART, P.G. Studies in Greek Colour Terminology. 2. xapo1t6~. 1981.
ISBN 90 04 06407 9
68. ACHARD, G. Pratique rhitorique et idiologie politique dans {es discours 'Optima/es' de
Ciciron. 1981. ISBN 90 04 063 74 9
69. MANNING, C.E. On Seneca's 'Ad Marciam'. 1981. ISBN 90 04 06430 3
70. BERTHIAUME, G. Les roles du Mdgeiros. Etude sur la boucherie, la cuisine et le
sacrifice dans la Grece ancienne. 1982. ISBN 90 04 06554 7
71. CAMPBELL, M. A commentary on Quintus Smyrnaeus Posthomerica Xll. 1981.
ISBN 90 04 06502 4
72. CAMPBELL, M. Echoes and Imitations of Early Epic in Apollonius Rhodius. 1981.
ISBN 90 04 06503 2
73. MOSKALEW, W. Formular Language and Poetic Design in the Aeneid. 1982.
ISBN 90 04 06580 6
74. RACE, W.H. TheClassicalPriamelfromHomertoBoethius. 1982. ISBN9004065156
75. MOORHOUSE, A.C. The Syntax of Sophocles. 1982. ISBN 90 04 06599 7
76. SARKISSIAN, J. Catullus. An Interpretation. 1983. ISBN 90 04 06939 9
77. WITKE, C. Horace's Roman Odes. A Critical Examination. 1983.
ISBN 90 04 07006 0
78. ORANJE, J. Euripides' 'Bacchae'. The Play and its Audience. 1984.
ISBN 90 04 07011 7
79. STATIUS. Thebaidos Libri Xll. Recensuit et cum apparatu critico et exegetico in-
struxit D.E. HILL. 1983. ISBN 90 04 06917 8
80. KEBRIC, R.B. The Paintings in the Cnidian Lesche at Delphi and their historical context.
1983. ISBN 90 04 07020 6
81. DAVID, E. Aristophanes and Athenian Society of the Early 4th Century B.C. 1984.
ISBN 90 04 07062 1
82. DAM, H. -J. VAN. P. Papinius Statius, Silvae Book 11. A Commentary. 1984.
ISBN 90 04 07110 5
83. MINEUR, W.H. Callimachus: Hymn to Delos. Introduction and Commentary. 1984.
ISBN 90 04 07230 6
84. OBER, J. Fortress Attica. Defense of the Athenian Land Frontier, 404-322 B.C. 1985.
ISBN 90 04 07243 8
85. HUBBARD, T.K. The Pindaric Mind. A Study of Logical Structure in Early Greek
Poetry. 1985. ISBN 90 04 07303 5
86. VERDENIUS, W.J. A Commentary on Hesiod: Works and Days, vv. 1-382. 1985.
ISBN 90 04 07465 1
87. HARDER, A. Euripides' 'Kresphonthes' and 'Archelaos'. Introduction, Text and Com-
mentary. 1985. ISBN 90 04 07 511 9
88. WILLIAMS, H.J. The 'Eclogues' and 'Cynegetica' of Nemesianus. Edited with an In-
troduction and Commentary. 1986. ISBN 90 04 07486 4
89. McGING, B.C. The Foreign Policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pon/us. 1986.
ISBN 90 04 07591 7
90. MINYARD, J.D. Lucretius and the Late Republic. An Essay in Roman Intellectual
History. 1985. ISBN 90 04 07619 0
91. SIDEBOTHAM, S.E. Roman Economic Policy in the Erythra Thalassa 30 B.C.-A.D.
217. 1986. ISBN 90 04 07644 1
92. VOGEL, C.J. DE. Rethinking Plato and Platonism. 2nd impr. of the first (1986) ed.
1988. ISBN 90 04 08755 9
 93. MILLER, A.M. From Delos to Delphi. A Literary Study of the Homeric Hymn to
Apollo. 1986. ISBN 90 04 07674 3
94. BOYLE, A.J. The Chaonian Dove. Studies in the Eclogues, Georgics, and Aeneid of
Virgil. 1986. ISBN 90 04 07672 7
95. KYLE, D.G. Athletics in Ancient Athens. 1987. ISBN 90 04 07861 4
96. SUTTON, D.F. Seneca on the Stage. 1986. ISBN 90 04 07928 9
97. VERDENIUS, W .J. Commentaries on Pindar. Vol. I. Olympian Odes 3, 7, 12, 14. 1987.
ISBN 90 04 08126 7
98. PROIETTI, G. Xenophon's Sparta. An introduction. 1987. ISBN 90 04 08338 3
99. BREMER, J.M., A.M. VAN ERP TAALMAN KIP & S.R. SLINGS. Some
Recently Found Greek Poems. Text and Commentary. 1987. ISBN 90 04 08319 7
100. OPHUIJSEN, J.M. VAN. Hephaestion on Metre. Translation and Commentary.
1987. ISBN 90 04 08452 5
101. VERDENIUS, W .J. Commentaries on Pindar. Vol. II. Olympian Odes 1, 10, 11,
Nemean 11, Isthmian 2. 1988. ISBN 90 04 08535 1
102. LUSCHNIG, C.A.E. Time holds the Mirror. A Study of Knowledge in Euripides' 'Hip-
polytus'. 1988. ISBN 90 04 08601 3
103. MARCOVICH, M. Alcestis Barcinonensis. Text and Commentary. 1988.
ISBN 90 04 08600 5
104. HOLT, F. L. Alexander the Great and Bactria. The Formation of a Greek Frontier in
Central Asia. Repr. 1989. ISBN 90 04 08612 9
105. BILLERBECK, M. Senecas Tragiidien: sprachliche und stilistische Untersuchungen. Mit
Anhangen zur Sprache des Hercules Oetaeus und der Octavia. 1988.
ISBN 90 04 08631 5
106. ARENDS, J.F.M. Die Einheit der Polis. Eine Studie i.iber Platons Staal. 1988.
ISBN 90 04 08785 0
107. BOTER, G.J. The Textual Tradition of Plato's Republic. 1988. ISBN 90 04 08787 7
108. WHEELER, E.L. Stratagem and the Vocabulary of Military Trickery. 1988.
ISBN 90 04 08831 8
109. BUCKLER, J. Philip II and the Sacred War. 1989. ISBN 90 04 09095 9
110. FULLERTON, M.D. The Archaistic Style in Roman Statuary. 1990.
ISBN 90 04 09146 7
111. ROTHWELL, K.S. Politics and Persuasion in Aristophanes' 'Ecclesiazusae'. 1990.
ISBN 90 04 09185 8
112. CALDER, W.M. & A. DEMANDT. Eduard Meyer. Leben und Leistung eines
Universalhistorikers. 1990. ISBN 90 04 09131 9
113. CHAMBERS, M.H. Georg Busolt. His Career in His Letters. 1990.
ISBN 90 04 09225 0
114. CASWELL, C.P. A Study of 'Thumos' in Early Greek Epic. 1990. ISBN 90 04 09260 9
115. EINGARTNER, J. Isis und ihre Dienerinnen in der Kunst der riimischen Kaiserzeit. 1991.
ISBN 90 04 09312 5
116. JONG, I. DE. Narrative in Drama. The Art of the Euripidean Messenger-Speech.
1991. ISBN 90 04 09406 7
117. BOYCE, B.T. The Language of the Freedmen in Petronius' Cena Trimalchionis. 1991.
ISBN 90 04 09431 8
118. RUTTEN, Th. Demokrit - lachender Philosoph und sanguinischer Melancholiker. 1992.
ISBN 90 04 09523 3
119. KARAVITES, P. (with the collaboration of Th. Wren). Promise-Giving and Treaty-
Making. Homer and the Near East. 1992. ISBN 90 04 09567 5
120. SANTORO L'HOIR, F. The Rhetoric of Gender Terms. 'Man', 'woman' and the
portrayal of character in Latin prose. 1992. ISBN 90 04 09512 8