Porcia Catonis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the Italian commune, see Porcia (PN).

Porcia Catonis (Around 70 BC-42 BC) was a Roman woman, daughter of Marcus Porcius Cato Uticencis and his first wife Atilia. She is known for being the second wife of Marcus Junius Brutus, one of Julius Caesar's assassins.

1 Life
2 Porcia in popular culture
- 2.1 Drama
- 2.2 Fiction
3 Family tree
4 Notes
5 References

[edit] Life

Porcia was married first to Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus (her father's political ally), with whom she may have had a son, Lucius Calpurnius Bibulus, although some historians believe she may have been too young to have mothered him and that she was only his stepmother. A few years later Quintus Hortensius, an old man known for his rhetorical skills, asked for Porcia's hand in marriage <ref>Plutarch, Cato the Younger, 25.2.</ref>. However, Bibulus, who was infatuated with his wife, was unwilling to let her go. There was even talk of Hortensius marrying Porcia to produce an heir and then return her to Bibulus once she had given birth, however Bibulus refused to divorce her <ref>Plutarch, Cato the Younger, 25.3.</ref>. Instead Cato took the surprising step of divorcing his own wife, Porcia's stepmother Marcia, and giving her to Hortensius; he re-married her following Hortensius' death <ref>Plutarch, Cato the Younger, 26.</ref><ref>Appian, The Civil Wars, Book II, 99.</ref>.

Bibulus allied with Pompey against Caesar, commanding Pompey's navy in the Adriatic Sea <ref>Plutarch, Cato the Younger, 54.4.</ref>. He captured Caesar's fleet, leaving Caesar stranded in Epirus, although this was a small feat as Caesar went on to defeat Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalus. Bibulus died in 48 BC following Pompey's defeat. In 46 BC her father Cato committed suicide following his defeat in the battle of Thapsus. Young Cato, Porcia's brother was pardoned by Julius Caesar and returned to Rome<ref>Appian, The Civil Wars, Book II, 100.</ref>.

Following her father's death, around 46/45 BC Marcus Junius Brutus, who was her first cousin, divorced his wife Claudia and married Porcia when she was still very young <ref>Plutarch, Marcus Brutus, 13.3.</ref>. Plutarch informs us that she deeply loved him and she appears to have been utterly devoted to him <ref>Plutarch, Marcus Brutus, 13.4.</ref>. She was addicted to philosophy and she had a full of an understanding courage, resolved not to inquire into Brutus's secrets before she had made this trial of herself and that she would bid defiance to pain. She and Brutus had a son, who died in childhood in 43 BC.

Influenced by the fact that he was Cato's nephew and Porcia's husband, Brutus decided to attack Caesar in 44 BC <ref>Cassius Dio, 44.13.1.</ref>. Brutus appears to have confided in Porcia of the plot to assassinate Julius Caesar, while some credit her as being the only woman aware of the plot <ref>Cassius Dio, 44.13.</ref>, some historians believe Porcia might have been involved in the conspiracy <ref>Plutarch, Cato the Younger, 73.4.</ref>. It is said that she happened upon Brutus while he was pondering over what to do and asked him what was wrong. When he made no answer, she suspected that she was distrusted on account of her physical weakness, for fear she might reveal something, however unwillingly, under torture. In order to prove herself to him, she secretly inflicted a wound upon her own thigh, to test herself and see if she could endure torture. As soon as she over came her pain she returned to Brutus and said:

"You, my husband, though you trusted my spirit that it would not betray you, nevertheless were distrustful of my body, and your feeling was but human. But I found that my body also can keep silence... Therefore fear not, but tell me all you are concealing from me, for neither fire, nor lashes, nor goads will force me to divulge a word; I was not born to that extent a woman. Hence, if you still distrust me, it is better for me to die than to live; otherwise let no one think me longer the daughter of Cato or your wife." <ref>Cassius Dio, 44.13.4</ref>

When he saw the gash on her thigh and hearing this, Brutus marvelled; and he no longer hid anything from her, but felt strengthened himself and related to her the whole plot <ref>Cassius Dio, 44.14.1</ref>. He is said to have said, lifting his hands to heaven, prayed that he might succeed in his undertaking and thus show himself a worthy husband of Porcia, and then moved to comfort her <ref>Plutarch, Marcus Brutus, 13.11.</ref>. On the day of Caesar's assassination, she was extremely disturbed with anxiety sending messengers to the senate to check that Brutus was still alive <ref>Plutarch, Marcus Brutus, 15.6.</ref>. She worked herself to the point where upon her fainting, her maids feared that she was dying <ref>Plutarch, Marcus Brutus, 13.7.</ref>.

When Brutus and the other assassins fled Rome to Athens, it was agreed that Porcia should stay in Italy <ref>Plutarch, Marcus Brutus, 23.2.</ref>. Porcia was overcome with grief to part from Brutus, but tried as much as was possible to conceal it. However, story goes, whenever she came across a painting of Hector parting from Andromache, she'd burst into tears as it reminded her of her own situation <ref>Plutarch, Marcus Brutus, 23.4.</ref>. A friend of Brutus, Acilius, heard of this he quoted Homer where Andromache speaks to Hector saying:

"But Hector, you to me are father and are mother too, my brother, and my loving husband true." <ref>Homer, Iliad, vi.429 f.; 491.</ref>

To which, Brutus said he would never say to Porcia what Hector said to Andromache in return (which was to keep to her weaving and handmaids), saying of Porcia that:

"...Though the natural weakness of her body hinders her from doing what only the strength of men can perform, she has a mind as valiant and as active for the good of her country as the best of us". <ref>Plutarch, Marcus Brutus, 23.6.</ref>

Porcia committed suicide in 42 BC, reputedly by swallowing live coals <ref>Valerius Maxmius, De factis mem. iv.6.5.</ref><ref>Plutarch, Cato the Younger, 53.5.</ref>. The exact time of her death is unknown. Most historians such as Cassius Dio, Valerius Maximus, Appian and Plutarch all state that she killed herself after hearing that Brutus was dead. However, Nicolaus says it happened before Brutus' death following the second battle of Philippi, claiming that she only thought he was dead, and that Brutus wrote a letter to their friends in Rome in his grief, blaming them for Porcia's suicide. Another theory some modern historians believe is that Servilia, Brutus' mother who greatly disliked Porcia, might have killed her.

[edit] Porcia in popular culture

[edit] Drama

In Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, she appears in fictionalised form as Brutus's wife, the character Portia.<ref>Not to be confused with Portia</ref> She makes only two appearances, coming across as a loyal and devoted wife, a worthy confidante for her husband, and her role is the only substantial woman's part in the play. It is reported in the final act that she died by swallowing fire. Actresses such as Deborah Kerr, Virginia McKenna and Diana Rigg have played the part in movies and television productions.<ref>Internet Movie Database search on character name Portia</ref>

In Julius Caesar she is portrayed by Kate Steavenson-Payne as the childhood friend of Caesar's daughter Julia and her cousin Brutus, who later becomes her husband; she is driven to insanity by Brutus' death and kills herself by swallowing a burning coal.

[edit] Fiction

Masters of Rome, a series of six novels by the Australian writer, Colleen McCullough. She appears as a child in Caesar's Women, as a teenager in Caesar and as a young woman in The October Horse. Porcia is portrayed as being intelligent, affectionate but naïve to her surroundings; the hardships of her life worsen her mental illness, and she is eventually murdered by Brutus' mother Servilia who forces burning coals down her throat.

[edit] Family tree

(1)=1st husband/wife
(2)=2nd husband/wife
x=assassin of Caesar

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</td><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Cato the Elder</td><td colspan="2" style="border-bottom: 1px solid black;">

</td><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Licinia (1)</td></tr><tr align="center"><td style="border-right: 1px solid black;">

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</td></tr> <tr align="center"><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Marcus Porcius Cato Salonianus</td><td rowspan="2" colspan="2">

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</td><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Marcus Porcius Cato Licinianus</td><td rowspan="2" colspan="2">

</td><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Marcus Livius Drusus</td></tr><tr align="center"></tr> <tr align="center"><td rowspan="2" colspan="2">

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</td></tr> <tr align="center"><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Marcus Porcius Cato (2)</td><td colspan="2" style="border-bottom: 1px solid black;">

</td><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Livia Drusa</td><td colspan="2" style="border-bottom: 1px solid black;">

</td><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Quintus Servilius Caepio the Younger(1)</td><td rowspan="2" colspan="2">

</td><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Marcus Livius Drusus</td><td rowspan="2" colspan="2"></td></tr><tr align="center"><td style="border-right: 1px solid black;">

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</td></tr> <tr align="center"><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Atilia (1)</td><td colspan="2" style="border-bottom: 1px solid black;">

</td><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Cato the Younger</td><td rowspan="2" style="border-right: 1px solid black;">

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</td><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus, adoptive son</td></tr><tr align="center"><td style="border-right: 1px solid black;">

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</td><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Brutus (1)</td><td colspan="2" style="border-bottom: 1px solid black;">

</td><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Servilia Caepionis</td><td colspan="2" style="border-bottom: 1px solid black;">

</td><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Decimus Junius Silanus (2)</td><td rowspan="2" colspan="2">

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</td><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">another Servilia</td><td rowspan="2" colspan="2">

</td><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Quintus Servilius Caepio</td></tr><tr align="center"><td style="border-right: 1px solid black;">

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</td><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Porcia Catonis</td><td colspan="2" style="border-bottom: 1px solid black;">

</td><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Marcus Junius Brutus x</td><td rowspan="2" colspan="2">

</td><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Junia Prima</td><td rowspan="2" style="border-right: 1px solid black;">

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</td><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Junia Tertia</td><td colspan="2" style="border-bottom: 1px solid black;">

</td><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Gaius Cassius Longinus x</td></tr><tr align="center"><td colspan="2">

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</td><td rowspan="2" colspan="2"></td></tr><tr align="center"></tr> <tr align="center"><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Marcus Porcius Cato (II)</td><td rowspan="2" colspan="2">

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</td><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Junia Secunda</td><td colspan="2" style="border-bottom: 1px solid black;">

</td><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (triumvir)</td></tr><tr align="center"><td style="border-right: 1px solid black;">

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</td><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Descendent of Pompey the Great and Lucius Cornelius Sulla</td><td colspan="2" style="border-bottom: 1px solid black;">

</td><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Lepidus the Younger</td></tr><tr align="center"><td style="border-right: 1px solid black;">

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</td><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Manius Aemilius Lepidus</td><td rowspan="2" colspan="2">

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</td><td colspan="6" rowspan="2" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.2em; ">Aemilia Lepida II</td></tr><tr align="center"></tr>

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[edit] Notes

[edit] References

Plutarch, Cato the Younger
Plutarch, Marcus Brutus
Appian, The Civil Wars, Book II
Cassius Dio, Roman History 44-47

it:Porcia Catonis no:Porcia Catones

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Categories: Ancient Roman women | Historical figures portrayed by Shakespeare | Fictional Ancient Romans | Shakespearean characters

Porcia Catonis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

[edit] Life

[edit] Porcia in popular culture

[edit] Drama

[edit] Fiction

[edit] Family tree

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

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