To what extent are the female characters of Propertius, Catullus and Cicero presented as products of their environment?

State of Rome in late Roman Republic/ early Imperial Sallust decline in Rome since the time of the fall of Carthage, culminating in the dictatorship of Sulla in which luxury and moral corruption were prevalent (Eastern decadence, exotic splendour, Hellenistic luxury) Hellenistic luxury and sexuality, far removed from the austere Roman ideal This environment of decadence or moral degradation key to our understanding of Roman women Ideals of women in society poetic ideal, moral ideal, archetypes of women Concepts of honour, class and shame Women who have power over men, how theyre viewed Outward signs of beauty Contradictory views of sex Perversion of the domus

Clodia Volatile political situation of the late Roman republic and early Imperial Rome Clodius vs Milo, armed gangs, renewal of 1st triumvirate 56BC. Clodia (born Claudia, c. 95 BC or c. 94 BC) Married to proconsul Quintus Metellus, one of three known daughters of the patrician Appius Claudius Pulcher Very well educated in Greek and Philosophy Sister of Publius Clodius Pulcher Brought accusations against Marcus Caelius Rufus, taking gold and attempted poison (on charge of vis) Pro Caelio, April 4, 56 BC Clodia as a meretrix/matrona Connotations of being called meretrix cannot trust her word trial situation Clodia is measured in contrast to the ideal matron chaste, modest, weaving, domestic sphere of influence nonne te, si nostrae imagines viriles non commovebant, ne progenies quidem mea, Q. illa Claudia, aemulam domesticae laudis in gloria muliebri esse admonebat, non virgo illa Vestalis Claudia quae patrem complexa triumphantem ab inimico tribuno plebei de curru detrahi passa non est? (34) Even if the images of us, the men of your family, had no influence over you, did not even my own daughter, that celebrated Quinta Claudia, admonish you to emulate the praise belonging to our house from the glory of its

women? Did not that vestal virgin Claudia recur to your mind, who embraced her father while celebrating his triumph, and prevented his being dragged from his chariot by a hostile tribune of the people? sed, si esset aliqua dissimilis istius quae se omnibus pervolgaret, quae haberet palam decretum semper aliquem, cuius in hortos, domum, Baias iure suo libidines omnium commearent, quae etiam aleret adulescentis et parsimoniam patrum suis sumptibus sustineret; si vidua libere, proterva petulanter, dives effuse, libidinosa meretricio more viveret, adulterum ego putarem si quis hanc paulo liberius salutasset? (38) if there were a woman totally unlike her, who made herself common to everybody; who had always someone or other openly avowed as her lover; to whose gardens, to whose house, to whose baths the lusts of every one had free access as of their own right; a woman who even kept young men, and made up for the parsimony of their fathers by her liberality; if she lived, being a widow, with freedom, being a lascivious woman, with wantonness, being a rich woman, extravagantly, and being a lustful woman, after the fashion of prostitutes; am I to think anyone an adulterer who might happen to salute her with a little too much freedom? oppugnari autem opibus meretriciis that he is attacked owing to the influence of a prostitute petulanter facimus, si matrem familias secus quam matronarum sanctitas postulat nominamus (32) then we are acting wantonly and groundlessly, in mentioning the name of a mother of a family in a way so different from what is due to a Roman matron cur te in istam vicinitatem meretriciam contulisti? Why did you betake yourself to the neighbourhood of a harlot List of luxurious living accusatores quidem libidines, amores, adulteria, Baias, actas, convivia, comissationes, cantus, symphonias, navigia iactant (35) The accusers talk to us about lusts, and loves, and adulteries, and Baiae, and doings on the sea-shore, and banquets, and revels, and songs, and music parties, and water parties si quae non nupta mulier domum suam patefecerit omnium cupiditati palamque sese in meretricia vita conlocarit, virorum alienissimorum conviviis uti instituerit, si hoc in urbe, si in hortis, si in Baiarum illa celebritate faciat, si denique ita sese gerat non incessu solum sed ornatu atque comitatu, non flagrantia oculorum, non libertate sermonum, sed etiam complexu, osculatione, actis, navigatione, conviviis, ut non solum meretrix sed etiam proterva meretrix procaxque videatur: cum hac si qui adulescens forte fuerit, If any woman, not being married, has opened her house to the passions of everybody, and has openly established herself in the way of life of a harlot, and has been accustomed to frequent the banquets of men with whom she has no relationship; if she does so in the city in country houses and in that most frequented place, Baiae, if in short she behaves in such a manner, not only by her gait, but by her style of dress, and by the people who are seen attending her, and not only by the eager glances of her eyes and the freedom of her conversation, but also by embracing men, by kissing them at water parties and sailing parties and banquets so as not only to seem a harlot, but a very wanton and lascivious harlot Accusations of incest quod quidem facerem vehementius, nisi intercederent mihi inimicitiae cum istius mulieris viro fratrem volui dicere; semper hic erro. (32) And, indeed, I would do so still more vigorously, if I had not a quarrel with that woman's husbandbrother, I meant to say; I am always making this mistake

Lesbia Subject of 25 of Catullus' 116 surviving poems Catullus lived 8454 BC Object of varying love and hate Not faithful has many other lovers and husband Lesbia mi praesente viro mala plurima dicit haec illi fatuo maxima laetitia est. mule, nihil sentis. si nostri oblita taceret, sana esset: nunc quod gannit et obloquitur, non solum meminit, sed, quae multo acrior est res, irata est: hoc est, uritur et loquitur. (Catul. 83) Lesbia says bad things about me to her husbands face: its the greatest delight to that fool. Mule, dont you see? If she forgot and was silent about me, that would be right: now since she moans and abuses, she not only remembers, but something more serious, shes angry. That is, shes inflamed, so she speaks.

cum suis vivat valeatque moechis, quos simul complexa tenet trecentos, nullum amans vere, sed identidem omnium ilia rumpens (Catul. 11)

Let her live and be happy with her adulterers, hold all three-hundred in her embrace, truly love-less, wearing them all down again and again

Si cui quid cupido optantique obtigit unquam insperanti, hoc est gratum animo proprie. quare hoc est gratum nobis quoque, carius auro, quod te restituis, Lesbia, mi cupido: (Catul. 107)

If anything happens to one who desires it, and wishes and never expects it, its a special delight to the mind. Likewise, this is delight, dearer than gold, to me, that you come back to me, Lesbia, in my longing.

Flavi, delicias tuas Catullo, ni sint inlepidae atque inelegantes, velles dicere, nec tacere posses. verum nescio quid febriculosi scorti diligis: hoc pudet fateri. nam te non viduas iacere noctes nequiquam tacitum cubile clamat sertis ac Syrio fragrans olivo, pulvinusque peraeque et hic et ille attritus, tremulique quassa lecti (Catul. 8)

Flavius, unless your delights were tasteless and inelegant, youd want to tell, and couldnt be silent. Surely youre in love with some feverish little whore: youre ashamed to confess it. Now, pointlessly silent, you dont seem to be idle of nights, its proclaimed by your bed garlanded, fragrant with Syrian perfume squashed cushions and pillows, here and there

Lesbia as Clodia Same metrical value of names Same accusations of scandals and debauchery in later poems

Lesbius est pulcher. Quid ni? Quem Lesbia malit quam te cum tota gente, Catulle, tua. Sed tamen hic pulcher vendat cum gente Catullum si tria notorum suavia reppererit. (Catul 79.1-2)

Lesbius is beautiful. Why not? And Lesbia prefers him to you and your whole tribe, Catullus. But let this beautiful man sell Catullus along with his tribe if he finds three kisses from people he knows.

Lesbius = Clodius, Pulcher was his cognomen, masculine form of Lesbia/Clodia Accusation of incest like in Cicero

Caeli, Lesbia nostra, Lesbia illa, Caelius, our Lesbia, that Lesbia, illa Lesbia, quam Catullus unam that Lesbia, Catullus alone loved plus quam se atque suos amavit omnes, more than himself, and all of his own, nunc in quadriviis et angiportis now at crossroads, and down alleyways, glubit magnanimi Remi nepotes. (Catul. 58) jerks off the brave sons of Rome. 69 Rufus smells like goats, 77 Rufus is a traitor, 100 Success in love Competing lover of Lesbia, like Clodia

Cynthia Propertius lives 5045 BC until after 15 BC outlives Cynthia who dies before book 4, addressed by Cynthias ghost (7.96) The title of 1st book of love elegies in 25BC is Cynthia / Monobiblos documents the affair and fading of his love (3.21 and 3.24) Her name is the first word of the book (Cynthia prima), older than Propertius - 2.18A:5-22 Cynthia, Greek name, epithet for Artemis. Exoticism? Callimachus? Erudition? Apuleius identifies her as Hostia metrically equivalent Propertius suggests she is descended from the poet Hostius, the doctus avus in III.20.8 Real or imagined figure? - Propertius 1.3. Mythological comparisons to Cynthia while she sleeps, before she wakes. Realistic approach we learn how the author's mythic idealization of his beloved as a Sleeping Beauty was once shattered by the reality of her wakeful reproaches (Written Women: Propertius' Scripta Puella, Maria Wyke. The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 77 (1987), p 47 Writes under the Augustan regime Moral laws address (at least symbolically) the decadence of previous years Propertius must be careful, Ovid exiled 18 Cynthia evidently well educated is won over by poems quamvis magna daret, quamvis maiora daturus, non tamen illa meos fugit avara sinus. hanc ego non auro, non Indis flectere conchis, sed potui blandi carminis obsequio. (Prop. 1.8b) Though he gave her much and promised more, still she doesn't give in to greed and desert my embrace. I was able to sway her not with gold, nor with Indian conches, but with the blandishment of smooth, alluring poetry

Luxurious living Rich frequenter of Baiae, jewels Quid iuvat ornato procedere, vita, capillo et tenuis Coa veste movere sinus, aut quid Orontea crinis perfundere murra, teque peregrinis vendere muneribus, naturaeque decus mercato perdere cultu, nec sinere in propriis membra nitere bonis? crede mihi, non ulla tuae est medicina figurae: nudus Amor formae non amat artificem. (Prop. 1.2) What need is there, my life, to come with your hair adorned, and slither about in a thin Coan silk dress? Why drench your tresses in myrrh of Orontes, betray yourself with gifts from strangers, ruin natures beauty with traded

refinements, nor allow your limbs to gleam to true advantage? Believe me nothing could enhance your shape: naked Amor ever hates lying forms. I knew your contempt would get to be a drag, Cynthia, but I never expected you to be unfaithful. Look at me, how fate snatches me from danger's mouth! Yet you come lazily to me in my terror. You fix yesterday's set with your hands, examine your face in slow deliberation. You decorate your breasts with oriental jewels, as any beauty does, preparing to see a new man While you linger in the middle of Baiae, Cynthia, where the path lies on Herculean shores, and marvel at seas subdued in the reign of Thesprotus, near the nobility of Misenum, does my memory ever bring a night of thought? . Just leave corrupt Baiae as soon as possible. Those shores will bring divorce to many, shores unfriendly to chaste girls. Go to hell, waters of Baiae, you crime against love!

Saepe ego multa tuae levitatis dura timebam, hac tamen excepta, Cynthia, perfidia. aspice me quanto rapiat fortuna periclo! tu tamen in nostro lenta timore venis; et potes hesternos manibus componere crinis et longa faciem quaerere desidia, nec minus Eois pectus variare lapillis, ut formosa novo quae parat ire viro. (Prop. 1.15) Ecquid te mediis cessantem, Cynthia, Bais, qua iacet Herculeis semita litoribus, et modo Thesproti mirantem subdita regno proxima Misenis aequora nobilibus, nostri cura subit memores a! ducere noctes? tu modo quam primum corruptas desere Baias: multis ista dabunt litora discidium, litora quae fuerant castis inimica puellis: a pereant Baiae, crimen amoris, aquae! (1.11)

Cynthia as a meretrix One of the accepted societal roles for majority of women slave, whore, matrona Meretrix registered prostitute class Associated with social stigma, perhaps os impurum They could not give evidence in court the freeborn were legally forbidden to marry them Higher class could be very well educated, skilled in music and dance Could become rich and famous rumoured that Caesar received his fortune from the will of a courtesan Conclusion For the most part portrayals of the women are products of the genres of the respective authors, and the contexts in which they were written. Held to ideal standards However, the nuances reflect a culture of lavishness and decadence prevalent among the upper echelons of Roman society.