history ask meme: 8 and 9?
YAY! I love when I get asks!
8: An obscure Historical Figure who needs more love.
So this was a tough one but eventually I settled on Porcia Catonis. I think that Porcia is a truly fascinating figure, who is usually only remembered for being the wife of Brutus (the same Brutus famous for betraying Caesar) which is such a shame. Brutus is only the tip of the iceberg in what makes Portia interesting. First off, Porcia was the daughter of Cato the Younger, famous devotee of the the Stoic Philosophy, a great proponent of the Roman Republic, and a bitter opponent to Julius Caesar. Porcia’s mother was a woman called Atilia. Now when Porcia was only seven Cato divorced Atilia for committing adultery, probably with Julius Caesar, and according to Roman Law that meant that Porcia would have little to no contact with her mother ever again. Essentially, Caesar helped to rob Porcia of her mother, which would be enough for anyone to detest the man but it wouldn’t be the last time that she would have a run in with Caesar. Later, Cato married Porcia to a man named Bibulus. This marriage would have taken place when she was about 12 (not an unusual age for an upperclass Roman girl to wed- but still hella gross). Like Cato, Bibulus was a staunch republican, and thus, was none too fond of Caesar’s political machinations. Eventually Cato, Bibulus, Brutus, and other Republicans launched a military campaign to try and thwart the power that Caesar was exercising over Rome. This campaign ended in failure and Cato chose to kill himself rather than face the shame of defeat. So now, Caesar has taken both of Porcia’s parents from her. To make things even worse, Bibulus also died in the campaign. While I don’t know how much affection Porcia had for her husband (given the fact that he was old as balls) his death would have put her financial security in jeopardy- with her father dead there would have been no one to protect her legally or fiscally. So to keep our list of things Caesar has taken from Porcia up to date:1. Mom2. Dad3. Husband4. Financial SecurityIt was at this point that Brutus stepped in and decided to marry Porcia. It would appear that Brutus loved Porcia, because he divorced his wealthy wife of ten years in order to marry her, he offended quite a few people (including his own mother) in doing so. And I imagine that Porcia was relieved that her new husband wasn’t older than dirt.
Now try to imagine what what you would have felt if you were in Porcia’s shoes at this point. Caesar’s a man who has managed to take nearly everything from you in your life and suddenly, you’re married to an extremely wealthy man (Brutus) with a great deal of political influence. Do you think that you might try to lean your new husband against Caesar? There’s no real way to know exactly what finally made Brutus decide to take action against Caesar but I do think that Porcia may have played a critical role in that decision (and most ancient historians agree that Portia was aware of the plot against Caesar). Plutarch wrote that Porcia was a great lover of history, philosophy, and politics, so I think she could grasp the situation well enough. That’s why I always get pissy when I see such passive portrayals of Porcia ( most notably in Shakespeare) because there’s so much potential there that no one has managed to pick up on.
9. Favorite history-based movieIdk if this really counts as a movie but I really enjoyed I, Claudius. In spite of the fact that Suetonius isn’t the most trustworthy of sources for accurately portraying the lives of the Julio-Claudian emperors… the series was just so darn entertaining! Nothing will ever top John Hurt’s portrayal of Caligula.
