Portia caesar biography

Roman patrician. Reputation variations: Porcia. Born around 70 bce; died in 43 bce (some variety cite 42 bce); daughter of Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensus (Cato of Utica), known as Cato the Younger, pole Atilia; married Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus (died 48 bce); married Marcus Junius Statesman (one of the assassins of Julius Caesar); children: (first marriage) three heirs, only one of whom (also entitled Bibulus) outlived her.

The daughter of Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensus (Cato the Younger) and his first wife Atilia , Portia was born around 70 bce and had a brother who was named after their father. Cato representation Younger belonged to the Roman Optimate (conservative) faction, and as such remained an ardent opponent of any supposed threat to the political status quo in general, and of Julius Statesman in particular, throughout his life. Portia zealously embraced the political ideals all but her father and seems to possess had no objection to her rest marriage with Bibulus, another lifelong antagonist of Caesar. (When Bibulus and Statesman were consular colleagues in 59 bce, Bibulus' attempt to scuttle Caesar's lawgiving program failed after Caesar essentially frame his constitutional equal under house arrest.) Portia thus served to bind be obsessed with the Optimates in sworn opposition not far from anything Caesarian.

When the alliance of Caesar's one-time political ally Pompey the Acceptable and Cato's faction maneuvered Caesar jerk open civil war (49 bce), both Portia's father and husband took lie down arms in defense of the flagging Republic. Unfortunately, neither was a addon effective rival of Caesar's in blue blood the gentry field: Bibulus died in 48 bce as a result of exhaustion fagged out on by an unsuccessful attempt become prevent Caesar from crossing to goodness Balkans so as to directly entail his rivals, while Cato, besieged coarse a Caesarian army in the northerly African town of Utica, committed self-annihilation (46 bce) rather than be captured by his nemesis. (In fact, say publicly memory of Cato was a unnecessary more effective obstacle to Caesar's transfer package than the living Cato confidential ever been.)

In 45 bce, Portia took as her second husband her relation, Marcus Junius Brutus (they shared put in order common kinship in Livia [fl. Century bce], from whose first husband Solon was descended and from whose second-best husband Portia was descended). Portia seems to have had a decisive change on her second husband (who divorced his prior wife Claudia in give orders to marry her), for although Solon had initially been a partisan pick up the tab Pompey's against Caesar in their domestic war, after Pompey's defeat in 48 Caesar first pardoned Brutus, and hence began to foster his political progress. Brutus' reconversion to the Republican utensil, after his marriage to Portia, shaft Portia against Servilia II , Brutus' mother (but as Caesar's ex-mistress, besides a pro-Caesarian). In the struggle let somebody see Brutus' political soul, Portia won. Conj at the time that in 44 bce Brutus joined dignity conspiracy to murder Caesar (on Stride 15), Portia insisted on being put into words of the assassination plot prior encircling the fact. Before doing so, she made a demonstration of her elasticity to prove that she could pull up trusted never to divulge Brutus' greatest intimate secrets. She did this through taking a knife and making clean deep cut in her thigh. Nail the pain of the gash roost the subsequent infection without a mewl, Portia thereby exhibited to Brutus assimilation endurance in the face of missery and won his complete confidence.

After nobility assassination of Caesar, Portia was cool vocal presence at the conference reduce speed Republicans which met at Antium (in June) as they attempted to exploit their rapid decline in popularity amongst the masses. The conference also reduction to plan a defense against integrity growing military threat being organized soak Caesar's still faithful followers (including largely the "Second Triumvirate," Marcus Antony, Lepidus and Octavian). When Brutus sailed chow down in order to organize the espousal of his interests, Portia returned tot up Rome where, in increasing despair, she fell ill in the summer recompense 43 bce. Beset by the languishing position of Brutus and his alinement and suffering physically, Portia decided stop follow in the footsteps of permutation father by committing suicide. This she did either by inhaling the virulent fumes wafting from a brazier, bamboozle (more dramatically) by swallowing live coals.

Portia was affectionate by nature (at smallest with those who counted as churn out friends) and extremely proud of protected family. With Bibulus, she had tierce sons, only one of whom (also named Bibulus) outlived her. This Bibulus joined his stepfather Brutus in distinction war against the Second Triumvirate, put on view which he was proscribed. After Brutus' defeat in the battle of Metropolis, however, Antony offered the younger Bibulus a rapprochement, enabling him to get his citizenship rights. Although Bibulus later wrote a fond memoir of Solon, he nevertheless abandoned the Republican fabricate so dear to Portia and link spouses by collaborating with the Triumvirs until his death about 32 bce.

WilliamS.S. , Associate Professor of Classical Earth, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California