Rheinisches Museum für Philologie: Neue Folge, 149. Bd., H. 2, (2006)
Abstract
Until the last century of the Roman Republic it was an established principle that officials assigned provinces outside of Italy would not be accompanied there by their wives, whose duty was to remain behind to look after their husbands’ interests. The locus classicus is provided by L.Quinctius Flamininus, brother of the distinguished philhellene. When Lucius departed for Gaul in 192 BC, his wife is recorded as escorting him as far as the city gate, but then turning back. The later details of the story highlight the short-comings of the convention, since out of his wife’s sight Lucius be-came entangled in a particularly sordid sexual escapade in Gaul, leading to his eventual expulsion from the senate.
For good or ill, however, the practice of matrimonial separation was maintained until the first century BC, when, like many others, it fell victim to growing political unrest. The first on record as breaking with the old tradition was Sulla, who in 88 was joined in Athens by his wife Caecilia Metella.2 Cornelia, the wife of Pompey, later travelled east to join her husband on what would be his final journey to Egypt.3 By the triumviral period, officials were regularly accompanied in their provinces by their wives, and other female relatives. Fulvia, for instance, went out to join her husband Marc Antony in Athens, and Octavia subsequently joined the same husband in the same place, and even Antony’s mother Julia managed at one point to find her way there.
Anthony A. Barrett
Rheinisches Museum für Philologie: Neue Folge, 149. Bd., H. 2, (2006)
Abstract
Until the last century of the Roman Republic it was an established principle that officials assigned provinces outside of Italy would not be accompanied there by their wives, whose duty was to remain behind to look after their husbands’ interests. The locus classicus is provided by L.Quinctius Flamininus, brother of the distinguished philhellene. When Lucius departed for Gaul in 192 BC, his wife is recorded as escorting him as far as the city gate, but then turning back. The later details of the story highlight the short-comings of the convention, since out of his wife’s sight Lucius be-came entangled in a particularly sordid sexual escapade in Gaul, leading to his eventual expulsion from the senate.
For good or ill, however, the practice of matrimonial separation was maintained until the first century BC, when, like many others, it fell victim to growing political unrest. The first on record as breaking with the old tradition was Sulla, who in 88 was joined in Athens by his wife Caecilia Metella.2 Cornelia, the wife of Pompey, later travelled east to join her husband on what would be his final journey to Egypt.3 By the triumviral period, officials were regularly accompanied in their provinces by their wives, and other female relatives. Fulvia, for instance, went out to join her husband Marc Antony in Athens, and Octavia subsequently joined the same husband in the same place, and even Antony’s mother Julia managed at one point to find her way there.
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