Porcia Catonis

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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 and for her famed suicide, reputedly by swallowing live coals.

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 who was her father's political ally. With him 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 ^[1]. 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 ^[2]. 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 ^[3]^[4].

Bibulus allied with Pompey against Caesar, commanding Pompey's navy in the Adriatic Sea ^[5]. 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^[6].

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 ^[7]. Plutarch informs us that she deeply loved him and she appears to have been utterly devoted to him ^[8]. 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 ^[9]. 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 ^[10], some historians believe Porcia might have been involved in the conspiracy ^[11]. 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." ^[12]

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 ^[13]. 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 ^[14]. 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 ^[15]. She worked herself to the point where upon her fainting, her maids feared that she was dying ^[16].

When Brutus and the other assassins fled Rome to Athens, it was agreed that Porcia should stay in Italy ^[17]. 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 ^[18]. 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." ^[19]

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" ^[20].

Porcia committed suicide in 42 BC, reputedly by swallowing live coals. However, modern historians find this tale is scarcely credible and believe that she actually suffocated herself with the fumes of charcoal ^[21]. 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 ^[22]^[23]^[24]^[25] although she was watched closely by her servants. 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. However, Plutarch dismisses Nicolaus' claims of a letter stating that too much was disclosed in the letter for it to be geneuine^[26]. 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

Portia, played by Deborah Kerr and James Mason as Marcus Brutus in the 1953 film Julius Caesar

In Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, she appears in fictionalised form as Brutus's wife, the character Portia.^[27] 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.^[28]

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 and she is eventually murdered by Brutus' mother Servilia who forces burning coals down her throat.