One of often claims Atticus’ genealogy of the Bruti as one of the ‘affirmations’ of the relationship between Brutus the first consul and Brutus the murderer of Caesar, implying that the young Brutus of 54BC might have had a hand in ‘renewing’ this connection via his relationship with Atticus as well as his coinage (RRC 433).

Let’s not however forget this fragment of Posidonius who could hardly be considered contemporary of the young Brutus even if their life spans overlap.

I’ve often wondered what a republican modius actually looks like and how we identify it on the coinage, but I’m not sure I’ve ever thought or seen anything like the scoop/little shovel  (rutellum), the other attribute of the frumentarius in this passage from Lucilius book 9:

Based on the above bit of Lucilius, I find myself rather doubting the dictionary definition of puellus.  Perhaps it  derives from a diminution of puer, but I think at very least its connotations are of a boy used as girl, i.e. for sexual purposes.

Cf. this rare deponent verb.  All the rest of the words beginning puell- have strong feminine meaning as part of their denotations.

A quick word search shows just how rare this vocabulary is and its sexual overtones.

See C. Williams 2nd ed p. 301 n. 33

and the more extensive discussion by Chahoud.

Contrast this passage of Lucilius with these two more often quoted passages of Ennius and Cicero:

—

(Names above link to the sources for each of these snippets.)

8/5/16: The thing to read on the Lucilius passage is Ll. Morgan, Musa Pedestris, (Oxford University Press 2011), 322.

Cf. also this base metal specimen.

Polybius 10.27 says…

Media is the most notable principality in Asia, both in the extent of its territory and the number and excellence of the men and also of the horses it produces. 2 It supplies nearly the whole of Asia with these animals, the royal stud farms being entrusted to the Medes owing to the excellence of the pastures. 3 On its borders a ring of Greek cities was founded by Alexander to protect it from the neighbouring barbarians. Ecbatana is an exception. 4 This city is situated in the northern part of Media and commands that portion of Asia which borders on the Maeotis and Euxine.5 It had always been the royal residence of the Medes and is said to have greatly exceeded all the other cities in wealth and the magnificence of its buildings.6 It lies on the skirts of Mount Orontes and has no wall, but possesses an artificial citadel the fortifications of which are of wonderful strength. 7 Beneath this stands the palace, regarding which I am in doubt whether I should go into details or keep silence. 8 For to those who are disposed to recount marvellous tales and are in the habit of giving exaggerated and rhetorical reports of certain matters this city affords an admirable theme, but to such as approach with caution all statement which are contrary to ordinary conceptions it is a source of doubt and difficulty.9 The palace, however, is about seven stades in circumference, and by the magnificence of the separate structures in it conveys a high idea of the wealth of its original founders. 10 For the woodwork was all of cedar and cypress, but no part of it was left exposed, and the rafters, the compartments of the ceiling, and the columns in the porticoes and colonnades were plated with either silver or gold, and all the tiles were silver. 11 Most of the precious metals were stripped off in the invasion of Alexander and his Macedonians, and the rest during the reigns of Antigonus and Seleucus the son of Nicanor, 12 but still, when Antiochus reached the place, the temple of Aene alone had the columns round it still gilded and a number of silver tiles were piled up in it, while a few gold bricks and a considerable quantity of silver ones remained. 13 From all the objects I have mentioned sufficient was collected to coin money with the king’s effigy amounting to very nearly four thousand talents.

In this passage of Lucilius (mid to late 2nd cent BC), Ecbatana is being used symbolically as the furthest limits of the known world.  The joke may turn in part on those with such bad geography that they thought one could sail a ship there.

From the ad Herennium, a sample piece of rhetoric that articulates gender differences with regard to motivating passions:

When our ancestors condemned a woman for one crime, they considered that by this single judgement she was convicted of many transgressions. How so? Judged unchaste, she was also deemed guilty of poisoning.Why? Because, having sold her body to the basest passion, she had to live in fear of many persons. Who are these? Her husband, her parents, and the others involved, as she sees, in the infamy of her dishonour. And what then? Those whom she fears so much she would inevitably wish to destroy. Why inevitably? Because no honourable motive can restrain a woman who is terrified by the enormity of her crime, emboldened by her lawlessness, and made heedless by the nature of her sex. Well now, what did they think of a woman found guilty of poisoning? That she was necessarily also unchaste? Why? because no motive could more easily have led her to this crime than base love and unbridled lust. Furthermore, if a woman’s soul had been corrupted, they did not consider her body chaste. Now then, did they observe this same principle with respect to men? Not at all. And why? Because men are driven to each separate crime by a different passion, whereas a woman is led into all crimes by one sole passion.

Quintilian associates the connection of poisoning and unchasity to the judgement of Cato (the elder?  perhaps more likely than the younger? – must check current opinion…):

If an adulteress is on her trial for poisoning, is she not already to be regarded as condemned by the judgment of Marcus Cato, who asserted that every adulteress was as good as a poisoner?

Also compare Quintilian’s many examples regarding the difference between proof and indications, and how one thinks about the quality of evidence.  A large number have to do with the sexual activity of women or the morality of ‘womanish’ men!

[Why is this sort of post here?  I sometimes teach Sex and Gender in Antiquity and thus I’m always interested in useful teaching examples.]

note to self:  Why is it so useful to talk about sex and policing of gender roles when teaching rhetoric?  Is there a paper in that somewhere?

Personifications especially of cities become a major part of numismatic iconography.  At some point I want to return to this detailed treatment of the subject from a literary perspective focusing on Republican texts.

This portion of the ad Herrenium (a rhetorical handbook and one of our early substantial Latin prose works, pre dating the Ciceronian corpus) is often quoted in books about Memory.  Not so much by historians of the republic.  One of the most read authors on Memory, Yates, speculates that the scene may have been witnessed by the author either in real life or on the stage.

I’m of the opinion that this would be a very poor teaching example if both the verse and the imagery were not likely to be familiar to the intended audience.  This is not about the author’s personal experience, but about how oratorical preparation should be done.  Elsewhere, the author certainly picks known images.

I suspect the story come from the narration of how plebeians or Romans more generally in some specific context won the right not to be flogged.  This right was a very slow evolution over centuries and an extension of the rights of provocatio and made on the analogy to protections from summary execution.  Oakley gives a good concise summary of the evidence:

Here’s the coin (RRC 301/1) under discussion:

As an aside Brennan thinks the Marcii Reges were patrician (p. 901):

This translation of a fragment of a Cato’s against Thermus’s Triumph is from an essay by Sciarrino (p.58):

This is a translation of the only surviving fragment from Cato’s speech on King Attalus and the tributes of Asia (Image links to source):

6 Even before that Bocchus had married a daughter of Jugurtha, but such a tie is not considered very binding among the Numidians and Mauri, since each of them has as many wives as his means permit — some ten, others more, and kings a still greater number. 7 Thus their affection is distributed among a large number; none of the wives is regarded as a consort, but all are equally misprised.

Sal. Jug. 80.6-7

Interesting in light of how important political connections through marriage were in the late republic, esp. Pompey’s marriage to Julia.