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Servilia

by Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti

Servilia
Servilia’s mother was born by Livia, a girl of the Drusi family, and by Quintus Servilius Caepio, a great friend of her brother. From Caepio she got three children, two girls, both called Servilia, and a son named Caepio. The marriage lasted until her husband and her brother didn’t compete in an auction for a ring. Her brother won the auction and Caepio, taking pretext of what he considered an unforgivable offence, went back home and, furious, repudiated his innocent wife. To lose such a man did not certainly break her heart and however she was soon married again, and this time with Marcus Porcius Cato, a nice steady man, with whom she probably lived happy. From him she got a son, Cato the Uticenses.
Soon her first daughter, Servilia, then 14 years old, was betrothed and became the wife of Iunius Brutus from whom she had two girls and a boy, Marcus Iunius Brutus. Their marriage was not long. Soon after Brutus’ birth, her husband, who supported Marius and was warring against the Senate oligarchy, was treacherously killed by order of Pompeus. His death left Servilia an young widow with three children to raise. Of course she was very soon married again to a convenient husband Decimus Iulius Silanus.
In the meantime what happened to Caesar? And when did he first meet Servilia? Nothing is known, except that between them there always was a great love and that it lasted until Caesar’s death. Anyway we can easily imagine that Caesar and Servilia met when they were just child, and it is highly probable that they saw a lot of each other. Both their families belonged to the Populares party, the equivalent of the modern American Democrats. However the Roman high society was very restricted and left and right wing people went to the same parties and took part of the same social life.
What would have been their life if they had married? History is not made by “if” or “maybe”. They were soon married, but not to each other. Servilia married Brutus and Caesar Cossuzia. Their first marriages were decided by the “Patres familias”, and no one of the two young people had a say in the matter. But also afterward they never succeeded to marry. When one was free he other was married. Thus when in 78 B.C. Servilia was widowed, Caesar was married with Cornelia and. also if not madly in love with her, he was very affectionate to his wife and to his daughter. It is however highly probable that the extramarital relation with Servilia began very early and that they found often some ways to meet,
This was known all around the town: Romans were always very interested in gossips. Apart of all this it seems that the two never took any precautions to hide their tie. On the contrary it seemed that they enjoyed to display it in public. For what Plutarch tells us at least once their love overstepped even the curia’s limits breaking the senators animated fights.
It happened in the 62 B.C. while again and again Catilina’s question was discussed in the Senate. The political scene was tempestuous and the moods poisonous. Cato and Caesar were acrimoniously debating the question and it happened that at the same moment both rose to express their strongly different opinions, but just when the battle among them was on the verge of starting, someone approached Caesar and gave to him some tablets. Caesar took them and sitting down began to read what was written on them.
Cato could hardly believe to be so lucky to catch Caesar at fault and began vehemently to accuse him to receive documents from the conspirators and to plot with the republic enemies. As many senators joined him, silently Caesar stretched the tablets to him. Cato had just to give a look at them to discover that they were a love letter sent to Caesar by his stepsister. Then, mad with rage, he threw the tablets back to him yelling “Take them drunkard!”. And never was a falser accusation been uttered: Caesar rarely drank any wine and, when he had to do it, he was very moderate. Of course we can’t be sure that “drunkard” was the exact word employed by Cato. It could have been some other insult even worse and more vulgar.
After this scene Cato tried to go on with his long and vehement speech but it must have been difficult for him to stick to it while with a sidelong glance he saw that Caesar, without losing his coolness, went on reading his letter as if nothing had happened. What is sure is that this accident did not contribute to diminish Cato’s hate for his stepsister’s lover.
But whatever could ever have been done or said against the two lovers affair, the relation among Caesar and Servilia went on undisturbed. They were not free to marry and many years went by in this way. But, at last, a moment came when they could have been married. In the 61 B.C. Caesar who after the Dea Bona’s scandal had chased Pompeia, was free. At about the same time Servilia, whose husband had died, was widowed. Thus in the 59 B.C. there was no obstacle to their union, but they didn’t marry. Why? Certainly not for the fear of a possible opposition from the part of Cato. Probably the reason was that Caesar never had a legitimate male heir and he wished very much to have one. It was not probable that Servilia, who at this moment was 40 year old, could bear a child.
Did they discuss the situation? Maybe and maybe it was just Servilia who, for what we know, was a remarkable woman, to let him free to realize his wish. Probably the two admitted that their relation had worked well for all these years and there was no real reason to change it. Servilia allowed herself to make the great renounce and let her lover free to provide to his progeny.
Thus in the year 59 B.C. Caesar married Calpurnia who was only 18 years old and, apart supplying to him the support of her powerful father, could maybe put a male son in his arm. But the legitimate heir was never born. Caesar however accepted his fate and did not even dream to repudiate Calpurnia as sterile. He would never had done such a thing. She was his wife, and Servilia the only woman he had always loved: everybody knew this. However just when he married Calpurnia he sent to Servilia a splendid outsize pearl so precious that all Rome, stunned, talked about it and the historian Svetonius registered the fact in his histories. Probably with this pearl Caesar wanted to express to Servilia that, also if their love was never legitimated, she would always be the “only one”. And thus Svetonius wrote:
“.... More than any other woman he loved Servilia, Brutus’ mother for whom during his first consulate (59 B.C.) he bought a pearl valued at 6000 sestertia.....”
Yes, Servilia. And no one else. He loved her as a boy, he still he loved her when the time went by and he was still loving her when Brutus, that Brutus whom he cherished as a son and who probably his son was, did kill him.


Bibliography
Scientific divulgation
E. SALZA PRINA RICOTTI, L'amore a Roma in Archeo, VII, 10 (92) October 1992, pp. 54-99

Books
E. SALZA PRINA RICOTTI - Amori ed amanti tra la repubblica ed il principato, Editore. L’Erma di Bretschneider, Roma, 1992