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Octavia, the fourth wife

by Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti

Keeping in account the so-called marriage with poor Fadia, Octavia was Anthony fourth wife. The young woman was Octavian’s elder sister and was six year older than him. In 54 B.C. when she was only fifteen years old she was married with C.Claudius Marcellus who had twenty years more than her. He was one of the best match in the town but he was also a fervent Pompeian and the fiercest enemy of Julius Caesar’s. Not even the marriage with the great general niece succeeded in reconcile him to one who had by then become his uncle. Besides Octavia was not the kind of woman that would dare to discuss her husband political opinion. She was a nice and level-headed person who was always trying to keep peace in the family. Of course we can’t rule out that some time she didn’t try to pour oil on the water, but she never succeeded to persuade Marcellus, and sweet and submissive as she was she had to be silent. As a a spouse Octavian’s sister was always and only the “Gaia” of the holy marriage formula, the perfect wife who would always follow her “Gaius” and with him she certainly would have plunged into hell. She plentifully proved it during her second marriage when this was exactly what she had to do.
Octavia was therefore a perfect mate, a discreet housewife and an exceptional mother. As a matter of fact it was her who spent the largest part of her life to raise her children and, after while, when Anthony was far away, she educated her stepchildren, the ones that Anthony had with Fulvia. At the end, when he died, she cared also for the ones born to him by Cleopatra, her worst rival, and for all of them she also found good situations. To sum it up she was exactly the kind of woman that any man could hope to marry. Besides she was also very handsome: Petite, blonde with very light and thin hairs that we still notice in her marble statues: Probably they were dark blond as her brother’s ones, and they framed her perfect oval-shaped visage in which shone her large and brilliant eyes. To sum it up she was nice, good and also handsome: What more could a man pretend?
Her first marriage lasted 14 years and was an union without any story, then it certainly was not unhappy. After this began the stormy period of the civil wars, during which also her had to stand difficult times. We know that at a certain moment she had to flee and with her mother find shelter in the Vestals House . If she hadn’t done so it is highly probable that, trying to stop her brother who at the head of his legions was marching against Rome, the Senate should have taken them as hostages. She had to go through all this, but the worst was still to come: The time elapsed and a very sad year, the 40 B.C., came. At this moment she already had two children: Her beloved son, and a little daughter, the first Marcella. It was just then that her husband died and she was left alone, and, what was even more, pregnant. However her marriage with Marcellus had gone well. Not so was the second one that saw her married with Anthony, who inflicted her endless sufferings and humiliations..
That is what happened: Anthony, called for help by Fulvia in flight after her unlucky Perugia’s battle had just come to Italy and was on the point to begin a battle against Octavian. Thank to God, just when the war was beginning, they got the news of Fulvia’s death and this put an end to the hostilities. Anthony discharged all the faults of Perugia’s war on his late wife and, to sum it up, this time he was the absolute right. He never had anything to do with it: Fulvia did everything alone. She started the war, wore an armor and, not satisfied with this, she even harangued the soldiers, who didn’t like it a bit. Now with Fulvia out of the way, Anthony offered peace and Octavian was happy to accept it. At this moment the young general felt magnanimous. He had won on a large scale, and above all, having killed a lot of his enemies, he had eliminated his most fiery opponents.
Now it was necessary to have with Anthony a stable relation and everyone of his fellow citizens required it. Not withstanding that Octavia was in a family way and not withstanding that for the Roman law a woman couldn’t remarry before ten months after her husband death, all the soldiers and all the Romans demanded that Anthony and Augustus’s sister got wedded without losing any time. Even the Senate, eliminated all the obstacles that blocked this union and made everything easy. Thus Octavia became Anthony’s fourth wife. The covenant between her brother and her husband was concluded and they were now tied in a close family relation.
We don’t know if anyone asked the poor Octavia what she thought about this marriage, but it is not probable. At these time everybody deemed that it was not necessary to ask what a woman could want. It was considered that, once married, a well educated lady would get accustomed to her spouse, and nobody was interested to know if with the time she could end by loving her husband. or if she would only tolerate him.
However at the beginning the marriage looked a happy one and, just after having given birth to little Marcella Minor, Octavia was pregnant again. Everything could be said about Anthony, but as a stallion he was what better could be found in the world. The Roman citizens heaved a sigh of relief: The new civil war had been avoided.
However among all these facts nobody considered Cleopatra. Everybody was sure that with her Anthony had a pleasant affair, but that by then, as well as it had always happened with the other women who had involved him in dangerous relationships, he had forgotten the fascinating queen. The Romans were sure that now that he was married with a handsome woman blessed with all kind of gifts he would certainly see the difference between her and all his previous mistresses. Nobody calculated what probability had an inexperienced young woman, a wife who in addition of this was also deeply conventional, to keep tied to her such an impetuous and sensual husband who, beside everything else, had a strong preference for whores.
In the meantime Anthony and Octavian were in close contact. Together they ruled but unfortunately together they also played. Augustus wasn’t certainly a god of war, but in every kind of game he always won and Plutarch insinuated that his luck was beginning to get on Anthony nerves.
“ Anthony - wrote the historian – was always annoyed for their competition in this field, and every time that they passed the time playing at game of chance or at dices he always lost Some time just for a change they organized fights of cocks or quails, but Augustus’s champions were always the winners.
Now this was only idle chatter, the usual low gossip going around the town, but it was also known that an Egyptian seer had rejoined Anthony and was always predicting his future. It was very probable that his man was in Cleopatra’s pay, and it was noticed that also if he always prophesied to him great successess, he also suggested him to steer up clear from the young Caesar. His brother in law’s fortune would always obscure his, told him the seer. We don’t know if it was for this the reason or maybe for some other one that Anthony decided to leave Italy and start for Greece bringing with him Octavia and the little daughter she just bore.
Forgetting all gossip, his departure is a historical fact and in 39 B.C. he sailed for Greece. Really, in agreement with Octavian, he wanted to weaken as much as he could the towns of Acaia which they had promised to give to Sextus Pompeius. The two brothers in law didn’t like the idea and they wanted to deliver them in pitiful conditions. Of course it was not a loyal conduct to follow, but as the old saying goes “In war and in love everything is allowed ”.
Octavia and Anthony arrived at Athens where for a short time their honeymoon went on. Octavia was happy: She had completely lost her head for her husband. It was not only the old marriage formula “Ubi tu Gaius, ego Gaia”: It was a deep love and in Athens she lived the last happy moments of her life.
In the meantime his brother had begun to fight with Sextus Pompeius and the war was not going well. How we have already said he was not a god of war and always lost. Thus in this plight he called for the help of the other triumvirs. Lepidus not even answered him and Anthony came against his will, but when a wolf entered his camp and killed some of his soldiers he considered this as a kind advice sent to him by the gods and meaning that he had better not to mix himself in Octavian’s war. Thus under the pretence that he had to immediately fight the Parths, he left. Obviously the young Caesar never forgot it, and this also because, while him went on losing his battles, Anthony always won.
Little by little the relation between the two brothers- in-law began to deteriorate and at a certain moment Anthony, who had lead some very fortunate campaign on the Empire’s borders and was proud of his victories, began to be angry with this brother in law who was always losing Thus he took he pretext that he wanted to come back to Italy and take part to the war against Sextus Pompeius. But according to Dio he deeply resented his brother in law, and the historian was sure that the things among them would get worse and worse. However Anthony with a fleet of 300 boats started from Syria sailing toward Italy. Octavia, pregnant again and heavily distressed about what could happen if Anthony had gone without her, succeeded in getting aboard.
When they arrived at Brindisis the city, in alert, did not allow them to moor and they were forced to ride at anchor in front of Taranto. Octavia, who was ready to do anything that was in her power to settle the differences between her husband and her brother, succeeded in persuading Anthony to let her disembark so that she could plead his cause. Pregant as she was, and flanked by both Agrippa and Mecenas she entered the camp of the young Caesar and told him what is related by Plutarch:
“......And if the worst would happen, and if this war among you would break out, nobody could know what will happen and who would win. But whoever he would be, for me who am the wife of one and the sister of the other, the situation would always be awful......” Octavian realised hat she was right, thus the two rivals came into an arrangement. Anthony gave to Octavian boats to replace the ones he had lost and the young Caesar gave to his brother in law soldiers to fight the Parts. Straight away after this they celebrated the accord by a banquet to which also Octavia took part . Then Octavian left to fight Pompeius and Anthony started for Asia Minor, but arriving at Corfu, on the pretext that he didn’t want to expose his wife to any risk while he was fighting, he disembarked Octavia with all the children included the ones that he had from Fulvia, and sent her back to her brother Here the young woman with all the children settled in Anthony’s house the one that once belonged to Pompey the Great, and here she waited for her husband to come bac but she would never see him again.

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

Book
E. SALZA PRINA RICOTTI - Amori ed amanti tra la repubblica ed il principato, Casa editrice. L’Erma di Bretschneider, Rome, 1992