As a woman of the 21st century who has always felt like she perhaps once belonged to another time period, the study of the lives of women of multiple cultures and eras has always held a special place in my scholastic interests. When trying to figure out how Roman women of the Augustan era actually lived, a vital resource is the literature featuring or at least mentioning them. Although much can of course be discerned through other archaeological media, literature remains a primary means for study.
Roman love elegy holds a wealth of information particularly about the relationships between these women and their extramarital lovers. Selected works of the poets Catullus, Propertius, Sulpicia, and Ovid are what I will focus on for the purpose of this essay. Each of these poets has a lover to whom they address poems or about whom they write poems: Catullus’ Lesbia, Propertius’ Cynthia, Sulpicia’s Cerinthus, and Ovid’s Corinna. Each of these subjects may or may not have corresponded closely to a historical figure. I am not particularly interested in whether or not scholars can point to a particular person and say ‘Aha! This is the real Lesbia!’ I am concerned with how closely these poetical works corresponded to reality in general. There is quite a bit of difference in saying that my lover visited Germany and while she was there I wrote her love poetry telling her how her cat was faring while she was away and saying that often lovers have to be separated and correspondence is able to pass between them assuring them of conditions back at home, even if a more common theme in Latin elegy is complaints of a separation as can be seen in Sulpicia’s tale of her ‘hateful birthday’ which is to be celebrated in the country without Cerinthus[1] and Propertius’ numerous grumblings that Cynthia is purposely spending time away from him with little care for his feelings.[2]
Still, attention must be taken to realise that a male poet’s portrayal may have considerable discrepancy between how they perceived and described these women’s lives and what their lives were actually like. Unless you have experienced a situation yourself, a certain amount of imagination must be utilized. This is part of what makes writing interesting and enjoyable to do, but can be a bit tricky to carry out accurately as well as believably. Even with female poets, there is the difference between reality and fiction that characterises all poetry. The audience of these authors must also be considered. Writing works for their poet friends to read would be different than writing things to be spread at large in the forum and different from writing things directly to their lovers – even as they realise that these epistles may well have had audiences that they did not intend or expect. Sulpicia herself acknowledges this particular dilemma, voicing a wish for the courage to blatantly send ‘unsealed tablets’ to her lover.[3]
Then again, if the literature bore absolutely no resemblance to reality, would it have had the audience that it must have had to have survived this long? The best fiction is often said to come from experience, so it holds that fiction bearing little or no resemblance to real experience would be of lesser quality and thus less likely to be preserved these two millennia. The strategy then, perhaps, to take is one of acceptance that nonetheless holds a healthy scepticism in the wings: observing everything carefully while noting the context. There are a few specific aspects of Roman women which I wish to explore in this way: how they behaved as mistresses and what sort of cultured skills they had especially as poets and letter writers as represented in Latin love elegy. Because I am considering the work of both men and women I will be able to discuss these aspects from the male viewpoint and from the perspective of a woman herself.
Unsurprisingly, the main of the poetry describes the qualities these women displayed as mistresses. A closely related string of themes is that the lovers are being kept physically apart in some way, whether by distance, chaperones, or infidelity.
The very way in which some of the poems are written suggests correspondence between the lovers in written form, telling us that women wrote to their lovers at least sometimes. These were educated women. Ovid demands a ‘long letter’ from Corinna via her hairdresser Napë, only to change his mind a few lines later, not wanting to ‘tire her fingers pushing a stylus,’ letting us know that it would have indeed been Corinna herself writing to him, not a learned slave transcribing her words.[4] As mentioned above, several of Propertius’ poems lament that Cynthia is off gallivanting in faraway places without him, which we can presume would necessitate letter writing.
Ovid beseeches a stoic ‘poor wretch’ of a porter who will not let him in to see his beloved.[5] Surely if she had wished to see him she would have instructed the porter to allow him in? Propertius speaks in the voice of his mistress’ doorway, which complains about all it has to endure, including the ‘long vigils of a tragic supplicant’ who cannot gain entrance.[6]
The lover often has to abide interference from the husband, to which he reacts jealously, conveniently forgetting that he is the “other man.” My favourite example of this is Ovid’s dinner party poem in which he instructs Corinna on how to behave while dining with her boorish husband: signal her thoughts to Ovid with ‘the language of eyebrows and fingers,’ and ‘refuse all food he has tasted first,’ but ‘above all don’t kiss him!’[7] And besides these horrid husbands, the women will insist on taking lovers other than the poets. Lesbia, with ‘her adulterers, three hundred together’ provokes Catullus to retort (semi-) publicly, sending her a message through his two friends.[8] In adorning herself in a way that suggests she is ‘preparing to go to a new man,’ Cynthia causes Propertius ‘so much pain.’[9] Infidelity is not limited to the women, however, as Cerinthus goes ‘chasing after hookers and spinning-girls and whores’ in a most vulgar fashion, neglecting his high-born mistress.[10]
One matter that Propertius and Ovid in particular like to write on is their mistress’ anger. Cynthia’s tongue is cutting and witty (also a fantastic quality in a poet, by the way), most notably when she catches Propertius sneaking in after a night of debauchery her enjoyed without her.[11] She actually speaks in the first person in this poem, giving yet another dimension to the “he said she said” nature of these men reporting on women’s personalities, qualities and activities. Ovid relates Corinna’s jealous anger over supposedly the most innocent of things – glances, compliments – although he himself is carrying on with her maid.[12] In another poem he talks about an old crone, Dipsas, giving Corinna lessons on how to balance her life, keeping her suitors and husband in their proper places.[13] You can imagine how her anger over one of Ovid’s misbehaviours could drive her to this measure.
A perhaps more pleasant theme shows happy times spent together. Ovid recounts a sultry summer afternoon spent on a couch with Corinna, who is – for him – the embodiment of perfection, with ‘faultless beauty.’[14] Catullus highly values Lesbia’s kisses, completely devoting two poems to them, both relating to desire for uncountable numbers of her sweet kisses.[15]
Still one more recurring subject is the mistress’ illness, which lends an opportunity for the dutiful lover to dote upon her. A fevered Sulpicia sends for Cerinthus, needing to know if he’s worried about her, for if he isn’t, it’s not worth getting better.[16] Propertius prays to Jupiter to save his ‘afflicted girl,’ citing Jove’s interest in beautiful girls as motivation enough to turn the tides of illness.[17] Ovid asks
Propertius works the hardest to remind his readers of the cultivated talents of Roman women, as Cynthia is an accomplished poet and avid correspondent. He makes numerous references to her talent with the lyre[19] and refers to her as ‘sophisticated’ more than once.[20] Sulpicia is an extremely talented poet, as we have remnants of her work even though she was a woman, and most of her poems are in epistle form.[21]
Clearly, close inspection of Latin love elegy reveals women multidimensional and complex. Unfortunately, we learn almost exclusively of high class women through this genre but the various themes of elegy demonstrate their personalities and talents to us quite thoroughly. Whether or not the women described in the poems correspond precisely to historical figures, Augustan women would have possessed similar characteristics.
Sources for English Translation of the Text
(for easy reference on the part of the author)
Corelis, Jon. Roman Erotic Elegy.
Katz, Vincent. The Complete Elegies of Sextus Propertius.
Lee, Guy. Ovid’s Amores.
---. The Poems of Catullus.
[1] Sulpicia 2, ln 1
[2] Propertius 1.8, 1.11 and 1.12
[3] Sulpicia 1, ln 7-8
[4] Ovid 1.11, ln 19, 23
[5] Ovid 1.6, ln 1
[6] Propertius 1.16, ln 14
[7] Ovid 1.4, ln 19, 33, 38
[8] Catullus 11, ln 17-18
[9] Propertius 1.15, ln 8, 3
[10] Sulpicia 4, ln 3-4
[11] Propertius 1.3, especially ln 35-46
[12] Ovid 2.7-8
[13] Ovid 1.8
[14] Ovid 1.5, ln 17-18
[15] Catullus 5, 7
[16] Sulpicia 5
[17] Propertius 2.28
[18] Ovid 2.13-14
[19] Propertius 1.2 ln 28, 1.3 ln 42
[20] Propertius 1.2 ln 26, 1.7 ln 13
[21] Sulpicia 3, 4, 5, 6
