Roman Mothers

Rose Williams suggested that I had left out a couple of important Roman mothers from my original list, and sent me excerpts from her book Duces Romanorum to go along with one of her top pick Roman mothers, Octavia (69 - 11 B.C.), sister of Augustus and wife of Mark Antony. This passage shows how saintly this good woman was:

Quamquam matrimonium cum femina aliena civile non erat et uxorem Octaviam habebat, Antonius Cleopatram in matrimonium duxit. Octavianus iratissimus adversus Antonium ob Octaviam sororem erat; haec una e plurimis causa belli in Antonium erat. Post mortem Antonii in Aegypto, Octavia benignitate amoreque quinque liberos suos ex matrimoniis cum Marcello et Antonio et liberos Antonii ex matrimoniis cum Fulvia et Cleopatra educavit.

Although marriage with a foreign woman was not legal and he had a wife, Octavia, Antony married Cleopatra. Octavian was very angry with Antony because of his sister; this was one of many causes of his war against Antony. After the death of Antony in Egypt, Octavia reared with kindness and love the five children of her marriages with Marcellus and Antony and the children of Antony from his marriages with Fulvia and Cleopatra.

Reviews of works by and more from Rose Williams:

• Review - The Labors of Aeneas by Vergil
• Review -Tres Porculi
• Review - Lighter Side of the Dark Ages
• Review - Cicero the Patriot
• Using Latin Vocabulary to Form English Verbs
• Ghost Stories: The Younger Pliny's Haunted House
• Latin Mottoes

Photo of painting by Jean-Joseph Taillasson (1787) showing Vergil reading the Aeneid to Augustus and Octavia. Courtesy of Wikipedia.