Cornelia (Grac's mother)

Origin

Cornelia belonged to an ancient patrician family of Etruscan origin. She was the daughter of Publius Cornelius Scipio the African from marriage to Emilia of Tertia . Thus, she was the son of Lucius to Emilia Paul , who died at Cannes , and Lucius to Emilia Pavel of Macedon’s granddaughter. Cornelia's older sister was married to her cousin Publius Cornelius Scipio Nazika Korkul . She also had two brothers, Publius (he did not make a career due to poor health) and Lucius , who rose to pretury in 174 BC. e. ^[one]

Early years and marriage

The time of Scipio’s marriage to Emilia Tertius is unknown. The time of the birth of both Cornelius can only be confidently said that this was after the return of their father from Africa after the end of the Second Punic War - that is, after 201 BC e. Cornelia the Younger was the last child ^[2] .

Antique authors report that the mother of Gracchi was born "with an accrete female organ" ^{[3] [4]} and that this was considered a bad omen. Cornelia received a good education; she had a Greek teacher ^[5] . Upon reaching the required age, she became the wife of a noble from the plebeian clan Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus . The annalists believed that this marriage was concluded in the 180s BC. e., during the Scipio processes, when Scipio Africanus was still alive. But already Titus Livius doubted the plausibility of such datings ^[6] . The researchers, based on the testimony of Polybius ^[7] and Plutarch ^[8] , are confident that this marriage was concluded much later - between 165 and 162 BC. e. ^[9] . Tiberius Sempronius was then more than 50 years old, and Cornelia could have been 30 or more years younger ^[10] .

Seneca's message that both Cornelia received a dowry from the state treasury is not true; perhaps Seneca confused these matrons with their great aunt, the daughter of Gnei Cornelius Scipio Calw ^[9] . Father left each with 50 talents . Their husbands received the first half of the dowry immediately after the wedding from Emilia Tertii, and the second half after her death in 162 BC. e. from her successor Scipio Emilian ^{[11] [12]} .

Plutarch tells the following story about the relationship of spouses:

Once, as reported, Tiberius found a pair of snakes in his bed, and the soothsayers, reflecting on this sign, announced that they could neither kill nor release both at once: if the male was killed, Tiberius would die, if the female was Cornelia. Loving his wife and believing that, in addition, it was more fair to die the eldest first (Cornelia was still young), Tiberius killed the male, and released the female. Soon after, he died.

- Plutarch. Tiberius and Guy Gracchus, 1 ^[8]

This episode is in a number of other sources ^{[13] [14] [15]} . Valery Maxim makes the following conclusion: “So I don’t know whether to call Cornelia happy because of such a husband or unhappy because of the loss of such a husband” ^[13] . The researchers agree that, judging by the available data, Tiberius Sempronius loved his wife ^[16] .

Despite the great difference in age with her husband, Cornelia gave birth to twelve children, so this family became an example of having many children for Pliny the Elder ^[17] . Sons and daughters were born alternately. Only three survived to adulthood: Tiberius , Guy and one daughter ^[8] . Tiberius was born in 163 or 162 BC. e. ^[18] and, judging by the premeno , was the eldest of the sons; apparently, of all the children he was either the first or the second ^[12] . Guy was nine years younger than Tiberius and was born shortly before his father died, in 154 or 153 BC. e. ^{[18] [9]} Frederick Munzer believes that Sempronia was born shortly after 164 BC. e. and could be the oldest of twelve children, or at least of six daughters in this family ^[19] .

Widowhood

After the death of her husband, Cornelia did not marry again, although she was still young. Plutarch says that the Egyptian king Ptolemy (presumably Ptolemy VI Philometor ) offered his hand to her, and scientists consider this message to be quite plausible ^[20] . But Cornelia refused to the king, deciding to devote himself to raising sons ^[21] . She gave Tiberius and Guy a first-class education, which focused on rhetoric and philosophy ^[5] ; teachers for young Sempronius were discharged from Greece ^[22] . According to Orosius , after the death of her husband, Cornelia went to a villa near Mizen , on the coast of Campania ^[23] ; nevertheless, she later lived a long time in Rome ^[24] .

The daughter of Cornelia Sempronia became the wife of her relative Scipio Emilian (this marriage was supposedly concluded between 150 and 148 BC and was unsuccessful, primarily because of the absence of children) ^[19] . The eldest son of Cornelia in 133 BC. e. He became a national tribune , put forward a project of agrarian reform and was soon killed by his enemies, who were led by Cornelia’s native nephew Publius Cornelius Scipio Nazic Serapion . The husband of Sempronia, Scipio Emilian, approved the murder. In subsequent years, he led the conservative "party", while Guy Grakh fought for the continuation of reforms. In 129 BC e., when there was a new aggravation of domestic political struggle, Scipio Emilian died suddenly. In Rome, it was said that this was a murder committed out of revenge, and that the deceased showed signs of strangulation on the neck ^{[25] [26]} , and the potential murderers were called, together and separately, Guy Papiria Carbon , Mark Fulvia Flaccus , Guy Gracchus, Sempronia and Cornelia. Appian even confidently asserts that the killing was organized by Cornelia through her daughter ^[27] . The deceased's best friend Guy Leli the Wise insisted on the natural cause of death, and the investigation was never carried out ^[28] .

In 123 BC e. the tribune became the youngest son of Cornelia. One of his first legislative initiatives was to prohibit the continuation of political activity for people who were removed from office by the will of the people. This could be an attempt to take revenge on Mark Octavius - one of the opponents of Tiberius Gracchus. It is known that Cornelia persuaded her son to forgive Octavia; after that, the bill was withdrawn ^{[29] [30]} . Guy Sempronius won his re-election next year, and in 121 BC e. died after his brother.

It remains an open question whether Cornelia influenced the political views of her sons - including Guy, who used her mother's name in the interests of propaganda. In any case, she contributed to the awakening of ambition in them ^{[5] [31]} . In particular, Cornelia repeatedly complained in the presence of her sons that the Romans call her not “the mother of Gracchus”, but “mother-in-law Scipio” ^[32] (but Plutarch, referring to this, refers to “some” opponents of the reform party ^[12] ). There are reports in the sources that Cornelia not only sympathized with the activities of her sons, but even took an active part in it; historians consider this a blatant lie that goes back to the enemies of the Gracchi. Such episodes, fictional optima , are referred to by antiquaries ^{[33] as} Cornelia’s alleged son-in-law murder and the fact that on the eve of Guy’s decisive clash with enemies she allegedly “secretly recruited foreigners-mercenaries, sending them to Rome under the guise of reapers” ^[34] .

She took the death of her sons with complete self-control. After the murder of Guy, she left only a daughter - the childless widow of Sempronia. Cornelia spent the rest of her days in a villa near Mizen, and she did not change her lifestyle: she was surrounded by intellectuals, exchanged gifts with the kings, and constantly received guests, who were told a lot about her father’s life and rules, as well as about her sons. Cornelia "without sadness and tears" spoke about the death of Tiberius and Guy and absolutely impassively answered any questions about them. Therefore, according to Plutarch, some observers even wondered if she had gone mad with grief ^[35] . The death of Cornelia, the researchers date the end of the II century BC. ne: more accurate dating impossible ^[5] .

The letters of Cornelia to the youngest son are mentioned by Plutarch ^[34] . After the death of Cornelia, two letters were circulated, which should have been written shortly before Guy Sempronius’s first election as a tribune of the people. They contained appeals to the addressee to avenge his brother and continue his reforms. It is known that these letters were read by Mark Tullius Cicero ; their text was published by Cornelius Nepos . In the 19th century, anti-scholars discussed a great deal about the authenticity of these letters ^[36] . There is still no consensus on this issue. The researchers emphasize that these letters, in any case, played an important propaganda role in the internal political struggle in the twilight of the Roman Republic ^[5] .

Antiquity

According to Plutarch, Cornelia enjoyed universal respect in Rome "because of her children, no less than because of her father." In the portico, Metella erected her bronze statue with the inscription "Cornelia, mother of Gracchi" ^{[37] [38]} . The base of this statue was found in 1878 ^[24] . Cornelia appears in a variety of ancient texts: fifteen authors wrote about her only in Latin ^[20] . Sources characterize Cornelia as a highly educated woman and an excellent mother, an exemplary Roman woman. In many ways, it was her sons who were obliged for their outstanding talents ^[39] . They write about this Mark Tullius Cicero ^[40] , Quintilian ^[41] , Tacitus ^[42] , Plutarch ^[8] .

Cornelia is named among the exemplary mothers who did not entrust their children to slave mentors, while they themselves engaged in their upbringing and, as a result, made them "the first citizens of the Roman state." Other matrons on this list are the mother of Guy Julius Caesar Aurelius and the mother of Augustus Attius ^{[42] [43]} . Valery Maxim tells a characteristic story: when some matron was praising her outfits and jewels before Cornelia, she showed her sons, who had just returned from school, and said: “This is my main adornment” ^[44] . Historians see ^{[39] [20]} here a clear parallel with the Plutarch biography of Fokyon (the wife of the protagonist in the conversation with the “guest from Ionia ” calls her spouse his ornament) ^[45] . In addition, this statement of Cornelia could be a reminder of a very concrete material loss: her mother's jewels passed to Scipio Emilian, and he gave them to his native mother Papirias ^[20] .

Elian in his “Motley Tales” named Cornelia among those women who deserve special honors for their dedication to their husbands - along with Portia , Alkestida , Laodameia , Penelope ^[46] . For Martial Gracchus and Cornelius, they were an example of conjugal love ^[47] , Juvenal calls Cornelia the owner of all conceivable virtues ^[48] . Sometimes it is mentioned in a negative context (these are plots about the death of Scipio Emilian, about spurring the ambition of sons), but apparently this information comes from the enemies of Gracchi and is fiction ^[49] .

Middle Ages and New Time

For Christian authors, Cornelia was, just as in the previous era, a model of virtue. In particular, Jerome Stridonsky , one of the teachers of the church, named her, along with Lucretia and Portia, among those women who in moral respect were not inferior to their husbands. Jerome noted the virtue with which Cornelia bore the blows of fate that fell upon her ^[50] .

The Italian poet Dante Alighieri in his “ Divine Comedy ” placed Cornelia in Limb - the first circle of hell, where virtuous pagans reside. They did not go to heaven just because they were born before the coming of Christ. There are many other heroes of Roman history, including Gaius Julius Caesar, Lucius Junius Brutus , Lucrezia, Marzia (Hell, IV, 128).

The German writer Charlotte von Kalb wrote the novel Cornelia, first published in 1851, in about 1785. In it, one of the characters tells the story of the "best decoration", presented in a fictionalized form. Cornelia comes to visit some Octavia and shows too little interest in the matron's jewels. She asks: "Do you, Cornelia, can you show your jewelry that can be compared to mine?" And Cornelia responds by pointing to her sons: "Look! These are Guy and Tiberius, grandchildren of Scipio, my sons! These are my decorations, honor and glory of great Rome! ” ^[51]

In the XIX century, the name “Cornelia” was borne by many European magazines published for women and parents. The most famous of them - “Journal for home education” Karl Pilz. At the end of the 19th century, Cornelia became the main heroine of a number of historical dramas, none of which gained particular fame ^[51] . She works in the novel by the Soviet writer Milia Yezersky "The Brothers of Gracchus". In 2010, Elizabeth Highlander’s novel Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi brothers ^[52] .

In art

In 1878, in Rome, in the area of ​​the Portica Octavia, was found the base of the statue with the inscription CORNELIA AFRICANI F / Gracchorum (CIL VI 31610). Presumably this was the foundation of the statue that Pliny described and mentioned Plutarch: she portrayed Cornelia sitting, wearing a simple dress and sandals with belts, and was the first statue in Rome that was not a priestess ^[50] .

In the 17th century, the followers of Titian often created idealized portraits of noble women in the image of Cornelia. In 1775, Joshua Reynolds painted a portrait of Lady Augusta Anna Cockburn with three sons, using the theme of "the best jewelery." In the graphic illustration of Charles Wilkine (1791), Cornelius, according to critics, is more like a "vengeful Medea " than a virtuous Roman matron ^[53] .

The mother of Gracchi became a popular character in painting during the Great French Revolution : her sons at that era were considered exemplary carriers of advanced ideas. Most often used the plot with the "best decorations." His paintings were dedicated to him by Januarius Zeke (1794), Joseph-Benoit Syuwe (1795), Giuseppe Gade (1776), Jean-Francois Peiron (1781), Johann August Nal (circa 1820). Three paintings on this subject were written around 1785 by Angelika Kaufman , and on one of them, besides the Gracchus brothers, Sempronia is also depicted. The canvases of this artist, created during a trip to the absolutist Kingdom of the Two Sicilies , can be interpreted in anti-revolutionary style: Cornelia, the daughter and wife of prominent politicians, symbolize the positive role of a strong personality in history ^[54] .

In the second half of the XIX century, the image of Cornelia continued to be used in a very different context by painters and sculptors. Thus, the mother of Gracchi became the heroine of salon painting by Elizabeth Jane Gardner (1872), the character of the bronze group of Matyuren Moreau (circa 1865) and the frescoes of Hermann Vistilienus (circa 1870). Image of Cornelia adorns one of the windows in the Harvard Hall, created to honor the memory of the heroes of the US Civil War . A monument to Cornelia is in the city of Columbus ( Ohio ) ^[53] .

In the cinema

Cornelia is one of the episodic characters of the French-Italian film Scipio Africanus (1971, director Luigi Magny ). There she acts like a little girl, a playmate of Scipio Emilian ^[55] . She is also present in the prologue of the series Ancient Rome: The rise and fall of the empire (episode "Revolution") at the funeral of her husband. It is played by Geraldine James ^[56] .

The asteroid (425) of Cornelius , discovered on December 26, 1896 by the French astronomer Auguste Charlois in the Nice Observatory, is named after Cornelia.

Sources

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• Cornelia (mother of Gracchus) (English) . - in Smith 's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.