Insights into Gender Norms of Early Rome: fragments of Accius and Naevius

 GENDER ROLES IN EARLY ROME:

Never was a girlfriend (amica) more faithful to her lover (amanti)

Than a boyfriend (amico) is to his [lover] (amanti);

Nor is any woman ever known for being pleasant.

Numquam quisquam amico amanti amica nimis fiet fidelis,

Nec nimis erit morigera et nota quisquam.

--Naevius fr. 88-89

 

Unfortunately, gender-based slurs were just as common as they are today: 

You teenagers have a womanly spirit,

But this girl’s got the spirit of a man. [meant as an insult]

Vos enim iuvenes animum geritis muliebrem,

Virgo viri.

--Accius fr. 33-34

 Naevius was an Italian poet who wrote comedies, tragedies, and satires during the 3^rd century BCE. His works were often considered salacious; he was imprisoned, freed, and later exiled because of his works. Although he wrote dozens of plays and a history of the First Punic War, these are no longer extant; his works only survive in fragments and quotes preserved by other authors.

Accius was a freeborn child of a freedman parent; he was born in Umbria (modern Italy) but later moved to Rome. He wrote several tragedies based on Greek myths, but these are no longer extant; only fragments remain of his writings.

Spartan Women: Accius, fr. 31-32

Spartan Women Don’t Care About Babies

Name: Accius  Date:   170 – 86 BCE Region:   Umbria [modern Italy] Citation:  [quoted in Cicero, Tuscan Debates 2.36]

Often, authors will use depictions of other nations as a mirror for their own society. Here, Spartan women are stereotyped as a foil for Roman gender roles for their rejection of motherhood.

There’s nothing like this among the Spartan women.

For them, exercise and sunshine and dust and hard work

And military training are more important

Than common pregnancy.  

Spartan Women Don’t Care About Babies

Nihil horum similest apud Lacaenas virgines,

Quibus magis palaestra Eurota sol pulvis labor

Militia studio est quam fertilitas barbara.

Accius [Lucius Accius; 170 – 86 BCE, modern Italy]  was a freeborn child of a freedman parent. He was born in Pisaurum, Umbria [modern Italy] but later moved to Rome. He wrote several tragedies based on Greek myths, but only fragments remain of them.

Challenging Gender Roles: Two Fragments of Accius on Achilles, Accius, fr. 28 & 304

Name: Accius  Date:   170 – 86 BCE Region:   Umbria [modern Italy] Citation:  fragment 28, 304

1) Achilles on Skyros: 

...cum virginali mundo clam pater

--Accius fr. 28, quoted in Festus

[Achilles], a father hiding in a maiden’s dress...

This fragment of early Latin poetry refers to the period of time prior to the Trojan War when Achilles lived as a maiden on the island of Skyros and impregnated the princess Deidamia. Together they will have a son named Neoptolemus / Pyrrhus, who will fight in the Trojan War after the death of his father.

2) On the Death of Patroclus:

Achilles: Mors amici subigit, quod mi est senium multo accerrimum.

--Accius fr. 304, quoted in Nonius

The death of a friend has overpowered me; it is by far the most bitterest grief.

Accius [Lucius Accius; 170 – 86 BCE, modern Italy]  was a freeborn child of a freedman parent. He was born in Pisaurum, Umbria [modern Italy] but later moved to Rome. He wrote several tragedies based on Greek myths, but only fragments remain of them.