A Man's Soul In a Woman's Body: Amesia, Valerius Maximus 8.3.1

Maesia: A Woman Goes to Court

Name: Valerius Maximus Date:  1st century CE Region:  Unknown Citation:  Memorable Deeds and Sayings  8.3.1

During trial, Maesia of Sentinum pleaded her own defense to the praetor Lucius Titius in front of a large crowd. She performed the proper methods and procedures with both professionalism and passion. She was acquitted of all charges. Because she had a man’s soul in a woman’s body, she was called the “Androgyne.”

 

Maesia Sentinas rea causam suam L. Titio praetore iudicium cogente maximo populi concursu egit modosque omnes ac numeros defensionis non solum diligenter, sed etiam fortiter executa, et prima actione et paene cunctis sententiis liberata est. Quam, quia sub specie feminae virilem animum gerebat, “Androgynen” appellabant.

Valerius Maximus [1st century CE] Little is known about the life of Valerius Maximus except that he wrote during the reign of the emperor Tiberius. His work, Memorable Deeds and Sayings, is a collection of examples from Roman and world history categorized by theme for the purpose of rhetorical exercises.

I Thirst While Drowning in Waves: Iphis Yearns to Marry Ianthe, Ovid, Meta.9.665-795

Name:   Ovid Date:     43 BCE – 17 CE Region:    Sulmo [modern Italy] Citation: Metamorphoses 9.735, 742 – 744, 755 – 763

In Ovid’s mythology-based epic, The Metamorphoses, Iphis prays to be transformed into a man in order to marry the love of their life, Ianthe:

“I wish I weren’t a girl! … Daedalus, the most intelligent man in the entire world, the one who flew away with waxen wings, could he do the same for me: make a girl into a boy? Could he even change you, Ianthe?

“...So far no part of my prayers have been in vain. The gods readily gave whatever they could to me and my family. They’ve provided what I want, what my father wants, what Ianthe wants, what my father-in-law wants. But Nature herself doesn’t want this, and she overrides us all.

“Look, the perfect occasion is here; the wedding day is here. Ianthe will soon be mine. But it’s no use! I thirst while drowning in waves. What’s the purpose of my matron of honor Juno being here? Why has Hymenaeus come? The groom is absent, but two brides are here.”

I Thirst While Drowning in Waves: Iphis Yearns to Marry Ianthe

Vellem nulla forem!

...ipse licet revolet ceratis Daedalus alis,

quid faciet? Num me puerum de virgine doctis

artibus efficiet? Num te mutabit, Ianthe?

...Nunc quoque votorum nulla est pars vana meorum,

dique mihi faciles, quicquid valuere, dederunt;

quodque ego, vult genitor, vult ipsa, socerque futurus.

At non vult natura, potentior omnibus istis,

quae mihi sola nocet. venit ecce optabile tempus,

Luxque iugalis adest, et iam mea fiet Ianthe—

nec mihi continget: mediis sitiemus in undis.

Pronuba quid Juno, quid ad haec, Hymenaee, venitis

sacra, quibus qui ducat abest, ubi nubimus ambae?”

Ovid [Publius Ovidius Naso; 43 BCE – 17 CE, modern Italy] was one of the most famous love poets of Rome’s Golden Age. His most famous work, the Metamorphoses, provides a history of the world through a series of interwoven myths. Most of his poetry is erotic in nature; for this reason, he fell into trouble during the conservative social reforms under the reign of the emperor Augustus. In 8 CE he was banished to Bithynia [modern Turkey], where he spent the remainder of his life pining for his native homeland.