Wilgefortis, Protected By The Beard of Christ [from Acta Sanctorum Mensis Julius]

Hail, Wilgefortis, holy servant of Christ!

You loved Christ with all of your heart

and, when you rejected a marriage to the king of Sicily,

you proved your faith on the Cross.

By your own earthly father’s decree

You endured the tortures of imprisonment,

You grew a beard on your face,

Which you obtained from Christ as a gift

Because you wanted to stop others from wanting to marry you.

Seeing this, your heathen father raised you up

High up on a cross, still wearing your beard

And ready [to die].

Since you had both grace as well as virtue,

As soon as you could,

Your soul fled to Christ’s protection.

O lady,

Because we cherish your memory with solemn praises,

O blessed Wilgefortis,

We beg you to pray on our behalf!

 

--Acta Sanctorum Mensis Julius,  Volume 7, Issue 5 (1748) p. 64 ; (Originally published in Enchiridion praeclarae ecclesiae Sarisburensis, 1533)

 

Ave sancta famula,Wilgefortis,Christi,

quae ex tota anima Christum dilexisti;

dum regis Siciliae nuptias sprevisti;

Crucifixo Domino fidem praebuisti.

Jussu patris carceris tormenta subisti,

crevit barba facie, quod obtinuisti

a Christo pro munere, quod sibi voluisti

te volente nubere sibi confudisti.

videns pater impius te sic deformatam

elevavit arius in cruce paratam.

Ubi cum virtutibus reddidisti gratam

animamque quantocius,Christo commendatam.

Quia devotis laudibus tuam memoriam, virgo, recolimus,

o beata Wilgefortis, ora pro nobis quaesumus.

Mourning the loss of a friend: Antye, Greek Anthology 7.490

 

Name: Antye Date:    3rd century BCE Region:    Tegea [modern Greece] Citation: Greek Anthology 7.490
I mourn for the maiden Antibia. Because of her beauty and wisdom Many suitors flocked to her father’s home for her, But cursed Fate keeps all hope at bay.
παρθένον Ἀντιβίαν κατοδύρομαι, ἇς ἐπὶ πολλοὶ νυμφίοι ἱέμενοι πατρὸς ἵκοντο δόμον, κάλλευς καὶ πινυτᾶτος ἀνὰ κλέος: ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ πάντων ἐλπίδας οὐλομένα Μοῖρ᾽ ἐκύλισε πρόσω.	Virginem Antibiam deploro, quam propter multi Sponsi desiderantes, ad patris venerunt domum, Ob pulchritudinem & prudentiam inclytam; sed omnium Spem damnosa mors subverti prius. Translated into Latin by Christian Wolf [1735]

 

 

Antye [4^th century BCE, Modern Greece] was one of the famous “earthly Muses,” a group of nine women poets revered by classical Greek and Roman authors. Little is known about her, but it generally agreed that she was from Tegea [modern Greece] and lived during the 3^rd century BCE. Numerous poems of hers were preserved in the Greek Anthology.

A More Perfect Union? Using the Gender Roles of Other Nations to Critique Your Own, Tacitus, Germania 18

Gender Roles in Germanic Marriage Rites

Name:   Tacitus Date:    56 – 117 CE Region:   [modern Italy]  Citation:  Germania 18

Often, authors will use depictions of other nations as a mirror for their own society. Here Tacitus is glamorizing his depiction of Germanic marriages to criticize Roman women and marriages.

 

[Germanic tribes] treat marriage very seriously, and it’s the best part of their value system. Of all the other barbaric tribes out there, the Germans are the only ones who practice monogamy. Of course, there are a handful of exceptions, but the noblemen who have multiple wives do so out of political gain, and definitely not out of lust. The wife doesn’t provide a dowry to her husband; instead, the husband gives a dowry to his wife. Their parents and kin evaluate what he has to offer in the relationship—and these aren’t trifles that women nag for, or other things that new brides have. No, these are a yoke of bulls, a bridled horse, and a shield, spear, and sword. The wife accepts these gifts, and in turn, gives the same to her husband. This is seen as the highest bond, the holy rite of marriage that their religion dictates. To keep the woman from thinking that she is immune from hard work or military valor, she is warned at the start of the marriage that she is entering the relationship as a partner to her husband’s exploits and dangers, in both war and peace. This is what the team of bulls, the bridled horse, and the set of armor represents. They live together as one, and they die together as one. She is to accept this union, which she will in turn pass down untouched and pure to her children, her daughters-in-law, and her descendants.

Tacitus [Publius Cornelius Tacitus; 56 – 117 CE, modern Italy] is considered one of the best Roman historians of the 1st century CE. He wrote numerous works, including the Annals [Roman history beginning with the death of the Emperor Augustus and the rise of Tiberius], the Histories [about the Year of the Four Emperors], and a biography of his father-in,-law, the Agricola.

Gender Roles in Germanic Marriage Rites

Quamquam severa illic matrimonia, nec ullam morum partem magis laudaveris. Nam prope soi barbarorum singulis uxoribus contenti sunt, exceptis admodum paucis, qui non libidine, sed ob nobilitatem plurimis nuptiis ambiuntur. Dotem non uxor marito, sed uxori maritus offert. Intersunt parentes et propinqui ac munera probant, munera non ad delicias muliebres quaesita nec quibus nova nupta comatur, sed boves et frenatum equum et scutum cum framea gladioque. In haec munera uxor accipitur, atque in vicem ipsa armorum aliquid viro adfert: hoc maximum vinculum, haec arcana sacra, hos coniugales deos arbitrantur. Ne se mulier extra virtutem cogitations extraque bellorum casus putet, ipsis incipientis matrimonii auspiciis admonetur venire se laborum periculorumque sociam, idem in pace, idem in proelio passuram ausuramque. Hoc iuncti boves, hoc paratus equus, hoc data arma denuntiant. Sic vivendum, sic pereundum: accipere se, quae liberis inviolate ac Digna reddat, quae nurus accipiant, rursusque ad nepotes referantur.

The Transformation of Iphis: Iohannis Posthius

Name: Johannes Posthius Date:   1537 – 1597 CE Region: [modern Germany] Citation:  Poems Inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book 9

 Lygdus ordered his wife to kill their child

If she gave birth to a girl,

But Isis came to her in a vision

While she was in labor

And told her instead to deceive her husband. 

Lygdus named the child after his grandfather Iphis

And then arranged him to marry a woman.

And Isis came to the rescue:

For Telethusa watched in wonder

As her Iphis entered the temple a girl

and left it as a boy. 

Si pareret Lygdo coniunx Telethusa puellam:

Protinus hanc letho clam dare iussa fuit;

Isis sed contra mandat sub imagine somni:

decipiat pariens ut Telethusa virum.

Iphis avus fuerat: suboli dat nomen avitum

Lygdus: et uxorem deligit inde pater.

affert Isis opem: nam quaemodo templa subibat

femina: mox puerum mater abire videt.

Johannes Posthius [1537 – 1597 CE, modern Germany] was a famous German poet and scholar.

A Rejection of Purity Culture: A Christian Author Lambasts Vestal Virgins, Prudentius Contra Symmachum 2.1064-1079

Rejecting Purity Culture: A Christian Author Lambasts Vestal Virgins

Name: Prudentius Date:  4th century CE Region:  Tarraconensis [modern Spain] Citation:  Against Symmachus 2.1064-1079

Now I’ll discuss the honor given to the chastity of the Vestal Virgins,

And how this “honor” reflects all of their [Roman polytheists’] “respect” for chastity.

First of all, little girls are taken in their tender years

Before they are old enough to understand and consent.

All hyped up with religious zeal and purity culture,

They reject the natural bonds of matrimony.

They become slaves to their chastity and are dragged to ungrateful altars.

These poor girls lose their sense of bodily pleasure

Not because it’s the right thing to do,

But because their free will was taken from them.

Their bodies might remain chaste,

But their minds are not kept pure.

They stay up at night restlessly and sigh in their unwed beds

The blind wounds and the wedding denied to them.

And since their secret hope doesn’t extinguish their fire completely

(For they can get married in their old age)

They run to the altar as gray-haired women.

Vesta demands purity for her maidens

For an allotted time,

but they immediately reject her as old maids.

Rejecting Purity Culture: A Christian Author Lambasts Vestal Virgins

Quae nunc Vestalis sit virginitatis honestas

discutiam, qua lege regat decus omne pudoris.

ac primum parvae teneris capiuntur in annis,

ante voluntatis propriae quam libera secta,

laude pudicitiae fervens et amore deorum,

iusta maritandi condemnet vincula sexus,

captivus pudor ingratis addicitur aris,

nec contempta perit miseris sed adempta voluptas

corporis intacti: non mens intacta tenetur,

nec requies datur ulla toris, quibus innuba caecum

vulnus et amissas suspirat femina taedas;

tum quia non totum spes salva interficit ignem,

nam resides quandoque faces adolere licebit

festaque decrepitis obtendere flammea canis;

tempore praescripto membra intemerata requirens

tandem virgineam fastidit Vesta senectam. 

Prudentius [Aurelius Prudentius Clemens; 348 – 413 CE, modern Spain] was a Christian author from Roman Hispania who had great influence in the court of Emperor Theodosius I. Most of his works deal with using his Christian beliefs to counter Roman polytheism and mythology.

The Emperor's Gender: Cassius Dio on Elegabalus, Roman History 80.14.3-4

Bassiana / Elegabalus Living as a Lady

Name:  Cassius Dio Date:     155 – 235 CE  Region:   Nicaea [modern Turkey] Citation:      Roman History 80.14.3-4

 At court, [Bassiana /Elegabalus] kept their appearance as a man, but everywhere else they kept the appearance and voice of a woman. And they danced all the time in public, not just on stage, but also wherever they walked, when they made sacrifices, and when they were holding court. Finally, to circle back to my original point, they got married as a bride, and were called “wife,” “milady,” and “Queen.” They spun wool, wore a veil, wore eyeliner, makeup, and anklets.

 

ὅτι ἐν τῷ δικάζειν τινὰ ἀνήρ πως εἶναι ἐδόκει, ἐν δὲ δὴ τοῖς ἄλλοις τῷ ἔργῳ καὶ τῷ σχήματι τῆς φωνῆς ὡραΐζετο. τά τε γὰρ ἄλλα καὶ ὠρχεῖτο, οὔτι γε ἐν ὀρχήστρᾳ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐμβαδίζων τρόπον τινὰ καὶ θύων ἀσπαζόμενός τε καὶ δημηγορῶν. καὶ τέλος, ἵν᾽ ἤδη ἐπὶ τὸν ἐξ ἀρχῆς λόγον ἐπανέλθω, καὶ ἐγήματο, γυνή τε καὶ δέσποινα βασιλίς τε ὠνομάζετο, καὶ ἠριούργει, κεκρύφαλόν τε ἔστιν ὅτε ἐφόρει, καὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐνηλείφετο, ψιμυθίῳ τε καὶ ἐγχούσῃ ἐχρίετο.

Et in iure quidem reddendo, aliquatenus vir esse videbatur; in aliis tamen rebus, & opere & modulatione vocis, muliebrem affectabat mollitiem. Inter alia enim saltabat, non in orchestra solum, verum etiam quodammodo dum incederet, faceret sacrificia, salutaretur, & contionem haberet. Postremo, ut redeam unde digressus sum, nupsit etiam, et uxor et domina et Augusta appellabatur; tractabat lanam, reticulum aliquando gestabat, oculosque sublinebat, cerussaque vultum et anchusa pingebat.    Translated into Latin by Hermann Samuel Reimarus

 

Cassius Dio [Lucius Cassius Dio; 165 – 235 CE, modern Turkey] was a Roman statesman born in Nicaea, Bithynia [modern Turkey] who wrote an 80 volume work on Roman history that spanned from Aeneas’ flight from Troy to the rise of the emperor Severus Alexander. Although much of his history is lost, the fragments that we do have show rare insight into the Roman world.

RIP: Too Young to be a Bride: Greek Anthology 7.604

Name:  Paul the Silentiary Date:     6th century CE Region: Constantinople [Istanbul, modern Turkey] Citation: Greek Anthology 7.604

There is a special spot of sadness in Greek and Roman literature for girls who died unmarried, as every woman was expected to marry and provide their husbands with legitimate offspring (with very few exceptions). Notice that more attention is placed on this young girl's wedding in this poem than her own death.

O young lady, your funeral is being prepared,

Not your wedding.

Instead of a bridal bouquet, you get a funeral wreath.

You will miss the hardships of life and the pain of childbirth;

Your survivors have a bitter veil of grief.

Macedonia, the Fates have buried you at twelve years old,

At the peak of beauty, but with old school customs.

 

λέκτρα σοι ἀντὶ γάμων ἐπιτύμβια, παρθένε κούρη,

ἐστόρεσαν παλάμαις πενθαλέαις γενέται.

καὶ σὺ μὲν ἀμπλακίας βιότου καὶ μόχθον Ἐλευθοῦς

ἔκφυγες: οἱ δὲ γόων πικρὸν ἔχουσι νέφος.

δωδεκέτιν γὰρ μοῖρα, Μακηδονίη, σε καλύπτει,

κάλλεσιν ὁπλοτέρην, ἤθεσι γηραλέην.

 

Lectum tibi pro nuptiis sepulcralem, o virgo puella,

straverunt palmis luctuosis parentes.

Et tu quidem errores vitae et laborem Ilithyiae

effugisti: illi autem luctuum amaram habent nubem.

Duodecennem enim fatum, o Macedonia, te sepelit,

veneribus iuvenem, moribus grandaevam.

Translated into Latin by Hugo Grottius

 

Paul the Silentiary [Paulus Silentiarius; 6th century CE, modern Turkey] was a bureaucrat in the court of the Roman Emperor Justinian I [527 – 565 CE] in Constantinople [modern Istanbul, Turkey]. Dozens of his poems are preserved in the Greek Anthology.

I Think I Love My Wife: Roman Masculinity and Conjugal Love. Ausonius 40

I Think I Love My Wife

Name:  Ausonius Date:  310 – 395 CE Region:  Aquitania, Gaul [modern France] Citation:  Epigram 40

Wife, let us live as we have lived

And let us keep the nicknames

That we made up for each other on our honeymoon. 

May no day pass that changes us ever

When I am not yours and you are not mine.

Although I am older than Nestor [1],

And you rival the Sibyl Deiphobe [2] in years

Let’s not dwell on our old age.

It’s proper to know the benefits of old age, but not the number.

---

[1]Nestor was an elderly hero of the Trojan War.

[2] Deiphobe, the Sibyl of Cumae, had eternal life but not eternal youth [similar to Eos/Aurora's lover Tithonus].

I Think I Love My Wife

Uxor, vivamusque ut viximus et teneamus

nomina, quae primo sumpsimus in thalamo

nec ferat ulla dies, ut commutemur in aevo

quin tibi sim iuvenis tuque puella mihi.

Nestore sim quamvis provectior aemulaque annis

vincas Cumanam tu quoque Deiphoben,

nos ignoremus quid sit matura senectus.

scire aevi meritum, non numerare decet.  

Ausonius [Decimus Magnus Ausonius; 310 – 395 CE, modern France] was a Roman poet from Aquitania, Gaul who lived during the 4th century CE. He is best known for his epic poem Mosella, which describes the Moselle River, and his Epistles, a series of literary poems between himself and the Christian poet Paulinus.

The Tragic Story of Petale, Greek Anthology 9.245

Name:   Antiphanes of Macedon Date:      1st century BCE Region:      Macedon [modern Greece] Citation:     Greek Anthology 9.245

Not Hymenaeos [1], but Hades

Attended Petale’s ill-fated wedding night.

For when the newlywed bride fled in fear

Through the darkness

From her first taste of love

[A common fear for maidens],

Guard dogs tore her limb from limb.

The hope we had in seeing her wed

Is now undone by her corpse.  

---

[1] Hymen/Hymenaeos was the personification of weddings and marriage.

Δυσμοίρων θαλάμων ἐπὶ παστάσιν οὐχ Ὑμέναιος, ἀλλ᾽ Ἀίδης ἔστη πικρογάμου Πετάλης. δείματι γὰρ μούνην πρωτόζυγα Κύπριν ἀν᾽ ὄρφνην φεύγουσαν, ξυνὸν παρθενικαῖσι φόβον, φρουροδόμοι νηλεῖς κύνες ἔκτανον: ἣν δὲ γυναῖκα ἐλπὶς ἰδεῖν, ἄφνως ἔσχομεν οὐδὲ νέκυν.

Infaustorum thalamorum ad torum non Hymenaeus, sed Pluto adstitit amare-nuptae Petales. Prae timore enim sola quum primam Venerem per noctem fugeret, communem virginibus metum, vero uxorem eam domus-custodes immites canes occiderunt: quam sperabamus videre, illico habuimus ne mortuam quidem. Translated into Latin  by Johann Friedrich Duebner

Antiphanes of Macedon [1st century BCE] Little is known about this author, but he lived during the 1st century BCE and several poems of his are preserved in the Greek Anthology.  

From Bride to Groom: Tales from Pliny the Elder, Hist. Nat. VII.iv.36

 It’s not impossible for women to turn into men. For I’ve found in historical records that in 171 BCE [the year that P. Licinius Crassus and C. Cassius Longinus were consuls], a girl turned into a boy while still living at home,* and was abandoned on a deserted island due to religious observances. Licinius Mucianus reports that he saw in Argos a man named Arescon, who used to be Arescusa: she was already living as someone’s wife, but when he grew a beard and underwent manly puberty, he married a wife of his own. He also saw the same thing happen to a boy in Smyrna. When I was in Africa, I saw with my own eyes someone who transformed on their wedding day, when they should have married L. Constitius (a citizen of Thysdrus).

* before eligible for marriage, an indication of the child's age

Ex feminis mutari in mares non est fabulosum. Inveniemus in annalibus P. Licinio Crasso C. Cassio Longino coss. Casini puerum factum ex virgine sub parentibus, iussuque harispicium deportatum in insulam desertam. Licinius Mucianus prodidit visum a se Argis Arescontem, cui nomen Arescusae fuisset, nupsisse etiam, mox barbaram et virilitatem provenisse uxoremque duxisse; eiusdem sortis et Zmyrnae puerum a se visum. Ipse in Africa vidi mutatum in marem nuptiarum die L. Constitium civem Thysdriatanum...

--Pliny the Elder, Hist. Nat. VII.iv.36

PLINY THE ELDER

MAP:

Name:  Gaius Plinius Secundus

Date:  23 – 79 CE

Works:  Naturalis Historia*

 

 

 Pliny was an Italian-born Roman statesman and author who lived during the reigns of the early Roman emperors. He spent most of his life in service of his country; he ultimately gave his life in arranging the evacuation of the regions devastated by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE. His work, the Natural History, is a 37-volume collection of art, history, and science of the ancient world.