Atilia

Atilia (sometimes spelt Attilia) was the first wife of Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis and mother of his two eldest children.

Biography

Early life

It is not known for certain who Atilia's father was, but he was from the Atilii Serrani. He may have been Gaius Atilius Serranus the consul of 106 BC,[1] or Gaius' son.[2]

Marriage

Cato married Atilia c. 73 BC, after his intended wife, Aemilia Lepida married Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio Nasica.[3]

In the words of Plutarch:[4]

[Atilia] was the first woman with whom he made love, but not the only one, as was true of Laelius, the friend of Scipio Africanus; Laelius, indeed, was more fortunate, since in the course of his long life he only ever made love to one woman, the wife of his youth.

Cato and Atilia had a son Marcus Porcius Cato, who later died in the second Battle of Philippi, and a daughter Porcia, who became the wife of her cousin Marcus Junius Brutus.

Circa 63 BC, Cato divorced Atilia on the grounds of her unseemly behaviour, later marrying Marcia.[5] Atilia is not mentioned again.

Family tree

v t e Brutus family tree
Salonia (2) Cato the Elder Licinia (1) Marcus Porcius Cato Salonianus Marcus Porcius Cato Licinianus Marcus Livius Drusus Marcus Porcius Cato (2) Livia Quintus Servilius Caepio (1) Marcus Livius Drusus Atilia (1) Cato the Younger Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus, adopted son Marcus Junius Brutus (1) Servilia, mistress of Julius Caesar (see AUGUSTUS below) Decimus Junius Silanus (2) Servilia Gnaeus Servilius Caepio Lucius Appuleius SATURNINUS Marcus Porcius Cato Porcia Marcus Junius Brutus† Junia Prima Junia Tertia Gaius Cassius Longinus x Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (consul 78 BC) Appuleia, daughter of SATURNINUS Junia Secunda Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (triumvir) Lucius Aemilius Paullus (consul 50 BC) Descendant of POMPEY MAGNUS and Lucius Cornelius SULLA son Marcus Aemilius Lepidus Minor (the Younger) Servilia Isaurica, daughter of Junia Prima (see above) and Publius Servilius Isauricus Emperor AUGUSTUS (possibly, see JULIO-CLAUDIANS for descendants) Paullus Aemilius Lepidus Cornelia, daughter of Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus and Scribonia, wife of AUGUSTUS and mother of Julia the Elder Manius Aemilius Lepidus Aemilia Lepida II Lucius Aemilius Paullus (consul 1) Julia the Younger, daughter of Julia the Elder and Marcus Vispanius Agrippa, see AUGUSTUS and Cornelia above Aemilia Lepida Servius Sulpicius GALBA Aemilia Lepida CLAUDIUS, see AUGUSTUS above and JULIO-CLAUDIANS Lucius Vitellius (consul 34) Junia Calvina Lucius Vitellius (consul 48) Aulus VITELLIUS (for Otho's relation, in terms of the Year of the Four Emperors, he married Poppaea Sabina, who married NERO, see AUGUSTUS and CLAUDIUS above)
(1): 1st spouse (2): 2nd spouse †: assassin of Caesar
Notes:

Notes

1. Drogula, Fred K. (2019). Cato the Younger: Life and Death at the End of the Roman Republic. Oxford University Press. p. 33. ISBN 9780190869045.
2. Treggiari, Susan (2019). Servilia and her Family. Oxford University Press. p. 98. ISBN 9780192564641.
3. Plutarch, Cato the Younger, 7.3.
4. Plutarch, Cato the Younger, 7.3.
5. Plutarch, Cato the Younger, 24-25