Atilia

First wife of Cato the Younger

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

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Brutus family tree
Salonia (2)Cato the ElderLicinia (1)
Marcus Porcius Cato SalonianusMarcus Porcius Cato LicinianusMarcus Livius Drusus
Marcus Porcius Cato (2)LiviaQuintus Servilius Caepio (1)Marcus Livius Drusus
Atilia (1)Cato the YoungerMarcus Livius Drusus Claudianus,
adopted son
Marcus Junius Brutus (1)ServiliaDecimus Junius Silanus (2)ServiliaGnaeus Servilius Caepio
Marcus Porcius CatoPorciaMarcus Junius Brutus†Junia PrimaJunia TertiaGaius Cassius Longinus x
Junia SecundaMarcus Aemilius Lepidus (triumvir)
Descendant of
Pompey and Sulla		son
Manius Aemilius LepidusAemilia Lepida II
(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
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