Of Calpurnia we learn nothing more save that her wisdom made her quick
to place her husband's papers in the hands of Mark Antony, who so
successfully took upon himself the task of avenging the death of his
friend.
Portia fled from Italy with her husband, and it was well for her that
she did so; for under the Triumvirate there was inaugurated a reign of
terror which caused the people of Rome to recall the bloody
proscriptions of Sylla, and in which the wife of Cæsar's murderer would
hardly have been secure. Hatred, greed, and all evil passions were let
loose. It became easy for heirs to hasten to the possession of legacies
by having the owners' names placed on the lists of the proscribed. The
toga was given to children, in order that their property, they being
then considered of age, might come into their own possession; then they
were condemned to death.
During this reign of terror, the citizens of Rome were cowed by the
soldiery into abject silence and inactivity; but, to their honor, it is
recorded that the women did not suffer so resignedly the despoiling of
their goods. A heavy contribution was levied upon fourteen hundred of
the richest matrons. Led by Hortensia, the daughter of the orator, these
ladies went to the Forum and appeared in the presence of the
Triumvirate. Hortensia spoke. "Before presenting ourselves before you"
she said, "we have solicited the intervention of Fulvia; her refusal
has obliged us to come hither. You have taken away our fathers, our
children, our brothers, our husbands; to deprive us of our fortune also
is to reduce us to a condition which befits neither our birth, nor our
habits, nor our sex; it is to extend your proscriptions to us. But have
we raised soldiers against you, or sought after your offices? Do we
dispute the power for which you are fighting? From the time of Hannibal,
Roman women have willingly given to the treasury their jewels and
ornaments; let the Gauls or the Parthians come, and there will be found
in us no less patriotism. But do not ask us to contribute to this
fratricidal war which is rending the Republic; neither Marius, nor Cinna,
nor even Sylla during his tyranny, dared to do so." The triumvirs were
inclined to drive the matrons from the Forum; but the people began to be
stirred, so they yielded and set forth another edict, reducing to four
hundred the number of women who were to be taxed.
Much of this cruelty was instigated by a woman whom Hortensia mentions.
Antony, whose amatory experiences were as varied as they were numerous,
was at one time engaged in an intrigue with Fulvia, then the wife of
Clodius. She afterward became Antony's wife. Here was a woman the exact
opposite of Portia; a resentful, stubborn, masculine woman, "in whom,"
says Velleius Paterculus, "there was nothing feminine but her body." It
is told of her that when Cicero was murdered, his head was brought to
her, and she drove her bodkin through the tongue which had so bitterly
rated her and her husband. On another occasion, the head of one of the
proscribed was brought to Antony. "I do not know it," he said; "let it
be taken to my wife." It was the head of a citizen of whom nothing worse
is known than that he had refused to sell a farm which Fulvia desired to
obtain. Plutarch relates that Antony was obliged to resort to all sorts
of boyish tricks in order to keep Fulvia in good humor. Among other like
stories which he says were current, he gives the following, relating to
the triumvir's sudden return to Rome: "Disguising himself, he came to
her by night, muffled up as a servant that brought letters from Antony.
She, with great impatience, before she receives the letter, asks if
Antony were well, and instead of an answer he gives her the letter; and,
as she was opening it, he takes her about the neck and kisses her." The
historian gives this characterization of Fulvia: "a woman not born for
spinning or housewifery, nor one that could be content with ruling a
private husband, but prepared to govern a first magistrate, or give
orders to a commander-in-chief. So that Cleopatra was under great
obligations to her for having taught Antony to be so good a servant, he
coming to her hands tame and broken into entire obedience to the
commands of a mistress." Evidently, we must regard Mark Antony as being
the great historical type of the "henpecked" husband; there is, however,
no occasion for sympathy; his punishment was no greater than he
deserved. The chief misfortune lay in the fact that Fulvia died, and
thus made room for the noble and much-abused Octavia, whom he afterward
married.
Let us return to Portia. There is a beautiful incident related of her
final parting from Brutus in the island of Nisida. She was overcome with
grief, but refrained from showing it for fear that it might shake her
husband's fortitude. But in passing through a hall, a picture which she
there saw accidentally betrayed her. It was a representation of Hector
parting from Andromache when he went to engage the Greeks. He was in the
act of giving his little son Astyanax into her arms, while she fixes her
tearful eyes for the last time upon her husband. Portia could not look
upon this piece, so suggestive of her own circumstances, without
weeping; and every day, as long as she remained in the place, she went
to gaze upon it. It was on one of those occasions that Acilius, a friend
of Brutus, repeated from Homer the lines where Andromache speaks to
Hector:
"'But, Hector, you
To me are father and are mother too,
My brother, and my loving husband true.'"
Brutus, sadly smiling, replied, "But I must not answer Portia, as Hector
did Andromache:
"'Mind you your loom, and to your maids give law.'
For though the natural weakness of her body hinders her from doing what
only the strength of men can perform, yet she has a mind as valiant and
as active for the good of her country as the best of us."
As to the time and manner of Portia's death, the ancient writers are not
fully agreed? But the best authenticated account is that which is thus
represented by Shakespeare:
"BRUTUS.--O Cassius! I am sick of many griefs.
CASSIUS.--Of your philosophy you make no use,
If you give place to accidental evils.
BRUTUS.--No man bears sorrow better; Portia is dead.
CASSIUS.--Ha!--Portia?
BRUTUS.--She is dead.
CASSIUS.--How 'scap'd I killing, when I cross'd you so?
O insupportable and touching loss!--Upon
what sickness?
BRUTUS.--Impatient of my absence,
And grief that young Octavius with Mark Antony
Had made themselves so strong;--for with her death
These tidings came.--With this she fell distract,
And, her attendants absent, swallow'd fire."
In Portia and Brutus we see that close and mutual sympathy, than which
marriage in any period of the world's history has nothing better to
show. The ancient historians took great delight in eulogizing her
character and praising her qualities. They are a unit in the belief
that, in all points, she was worthy to be the consort of him whom Antony
justly honored as "The noblest Roman of them all."