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A Stepfather's Gift: L. Marcius Philippus and Octavian

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 September 2009

Michael J. G. Gray-Fow
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Extract

This is a study of how one prominent Roman responded to the role of stepfather, a role that began as an incidental and largely unregarded consequence of marrying a woman who already had children, and which for a variety of reasons assumed an unexpected importance. It develops a hint supplied from Sir Ronald Syme's The Roman Revolution that this particular stepfather may not have been quite as uninvolved in his stepson's ambitions as he was at pains to suggest to his contemporaries, but goes well beyond that to the question of how influential this stepfather was as a role-model in the light of his stepson's character and personality. The stepfather was L. Marcius Philippus (cos. 56 B.C.), and the stepson was the boy who eventually became the Emperor Augustus. How Philippus responded to being a stepfather illustrates some of the features of that role as it existed in Roman society: the absence of legal authority, and the importance of the stepfather's personality and character. He is not a typical stepfather, because there were no typical stepfathers, but his career as a stepfather sheds light on a neglected dimension of Roman family life. Before going on with L. Marcius Philippus himself, however, it is necessary to say something about stepfathers in general.

Type
Research Article
Information
Greece & Rome , Volume 35 , Issue 2 , October 1988 , pp. 184 - 199
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1988

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References

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2. Syme, R., The Roman Revolution (Oxford, 1966), p. 31Google Scholar. Cf. Cic. Phil. 3.6.16; Suet. Aug. 4.

3. Marcia was probably married to Cato sine manu, remaining in her father's potestas. About 56 B.C. Cato voluntarily divorced Marcia so that she could marry his friend Hortensius, and took her back when Hortensius died in 50 B.C. The transfer was approved by her father Philippus: Plut. Cat. Min. 25; cf. Luc. Phars. 2.326–71.

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5. The issue of this marriage comprised (a) M. Claudius Marcellus (d. 23 B.C., aet. 19), the first husband of Augustus' daughter Julia, and Augustus' first candidate for the role of successor, (b) Marcella maior, who married (1) M. Vipsanius Agrippa (cos. 37, 28, 27 B.C., d. 12 B.C.), (2) Iullus Antonius (cos. 10 B.C., d. 2 B.C.), and (c) Marcella minor, who married (1) Paullus Aemilius Lepidus (cos. 34 B.C.), and (2) M. Valerius Barbatus Appianus (cos. 12 B.C.). The most famous descendant of the marriage of Octavia and Marcellus was the Empress Messalina, whose daughter revived the name Octavia.

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7. Atia had a younger sister of the same name, but as she married Atia's stepson (L. Marcius Philippus cos. suff. 38 B.C.) she was only a little girl about 50 B.C.

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10. They were equally sensitive with regard to L. Aurelius Cotta (cos. 65 B.C.), the brother of Caesar's mother.

11. He was the husband of Porcia, the sister of Philippus' son-in-law Cato.

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13. Cicero's rationale is obscure. Posthumous adoption was perfectly valid in Roman law. Antony, however, was suspected of misusing and interpolating Caesar's will, and Cicero could hardly accept one specific clause while expressing doubts about the genuineness of the rest.

14. Assuming his consulship in 56 B.C. followed roughly the Sullan decrees on the age requirements for holding magistracies.

15. Merivale, C., A History of Rome to the Reign of Trajan (London, 1928 ed.), p. 393Google Scholar. Merivale's comment was evoked by Octavian's consent to the death of Cicero, enough to damn Octavian forever with many writers. Merivale's work is a later abridgement of his General History of Rome (London, 1875)Google Scholar.

16. Suet. Ner. 2–6, 36–37. The theory of inherited characteristics, once popular then generally rejected, is currently being re-evaluated among psychologists.

17. Syme, , Roman Revolution, pp. 128, 322Google Scholar.