Salonia

Salonia

Salonia

Second wife of Cato the Elder

Salonia was a Roman slave, and later freedwoman who lived during the mid-2nd century BC, and who was the second wife of Cato the Elder. She was the young daughter of the slave Salonius who was an under-secretary to Cato the Elder.[1] Following the death of his first wife, Cato began taking solace with a slave girl who secretly visited his bed.[2]

However, his son Marcus Porcius Cato Licinianus and his son's wife disapproved of the relationship, so Cato decided to marry Salonia in order to solve the problem.[3][4] However, when Licinianus found out about it he complained that now his problem was with his father's marriage to Salonia.[5] Cato replied that he loved his son, and for that reason, wished to have more sons like him.[6]

In 154 BC, Salonia gave birth to Marcus Porcius Cato Salonianus[7] who was only five when his father died. Through her son, Salonia was grandmother of Lucius Porcius Cato and Marcus Porcius Cato, the great-grandmother of Cato the Younger.

Notes

  1. [1]
    Plutarch, Cato the Elder, 24.2.
  2. [2]
    Plutarch, Cato the Elder, 24.1.
  3. [3]
    Plutarch, Cato the Elder, 24.3
  4. [4]
    Plutarch, Cato the Elder, 24.4.
  5. [5]
    Plutarch, Cato the Elder, 24.4
  6. [6]
    Plutarch, Cato the Elder, 24.5
  7. [7]
    Plutarch, Cato the Elder, 24.6
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