Hortensia (orator)
Hortensia | |
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Quintus Hortalus |
Hortensia (fl. 42 BC), daughter of consul and advocate Quintus Hortensius, earned renown during the late Roman Republic as a skilled orator.[1] She is best known for giving a speech in front of the members of the Second Triumvirate in 42 BC that resulted in the partial repeal of a tax on wealthy Roman women.
Life
Little is known about the life of Hortensia aside from her career as an orator. She was the daughter of
Hortensia is also believed to have been married to her second cousin
Speech before the Second Triumvirate
In 42 BC, nearly all of Rome's state-sponsored military
"You have already deprived us of our fathers, our sons, our husbands, and our brothers, whom you accused of having wronged you; if you take away our property also, you reduce us to a condition unbecoming our birth, our manners, our sex. Why should we pay taxes when we have no part in the honours, the commands, the state-craft, for which you contend against each other with such harmful results? 'Because this is a time of war,' do you say? When have there not been wars, and when have taxes ever been imposed on women, who are exempted by their sex among all mankind?"[3]
Hortensia also questioned the double standard of taxing women but excluding them from public office. Appian quoted Hortensia, stating, "Why should we pay taxes when we do not share in the offices, honours, military commands, nor, in short, the government for which you fight between yourselves with such harmful results?"[1]
Impact of the speech
Outraged at having had their authority challenged by a group of women, Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus tried unsuccessfully to dismiss the women from the rostra. The next day, the three men reduced the number of women subject to the tax to 400, and instead, compensated for the loss of revenue by forcing male property-owners to lend money to the state and contribute to war expenses.
Praise
Hortensia's speech was later praised by contemporaries as the embodiment of the nuanced oratory technique for which her father had been known. Of this, Valerius Maximus wrote:
"For by bringing back her father's eloquence, she brought about the remission of the greater part of the tax. Quintus Hortensius lived again in the female line and breathed through his daughter's words."[4]
In popular culture
Hortensia is the main character and subject of the 2016 novel Rivals of the Republic by Annelise Freisenbruch.
Footnotes
- ^ ISBN 1-57607-092-1.
- ISBN 9781400855322.
- ^ Appian. The Civil Wars. IV, 32-33.
- ^ Valerius Maximus Memorable Doings and Sayings 8.3.3
References
Primary sources
- Valerius Maximus, Factorum et dictorum memorabilium libri viii.3.3
Secondary sources
- Best, Edward (1970). "Cicero, Livy, and Educated Roman Women". The Classical Journal: 203.
- Leon, Vicki (1995). Uppity Women of Ancient Times. Conari. ISBN 1-57324-010-9.
- "Hortensia". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-07.
- Quintilian. "Institutio Oratoria. I, i, 6". Retrieved 2007-05-11.