Activity

Hortensia in the transition from the Republic to the Empire.

Characters:

Hortensia

Theme: Hortensia at the end of the Republic. Public speaking as freedom of expression.

Competencies

Competence in Linguistic Communication

Personal, social and learning to learn competence

Competence in cultural awareness and expressions

Subjects and year by Educational System

Spain > Classical culture > 2nd ESO > Classical roots of today's world. History and socio-political evolution

Enunciation

<img title="Women's Legacy logo" src="//inclusion.womenslegacyproject.eu/images/LogoWL.svg" /><hr />Hortensia was the daughter of the orator Hortensius, Cicero's rival and colleague. A speech by Hortensia was recorded centuries later by the historian Apianus.
Read the following text about the historical context of Hortensia and answer the questions, looking for the information you need:
"The situation occurred after Caesar's death, in the year 42 BC, when a triumvirate (Octavian, Lepidus and Mark Antony) was formed against Caesar's assassins (Decimus Brutus, Marcus Brutus, Gaius Longinus). The triumvirate resorted to seizing the property of citizens considered enemies of the people, those who had assassinated Caesar. But as this was not enough to finance the war, they passed an edict to impose a tax on the 1,400 richest&nbsp;women in Rome. The women, outraged at being taxed for a war over which they had no control, elected Hortensia to represent them in the Forum. She acted as an advocate to prevent this group of Roman women from having to pay such a tax, and she was probably also among the richest women in Rome. He argues that they first tried to solve the problem between women by addressing the consorts of the triumvirs, but when they received a poor response from Fulvia, Mark Antony's wife, they had no choice but to resort to appearing in the Forum. This is what Hortensia said in her speech:
Why should we, who have no share in magistracy, honours, military command, nor at all in the government of public affairs, pay tribute, for which reasons you engage in personal struggles that lead to such great calamities? Why do you say we are at war? And when were there no wars? When have women contributed tributes?
Our own translation from Antonio Sancho Royo (1985)
The triumvirs were upset that a woman had spoken to them in such terms and ordered that these women be expelled from the Forum. However, public opinion was sympathetic to Hortensia's discourse and thus the people supported the group she led.
Thanks to their intervention, they postponed the resolution of this matter until the following day, when they drew up a public list of 400 women, who were required to submit an assessment of their assets. They decreed that any man who had more than 100,000 drachmas, whether citizen or foreigner, free or priest, had to lend one-fiftieth of their wealth and contribute a year's income to the war effort.&nbsp;
The dramatic end of the Republic was also experienced by Rome's greatest orator, Cicero, who suffered severely for having defended the republican cause and was assassinated.
After Cicero, with the advent of imperial power, political freedom disappeared, so that oratory became a contrived exercise of the school".
Answer the questions:
1.- Draw a timeline showing the following events: Caesar's death, the Triumvirate of Mark Antony, Octavian and Lepidus, Hortensia's speech, Cicero's death, Mark Antony's (and Cleopatra's) death and Octavian's proclamation as Caesar Augustus.
2.- Probably, when Hortensia made her speech, Cicero had already been assassinated, so Hortensia was three times brave: for disobeying the social norms that prevented women from oratory in the Senate, for defying the triumvirs with her refusal to pay taxes, and for making use of freedom of speech. Look for examples today of people who have also been courageous for one of these reasons.
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Observations and context

Cicero in Brutus, a history of Roman oratory, provides examples of women (Lelia, her daughters – the Mucias -and her granddaughters – the Licinias) who possessed an education and an oratorical ability with which they could have become excellent orators, as was often the case with men of the same social status, if it had not been forbidden for Roman women to exercise judicial and political oratory. Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, also had an excellent preparation to pass on to her children. Well into the 1st century BC, in a context of a clear expansion of women's rights, three Roman matrons (Hortensia, Maesia and Gaia Afrania) practised law.

Description

Through the figure of Hortensia, we intend to glimpse the last years of the Republic, the convulsive events that preceded Augustus ruling, and to reflect on freedom of expression before and after, through the figures of Hortensia and Cicero.

Reading of texts, searching for information.

Hortensia in the transition from the Republic to the Empire.

Enunciation

Observations and context

Description

Answer

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