Study Questions on Roman Women and the Lure of Power
Fulvia
1. Passage 176 from L&F recounts an incident during the triumvirate of Antony, Octavian, and
Lepidus. What has driven the Roman matronae to public action?
2. Compare their behavior to the legend of the Sabine women. Why are legends socially
significant?
3. Why did Fulvia behave as she did? Why did she expect to get away with it?
Messalina (Tacitus handout, pp. 245–51 and 280–3)
1. What were Messalina’s connections to the emperor Claudius?
2. She supposedly committed two outrageous acts: one is recounted in Juvenal 6, from last class,
the other by Tacitus. What were they? Do you find either one implausible?
3. What could her motives have been for each? To what motive does Tacitus ascribe her actions
(and in the latter case also the actions of Silius)?
4. What are the repercussions for each act?
Agrippina (Tacitus handout, pp. 312–9)
1. What were Agrippina’s connections to the emperors Claudius and Nero?
2. Who is Britannicus and what is his fate? What is Agrippina’s relationship to him? Was their
relationship a stereotype? If so, does that mean that the tradition is untrue?
3. Tacitus comments repeatedly on Agrippina’s attitude towards power. What is it? Does that ex-
plain Nero’s determination to exterminate her?
4. How did Nero finally rid himself of her? What impression of Agrippina do you get from Taci-
tus’ narrative of her struggles to survive?
5. Tacitus was an elite Roman senator writing 2 generations later than Nero. Do you believe his
portrayal of Agrippina? What motive might he (and his sources) have for embellishing? Note per
L&F 220 that one of Tacitus’ source was Agrippina’s own memoirs!
