Livia (mother of Cato)

For Rome's first empress, see Livia.

Livia Drusa (c. 120 BC – c. 92 BC) was a Roman matron. She was the daughter of Marcus Livius Drusus, consul in 112 BC, and sister of Marcus Livius Drusus, tribune of the plebs in 91 BC. She was the mother of Cato the Younger, and grandmother of Marcus Junius Brutus, through her oldest daughter Servilia.

Livia
Known for	Mother of Cato and Servilia
Spouse(s)	Quintus Servilius Caepio Marcus Porcius Cato
Children	Servilia Servilia Minor Gnaeus Servilius Caepio Porcia Cato the Younger
Parents	Marcus Livius Drusus (father) Cornelia (mother)

Life and family

Livia's father died in 108 BC, and she passed into the care of her brother, the younger Livius Drusus. About 106, Drusus arranged for her to marry his friend, Quintus Servilius Caepio.^[1] They had three children:

• Servilia, born before 100 BC, married Marcus Junius Brutus, and was the mother of Brutus, the tyrannicide. She was the mistress of Caesar, for which reason Caesar was rumoured to be Brutus' father.^[i][2]
• Servilia Minor, born circa 99 BC, the second wife of Lucius Licinius Lucullus, consul in 74 BC.^[3][4]
• Gnaeus Servilius Caepio,^[5] born circa 98 BC, a military tribune during the Third Servile War.^[6]

Livia and Caepio must have divorced about 98 BC, for reasons not stated by any ancient historian;^[ii] but Pliny the Elder reports that Caepio and Drusus had fallen out over the sale of a ring for which each was bidding at auction.^[7][8][9] Livia then married Marcus Porcius Cato, a grandson of Cato the Elder.^[10] They had two children:

• Porcia, born circa 96 BC, married Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, consul in 54 BC.^[11][12]
• Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis, or Cato the Younger, born 95 BC, a statesman, orator, and political opponent of Caesar.^{[13][14][15][16][17][18]}

Cato and Livia both died in the late 90s BC, and their children were raised in the household of Livia's brother, Marcus Livius Drusus.^[15]

Family

v t e Brutus family tree
Salonia (2) Cato the Elder Licinia (1) Marcus Porcius Cato Salonianus Marcus Porcius Cato Licinianus Marcus Livius Drusus Marcus Porcius Cato (2) Livia Quintus Servilius Caepio (1) Marcus Livius Drusus Atilia (1) Cato the Younger Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus, adopted son Marcus Junius Brutus (1) Servilia Decimus Junius Silanus (2) Servilia Gnaeus Servilius Caepio Marcus Porcius Cato Porcia Marcus Junius Brutus† Junia Prima Junia Tertia Gaius Cassius Longinus x Junia Secunda Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (triumvir) Descendant of Pompey and Sulla son Manius Aemilius Lepidus Aemilia Lepida II
(1): 1st spouse (2): 2nd spouse †: assassin of Caesar
Notes:

In fiction

Livia Drusa appears as a major character in the first two books of Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series. In The First Man in Rome, her brother coerces her into marrying Caepio, whom she dislikes. In The Grass Crown, McCullough depicts Livia's relationship with Cato as having begun before her divorce from Caepio and makes Caepio's youngest son (his only son and heir, in this fictional account) the natural son of Cato.

See also

• Livia gens

Notes

1. This rumour is not credited by historians, since Caesar was only fifteen years old when Brutus was born.
2. At one time it was commonly believed that Caepio was Livia's second husband, as he survived her. But from chronology, Manutius demonstrated that Caepio must have been her first husband, since her daughter, Servilia, was the mother of Brutus, who was born in 85 BC, and must therefore have been several years older than her half-brother, the younger Cato, who was born in 95. However, no ancient source explicitly states that Livia and Caepio were divorced.

References

1. Stegmann, "Livia".
2. Plutarch, "The Life of Brutus", 2, 5, "The Life of Caesar", 62, "The Life of Cato the Younger", 24.
3. Plutarch, "The Life of Lucullus", 38, "The Life of Cato the Younger, 24, 54.
4. Drumann, Geschichte Roms, vol. iv, p. 174.
5. Marshall, Bruce A. (1987). "The Engagement of Faustus Sulla and Pompeia". Ancient Society. 18: 98. doi:10.2143/AS.18.0.2011358. JSTOR 44034973.
6. Plutarch, "The Life of Cato the Younger", 8, 11.
7. Pliny the Elder, Historia Naturalis, xxxiii. 1. s. 6.
8. Livy, Epitome, lxxiii.
9. Manutius, Ad Ciceronis de Finibus, iii. 2.
10. Gabba, Republican Rome, p. 134.
11. Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum, ix. 3, xiii. 37, 48.
12. Plutarch, "The Life of Cato the Younger", 1, 41.
13. Cicero, Brutus, 62, Pro Milone, 7.
14. Valerius Maximus, iii. 1. § 2.
15. Plutarch, "The Life of Cato the Younger", i. 2.
16. Aurelius Victor, De Viris Illustribus, 80.
17. Livy, Epitome, 114.
18. Sallust, Bellum Catilinae, 54.

Bibliography

• Marcus Tullius Cicero, Brutus, Epistulae ad Atticum, Pro Milone.
• Gaius Sallustius Crispus (Sallust), Bellum Catilinae (The Conspiracy of Catiline).
• Titus Livius (Livy), History of Rome.
• Valerius Maximus, Factorum ac Dictorum Memorabilium (Memorable Facts and Sayings).
• Gaius Plinius Secundus (Pliny the Elder), Historia Naturalis (Natural History).
• Plutarchus, Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans.
• Sextus Aurelius Victor, De Viris Illustribus (On Famous Men).
• Paulus Manutius, Ad Ciceronis de Finibus (Commentary on Cicero's De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum), Venice (1541).
• Wilhelm Drumann, Geschichte Roms in seinem Übergang von der republikanischen zur monarchischen Verfassung, oder: Pompeius, Caesar, Cicero und ihre Zeitgenossen, Königsberg (1834–1844).
• Emilio Gabba, Republican Rome, the Army, and the Allies, Berkley (1976).
• Helena Stegman, "Livia", in Brill's New Pauly.