ABSTRACT
The first century BC can properly be described as the Age of the Political Matron. Where previous ages had thrown up a few women whose status and abilities had enabled them to influence public affairs, the last century of the Republic saw the emergence of the influential woman almost as an institution. In the private law sector she was as emancipated as she ever would be, with manusfree marriage the general rule and guardianship little more than nominal.1 In the public sector she foreshadowed the great imperial women, and in some respects outdid them, for the liberal climate of the time allowed her, like her male counterpart, to address a wider range of goals than would be possible later on. A Servilia was able to influence the proceedings of the senate without an elaborate comedy of curtains and concealment. A Fulvia did not need to wear an imitation of a military uniform; she commanded an army. Furthermore, there are signs of the extension to other matrons of the notion embodied in ‘Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi’ (see Chapter 5, p. 42). Even the Vestals are found intervening in public affairs, no longer as protestors but as active participants. There is also some interesting material on women who built up flourishing businesses as procurers of political and legal favours.
