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Salonia

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Salonia was the daughter of a Roman slave and freedman who lived during the mid-2nd century BC, and who was the second wife of Cato the Elder. She was the young daughter of the freedman Salonius who was an under-secretary to Cato the Elder.[1] She is sometimes erroneously equated with the enslaved woman who, following the death of his first wife, secretly visited Cato in his bed. [2]

Cato's son Marcus Porcius Cato Licinianus and his wife disapproved of Cato sleeping with an enslaved girl so Cato decided to marry in order to solve the problem. His choice of Salonia seems rather random, yet also reveals Cato's relationship with his freed clients. [3][4] However, when Licinianus found out about it he complained about having a stepmother, which was viewed unfavorably in Rome due to inheritance laws.[5] Cato replied that he loved his son, and for that reason, wished to have more sons like him.[6]

In 154 BC, Salonia gave birth to Marcus Porcius Cato Salonianus[7] who was only five when his father died. Through her son, Salonia was grandmother of Lucius Porcius Cato and Marcus Porcius Cato, the great-grandmother of Cato the Younger.


Notes

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  1. ^ Plutarch, Cato the Elder, 24.2.
  2. ^ Plutarch, Cato the Elder, 24.1.
  3. ^ Plutarch, Cato the Elder, 24.3
  4. ^ Plutarch, Cato the Elder, 24.4.
  5. ^ Plutarch, Cato the Elder, 24.4
  6. ^ Plutarch, Cato the Elder, 24.5
  7. ^ Plutarch, Cato the Elder, 24.6
  8. ^ Tacitus, Publius Cornelius; Grant, Michael (1996). The Annals of Imperial Rome (PDF) (3 ed.). London, England: Penguin Classics. p. 436. ISBN 9780140440607. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
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