Roman Religion in Valerius Maximus (1)

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.3.2).Leadership, freedom, and motherhood,three sacred values are again in close association.We saw a similar associa-tion of Tellus with libertas when Spurius Cassius lust for domination(concupitae dominationis) resulted in the slaughter of his penates, and a dedica-tion of a temple to Tellus on the site of his former home, a monument toreligious severity (6.3.1).We thus see once again that the gods have inter-locking interests.Libertas, pudicitia, and the sacred objects were sharedconcerns.Vesta, of course, as goddess of fire, was generally consideredpresent in all ceremonies involving fire (Servius Ad Aen.1.292).Vesta wasbound up in so many ways with Roman religion, but in similar ways in bothOvid and Valerius Maximus, and Ovid s association of Vestal chastity withAugustan rule is likewise fully compatible with Augustus efforts at moralregimentation, with Valerius exaltation of Livia s pudicitia, with Valeriusavoidance of anecdotes with overt Vestal misconduct, and with other similaradvertisements of imperial virtue.89Both Ovid and Valerius can, however, be placed more firmly in historicalcontext.Without doubt, when writing of the flames of 241 BC, theythought not only of the threat to Rome posed by Gauls in 390 BC, but alsoof the fire of 14 BC when the sacra were again removed from the temple ofVesta at the east end of the forum.In 14 BC they were brought for safe-keeping not to Caere but to the Palatine,90 whence, it has been argued, thesacred objects never again found their way back to Vesta s temple.91 Sucharguments are plausible because Augustus, after becoming pontifexmaximus, dedicated on 28 April, 12 BC, a shrine to Vesta (aedicula Vestae)and an altar of Vesta (ara Vestae) close to or inside his Palatine habitation.92Coins document these buildings.93 Unfortunately, Valerius version of thestory of Metellus exists only in epitome, but we can hardly assume that hewould have protested the imperial family s care and concern for the sacra.Rather, it could only have provided welcome proof that the old values livedagain.Valerius invocation of Pudicitia as a resident of Vesta s hearth as wellas of the peak of the Palatine, the household gods of Augustus, and themost holy marriage bed of Julia [Livia] (6.1.init.) also gains in this light amore cogent logic.Appropriation of state sacra by the imperial householdwould almost have compelled Valerius to celebrate their new home in hiscelebrations of Vesta.94Reconciliation through religion: Clodius and the Lentuli,Cicero et al.More patrician (or plebeian, depending on one s view of the adoption) malebehavior towards Vesta (and her shrine) can be observed in an anecdoteinvolving the infamous Publius Clodius Pulcher, blood relation to the VestalClaudia.Clodius, although tried on a charge of sexual uncleanness (incesticrimen) in consequence of his violation of the sacred rites of the Good59VESTA MATER: MOTHER VESTAGoddess (Bona Dea, whose rites were celebrated with Vestals in attendance),defends in a different trial one of the three Lentuli, who had prosecuted him(4.2.5).Moreover, while defending this Lentulus, Clodius gazes upon theshrine of Vesta (aedes Vestae).This is certainly no place to discuss intricaciesof the Bona Dea scandal,95 but we must at least look at Valerius other anec-dotes on this affair before attempting to make sense of the bizarre lessons ofClodius chaster gaze (4.2.5).In his chapter on luxury and lust, Valerius doesnot extol the virtues of Clodius: With what incredible luxury and lust heoverflowed! (9.1.7).Clodius, according to Valerius, although manifestlyguilty, was acquitted thanks to a new form of bribery: In order that he, aplainly guilty defendant, be acquitted of the charge of sexual uncleanness, astheir reward, he paid the judges nights (purchased at great cost) of marriedwomen and upper class boys (9.1.7).Valerius considers sexual bribery thatutilizes the services of Roman matrons and young upper-class males a viola-tion of religion, and cannot decide whom one should detest more, theinventor of this form of bribery, those who sacrificed their chastity for thesake of perjury, or those who exchanged their religio for illicit sex (qui reli-gionem stupro permutarunt; 9.1.7).We have already noted in our discussion ofpudicitia that Valerius considers pudicitia s preservation a religious duty.Interesting here is the negative assessment of Clodius and the condemnationof his crime in the strongest religious terms.On the other hand, Valeriuselsewhere estimates Clodius highly enough to consider his son by Fulviaamong those who represented degeneration from their illustrious parents(3.5.1).Valerius grants that Clodius held the favor of the common people(fauorem plebis) and that Fulvia, dagger at her side, kept an army subject toher female authority.96 Their son, however, lacking his parents moreadmirable ambitions, became infamis.It was of course not illegal for Romanaristocratic youths to visit prostitutes, but to love a prostitute was anothermatter altogether.Infamia was of course a legal condition carrying seriousrepercussions.Valerius, however, does not deal here in legalities [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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