Women from the Rostra

AbstractThis chapter examines the role that Fulvia played as a public speaker in the aftermath of the murder of her husband Clodius, and the way in which Cicero presented Fulvia’s actions in his defence of the murderer Milo. It argues that the inuidia which Fulvia directed at Milo through her public lament over Clodius’ body, itself informed by the pompa funebris or traditional mourning practices of women at Rome, fundamentally shaped the positions which both sides took up in the following months as the events reached their judicial conclusion. The episode thus sheds light on female speech, and reveals a fracturing of gender divides and of the distinction between public and private.