Laudatio Turiae

Laudatio Turiae ("In praise of Turia") is a tombstone engraved with a carved epitaph that is a husband's eulogy of his wife. [ [http://www.dl.ket.org/latin2/mores/women/womenful.htm "Private Lives and Public Personae" University of Tennessee] ] It was made in the late first century BC. It portrays the love of a husband for his loyal wife Curia.

This inscription is traditionally known as the [http://www.u.arizona.edu/~afutrell/survey/laud%20tur.htm "Laudatio Turiae"] . [ [http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/familyanddailylife/g/LaudatioTuriae.htm Laudatio Turiae tombstone] ] The attribution is uncertain, but the addressee is generally identified with Turia, [ [http://www.dl.ket.org/latin2/mores/women/womenful.htm Women in Rome] ] [ [http://www.stoa.org/diotima/anthology/wlgr/wlgr-publiclife168.shtml A funeral eulogy. Rome, 1st cent. B.C. (ILS 8393. Tr. E. Wistrand. L)] ] whence the name of the inscription. W. Ward Fowler states, "...there is a very strong probability that her name was Turia, and that he was the certain Q. Lucretius Vespillo..." [ [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/11256 Social life at Rome in the Age of Cicero by W. Warde Fowler] ]

Tombstone

The frequently moving eulogy inscribed on the stone is addressed from a husband to his deceased wife, lauding her virtues, self-sacrificing love, and unflinching loyalty toward him when she was still alive. The stone itself is broken, and parts have been found scattered around the city of Rome, although some sections remain lost. [ [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-9114(195007%2F09)54%3A3%3C223%3AANFOTL%3E2.0.CO%3B2-N JSTOR: A New Fragment of the Laudatio Turiae] ] At 180 lines, the "Laudatio Turiae" is currently the longest surviving personal inscription from Classical Rome.

Inscription

The inscription gives a unique insight into the late first century Roman world during the rise of Augustus Caesar, as its extended history of "Turia's" life addresses many aspects of the Roman society. "Turia's" selfless deeds in defense of her persecuted husband range from sending him jewelry and money when he was in exile to offering him a divorce so he could have an heir--she was unable to bear children. Her husband also lovingly describes her virtues, among which he includes weaving, obedience, faithfulness to family, and religious purity. According to the inscription, her first accomplishment worthy of praise was avenging her parents’ murder, which gives a rather surprising look into the roles of women within the family and society. The husband also says the marriage was unusual, because it lasted forty years with her dying first while he was much older.

Identities

The extant remains of the Laudatio Turiae are unfortunately missing the fragmented piece that contains the identities of both the husband and wife, thus their names remain unknown. However, studies based on comparison with the histories of Valerius Maximus (6, 7, 2) and Appian (Bell.civ. 4, 44) indicate that the husband and author is Quintus Lucretius Vespillo, consul in 19 BC, married to Turia. Turia is reported to have saved her husband in much the same way described in the inscription, and so it seems probable that they are one and the same, although some scholars reject this assumption.

Notes

References

* [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Appian/Civil_Wars/4*.html "Civil War." Appian]
* [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Appian/Civil_Wars/4*.html Appian, Book IV] English
* [http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/historiens/valere/livre6.htm#7 "Book VI, Chaper VII." Valere Maxime]
* [http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/historiens/valere/livre6.htm#7 Valère Maxime, Book VI, Chapter VII] Latin
* [http://web.upmf-grenoble.fr/Haiti/Cours/Ak "The Roman Law Library" by Professor Yves Lassard and Alexandr Koptev]
*Gordon, A.E., "A New Fragment of the Laudatio Turiae" AJA 54 (1950) 223-226
*Horsfall, N., "Some Problems in the Laudatio Turiae" Bull. Inst. Clas. Stud. 30 85-98
* Wistrand, Erik, "The so-called Laudatio Turiae" (Berlingska Boktryckeriet, 1976) ISBN 91-7346-009-5