Roman attitudes to the involvement of women in politics

'What an unhappy state it would be where women seized the rights of men, the senate, the army and the magistrates' wrote the Roman writer Cicero.  It was not that the Romans hated women,but rather that they had a very fixed, conservative (and by Tacitus's time totally-out-of-date) view of what a woman ought to be like.

The Romans taught by 'exemplars' - the lives (good and bad) of Romans in ancient times were used to teach the characteristics of 'good' and 'bad' women.  These were some of the exemplars available to Romans who lived in Tacitus's time:

 

Inscription of many women’s tombstones Domun servavit, lanam fecit – ‘She kept house; she made wool’.	Julia Procilla, mother-in-law of Agricola She kept a close supervision of her son’s education, discouraging ‘useless’ philosophy.
Coriolanus’s wife and mother They led a deputation of women who persuaded Coriolanus not to make war on Rome.	Hortensia Murdered her husband in 180bc, to create a vacancy in the Consulate for her son.
Praecia A woman of great charm and wit, she so captivated the powerful Cethegus that he fell under her spell and did nothing without her approval. She then used her power to get an army command for her favourite (74bc).	Lucretia, wife of Collatinus Whilst on campaign, the sons of King Tarquin wagered with Collatinus whose wife had been most faithful. On return, only Lucretia was found industriously spinning with her female slaves. One of Tarquin’s sons was so taken with her beauty that he returned and raped her – whereupon she stabbed herself to death.
Tullia, daughter of king Tullus Murdered her husband and sister so she could marry her brother-in-law (Tarquin), and then conspired with Tarquin to murder her father and seize the throne. Driving back to the senate after the coup, and being blocked by the corpse of her dead father, she took the reins and drove over his dead body.	Sempronia A beautiful woman from a good family, well-educated and clever, she was profligate with money, cheated to avoid hr debts, and even turned to murder. She lacked self-restraint and decency, committing crimes virilis audaciae (‘of male boldness’) and eventually got drawn into the conspiracy of Catiline (63bc).
Cornelia, daughter of Scipio Africanus She bore 12 children. Dedicated to her sons’ education – was constantly in the company of Greek scholars so she could nurture them ‘as much by her speech as her breast’. Always referred to herself as ‘daughter of Africanus’, and goaded her sons by telling them that she was famous as the daughter of Africanus,not as the mother of the Gracchi brothers.	Fulvia, Sempronia’s daughter She agitated the mob against the murderer of her first husband (whom Cicero claimed she dominated) … yet she was already having an affair with Mark Anthony! As Mark Anthony’s wife, we are told, she wanted to rule as a commander in her own right. When Cicero’s head was delivered to Mark Anthony, she spat on it and stuck pins in its tongue. Coveting the house of a certain Rufus, she had him executed. And in 41bc, when Mark Anthony went to war with Octavian, she harangued his troops and, gladio cincta virilis (‘wearing a man’s sword’), taunted Octavian: ‘screw me or fight me’.

Women in the Roman Empire

By the time of the Empire, of course, the demure domestic housewife and dedicated mother who yielded to her husband's authority had long gone. No longer was Vestal Virgin the only way a woman could play a part in her world. When political power moved from the (male-only) senate to the imperial household, women of the imperial circle could - and did - exert influence ... through their influence with the emperor.  Even before Agrippina the Younger, both Livia and Messalina had been able to be very powerful and assertive women (though both are negatively stereotyped in the sources).

It was this situation which Tacitus hated ... the advent of the 'virile' woman was, for him, just one more abomination of the Empire.  A disdain for women runs through Tacitus, alongside a criticism of women who exhibited unfeminine traits ... and a loathing for those whose behaviour was virilis ('masculine').