Sulpicia (satirist)

Sulpicia was an ancient Roman poet who was active during the reign of the emperor Domitian (r. AD 81–96). She is mostly known through two poems of Martial;^[1] she is also mentioned by Ausonius, Sidonius Apollinaris, and Fulgentius.^[2] A seventy-line hexameter poem and two lines of iambic trimeter attributed to Sulpicia survive; the hexameters are now generally thought to have been a fourth- or fifth-century imitation of Sulpicia.^[3]

Life

Sulpicia was married to a man named Calenus, to whom Martial praises her faithfulness.^[4] Martial's epigram 10.38 suggests that they were married for at least 15 years.^[5] The poem seems to suggest that the marriage between Calenus and Sulpicia was over when it was written; Holt Parker argues that it was written as a poem of consolation after Sulpicia's death,^[6] though Amy Richlin suggests that it might instead have been written about Sulpicia and Calenus having divorced instead.^[5]

Poetry

Sulpicia seems to have written poetry that was erotic or satirical.^[3] She is the only woman known from antiquity who was associated with a comic genre.^[7] Judging by the surviving testimonia on Sulpicia, she openly discussed her sexual desire for her husband; this outspoken centring of female sexual desire is extremely unusual amongst ancient women poets.^[8] By contrast with the male love poets of ancient Rome, however, Sulpicia portrays her desire only within the context of her marriage.^[9]

Two lines of iambic trimeter attributed to Sulpicia are quoted by a scholiast on Juvenal.^[10] The quotation mentions Calenus, identifying the Sulpicia named by the scholiast with the satirist.^[11] These lines are generally accepted as the only surviving fragment of Sulpicia's poetry.^[12]

A seventy-line hexameter poem on the expulsion from Rome of Greek philosophers by Domitian was for a long time attributed to Sulpicia.^[1] The poem was preserved in an anthology from the early fifth century.^[13] The only manuscript known to have survived antiquity, preserved at Bobbio in northern Italy, is now lost; the modern text of the poem derives from four copies of a transcript made of the manuscript in the late fifth century.^[14] The poem, known as the Sulpiciae Conquestio (Sulpicia's Complaint) was first printed in 1498, and its authorship remained unquestioned until the second half of the 19th century.^[15] In 1868, J.C.G. Boot argued that the poem was a 15th century composition; in 1873 Emil Baehrens was the first to suggest it was a work of late antiquity.^[16] Modern scholars generally consider that the work was not by Sulpicia, and was composed in the fourth or fifth century AD.^[1]

Martial compares Sulpicia's poetry, along with her conduct, favourably to Sappho.^[4] Her poetry seems to have continued to be known and well thought of into the fifth century – she is mentioned alongside Plato, Cicero, Martial, and Juvenal by Ausonius and Sidonius Apollinaris.^[17]

References

Works cited

• Butrica, J. L. (2000). "Sulpiciae Conquestio".
• Butrica, J. L. (2006). "The Fabella of Sulpicia ("Epigrammata Bobiensia" 37)". Phoenix. 60 (1/2).
• Hallett, Judith (2013). "The Fragment of Martial's Sulpicia". In Churchill, Laurie J.; Brown, Phyllis R.; Jeffrey, Jane E. Women Writing Latin From Roman Antiquity to Early Modern Europe. Volume 1: Women Writing Latin in Roman Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and the Early Christian Era. New York: Routledge.
• Merriman, Carol U. (1991). "The Other Sulpicia". The Classical World. 84 (4).
• Parker, Holt (1992). "Other Remarks on the Other Sulpicia". The Classical World. 86 (2).
• Richlin, Amy (1992). "Sulpicia the Satirist". The Classical World. 86 (2).

External links

• Poetry and testimonia, trans. John T. Quinn