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Le Amicizie Pericolose: Quattro Esempi Di Interventismo Matronale Alla Corte Di Livia Augusta

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Le Amicizie Pericolose: Quattro Esempi Di Interventismo Matronale Alla Corte Di Livia Augusta Corso di Laurea magistrale in Scienze dell’antichità: letteratura, storia e archeologia Tesi di Laurea Le amicizie pericolose: quattro esempi di interventismo matronale alla corte di Livia Augusta Relatore Ch.ma Prof. Francesca Rohr Correlatori Ch.ma Prof. Martina Venuti Ch.ma Prof. Alessandra Valentini Laureanda Ilaria Mardegan Matricola 851732 Anno Accademico 2019/2020 1 Ringrazio la mia relatrice, la prof.ssa Francesca Rohr che, con pazienza e disponibilità mi ha sostenuta durante tutto il corso della mia ricerca. Ringrazio la mia famiglia e tutti i miei amici che mi hanno accompagnata fino ad ora e che, specialmente in questi mesi di distanze e mascherine, non mi hanno mai fatto mancare il loro affetto, supportandomi e sopportandomi. Ringrazio Franz, fratello tecnologico che, nonostante tutto è sempre pronto a dare una mano. Ma un grazie speciale va a te, Cippy, sorella, confidente, ma soprattutto amica. 2 Indice Introduzione pag. 5 1. Di Marcia o della delatrice pentita pag. 8 1.1. Un ritratto generoso pag. 8 1.2. Nella casa di Augusto pag. 14 1.3. Una missione segreta pag. 23 2. Di Plauzia Urgulania o della favorita pag. 33 2. 1. Un quadro storico complesso. Da Augusto a Tiberio: il biennio 14-16 d.C. pag. 33 2.2. I privilegi di Livia pag. 35 2.3. Le prerogative delle Vergini Vestali pag. 37 2.4. Urgulania e le origini etrusche della famiglia: i Plotii pag. 40 2.5. Lucio Calpurnio Pisone contro Urgulania pag. 43 2.6. Il processo a Marco Plauzio Silvano pag. 48 3. Di Munazia Plancina o della cospiratrice pag. 53 3.1. Germanico pag. 53 3.2. Agrippina Maggiore: una matrona tra gli eserciti pag. 55 3.3. Rodi, 17 d.C.: Germanico incontra Gneo Calpurnio Pisone pag. 62 3.4. Nella “provincia” d’Egitto pag. 75 3.5. La malattia, la morte ed i funera Germanici pag. 78 3.6. Pisone torna a Roma. Ha inizio il processo pag. 92 3.7. L’imputata Plancina pag. 95 3 4. Di Marcia o della dolente pag. 103 4.1. Il quadro storico pag. 103 4.2. Consolatio ad Marciam pag. 105 4.3. Aulo Cremuzio Cordo pag. 108 4.4. Marcia: supra leges amicitia Augustae exulerat pag. 114 Dopo la morte di Livia: Tiberio e le amicitie muliebris pag. 128 Conclusioni pag. 131 BIBLIOGRAFIA pag. 139 4 Introduzione Gli anni compresi tra il I sec. a.C. e il I secolo d.C. rappresentarono, senza dubbio, un periodo di radicali cambiamenti per Roma. Dopo il terribile sconvolgimento causato dalle guerre civili, l’intervento politico di Augusto, iniziato ispirato da una volontà ‘restauratrice’, gettò le basi per il nuovo sistema del principato. Eppure, al fine di realizzare i propri progetti, Augusto, da accorto stratega quale fu, ben comprese, fin dagli esordi della propria carriera, l’importanza di consolidare nel tempo una base per il consenso, che egli ottenne in primis attraverso il tradizionale sistema della clientela e dei rapporti interpersonali: già prima della restitutio rei publicae, il futuro principe, in conformità con l’esempio di altri grandi uomini della sua epoca, si impegnava a intrattenere legami con i personaggi più influenti del momento. La costruzione di simili vincoli non poteva prescindere, però, dall’inclusione della componente femminile. La propaganda augustea proponeva un riferimento matronale docile e remissivo, modellato sugli antichi exempla, un’idea questa che peraltro trova piena espressione nella strategia matrimoniale largamente impiegata da Augusto quale valido strumento per instaurare utili alleanze. Se nel tempo della tarda repubblica, periodo di grandi incertezze e tribolazioni, le donne romane avevano guadagnato, proprio in virtù della straordinarietà della situazione, un maggiore margine d’intervento in ambito pubblico, uscendo dai confini fisici e ‘ideologici’ della domus, la rinnovata pax augustea, con le sue leggi normalizzatrici, aveva rappresentato da principio un brusco freno a quella apertura a nuovi spazi di azione. Seppure, per quanto concerneva il comportamento femminile, vi fosse stata inoltre, con Augusto, una evidente volontà di moralizzazione tradotta in un brusco ritorno alla tradizione delle origini, ciò non precluse tuttavia che le donne continuassero a seguire alcune modalità d’azione che avevano cominciato a sperimentare nel periodo immediatamente antecedente al principato. Così, come Augusto era legato da rapporti di amicitia a uomini dell’élite, così Livia intratteneva rapporti della stessa natura con alcune donne. E se per Augusto questa amicizia si traduceva in una relazione di tipo politico, lo stesso avveniva per Livia. È dunque in questa cornice, in bilico tra conservazione e innovazione, che si inseriscono le vicende delle quattro protagoniste di questa tesi, accomunate tutte dal loro legame con 5 Livia, la quale, elevata da Augusto a modello di riferimento femminile per eccellenza, interpretò un ruolo di primo piano nella gestione dei rapporti con le matrone del suo tempo. Livia coniugò in un sapiente equilibrio l’azione in ambito pubblico e l’interferenza in politica, ormai imposta dai tempi nuovi, e la valorizzazione del costume antico, modello proposto da Augusto alle donne dell’età romana. Esaminando i casi specifici di Marcia moglie di Paolo Fabio Massimo, Urgulania, Plancina e Marcia figlia di Cremuzio Cordo, si noterà come costoro interagissero, assieme e per Livia, con le figure più in vista del loro tempo, spinte da una costante ricerca di promozione, cui esse senz’altro tendevano per avvantaggiare sé stesse ed i propri famigliari. L’indulgenza di Livia doveva venir però ricambiata nella forma di favori che potevano tradursi, a seconda delle circostanze, in iniziative diverse. In cambio di una brillante carriera politica concessa al figlio di un’amica, l’Augusta poteva ad esempio avere accesso, tramite la prima, alle informazioni circolanti all’interno di determinati circoli letterari, frequentati da personaggi vicini alla famiglia della sua confidente che, in tal maniera, soddisfaceva all’onnipresente bisogno di contrastare eventuali voci di dissenso. Di qui, emerge quindi l’importanza del termine amicitia, parola chiave alla base di questo scritto, che, come già si evince da quanto fin qui scritto, sottendeva, in epoca romano- imperiale, un concetto assai distante da quello che viene comunemente ad identificare oggi un legame puramente affettivo e gratuito. Livia e Augusto incarnavano entrambi un modello: la matrona per la componente femminile della società; il principe per quella maschile. E ciascuno ‘coltivava’ il proprio gruppo di riferimento indirizzandolo in quei comportamenti che erano da preferire. Avendo l’accortezza di presentare, per ogni matrona, lo specifico quadro storico-sociale in cui si trovava ad agire, si analizzerà dunque, caso per caso, il particolare rapporto sussistente tra Livia e le sue collaboratrici e, come diretta conseguenza, del vincolo mediante il quale le famiglie di queste erano connesse alla domus Augusta. Si cercherà inoltre, ove possibile e con le dovute cautele richieste quando ci si approccia alle fonti antiche, di stabilire quali fossero i vantaggi che tale legame portava all’una e all’altra parte. A conclusine della ricerca, si vorrà infine osservare, attraverso un breve sguardo sulla complessa relazione tra Livia e Tiberio, ponendo in particolare l’accento su come questa 6 mutò negli anni e su come tale rapporto impattò sul legame che l’erede di Augusto aveva con le amicizie muliebri della madre. 7 CAPITOLO I 1. Di Marcia o della delatrice pentita 1.1 Un ritratto generoso Tempus Iuleis cras est natale Kalendis: / Pierides, coeptisadditesum- mameis. / dicite, Pierides, quis vos addixerit / isti cui dedit invitas victanovercamanus. / sic ego, sic Clio: ‘clari monimenta Philippi / aspicis, unde trahit Marcia casta genus, / Marcia, sacrifice deductum nomen ab Anco, / in qua par facies nobilitate sua. / par animo quoque forma suo respondet; in illa /et genus et facies ingeniumque simul. / nec, quod laudamus formam, tu turpe putaris: / laudamus magnas hac quoque parte deas. / nupta fuit quondam mater tera Caesaris illi: / o decus, o sacra femina digna domo!’/ sic cecinit Clio, doctae adsensere sorores; / adnuit Alcides increpuitque lyram.1 Della figura di Marcia non ci restano purtroppo molte informazioni, ma di lei serbiamo comunque memoria grazie a questo piccolo rendiconto offerto da Ovidio. Di lei l’autore ci parla infatti a conclusione del libro VI dei Fasti, dove riferisce dell’Aedes Herculis Musarum, un edificio cultuale promosso da Fulvio Nobiliore, eretto nel quadrante meridionale del Campo Marzio. Tale struttura aveva visto, forse nel 29 a.C., un secondo intervento ad opera di Lucio Marcio Filippo2, l’omonimo figlio del patrigno del principe e dunque, di quest’ultimo fratellastro e marito di Azia Minore zia, ella stessa, di Augusto.3 1 Ovid. fast. VI, 797-812. 2 Assegnano il restauro a Lucio Marcio Filippo padre: FRAZER 1931, p. 353; RICHARDSON 1977, p. 359. Lo attribuiscono invece all’omonimo figlio: NEWLANDS 1995, p. 214; ROHR VIO 2017, pp. 280- 281. Ancora, sulla Porticus Philippi: RICHARDSON 1977, pp. 355-361; CASTAGNOLI 1983, pp. 93-97. 3 Sulla parentela di Ottaviano e Marcia tramite Filippo, cfr. CORBIER 1992, 871. 8 Ora, Filippo, forte del recente trionfo sulla Spagna nel 33 a.C., aveva versato parte del ricavato ottenuto dall’impresa al fine di restaurare l’edificio o, secondo altre voci, di erigerne il primo porticato che lo cingeva, altrimenti noto come Porticus Philippi4 e Ovidio, il quale era stato per molto tempo un assiduo frequentatore degli ambienti di palazzo, non si lasciò sfuggire l’occasione di ossequiare l’illustre personaggio e, di conseguenza, lo stesso autocrate. L’intento elogiativo espresso in questo passo dell’opera non era del resto fine a sé stesso, ma si configurava invero come la reale esigenza dell’autore di smarcarsi da una situazione che ormai gli stava sfuggendo di mano: non vi erano misteri sulle sue posizioni politiche e in quelle contingenze storiche, con l’avvenuta adozione di Tiberio e il suo ripristinato primato sui candidati alla successione, essere un dichiarato simpatizzante della fazione giulia era cosa svantaggiosa.
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