Fulvia

1. Φουλβία, A Roman lady of rank, but of loose morality. She lived on terms of intimacy with Q. Curius, an accomplice of the Catilinarian conspiracy, who told her of the scheme that was afloat. As Curius had not the means of satisfying her extravagant demands upon him, she took vengeance by divulging his secret: she communicated it, among others also, to Cicero, and thus became the means of suppressing the conspiracy. (Saill. Cat. 3, 26, 28.)

2. A daughter of M. Fulvius Bambalio of Tusculum, by Sempronia, a grand-daughter of Tuditanus. She was first married to P.Clodius, by whom she had a daughter, Claudia, afterwards the wife of Caesar Octavianus. When Clodius was murdered, and his body was carried to Rome, and there exposed in the atrium of his house, Fulvia, with great lamentations, showed her husband's wounds to the multitude that came to see the body; and she thus inflamed their desire of taking vengeance on the murderer. She afterwards married C. Scribonius Curio; and after his fall in Africa, in B. C. 49, she lived for some years as a widow, until about B. C. 44, she married M. Antony, by whom she became the mother of two sons. Up to the time of her marrying Antony, she had been a woman of most dissolute conduct, but henceforth she clung to Antony with the most passionate attachment, and her only ambition was to see her husband occupy the first place in the republic, at whatever cost that position might be purchased. When Antony was declared a public enemy, she addressed the most humble entreaties to the senate, praying that they might alter their resolution. Her brutal conduct during the fearful proscriptions of B. C. 43 is well known; she gazed with delight upon the heads of Cicero and Rufus, the victims of her husband. In those same days of terror a number of wealthy Roman ladies were ordered to deliver up their treasures to the triumvirs, whereupon they called upon the female relatives of the triumvirs, and petitioned them to interfere with the triumvirs, and endeavour mitigate the order. When the ladies came to the house of Fulvia, they were treated most haughtily and ignominiously. In B. C. 40, while Antony was revelling with Cleopatra in all the luxuries of the East, and Octavianus was rewarding his soldiers with lands in Italy, Fulvia, stimulated partly by jealousy and the desire of drawing Antony back to Italy, and partly by her hostility towards Octavianus, resolved upon raising a commotion in Italy. She induced L. Antonius, her husband's brother, to come forwards as the protector of those who were oppressed and reduced to poverty by the colonies of Octavianus. He was soon joined by others, who were more sincere than himself. He took his post at Praeneste whither he was followed by Fulvia, who pretended that the lives of her children were threatened by Lepidus. She afterwards followed L. Antonius to Perusia, and endeavoured to rouse the inhabitants of the north of Italy to assist him, while he was besieged at Perusia by Octavianus. When Perusia fell into the hands of Octavianus, by the treachery of L. Antonius, Fulvia was permitted to escape, and went to Brundusium, where she embarked for Greece. Her husband, who had in the meantime been informed of the war of Perusia and its result, was on his way to Italy. He met Fulvia at Athens, and censured her severely for having caused the disturbance. It is said that, from grief at his rough treatment, she was taken ill, and in this state he left her at Sicyon while he went to Brundusium. Her feelings were so deeply wounded by her husband's conduct, that she took no care of herself, and soon after died at Sicyon, B. C. 40. The news of her death came very opportunely for the triumvirs, who now formed a reconciliation, which was cemented by Antony marrying the noble-minded Octavia. (Plut. Ant. 9, &c.; Appian, App. BC 3.51, 4.29. 32, 5.14, 19, 21, 33, 43, 50, 52, 55, 59, 62 ; Dion. Cass. 46.56, 47.8, &c.; 48.3-28 ; Vell. 2.74; Cic. Phil. 2.5, 31, 3.6, ad Att. 14.12; V. Max. 9.1.8; Niebuhr, Lectures on Rom. Hist. vol. ii. p. 121, &c.) [L.S]

[Plautilla.]

(of which the older term was Foulvia), plebeian, but one of the most illustrious Roman gentes. According to Cicero (pro Planc. 8, comp. Phil. 3.6) and Pliny (Plin. Nat. 7.44), this gens had come to Rome from Tusculum, although some members must have remained in their native place, since Fulvii occur at Tusculum as late as the time of Cicero. The gens Fulvia was believed to have received its sacra from Hercules after he had accomplished his twelve labours. The cognomens which occur in this gens in the time of the republic are Bambalio, Centumalus, Curvus (omitted under Curvus, but given under Fulvius), Flaccus, Gillo, Ntacca, Nobilior, Paetinus. and Veratius, or Neratius. The annexed coin, belonging to this gens, bears on the obverse a head of Pallas, with Roma, and on the reverse Victory in a biga, with CN. FOUL. M. CAL. Q. MET., that is, Cn. Fulvius, M. Calidius, Q. Metellus.

[L.S]

(1) A woman of good family, but loose character. She disclosed to Cicero the details of the conspiracy of Catiline, which she had learned from Quintus Curius, whose mistress she was (Sall. Cat. 23).

(2) A bold, ambitious woman, at first the wife of Clodius Pulcher (q.v.), the demagogue, and, after his death, of Marcus Antonius the triumvir. She first came into notice on the assassination of Clodius, when, having caused the corpse to be brought into the vestibule of her dwelling and having assembled the populace, she caused, by her tears and language, a violent outbreak. Some years after this, on having become the wife of Antony, she took an active part in the proscriptions of her husband, and is said to have even sacrificed to her own vengeance several individuals who had given her offence. After the head of Cicero was brought to Antony, she took it on her knees, broke forth into insults to the character of the dead orator, and then, with fiendish malice, pierced the tongue with a golden needle. Having been left at Rome by Antony during the war against Brutus and Cassius, she became all-powerful in that city, named the praetors at her own pleasure, sold the government of the provinces, and even decreed a triumph to Lucius, the brother of Antony, who had no claim whatever to one. When, after the battle of Philippi, Antony visited the East to regulate affairs in that quarter, Fulvia, irritated by his intercourse with Cleopatra , tried to induce Octavianus to take up arms against him. Not succeeding in this, she took them up against Octavianus himself, in conjunction with her brother-in-law Lucius, who now professed open opposition to the illegal power of the Triumvirate. After very bold and spirited efforts, however, on her part, she was besieged with her brother-in-law at Perusia and compelled to surrender to the power of Octavianus. Fulvia, after this, retired to Greece, and rejoined her husband, but was coldly received by him. She died at Sicyon, in B.C. 40, through chagrin and wounded pride, as was believed, at her husband's attachment to Cleopatra (Vell. Paterc. ii. 74; Ant.; id. Cic.).