Staying in the ancient world, this week I will be talking about a different ancient empire: the Roman Empire. Most people think of gladiators and Caesar when they think of the Roman Empire, but, believe it or not, women did exist in the Roman Empire! However, since it was before the 1800s, women didn't really have any rights at all. Some women were mad about this. One of these women was Hortensia the Orator.
Hortensia was the daughter of Quintus Hortensius, a famous Roman speaker who had a rivalry with Marcus Tillius Cicero (I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Cicero probably prevailed in the aforementioned rivalry). That's pretty much the only thing historians know about her life outside of speaking. Due to her father's status, she most likely grew up in a wealthy household with a very scholarly upbringing.
In 42 BC, the Roman Empire, led by Octavius and Marc Antony, was at war (shocking, I know) with Caesar's assassins. The main method of funding the war was to loot the murdered wealthy particians' houses. However, when this did not prove to be enough dough, the second triumvirate resorted to taxing the wealthiest women in the empire. Needless to say, the women were pretty pissed off about having to pay for a war they didn't want (and probably didn't care about). And, with a Reverend Jonathan Mayhew-esque mindset, were pretty peeved about having to pay taxes to a government that wouldn't allow them to hold public offices, especially since this government was fighting with itself. The ladies were not having it. They elected Hortensia to talk some sense into the men.
Hortensia appeared before the Second Triumvirate and delivered a very powerful and effective speech. She talked about how the women were already deprived of their fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons, and now the government wanted to take their money and property. Basically a big "shame on you" spiel.
The Second Triumvirate was so angry about the women challenging them. They tried unsuccessfully to kick the women out of the Roman Forum. When that didn't work, they reduced the number of women taxed from 1400 to 400 and collected the rest from men. As they say, the rest is history.
One trait that is definitely present in this situation is exclusion. The women were excluded from participating in pretty much any government activity, but were made to pay for the wars it waged, and they weren't happy about it. It's a classic case of "No Taxation Without Representation". Obviously humanity hasn't learned to outgrow that in thousands of years, since pretty much the exact same situation occured in the British Colonies in 1773.
Perhaps humanity hasn't learned to outgrow the whole "taxation without representation" thing, but one has to concede that it's at least a little better now. There are now so many democratic forms of government around the world that, disregarding their shortcomings and corruption, do provide a fair way of spreading representation. I found this history lesson extremely interesting, as I did not know the story of Hortensia. Its an incredible accomplishment for those women to stand up for themselves back then, and it echoes similarly to the suffrage movement of the twentieth century. Rock on!
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