Porcia (wife of Brutus)

I was brought into thy house, not, like a mere concubine, to share thy bed and board merely, but to be a partner in thy joys, and a partner in thy troubles.

Portia (c. 73 BC – June 43 BC), occasionally spelled Porcia, especially in 18th-century English literature, was a Roman woman who lived in the 1st century BC. She was the daughter of Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis (Cato the Younger) and his first wife Atilia. She is best known for being the second wife of Marcus Junius Brutus, the most famous of Julius Caesar's assassins, and appears primarily in the letters of Cicero.

Quotes

I know that woman's nature is thought too weak to endure a secret; but good rearing and excellent companion­ship go far towards strengthening the character, and it is my happy lot to be both the daughter of Cato and the wife of Brutus.

• Ἐγώ, Βροῦτε, Κάτωνος οὖσα θυγάτηρ εἰς τὸν σὸν ἐδόθην οἶκον οὐχ ὥσπερ αἱ παλλακευόμεναι, κοίτης μεθέξουσα καὶ τραπέζης μόνον, ἀλλὰ κοινωνὸς μὲν ἀγαθῶν εἶναι, κοινωνὸς δὲ ἀνιαρῶν. τὰ μὲν οὖν σὰ πάντα περὶ τὸν γάμον ἄμεμπτα· τῶν δὲ παρ᾿ ἐμοῦ τίς ἀπόδειξις ἢ χάρις, εἰ μήτε σοι πάθος ἀπόρρητον συνδιοίσω μήτε φροντίδα πίστεως δεομένην; οἶδ᾿ ὅτι γυναικεία φύσις ἀσθενὴς δοκεῖ λόγον ἐνεγκεῖν ἀπόρρητον· ἀλλ᾿ ἔστι τις, ὦ Βροῦτε, καὶ τροφῆς ἀγαθῆς καὶ ὁμιλίας χρηστῆς εἰς ἦθος ἰσχύς· ἐμοὶ δὲ καὶ τὸ Κάτωνος εἶναι θυγατέρα καὶ τὸ Βρούτου γυναῖκα πρόσεστιν· οἷς πρότερον μὲν ἧττον ἐπεποίθειν, νῦν δ᾿ ἐμαυτὴν ἔγνωκα καὶ πρὸς πόνον ἀήττητον εἶναι.
  • Brutus, I am Cato's daughter, and I was brought into thy house, not, like a mere concubine, to share thy bed and board merely, but to be a partner in thy joys, and a partner in thy troubles. Thou, indeed, art faultless as a husband; but how can I show thee any grateful service if I am to share neither thy secret suffering nor the anxiety which craves a loyal confidant? I know that woman's nature is thought too weak to endure a secret; but good rearing and excellent companion­ship go far towards strengthening the character, and it is my happy lot to be both the daughter of Cato and the wife of Brutus. Before this I put less confidence in these advantages, but now I know that I am superior even to pain.
  • To Brutus, after gashing her own thigh to prove herself to him. Plutarch, Life of Brutus, sec. 13. Translated by Bernadotte Perrin, Plutarch's Lives, vol. 6 (1918), pp. 152–5

In fiction

• Her name is Portia; nothing undervalued
  To Cato's daughter, Brutus' Portia.
  • Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (c. 1596–8), act 1, sc. 1, l. 185 (Bassanio)

External links

• Encyclopedic article on Porcia (wife of Brutus) on Wikipedia