Vistilia
Vistilia was a Roman woman who lived in the 1st century and came from a family that held the praetorship. Her brother was probably Sextus Vistilius, a former praetor, who was a former close friend to late Roman General Nero Claudius Drusus. Nero Claudius Drusus was the younger brother to Roman Emperor Tiberius. In 32, Tiberius charged him for criticizing the morals of his great-nephew, Caligula. For this, Tiberius excluded Sextus from his company. Sextus committed suicide in 32.
Vistilia was married six times and had seven children. Six of her seven children were known by name:
- Milonia Caesonia, the most famous, who became a Roman Empress and fourth wife to Roman Emperor Caligula;
- Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, younger than Caesonia, Roman general and consul in 39, who was the father to Roman Empress Domitia Longina;[1]
- Publius Pomponius Secundus, tragedian and consul suffectus in 44;
- Quintus Pomponius Secundus, consul suffectus in 41;
- Orfitus, father of Servius Cornelius Scipio Salvidienus Orfitus, consul in 51; and
- Publius Suillius Rufus, consul in 43, and father of Marcus Suillius Nerullinus, consul in 50.
Vistilia the Prostitute
According to Tacitus (Annals 2.85), another Vistilia, probably the daughter of Sextus Vistilius and thus the elder Vistilia's niece, was a public prostitute who advertised her services to the aediles of Rome. In 19, the Roman Senate passed a law that no Roman woman whose father or grandfather was of equestrian status or higher could register as a prostitute.
Vistilia was accordingly tried by the Roman Senate for immorality. Her husband, Titidius Labeo, asked why he had not tried to enforce the statutory penalty, stated the consultation period (which was 60 days) had not yet expired. The senate decided to prosecute only Vistilia (under Roman law, husbands who did not immediately punish adulterous wives could be tried as pimps).[2] Vistilia was found guilty of prostitution and she was deported to the Greek island of Seriphos.
See also
References
- ↑ Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo
- ↑ Justinian I, Digest 48.5.2