Porcia

Family: Roman · Role: sister of Cato · First appears: Cato the Younger

Porcia was left an orphan with her brother Caepio and her brother Cato the Younger, and they were brought up together in the house of their maternal uncle, Livius Drusus. She was Cato the Younger’s daughter and later married Bibulus, by whom she had two children; Quintus Hortensius nevertheless sought to have her given to him, and Lucius Domitius also married her.

Marcus Brutus, her cousin-german, married her when she was very young. By him she had a son named Bibulus. Afterwards, Porcia died after suffocating herself with burning charcoal: “she snatched some burning charcoal out of the fire, and, shutting it close in her mouth, stifled herself, and died.”

Relationship record

Life events

• Porcia died after suffocating herself with burning charcoal, according to historical accounts.(Marcus Brutus)
  • “As for Porcia his wife, Nicolaus the philosopher and Valerius Maximus write, that, being desirous to die, but being hindered by her friends, who continually watched her, she snatched some burning charcoal out of the fire, and, shutting it close in her mouth, stifled herself, and died.”

Cato the Younger

• siblings with Cato the Younger “This Cato was, by the loss of both his parents, left an orphan, together with his brother Caepio, and his sister Porcia.”
• elder kin: Livius Drusus “All these lived together, and were bred up in the house of Livius Drusus, their uncle by the mother”
• married with Bibulus “his daughter Porcia, who was already married to Bibulus, and had borne him two children”
• married with Lucius Domitius “Lucius Domitius, who had married Porcia, the sister of Cato”
• siblings with Caepio “This Cato was, by the loss of both his parents, left an orphan, together with his brother Caepio, and his sister Porcia.”
• admirer: Quintus Hortensius “Therefore he set himself to persuade Cato, that his daughter Porcia, who was already married to Bibulus, and had borne him two children, might nevertheless be given to him”

Marcus Brutus

• parent: Cato the Younger “Porcia, as was said before, was the daughter of Cato”
• married with Marcus Brutus “Brutus, her cousin-german, had married her very young”
• cousins with Marcus Brutus “Brutus, her cousin-german”
• child: Bibulus “by whom she had one son, that was named Bibulus”

⭐ Character constellation map → · 📖 Read the original → · 🗂 Character index → · 🕰 Chronicle → · 📍 Places →

Extracted from the original text of Plutarch's Lives. Made with Rho MD.