Continuing with the series that I have proposed to share with readers about great mothers and fathers of History, which were the necessary channel for their famous children to fully develop, today I come to a woman who has always been fascinating to me, although, for the distance, we must observe the historiographic sources with logical caution: Aurelia de los Cotta.
Aurelia, mother and educator
The importance of Aurelia in the formation of young Caesar it will be enormous, then, it must be taken into account that his father and other male family members remained little in the city dedicated to war and politics. The education of little César was in the hands of Aurelia, his aunt Julia and a private preceptor named Grifón, Gallic but with Alexandrian formation, but also to his own self-taught spirit, becoming one of the most educated men of his time.
The importance of Aurelia was not only that of a dedicated mother, the driver of her son's moral and academic education, but, as I will tell in this story, she was also the savior of the life of the young Julio César.
The family in the life of Aurelia
Aurelia He was born in Rome in 120 BC. His father was the consul Lucio Aurelio Cotta and his mother, Rutilia, was the sister of a character as impressive as Rutilio Rufo, one of the few Romans who, exiled, dismissed returning to the ungrateful city and lived in the East surrounded by the affection of the provincials to those who had ruled. A family of great rectitude and rooted in the city and its values.
Aurelia's mother, when she was a widow, did something not entirely acceptable to the customs of an exemplary midwife, married again and also did it with the brother of the late husband, but it seems that it would not diminish her reputation for honesty or he was struck by it by the bad Roman languages, which were very bad when the political interest made it necessary.
Aurelia married below her means. His family was not one of the richest in Rome, but he was better placed than the Julius Caesar. However, that marriage alliance would favor the family during Mario's time, since he was married to a sister of her husband.
Aurelia had three children, the youngest being a boy, becoming a widow when the boy was 16 years old, then being in a vulnerable position not only because of widowhood, but also because Mario's greatest enemy, Sila, attained power and He made it hard against those who had opposed him.
Dangerous times
In Rome people disappeared, were killed and lost their property. The civil war was very violent, and had also reached within the city walls. All, all, were at risk from any whim of the dictator or the greed of his followers.
But Aurelia's brothers were silanos and that would be a truce, but for Sila nothing prevented attacking political enemies or famous families.
Things could have gone well if the son of Aurelia It would have been more malleable. César was not willing to give in to something he considered would undermine his dignity and that circumstance soon appeared. Sila wanted something from César and the teenager refused.
His mother had educated him with firmness and affection, perhaps with little tenderness in our eyes, but with unshakable self-confidence, his worth and his honor, virtues that made a Roman a true Roman.
A teenager against the most powerful man in the world
Perhaps those values cannot be transferred to our lives completely, but their essence. César was married to daughter Cornelio Cinna, one of Mario's classmates. And it was, for that reason, dangerous. Sila was willing to forgive her life, but the condition was clear, she had to divorce the girl immediately despite having contracted a marriage in the most sacred formula among the Patrician Romans, the confarreatio.
Yes Cease He did not divorce Cornelia, Sila, ruthless, would charge a new victim. If Sila was disobeyed, not only Caesar, who would thus be distinguished as an enemy, but all his relatives, were in mortal danger. Sila did not tolerate any opposition, much less rebellion. He ordered Caesar to be persecuted and killed.
Aurelia saves her son
And then Aurelia, a brave woman, trained in the tradition of Roman midwives, accustomed to living in the shadow of her parents, brothers and husbands but depositories of the very important work of educating children, made a bold decision: if her teenage son He refused to give in, she would support him until the end.
Mobilized the whole family. To his brothers Cayo, Lucio and Marco Cotta. To the son-in-law of Sila, Mamerco. To the same Vestal virgins, sacred custodians of the fire of the home of Rome. And they appeared before the terrible dictator supplicants, asking for forgiveness for the rebel boy.
And Sila, it is not known whether pleased by the show or by reasoning, he agreed to forgiveness, although he sent the young man to pursue the military career in the East, freeing him, in addition, from the office of Flamen Dialis, a priesthood that was incompatible with the military profession, necessary to achieve the political career that the boy was already looking forward to.
César saved his life thanks to the courageous and intelligent action of his mother Aurelia Cotta, who, against the logic of the moment, defended what was almost an act of treason to the most powerful man in the world, because her son was untouchable for her In his honor and decisions. He trusted him and what he had done that was thanks to his education during the preceding years, and thanks to her Julio César went down in history.
We do not keep portraits of Aurelia, the young midwife with whom she illustrated the article is not identified. César is well known and the entire Empire was filled with statues with his image.
The model of the great mothers of History
If the anecdote transmitted by the Roman authors is true, with Aurelia Cotta, trust, complicity and respect for a great mother towards his son they changed History once more. I am more passionate about these models than those of actresses and other celebrities who walk their maternity through magazines, I think they have much to teach us.
