Salonia

:"For the brachiopod genus, see "Salonia (brachiopod).Salonia was a Roman slave, and later freedwoman who lived during the mid-2nd century BC, and who was the second wife of Cato the Elder. She was the young daughter of the slave Salonius who was an under-secretary to Cato the Elder. [Plutarch, "Cato the Elder", 24.2.] Following the death of his first wife, Cato began taking solace with a slave girl who secretly visited his bed. [Plutarch, "Cato the Elder", 24.1.]

However, his son Marcus Porcius Cato Licinianus and his son's wife disapproved of the relationship, so Cato decided to marry Salonia in order to solve the problem. [Plutarch, "Cato the Elder", 24.3] [Plutarch, "Cato the Elder", 24.4.] However, when Licinianus found out about it he complained that now his problem was with his father's marriage to Salonia. [Plutarch, "Cato the Elder", 24.4] Cato replied that he loved his son, and for that reason, wished to have more sons like him. [Plutarch, "Cato the Elder", 24.5]

In 154 BC, Salonia gave birth to Marcus Porcius Cato Salonianus [Plutarch, "Cato the Elder", 24.6] who was only five when his father died. Through her son, Salonia is grandmother of Lucius Porcius Cato and Marcus Porcius Cato, the great-grandmother of Cato the Younger, and the great-great-grandmother of Marcus Porcius Cato, who died at the Battle of Philippi and Porcia Catonis, who was married to Marcus Junius Brutus.

Notes