Fausta (Cornelia) 436

vol. V p.1599-1600

436) Fausta (Cornelia)

Daughter of the dictator Sulla and twin sister of Faustus Sulla nr. 377 (see there; Plut. Sulla 34, 5). <40> She was first married to C. Memmius, probably very young, because already at the end of the year 700 = 54 their son turns up as an advocate for M. Aemilius Scaurus. A few months before this, Fausta's marriage with C. Memmius broke down, and she remarried with T. Annius Milo (Ascon. Scaur. 25, cf. Cic. ad Att. IV 13, 1). She accompanied him to Lanuvium at the beginning of 702 = 52, and this journey became fatal when they bumped into P. Clodius along the way (Cic. Mil. 28. 55. Ascon. Mil. p. 27. 29f.); <50> after he was convicted, she stayed in Rome (Cic. ad Att. V 8, 2f.). She had never been loyal to him, nor her first husband; her own brother joked about her lack of morals (Macrob. sat. II 2, 9), and even at the time of the triumvirate she was infamous all over the city (Hor. sat. I 2, 64). Even when you doubt the story about her affair with the historian Sallust, which his contemporary Varro (in Gell. XVII 18) hands down to us (vol. I p. 2276), <page break 1599/1600> Fausta should still be counted as one of the most disreputable women of the late republic.

[Münzer.]