Servilia

Extract

Servilia, daughter of Q. *Servilius Caepio (2) and Livia, daughter of M. *Livius Drusus (1), who was the mother of M. *Porcius Cato (2). Born c.100 bce, she married first M. *Iunius Brutus (1), to whom she bore M. *Iunius Brutus (2), then D. *Iunius Silanus (1); her daughters by Silanus married, respectively, P. *Servilius Isauricus, M. *Aemilius Lepidus (3), and C. *Cassius Longinus (1), the tyrannicide. *Caesar was her lover for many years and remained on good terms with her after: it was rumoured (implausibly) that Brutus, for whom he showed particular favour, was his son, and she profited in his sale of the Pompeians' confiscated estates (Cic.Att. 14. 21. 3). She may have been discreetly involved in high politics before the Civil War, and after Caesar's death Cicero's letters show her playing a leading part in the tyrannicides' deliberations, always protecting her son's interests. (She prided herself on descent from C.