Hutchinson

Authors and Amicitia: Women and Letter Writing in Late Antiquity

By Susie Hutchinson

The main body of evidence for the lives and education of aristocratic women in Late Antiquity comes from literary sources: namely letters and hagiography. Typically, only male responses to letters are recorded, and each example of hagiography has a male author. Constructing the world of women is complicated further by the polemic and rhetorical nature of the literature.

There is strong evidence for the opportunity for women to be highly educated and apply intellect in letters, hagiographic texts, and the case of Proba’s Cento. Letter culture was prominent in Late Antiquity. Aristocratic webs of patronage and friendship, amicitia, continued through Christianity, and is made particularly evident through the act of letter writing. Unfortunately, nearly all the letters that survive are male responses, and therefore the voices of the women themselves are lacking. Nonetheless, we can still analyse these letters and their requests for advice on education and intellectual debate on scripture. The provision of these materials suggests that women had access to a religious education and conversing with such prominent church fathers suggests a level of acceptance for this learning. Women also had the opportunity to utilise their education to participate in intellectual discussions. This correspondence shows women were not just reading, but were also engaging in religious debate and discourse.

St. Augustine of Hippo and St. Jerome, along with others, were in correspondence with some of the most elite aristocratic women known to us. Jerome corresponded with aristocratic women such as Marcella (325-410), Paula the Elder (347-404), her daughter Eustochium (c. 368-419), her daughter-inlaw Laeta (c. 375-before 419), and Laeta’s daughter Paula the Younger (born c. 400). Eustochium began life in Rome and chose to reject marriage and remain a virgin, following her mother’s chaste example. Writing to her in 384, Jerome instructs her on the proper education of a virgin and encourages her Scriptural learning: ‘spend much of your time reading and learn as much as possible’. He recommends the Gospels and commentaries and theology from Tertullian, Cyprian, Ambrose, and verse and prose by Pope Damascus. The scope of reading material is therefore quite large. Jerome does, however, discourage her from appearing too intelligent or from reading classical works such as Horace. Despite a wide range of scripture being available and intellectuality being praised as a virtue in other women, as I will discuss further, support for education and intellectuality waivered in the opinion of church fathers. His ideals on education are similarly echoed later with his letter to Paula the Elder’s daughter-in-law, Laeta, on the education of her consecrated daughter Paula the Younger. Laeta is encouraged to teach Paula to learn to read from an early age, setting a passage of Scripture for her every day. Jerome prescribes the Psalms, proverbs of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Job, the Gospels, Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles, the Prophets and the Heptateuch, books of Kings and Chronicles, the rolls of Ezra and Esther, then Song of Songs for her to learn. He asks that Paula should read Cyprian’s writings, Athanasius’ letters, and Hilary’s works critically. Again, however, Jerome discourages certain literature, here the apocryphal books.

There is also evidence to suggest that women read scripture, requesting analysis from church fathers, and that they engaged intellectually with them. Marcella, who remained in Rome as a widow after only seven months, had a significant amount of correspondence with Jerome. Through Jerome’s letters we find she requested copies of commentaries from other bishops on the Song of Songs, asked questions about specific phrasing of Psalms, explanations of untranslated Hebrew words and names, and rigorously interrogated Scripture, theology and divinity. Augustine too wrote to elite women, with a focus on the late antique Anician women: Proba, her daughter-in-law Anicia Juliana and Juliana’s daughter Demetrias. His letters to women focus more on responses to requests for treatise and materials. Proba wrote to Augustine requesting a treatise on the subject of prayer for widows. Proba is clearly well-read as she is described as understanding Christian philosophy surrounding the soul. As I will discuss, Proba’s Christian education is most visibly demonstrated in her Cento. Augustine addressed the work De Bono Viduitatis to Juliana, a treatise on the profession of widowhood. Closing the work, Augustine describes the volume of scripture Demetrias can read along with the hint of deeper scriptural analysis he has given her before. It is clear, therefore, that Christianity provided an arena within which women could become literary experts, as the material they read was sanctified by God. Although material was circumscribed by church fathers, and therefore the opportunity for education and intellect curtailed, some have suggested that this reflects their anxieties that women were reading material they were not supposed to have access to. Augustine 12

writes to Juliana fearful that Demetrias had received the hieratical Origenist work On First Principles, and furthermore, that she had requested the material. While it is unclear whether she or Demetrias did read Origen’s works, Augustine’s letter reveals they had the potential to access the literature if they wanted to. Therefore, it seems that women did indeed have many opportunities and an element of choice regarding the material they wished to study.

Women were encouraged to read, and letter exchanges reveal that women could debate Scripture privately. The textual community in Late Antiquity grew significantly, after emerging in Rome in 382, and women appeared frequently as patrons of literature. Literary patronage is a key example in understanding the power women held in their ability to choose what they were patrons of. The relationship of literary patronage was dual-natured, with patrons supporting and consuming the work they wished to have so that writers could continue to be literary producers, and thus finically and socially supported.

Letters in Late Antiquity were designed to be published, and if they were addressed to certain women their names would be read by all, giving them publicity and honour as patrons of the work. For example, Augustine’s treatise on the prayer of widows is dedicated to Juliana at her personal request. Jerome’s hagiography of Marcella was written at the request of Principia. It is unclear whether these women were their patrons, but it certainly highlights a level of closeness that may have included patronage as they respond to these requests. Paula the Elder is named by Palladius as Jerome’s patron. He addressed Letters 30, 33, and 39 to her, explaining various Scripture she seems to have had questions on. Furthermore, he dedicated several of his commentaries to her. Marcella, Eustochium, and Paula are addressed in his commentaries on Daniel, Ephesians, Ezekiel, Galatians, Haggai, Isaiah, Micah, Philemon, and Titus. His vulgate translations of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, The Books of Samuel and Kings, Esther, Isiah, Daniel, the Twelve minor Prophets Book of Job, a revised version of Psalms, and Books of Solomon are all dedicated to Paula and Eustochium. Haines-Eitzen argues that the questioning of Jerome’s work and his extensive literary relationships with certain women suggests that these dedications are not simply honorific. I agree with this, as the dedication of his commentary on Psalms suggests that the revision of his translation was done at the request of Paula and Eustochium, and therefore there is evidence for the relationship of patronage alongside Palladius’ description. Furthermore, Jerome accepted women as patrons of literature. He refers his friends to Marcella and Fabiola as people from whom theological books can be borrowed. To conclude that Jerome and these women engaged in a relationship of patronage, with them able to request theological material and him able to produce it, seems very likely.

As Salzman has argued, these Christian women could gain prestige through their patronage of Christian writers and theologians, giving them influence on the intellectual life of the Roman West. Through the study of Christian scripture, as attested in these letters, women had the opportunity to be part of the intelligentsia. The volume of work dedicated to women, along with evidence that they supported individual church fathers in their endeavours, suggests that women had opportunity to be patrons to a great extent under Christianity, and that they had freedom to request what work they wanted out of that relationship.