"She maintained an absolute and lasting empire over the mind of her son, and in his affection the mother could not brook a rival"
— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)
Author
Date
1776, 1781, 1788-89
Metaphor
"She maintained an absolute and lasting empire over the mind of her son, and in his affection the mother could not brook a rival"
Metaphor in Context
In every age and country, the wiser, or at least the stronger, of the two sexes has usurped the powers of the state, and confined the other to the cares and pleasures of domestic life. In hereditary monarchies, however, and especially in those of modern Europe, the gallant spirit of chivalry, and the law of succession, have accustomed us to allow a singular exception; and a woman is often acknowledged the absolute sovereign of a great kingdom, in which she would be deemed incapable of exercising the smallest employment, civil or military. But as the Roman emperors were still considered as the generals and magistrates of the republic, their wives and mothers, although distinguished by the name of Augusta, were never associated to their personal honours; and a female reign would have appeared an inexpiable prodigy in the eyes of those primitive Romans, who married without love, or loved without delicacy and respect.77 The haughty Agrippina aspired, indeed, to share the honours of the empire which she had conferred on her son; but her mad ambition, detested by every citizen who felt for the dignity of Rome, was disappointed by the artful firmness of Seneca and Burrhus.78 The good sense, or the indifference, of succeeding princes restrained them from offending the prejudices of their subjects; and it was reserved for the profligate Elagabalus to disgrace the acts of the senate with the name of his mother Soæmias, who was placed by the side of the consuls, and subscribed, as a regular member, the decrees of the legislative assembly. Her more prudent sister, Mamæa, declined the useless and odious prerogative, and a solemn law was enacted, excluding women for ever from the senate, and devoting to the infernal gods the head of the wretch by whom this sanction should be violated.79 The substance, not the pageantry, of power was the object of Mamæa's manly ambition. She maintained an absolute and lasting empire over the mind of her son, and in his affection the mother could not brook a rival. Alexander, with her consent, married the daughter of a patrician;80 but his respect for his father-in-law, and love for the empress, were inconsistent with the tenderness or interest of Mamæa. The patrician was executed on the ready accusation of treason, and the wife of Alexander driven with ignominy from the palace, and banished into Africa.81
Categories
Provenance
Searching "mind" in Liberty Fund's OLL edition of The Decline and Fall
Citation
Published in six volumes: vol. I in 1776; vols. II and III, 1781; vols. IV, V, and VI, 1788-1789. At least 36 entries in ESTC (1776, 1781, 1782, 1783, 1784, 1787, 1788, 1789, 1790, 1791, 1797).
See The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. By Edward Gibbon, Esq; Volume the First. (London: Printed for W. Strahan; and T. Cadell, in the Strand, 1776). <Link to ESTC>
Searching in Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ed. J.B. Bury with an Introduction by W.E.H. Lecky (New York: Fred de Fau and Co., 1906), in 12 vols.
See The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. By Edward Gibbon, Esq; Volume the First. (London: Printed for W. Strahan; and T. Cadell, in the Strand, 1776). <Link to ESTC>
Searching in Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ed. J.B. Bury with an Introduction by W.E.H. Lecky (New York: Fred de Fau and Co., 1906), in 12 vols.
Date of Entry
10/09/2005
