Cornificia (c. 85 BCc. 40 BC) was a Roman

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and writer of

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mille ...

s of the 1st century BC.

Life

Cornificia belongs to the last generation of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kin ...

.Stevenson, Jane: ''Women Latin Poets: Language, Gender, and Authority from Antiquity to the Eighteenth Century'', p. 34 (

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, May 2005) The daughter of Quintus Cornificius and the sister of the

, ''

praetor Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected '' magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vario ...

'' and ''

augur An augur was a priest and official in the classical Roman world. His main role was the practice of augury, the interpretation of the will of the gods by studying the flight of birds. Determinations were based upon whether they were flying i ...

'' Cornificius, Cornificia married a man called Camerius.

Jane Stevenson Jane Barbara Stevenson (born 12 February 1959) is a British historian, literary scholar, and author. Since 2017, she is Senior Research Fellow at Campion Hall, Oxford. From 2007 to 2017, she was Regius Professor of Humanity at the University of ...

has suggested that this may be the same Camerius who was a friend of the poet

Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus (; 84 - 54 BCE), often referred to simply as Catullus (, ), was a Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who wrote chiefly in the neoteric style of poetry, focusing on personal life rather than classical heroes. His s ...

, mentioned in his poem 55. The fact that Cornificia's brother became both a ''praetor'' and an ''augur'' indicates that the family was of considerable status.

Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum The ''Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' (''CIL'') is a comprehensive collection of ancient Latin inscriptions. It forms an authoritative source for documenting the surviving epigraphy of classical antiquity. Public and personal inscriptions throw ...

, vol. VI, 1300a A ''praetor'' was a magistrate and/or military commander, while an ''augur'' was a priest whose task was to 'take the

auspices Augury is the practice from ancient Roman religion of interpreting omens from the observed behavior of birds. When the individual, known as the augur, interpreted these signs, it is referred to as "taking the auspices". "Auspices" (Latin ''au ...

', interpreting the will of the gods by studying the activities of birds. The author

Christine de Pisan Christine de Pizan or Pisan (), born Cristina da Pizzano (September 1364 – c. 1430), was an Italian poet and court writer for King Charles VI of France and several French dukes. Christine de Pizan served as a court writer in medieval France ...

references Cornificia in her book ''

The Book of the City of Ladies ''The Book of the City of Ladies'' or ''Le Livre de la Cité des Dames'' (finished by 1405), is perhaps Christine de Pizan's most famous literary work, and it is her second work of lengthy prose. Pizan uses the vernacular French language to comp ...

'' (1405), stating that she had an aptitude for learning, particularly poetry and the sciences.

Work

All of Cornificia's work has been lost. Her reputation as a poet is based chiefly on the 4th century ''

Chronicle A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...

'' of St Jerome (347–420 AD). In writing of her brother Cornificius, Jerome says: "Huius soror Cornificia, cuius insignia extant epigrammata" (His sister was Cornificia, whose distinguished

s survive). This must mean that her work was still being read some four hundred years after her death. Cornificia is one of the 106 subjects of

Giovanni Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was somet ...

’s ''

On Famous Women ''De Mulieribus Claris'' or ''De Claris Mulieribus'' (Latin for "Concerning Famous Women") is a collection of biographies of historical and mythological women by the Florentine author Giovanni Boccaccio, composed in Latin prose in 1361–1362. ...

'' (''De mulieribus claris'', 1362 AD), which says of her: Boccaccio, Giovanni, ''Concerning Famous Women'', translated by Guido A. Guarino (

Rutgers University Press Rutgers University Press (RUP) is a nonprofit academic publishing house, operating in New Brunswick, New Jersey under the auspices of Rutgers University. History Rutgers University Press, a nonprofit academic publishing house operating in New B ...

, 1963) p. 188 The

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

Laura Cereta Laura Cereta (September 1469 – 1499), was one of the most notable humanist and feminist writers of fifteenth-century Italy. Cereta was the first to put women’s issues and her friendships with women front and center in her work. Cereta wrote i ...

wrote in a letter to Bibolo Semproni: "Add also Cornificia, the sister of the poet Cornificius, whose devotion to literature bore such a fruit that she was said to have been nurtured on the milk of the

Castalia Castalia ( grc, Κασταλία), in Greek mythology, was a naiad-nymph, a daughter of Achelous who inhabited the Castalian spring in Delphi. In older traditions, Castalian spring already existed by the time Apollo came to Delphi searching f ...

n Muses and who wrote epigrams in which every phrase was graced with Heliconian flowers."Cereta, Laura, ''Collected Letters of a Renaissance Feminist'', transcribed, translated, and edited by Diana Robin (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997) pp. 77–78

Monument

A monument to Cornificia and her brother survives in Rome, the inscription reading - CORNIFICIA Q. F. CAMERI Q. CORNIFICIUS Q. F. FRATER PR. AUGUR (Cornificia, the daughter of Quintus, wife of Camerius, ndher brother Quintus Cornificius, Praetor and Augur).

References

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian ...

, ''

Chronicon In historiography, a ''chronicon'' is a type of chronicle or annals. Examples are: * ''Chronicon'' (Eusebius) * ''Chronicon'' (Jerome) *''Chronicon Abbatiae de Evesham'' *'' Chronicon Burgense'' *'' Chronicon Ambrosianum'' *''Chronicon Compostellan ...

'', ed. R. Helm (

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

, Germany 1913), 159 2–5

Footnotes

{{Authority control Ancient Roman women writers Golden Age Latin writers 1st-century BC Roman women 1st-century BC Romans 1st-century BC Roman poets 80s BC births 40s BC deaths 1st-century BC women writers Ancient women poets Latin writers known only from secondary sources Italian women poets Cornificii