Pudicitia ("modesty" or "sexual virtue") was a central concept in ancient Roman sexual ethics. The word is derived from the more general ''pudor'', the sense of shame that regulated an individual's behavior as socially acceptable. ''Pudicitia'' was most often a defining characteristic of women, but men who failed to conform to masculine sexual norms were said to exhibit feminizing ''impudicitia'', sexual shamelessness. The virtue was

personified Personification occurs when a thing or abstraction is represented as a person, in literature or art, as a type of anthropomorphic metaphor. The type of personification discussed here excludes passing literary effects such as "Shadows hold their b ...

by the

Roman goddess Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. One of a wide variety of genres of Roman folklore, ''Roman mythology'' may also refer to the modern study of these representat ...

Pudicitia, whose Greek equivalent was

Aidos Aidos or Aedos (; Greek: , ) was the Greek goddess of shame, modesty, respect, and humility. Aidos, as a quality, was that feeling of reverence or shame which restrains men from wrong. It also encompassed the emotion that a rich person might f ...

As virtue

Bust of a Modest Roman Woman of the Severan Period 193-211 CE at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York MH

Romans, both men and women, were expected to uphold the virtue of ''pudicitia'', a complex ideal that was explored by many ancient writers, including

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...

Valerius Maximus Valerius Maximus () was a 1st-century Latin writer and author of a collection of historical anecdotes: ''Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium libri IX'' ("Nine books of memorable deeds and sayings", also known as ''De factis dictisque memorabilibus'' ...

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...

and

Tertullian Tertullian (; la, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus; 155 AD – 220 AD) was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of L ...

. Livy describes the legendary figure of Lucretia as the epitome of ''pudicitia''. She is loyal to her husband and is modest, despite her incredible beauty. Some say that the story of Lucretia shows that the more virtuous a woman was, the more appealing she was to potential adulterers. ''Pudicitia'' was not only a mental attribute but also physical; a person's appearance was seen as an indicator of their morality. The way a man or woman presented him or herself in public, and the persons they interacted with caused others to pass judgment on their ''pudicitia''. For example, if a woman was seen associating with men other than her husband people would make a negative judgment on her ''pudicitia''. Romans idealized the woman who was ''univira'', a "one-man" woman, married once, even though by the time of Cicero and

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving th ...

was common, the subject of gossip rather than social stigma.

Suzanne Dixon Suzanne Dixon (born 1946) is an Australian classical scholar, widely recognised as an authority on women's history and particularly marriage and motherhood. Career Dixon's career spans posts at the Australian National University as well as th ...

, "From Ceremonial to Sexualities: A Survey of Scholarship on Roman Marriage" in ''A Companion to Families in the Greek and Roman Worlds'' (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), p. 248. Modest self-presentation indicated ''pudicitia''. The opposite of ''pudicitia'' was ''impudicitia'', "shamelessness" or “sexual vice.” An assault on ''pudicitia'' was '' stuprum'', sexual misconduct or "sex crime." Romans associated the loss of ''pudicitia'' with chaos and loss of control. In Cicero's oration against Verres, he discusses many of the governor's transgressions including sexual misconduct with both men and women. In the Imperial age,

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

enacted a program of moral legislation to encourage ''pudicitia''.

The goddess

According to

, there were two temples of Pudicitia in Rome, the

Temple of Pudicitia Patricia The Temple of Pudicitia Patricia (patrician chastity) was a small shrine in ancient Rome, located in the Forum Boarium. It was described as being next to the Temple of Hercules Victor. According to Livy (10.23.3-5), it was in conflict with the Te ...

and the

Temple of Pudicitia Plebeia The Temple of Pudicitia Plebeia was an ancient Roman temple on the Quirinal Hill, along the ''Vicus Longus'', on what is now via Nazionale. It was dedicated to 'plebeian chastity' and built in 296 BC by Virginia, wife of the future consul Lucius V ...

. The original one was for women of the patrician class only, but when Verginia was excluded on account of marrying a

plebeian In ancient Rome, the plebeians (also called plebs) were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words " commoners". Both classes were hereditary. Etymology The precise origins ...

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

, she and a group of plebeian matrons founded an altar of Pudicitia for women of the

class as well. Livy states that the plebeian shrine of Pudicitia eventually fell into disuse after its sacred character had been abused.

As virtue

The goddess

References

Further reading