Publilia (b. 62–60 BCE) was the ward and second wife of Roman orator and politician Marcus Tullius Cicero. They married in late 46 BCE, when she was 14 or 15, and Cicero was 60. They divorced shortly after the death of Cicero's daughter, Tullia, at some point between late May and early July of 45 BCE. Treggiari, S. (2007) Terentia, Tullia, and Publilia: The Women of Cicero's Family (Routledge) p. 141
Life
Mention of Publilia is relatively scarce in the source record, and what we know of her is reconstructed largely from Cicero's letters.
Her date of birth is unclear: Syme argues she could have been born no later than 60 BCE. Syme, R. (1978) Sallust's Wife, Classical Quarterly 28(2) p. 294 Treggiari, meanwhile, places her birth in 62 BCE.Treggiari (2007) p. 150
The exact date of her marriage to Cicero is unclear. Treggiary argues it would have been in late 46 BCE, whilst Claasen suggests it was instead in late 47 or early 46 BCE.Claasen, J.-M., (1996) Documents of a Crumbling Marriage: The Case of Cicero and Terentia, Phoenix 50(3/4) p. 208 Ancient sources suggest that Cicero married her in order to pay off the debts he had incurred with her wealth.Plutarch, Life of Cicero, 41.3; Cassius Dio, Histories, 46.18.3 There are also accusations in these sources that he married her because he was infatuated with her beauty.Plutarch, Life of Cicero, 41.4 Modern scholars posit that her family may have had advantageous political connections as well. Treggiari (2007) p. 135 Whatever the reason for the marriage, it is near-certain that it was not the cause of Cicero's divorce from Terentia, his first wife.Claasen (1996) p. 211
It was an unhappy marriage in which Cicero's mistreatment of her was considered scandalous.Treggiari (2007) p. 163 Publilia's own behaviour is difficult to reconstruct due to the paucity of evidence, but it is known that she wrote to her husband to ask permission to join him when they had been apart for a month, displaying her willingless to act properly as his wife. Cicero, Ad Atticum, 12.32; Treggiari (2007) p. 161 They swiftly divorced in mid 45 BCE, following accusations from Cicero that she was pleased at the death of his daughter Tullia. Plutarch, Life of Cicero, 41.5
It is somewhat unclear whom she later married. Jerome mentions that a wife of Cicero married Gaius Sallustius Crispus and then Messalla Corvinus.Jerome, Against Iovinianus, 1.48=316A Following this, Treggiari argues that it is credible for Publilia to have married Sallust: they could have married late in 45 BCE, or in May of 44 BCE. Treggiari (2007) p. 150 The marriage to Messalla is somewhat less certain, but still plausible. She was almost certainly married to Gaius Vibius Rufus, suffect consul of 16 CE.Syme (1978) p. 294-5 This marriage is supported by epigraphic evidence attesting to the existence of M. Publilius Strato, freedman of Publilia and C. Vibius Rufus; for his to have been the freedman of both, they would likely have had to be married.CIL 14.2556; Treggiari (2007) p. 151
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