Women have always been under appreciated throughout history, and most of the time, their stories are either partially told or not told at all. However, the records that the Romans have kept on female exempla hold these women in a high regard. In Roman culture the female exempla of Lucretia, Cloelia, and Cornelia are told and have been commemorated throughout their history. All of these female exempla follow most the exempla model: action, audience, commemoration, and, sometimes, imitation. All three of these female exempla have different accounts of their commemorable deeds, and are known for specific actions they had done. Lucretia was known for her honorable act of suicide; Cloelia was known for her bravery when helping the women escape; finally, Cornelia was known for being the mother of the Gracchi. They are commemorated through literature and monuments. Although some actions were not imitated, such as leading a group of women to escape, the characteristics and personality traits were imitated by the romans, whether it be courage, bravery, or virtus.
When looking at traditional female versus male exempla, there are some obvious differences, the main difference being the depth and length of the accounts. While almost all of the traditional male exempla are very descriptive and long so as not forget a single detail, most of the traditional female exempla are told in passing or intertwined with a male exempla. For example, in Livy, Lucretia’s story was told in passing of Romulus’s and Remus’s story. This os similar to Cornelia’s account as well. Her story was told intertwined with the stories of her sons, and that how she was known as the mother of Gracchi. Cloelia’s accounts we had seen as an account dedicated just to her. The passages were tellings of her noble deed. However, compared to the traditional male exempla, her accounts were shorter and not as descriptive.
Another difference between these male and female exempla is that the male exempla are known for a single action that they did, while women are known for an act that continues throughout their lifetime, or for a specific roman virtue that they exhibit. Something to note is that while most of the actions that were done by women were also unseen, such as in Cornelia’s case. She had helped and advised her sons, however this was an act done behind the scenes. Also, for a female exempla to be recognized within their society, the action must exhibit a roman value, which are mostly masculine values. Most times women were not able to express, or were not given a chance to express these Roman values or traits because of their role in society. For this reason, it is harder for women to achieve an action worthy of exemplarity. They are especially exemplified due to their virtus. Virtus is seen as a masculine trait, and when females exhibit this trait, then they are exemplified.
One inherent problem present in the Roman model for exemplarity to include women is that most of the time, the women exempla are just know for the action that they take that is seen as virtus, and courageous, brave, and masculine. In the accounts of Lucretia and Cloelia, they were known as exemplas due to their more masculine actions and their virtus. For Cornelia, she was known for being the mother of these great male exemplas and her father, who was also an exempla, she was known because of her association with male exempla.
Something that would hold female exempla in the same regard as male exempla would be if there were not different standards for women and men within the exemplarity model. The only way that women were recognized was because of their actions which exhibited Roman values, most of which were masculine. Female exempla during that time were not commemorated or acknowledged because their actions had to be up to par to the male exempla. The exemplas for males and females would be equal if the Roman values were held in the same light for both males and females.
