Milonia Caesonia

Early life

The daughter of Vistilia, Milonia was born toward the beginning of the first century, but the year is not certain. Her birthday was celebrated between 2 June and 4 June. Caesonius Maximus was believed by Marco Agosti to have been her father.^[1] The gens Caesonia was of modest origin, and had only recently come to prominence. David Wardle on the other hand argued that her father was likely a Milonius.^[2] Milonia had six half-brothers, five of whom are known, Servius Cornelius Scipio Orfitus (whose son, Servius Cornelius Scipio Salvidienus Orfitus, was consul in AD 51), Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo (consul in 39, and a distinguished general under Claudius and Nero, was the father of the empress Domitia Longina), Quintus Pomponius Secundus (consul suffectus in 41), Publius Pomponius Secundus (consul suffectus in 44) and Publius Suillius Rufus (consul in 43, and father of Marcus Suillius Nerullinus, consul in 50).

Marriages

Milonia was married first to a man of uncertain name, some historians have speculated that he was the Rufus mentioned to be married to a woman named Caesonia who was born on the same date as Domitian (24 October) in a poem by Martial.^[3] Marco Agosti identified him as Instanius (sometimes corrected as Instantius, Insantius, Istantius or Istanius) Rufus, a patron of Martial.^[1]

Suetonius says that when Caligula married her, she was neither beautiful nor young, and was already the mother of three daughters by her first marriage. He describes her as a woman of reckless extravagance and wantonness, whom Caligula nonetheless loved passionately and faithfully.^[4] According to Cassius Dio, the two entered into an affair some time before their marriage, either late in AD 39 or early in 40, and the emperor's choice of a bride was an unpopular one.^[5] The satirist Juvenal suggests that Caligula's madness was the result of a love potion administered to him by Milonia.^[6]

Milonia was pregnant at the time of the marriage, and gave birth to a daughter, Julia Drusilla, only one month later (or according to Suetonius, on her wedding day).^[7][4]

In the account given by Suetonius, the emperor would parade Milonia in front of his troops, and sometimes displayed her naked in front of select friends.^[4] In an odd demonstration of affection, he would jokingly threaten to have her tortured or killed.^[8]

On 24 January, AD 41, Caligula was assassinated. As part of the wider conspiracy, Milonia and her daughter Julia Drusilla were also murdered. Josephus reports that she died bravely: stricken with grief at her husband's death, she willingly offered her neck to the assassin, telling him to kill her without hesitation.^[9]