Lenitas feminea
Abstract
The reading of a passage from Ammianus (14.1.18) in which the example of Cecilia Paolina is recalled with regard to the medallion of Constantine, wife of Gallus, offers some reflections on the expression feminea lenitas. The study proceeds from a dual perspective, i.e. the proposed analysis is lexical as well as historical and historiographical. In the specific case of Constantina, lenitas is characterised as a political virtue. It is therefore assumed that lenitas, in its feminine declination, was applied to Constantina, who played a decisive role at court. As far as the lexical analysis of lenitas and femineus is concerned, some comparisons are proposed with passages by Christian and pagan authors, contemporary to Ammianus or just after him.
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