Toxic Narratives: The Male Poisoner in Roman Society and Literature

Abstract

This thesis investigates how Roman attitudes towards poison and poisoners emerge in the works of three authors: Cicero, Livy, and Tacitus. Unlike previous studies, this thesis moves away from a focus on the stereotype of the female-poisoner, which pervades Latin literature, and dominates modern scholarship on poisoning in Ancient Rome. The assumption that poisoning was a female crime made the allegation of poisoning especially damning against Roman men. When it was used by a man, poison signified effeminacy, cowardice, tyranny, conspiracy, or a combination of these. The symbolic and rhetorical power with which poison was endowed made the accusation of its use a convenient way to discredit a personal or political opponent. I investigate explore the complex sociopolitical discourse surrounding poison and poisoning that made it possible to weaponise poisoning allegations. I demonstrate that venenum and veneficium signified the degradation of Roman morality and the disintegration of the Roman political system. I conduct a historiographical analysis of representations of male poisoners, illuminating how poison was employed by Roman authors as a versatile symbol of public ill. This study reveals the importance power of poisoning stories as a representation of vice within Roman society and literature.