Information about Cornelia Faustina

Contents 1 Position: Writer Character 2 Biography 3 Family and Close Associates 3.1 Gossip Heard Around the Forum 4 Comments

Position: Writer CharacterEdit

Cornelia Faustina

Given Name: Cornelia, called Faustina by her family.
Social Class: Patrician
Age: 18
Initial Character Profile: Desperate Blueblood

BiographyEdit

Faustina is the only legitimate child of Publius Cornelius Sulla and a frail Claudia Drusilla. When Gaius Marius would not wait for the Senate to officially repeal his exile and swept into Rome with his murderous Bardyiae in tow, the family was forced to flee into the night for Marius' men filled the city with blood. They slaughtered anyone who remotely supported Sulla, had a lot of property, or was a personal enemy of Marius.

The family lived a very precarious excistence while Rome was under the control of Cinna and this made a deep impression on the young Cornelia Faustina. She had to grow up and grow up fast. She had no Greek tutors or playmates to make flower garlands with. Her companions were the cretins that inhabited the filthy insulae where they were forced to live because her father hadn't the money to find anywhere better for her and her mother...and what money he did acquire, he promptly gambled it away. Because of her time in exile, Faustina has acquired some skills better suited to a filthy informer than a respectable Roman lady and a vocuablary of swear words that would make the worst of Subura vagrants blush.

When Sulla returned to Rome and became Dictator, Faustina and her mother were finally able to return to her father's house in Rome and take up their proper position in society again.

Faustina is now the wife of Senator Titus Hortensius Calvus, a man in his late 50's who is sharp of mind, but frail of body. Her husband is the older brother of Quintus Hortensius Horalatus, the famous Orator (with permission). Titus Hortensius is not as famous as his younger brother, but he did his ten campaigns and climbed up a few rungs of the cursus honorum. These days, he is in poor health and seldom has the energy to make it to meetings of the Senate. In this time of crisis for the Republic, he curses his frailty and wishes he had the strength to do more for Rome.

He does not, however, curse his new wife. Not the man he used to be, he contents himself with putting her on a pedestal and he adores her from afar. He found she had a good head for politics and the law that rivaled his own and seemed willing to listen when he wanted to talk about such. Faustina helps him keep his schedule straight and his papers organized. His eyesight is getting worse by the day, and he needs someone young and energetic to keep everything sorted.

(My Publius Cornelius Sulla is a man of my own creation. Although he is related to the now departed Lucius Cornelius Sulla, he is not meant to represent the historical Publius Cornelius Sulla.)

Family and Close AssociatesEdit

Titus Hortensius Calvus Milo: Degenerate son of Old Hortensius, a soul never destined to climb up the cursus honorum. He absolutely detests his father's new wife.

Nicomedes: Old Hortensius' faithful secretary and factotum. He manages the affairs of the Hortensius household with a firm and steady hand.

Philemon of Athens: Long-suffering physician who finds himself in the midst of scandals more often than he would like. He looks after Old Hortensius' health.

Carnifex and Cicatrix: Faustina's pet louts. One generally never sees them apart, as it takes both of them to muster up the sufficient mental effort to form a complete sentence. Their Latin is horrid and they have no Greek, but they are possessed of a healthy amount of feral cunning which makes them very useful to their mistress at times.

Gossip Heard Around the ForumEdit

I cannot believe Old Hortensius married that girl! She is young enough to be his own daughter! Scandalous! He's just asking for trouble, mark my words. You know what happens when a young woman is married to an old man...she'll be carrying on behind his back before you know it. And her father is Publius Cornelius Sulla! Publius Cornelius Sulla! Can't you just hear Cicero screeching now? Publius Sulla, what brand of domestic baseness is not stamped upon your life? What disgraceful circumstance is wanting to your infamy in your private affairs? From what licentiousness have your eyes, from what atrocity have your hands, from what iniquity has your whole body ever abstained?

And I've heard it told that she's pretty racy herself, if you know what I mean...

I suppose Tata Publius thinks he's done well for himself, now that he has a rich in-law. I wonder how long it will be before he starts asking for loans?

If my husband wishes to invite Titus Hortensius Calvus to dine that's quite allright. But we simply MUST find a way not to invite that creature that he married! I've heard she's not proper at all, even if her stock is patrician. And besides, I don't want my husband getting a good look at her...

It must be awful to be married to such a fussy hypochondriac like Old Hortensius! If he were my husband, I'd feed him poppy juice every night so he would go to sleep and leave me alone. Still, it does allow a girl a bit of freedom, I suppose. I've heard she practically runs the affairs of the household, right down to receiving his clients. And just yesterday, someone said they saw her talking to Old Hortensius' banker...