It is important to note that the Romans did not necessarily differentiate between trans and intersex people; like cinaedus, the term androgynus was used as an umbrella term.
Vallebanae (nova res et vix credenda poetis,)
sed quae de vera
promitur historia)
femineam in
speciem convertit masculus ales
pavaque de pavo
constitit ante oculos.
Cuncti admirantur
monstrum, sed mollior agna...
[talia virginea
voce puella refert:]
"quid stolidi ad
speciem notae novitatis hebetis?
An vos Nasonis
carmina non legitis?
Caenida convertit
proles Saturnia Consus
ambignoque fuit
corpore Tiresias.
Vidit semivirum
fons Salmacis Hermaphroditum:
vidit nubentem
Plinius androgynum
nec satis
antiquum, quod Campana in Benevento
unus epheborum
virgo repente fuit.
Nolo tamen
veteris documenta arcesse famae.
ecce ego sum
factus femina de puero."
--Ausonius, Epig. LXIV (1883); LXXVI (modern)
At Valbone (an unusual occurrence
that would scarcely be believed from poets,
but which is alleged by a historian),
a male bird turned into a female bird;
A peacock became a peahen right before our eyes!
Everyone marveled at the omen,
But a girl, softer than a lamb, announced with her maiden’s
voice:
“You goofballs, why are so amazed by this marvel?
Haven’t you read the
poems of Ovid [The Metamorphoses]?
Saturn’s offspring Consus*
changed Caeneus,
And Tiresias was gender-fluid.
The Salmacis spring saw the intersex Hermaphroditus;
Pliny saw an intersex person get married
And, more recently, in Beneventum,
One young man suddenly became a young woman!
But nevermind these old stories,
I myself am a woman, though born a boy."
* Poseidon / Neptune, not Consus, is usually associated with the myth of Caeneus
AUSONIUS |
MAP: |
Name: Decimius Magnus Ausonius Date: 4th century CE Works:
Letters, Mosella |
REGION 2 |
BIO: |
Timeline: |
Ausonius was a Roman poet from Aquitania,
Gaul [modern France] who lived during the 4th century CE. He is
best known for his epic poem Mosella, which describes the Moselle River, and
his Epistles, a series of literary poems between himself and the Christian
poet Paulinus. |
AGE OF CONFLICT |
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