Lucretia serves as both a morality tale and an example for future Roman women to look up to and model. However, within this there exists a dichotomy in which women maintain both a position of inferiority and one of respect. Because of this dual nature, women may either accrue a meekness or gain a sense of empowerment from this story. If they remain meek, they risk falling complacent in their given roles, serving as only a representation of their household and family but nothing more. However, they may also use their given station as an opportunity to show their human value in such a way that forces a male-dominated society to acknowledge their contributions and viewpoints, if only through defense of their pietas and pudicitia. These two traits give the matrona a sense of moral authority that allow her to perform seemingly radical actions, such as publically denouncing a man who was a part of the Second Triumvirate or killing oneself, and have her contemporaries not only justify, but honor her actions. There is an certain power that a Roman woman had in being able to shape an arguably inferior gender role into a position of credibility and influence by finding a balance between the submissive wife and the overzealous
Lucretia serves as both a morality tale and an example for future Roman women to look up to and model. However, within this there exists a dichotomy in which women maintain both a position of inferiority and one of respect. Because of this dual nature, women may either accrue a meekness or gain a sense of empowerment from this story. If they remain meek, they risk falling complacent in their given roles, serving as only a representation of their household and family but nothing more. However, they may also use their given station as an opportunity to show their human value in such a way that forces a male-dominated society to acknowledge their contributions and viewpoints, if only through defense of their pietas and pudicitia. These two traits give the matrona a sense of moral authority that allow her to perform seemingly radical actions, such as publically denouncing a man who was a part of the Second Triumvirate or killing oneself, and have her contemporaries not only justify, but honor her actions. There is an certain power that a Roman woman had in being able to shape an arguably inferior gender role into a position of credibility and influence by finding a balance between the submissive wife and the overzealous