A friend of Cicero the orator, who often mentioned her in his correspondence for her love of philosophy and intellectual talents, Cerelia was a rich, educated and independent patrician. She was a bibliophile and had her own library of copies of manuscript copies which she personally acquired. She was the first to take possession of a copy of Cicero’s “De finibus”, copied without the author’s knowledge. The nature of her relationship with Cicero already intrigued her contemporaries. The most ill-intentioned people blamed the orator for an adulterous and licentious laison with a woman much older than him, for whom he allegedly repudiated his wife (Cassius Dio, “Roman History”, XVIL, 18, 4). In reality, Cerelia, probably a widow, had lent money to Cicero when he was in need (Cicero, “Ad atticum”, XII, 51; XV, 26) and, far from being a cause of trouble in his marriage, she had tried to reconcile him with Publilia (“Ad att.”, XIV, 19). The correspondence between men and women who were not related by kinship was easily open to speculation and equivocal interpretations, but the friendship between Cicero and Cerelia was born from their common passion for literature and philosophy (“Ad att.”, XIII, 21). Unfortunately, the letters sent by Cerelia to Cicero are not available to us (they were not published), but the tone must have been personal, especially due to the certain affection Cicero showed in his letters a for this woman whom he called necessaria mea (“Ad familiares”, XIII, 72), that is to say, a close friend or relative, and he asked his friends to be helpful and kind with her. Among the themes addressed in their correspondence were often philosophical discussions as well as financial and political questions, probably questions of public interest (according to Quintilian, VI, 3, 112, Cicero wrote to Cerelia the reasons which made him support Caesar’s domination) – which led to the posthumous publication of the letters that Cicero had written to his friend. Our knowledge of Cerelia is therefore based almost exclusively on the remarks of her pen friend.
