Marcia

Marcia (also Marzia or Martia) was the second wife of Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis (Cato the Younger) and the daughter of Lucius Marcius Philippus. Biography Early life Marcia is believed to have been born about 80 BC to Lucius Marcius Philippus and his first wife, she had two brothers named Lucius Marcius Philippus and Quintus Marcius Philippus. When her father married Atia she became the step-sister of Octavia Minor and Gaius Octavius Thurinus (the future emperor Augustus). Marriages and children After Cato divorced his first wife Atilia because of rumors about her infidelity, in 63 BC, he married Marcia whom Plutarch described as "a woman of excellent reputation, about whom there was the most abundant talk". Marcia and Cato had two or three children; however, there is controversy about whether or not she was pregnant with this third child at the time of her second marriage to Hortensius. There is no indication that their marriage was unhappy: Plutarch relates that Marcia was concerned for Cato's safety, and Appian says that Cato was extremely fond of Marcia.