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{{Short description|First wife of Cato the Younger}}
'''Atilia''' (sometimes spelt '''Attilia''') was the first wife of [[Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis]] and mother of his two eldest children.

==Biography==
===Early life===
It is not known for certain who Atilia's father was, but he was from the Atilii Serrani. He may have been [[Gaius Atilius Serranus]] the consul of 106 BC,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Cato the Younger: Life and Death at the End of the Roman Republic|last=Drogula|first=Fred K.|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2019|isbn=9780190869045|pages=33}}</ref> or Gaius' son.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Servilia and her Family|last=Treggiari|first=Susan|author-link=Susan Treggiari |publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2019|isbn=9780192564641|pages=98}}</ref>

===Marriage===
Cato married Atilia c. 73 BC, after his intended wife, [[Aemilia Lepida#Cato|Aemilia Lepida]] married [[Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio Nasica]].<ref>Plutarch, ''Cato the Younger'', 7.3.</ref>

In the words of Plutarch:<ref>Plutarch, ''Cato the Younger'', 7.3.</ref>
:[Atilia] was the first woman with whom he made love, but not the only one, as was true of [[Gaius Laelius|Laelius]], the friend of [[Scipio Africanus]]; Laelius, indeed, was more fortunate, since in the course of his long life he only ever made love to one woman, the wife of his youth.

Cato and Atilia had a son [[Marcus Porcius Cato (son of Cato the Younger)|Marcus Porcius Cato]], who later died in the second [[Battle of Philippi]], and a daughter [[Porcia (wife of Brutus)|Porcia]], who became the wife of her cousin [[Marcus Junius Brutus]].

Circa 63 BC, Cato divorced Atilia on the grounds of her unseemly behaviour, later marrying [[Marcia (wife of Cato)|Marcia]].<ref>Plutarch, ''Cato the Younger'', 24-25</ref> Atilia is not mentioned again.

== Family tree ==
{{Brutus family tree}}

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atilia}}
[[Category:1st-century BC Roman women]]
[[Category:1st-century BC Romans]]
[[Category:Atilii]]
[[Category:Cato the Younger]]

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