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Mia Monologue Of Solonia

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SOLONIA'S BEGINNINGS

A young girl from south of Italy is sent to study in the Rome. She is of a wealthy family of patricians. She studies letters and literature (subjects of study that are usually reserved for young men, but her father being a governor of the Provence of Sisley, is persuaded by her mother, Mia, to exert influence to get her into the university at Rome. Gallus, her husband, is against it, but is pressured, and eventually gets her accepted. After some months at the university, she is bored by life in the city, preferring the rural countryside of her native Sicily.
She does all the things which are required, like attending the coliseum, which she finds especially vulgar, but it is expected curriculum, for the games are more than entertainment, they symbolize the superiority of the empire. During the games she preoccupies herself with writing poetry and …show more content…

do I have a choice?"

"Yes, you always have a choice, but if you were me when I was your age you would not.”

Mia moves closer to her daughter

“Solonia dear, listen to your mother with but with the smallest of ear. Your father and I see in you the makings of a great woman. It shows in your speech, in the letters and poetry you write. Solonia, they say it's a man's world, but women are capable of great things as well. But how do they become great my love, by reading the best scrolls, written by the best instructors. Women like Sappho and artemisia.... you've read this poetry yourself in your father's library"

"Then it is for yourself mother"

"If you want me to say it, then I'll say it. Yes, I am proud of my only daughter and feel she can accomplish great things. So yes, I want you enrolled at the Roman gymnasium for purely selfish reasons, reasons I might add that will become your own once you have excelled, graduated, and thanked me"

Solonia looks out her bedroom window as though trying to escape the conversation among the rural landscapes of her beloved

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