Emerging waistlines: corpulence and convivia in the Roman Republic

Cato famously deprived a corpulent equestrian of the public horse during his censorship. Cato, in doing so, drew a connection between his weight, riding ability and dining habit. Obesity was recognized as the physical manifestation of overindulgence in antiquity, just as it is today. Yet the anecdotal evidence of Cato stands out as unusual. In surveying the place of obesity in Roman Republican discourse it quickly becomes apparent that there is a conspicuous dearth of evidence for a negative characterization of obesity. This is particularly striking in a culture, which placed such heavy emphasis on the physical manifestation of character through bodily peculiarity, and on the degrading influence of dining luxuria. The reception of obesity in the Roman Republic exposes the ambiguity and contradiction that existed between the negative discourse of convivia and of wealth.