She was the daughter of Terentii Variones, a cousin of Varro and friend of Marcus Terentius Varro. She came from a very wealthy patrician family and her half-sister Fabia was a vestal virgin. Upon her father's death, she became very wealthy. She had a 400,000 sesterces dowry when she married Cicero. This became Cicero's, but she still had investments and land she managed on her own with her guardian Philotimus. In the late republic/empire, women had more rights and could manage their affairs with the help of a family member. It all did not go to the father/husband as it did before.
When Cicero married Terentia, he in essence married up in the social standing of the late republic. Terentia came from a patrician family, whereas Cicero came from a rural nobility. He was what was called a 'New Man,' someone who gained power on his own. In 78 BC, Terentia and Cicero had their first daughter Tullia and in 65 BC their son, Marcus Tullius Cicero. They only had two children. Some evidence I read suggested infertility issues between Terentia and Cicero, but with that said, they still had two children together. Terentia did not accompany Cicero when he went abroad to Sicily. She stayed back with young Tullia.
In 47/46 BC Terentia and Cicero divorced. Terential was 52 years old. Reasons for the divorce from Cicero are dishonesty in financial dealings. Cicero did not like how Terentia was handling her investments. Cicero feared for his sons financial future from Terentia's management of her lands and investments and or her treatment of Tullia. Or at least that is what the literature I have read has suggested. It is also pointed out that correspondence cooled between Terentia and Cicero. There was no formal letter declaring the divorce as was the custom at this time. The divorce was official none the less.
Her next husband after Cicero was Caius Sallustius Crispus, or the historian Sallust. From this point on she remarried two more husbands and lived to be 103 years old.
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