sabine

In //Absalom, Absalom!// Quentin and Shreve describe Charles Bon's mother as an "old Sabine".

The OED defines a Sabine as "one of a race of ancient Italy who inhabited the central region of Apennines". According to Roman legend, including a position of the shield of Aenas, Sabine women were abducted and raped in order to populate the new city of Rome. The legend serves as a subject for classical Roman and neo-classical Italian art.

Shreve and Bon take Bon's mothers claim to be Spaniard, rather than a person of mixed race, much further by calling her a Sabine. They link her to the ancient mixing of races in the violent beginnings of new empires, and reinforce Jason Compson's conviction that Bon was an aesthetic aristocrat in a classical sense.

–Zach Fruit