She awakened, he identified himself and offered her two choices: she could submit to his sexual advances and become his wife and future queen, or he would kill her and one of her slaves and place the bodies together, then claim he had caught her having adulterous sex (see sexuality in ancient Rome). The party awarded her the palm of victory and Lucius invited them to visit, but for the time being they returned to camp.Īt night Sextus entered her bedroom by stealth, quietly going around the slaves who were sleeping at her door. In a variant of the story, Sextus and Lucius, at a wine party on furlough, were debating the virtues of wives when Lucius volunteered to settle the debate by all of them riding to his home to see what Lucretia was doing. Lucius’ wife, Lucretia, daughter of Spurius Lucretius, prefect of Rome, “a man of distinction”, made sure that the king’s son was treated as became his rank, although her husband was away at the siege. Sextus was received with great hospitality at the governor’s mansion, home of Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, son of the king’s nephew, Arruns Tarquinius, former governor of Collatia and first of the Tarquinii Collatini. Sextus Tarquinius, the king’s son, was sent on a military errand to Collatia. Tarquinius unsuccessfully sought to take the Rutulian capital Ardea by storm, and subsequently began an extensive siege of the city. According to Livy, the Rutuli were, at that time, a very wealthy nation and Tarquinius was keen to obtain the spoils that would come with victory over the Rutuli in order, in part, to assuage the anger of his subjects. In about 510 BC, Tarquinius went to war with the Rutuli. Titian’s Tarquin and Lucretia (1571) / Fitzwilliam Museum, Wikimedia Commons He also engaged in treachery with the Latin allies. In another break with tradition, he judged capital criminal cases without advice of counsellors, thereby creating fear among those who might think to oppose him. By not replacing the slain senators, and not consulting the Senate on all matters of government, he diminished both the size and authority of the Senate. He refused to bury his predecessor, then put to death a number of the leading senators whom he suspected of remaining loyal to Servius (one of whom was the brother of Lucius Junius Brutus). In around 535 BC Tarquinius, together with his wife Tullia Minor (one of the daughters of the then king Servius Tullius) arranged the murder of Servius, and Tarquinius became king in his place.ĭespite various military victories, Tarquinius became an unpopular king. Tarquinius was the son of the fifth king, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus. The accuracy of this account has been doubted by modern historians, although it appears to be accepted that there was a monarchy, and the last king Tarquinius was expelled upon the founding of the republic in the late 6th century BC. Roman history held that seven kings of Rome reigned from the establishment of the city in 753 BC by Romulus up to the reign of Tarquinius. Despite a number of attempts by Lucius Tarquinius Superbus to reinstate the monarchy, the citizens established a republic and thereafter elected two consuls annually to rule the city. The Roman army supported Brutus, and the king went into exile. The Roman noblemen, led by Lucius Junius Brutus, obtained the support of the Roman aristocracy and the people to expel the king and his family and to institute a republic. Afterwards she revealed the offence to various Roman noblemen, and then committed suicide. The semi-legendary Roman histories tell that while the king was away on campaign, his son Sextus Tarquinius raped a noblewoman, Lucretia. The overthrow of the Roman monarchy, a political revolution in ancient Rome, took place around 509 BC and resulted in the expulsion of the last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, and the establishment of the Roman Republic. A 16th-century painting by Sandro Botticelli, depicting the rape of Lucretia and the subsequent uprising / Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Wikimedia Commons
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