Lucretia is a
legendA legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude...
ary figure in the history of the
Roman RepublicThe Roman Republic was the phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a republican form of government. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, c...
. According to the story, told mainly by two Roman historians,
LivyTitus Livius , known as Livy in English, was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
and
Dionysius of HalicarnassusDionysius of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Caesar Augustus.-Life:...
, her rape by the king's son and consequent suicide were the immediate cause of the revolution that overthrew the
monarchyThe Roman Kingdom was the monarchical government of the city of Rome and its territories. Little is certain about the history of the Roman Kingdom, as no written records from that time survive, and the histories about it were written during the Republic and Empire and are largely based on legend...
and established the
Roman RepublicThe Roman Republic was the phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a republican form of government. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, c...
. The incident kindled the flames of dissatisfaction over the tyrannical methods of the last king of Rome,
Lucius Tarquinius SuperbusLucius Tarquinius Superbus was the seventh King of Rome, reigning from 535 until the Roman revolt in 509 B.C. which would lead to the establishment of the Roman Republic. He is more commonly known by his cognomen Tarquinius Superbus and was a member of the Etruscan dynasty of Rome...
. As a result, the prominent families instituted a republic, drove the extensive Tarquin family from Rome, and successfully defended the republic against attempted Etruscan and Latin intervention. The rape has been a major theme in European art and literature.
The beginning of the republic is marked by the first appearance of the two
consul-Ancient Rome:During the time of ancient Rome as a Republic, the consuls were the highest civil and military magistrates, serving as the heads of government for the Republic. New consuls were elected every year. There were two consuls, and they ruled together...
s elected on a yearly basis. The Romans recorded events by consular year, keeping an official list in various forms called the
fastiFasti, a Latin word, was used in ancient Rome, and subsequently elsewhere on the paradigm of Roman fasti, primarily to denote any diachronic record or plan of official and religiously sanctioned events. All state and societal business must be transacted on dies fasti, "allowed days", of which the...
, utilized by Roman historians. The list and its events are authentic as far as can be known although debatable problems with many parts of it do exist. This list proves, as far as can be proved, that there was a Roman republic, that it began at the beginning of the fasti, and that it supplanted a monarchy. One of the first two consuls is
Lucius Tarquinius CollatinusLucius Tarquinius Collatinus is traditionally one of the first two consuls of Rome, together with Lucius Junius Brutus. He is also the husband of Lucretia, the noblewoman raped by Sextus Tarquinius....
, husband of Lucretia. All the numerous sources on the beginning of the republic reiterate these basic events. Lucretia and the monarchy cannot therefore be total myth or an elaborate literary hoax to deceive and entertain the Roman people about an early history that can't be known. The evidence points to the historical existence of a woman named Lucretia and a historical incident playing a critical part in the real downfall of a real monarchy. Many of the specific details are debatable. Later uses of the legend, however, are typically totally mythical, being of artistic rather than historical merit.
As the events of the story move rapidly, the date of the incident is probably the same year as the first of the
fasti. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, a major source, sets this year "at the beginning of the sixty-eighth
OlympiadAn Olympiad is a period of four years, associated with the Olympic Games of Classical Greece. In the Hellenistic period, beginning with Ephorus, Olympiads were used as calendar epoch....
...
IsagorasIsagoras , son of Tisander, was an Athenian aristocrat in the late 6th century BC.He had remained in Athens during the tyranny of Hippias, but after Hippias was overthrown he became involved in a struggle for power with Cleisthenes, a fellow aristocrat. In 508 BC he was elected archon eponymous,...
being the annual
archonArchon is a Greek word that means "ruler", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the masculine present participle of the verb stem ἀρχ-, meaning "to rule", derived from the same root as monarch, hierarchy and anarchy.- Ancient Greece :In the early literary period of...
at
AthensAthens , the capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the world's oldest cities, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
;" that is, 508/507 BC (the ancient calendars split years over modern ones). Lucretia therefore died in 508 BC. The other historical sources tend to support this date, but the year is debatable within a range of about five years.
The incident
Lucius Tarquinius SuperbusLucius Tarquinius Superbus was the seventh King of Rome, reigning from 535 until the Roman revolt in 509 B.C. which would lead to the establishment of the Roman Republic. He is more commonly known by his cognomen Tarquinius Superbus and was a member of the Etruscan dynasty of Rome...
, last king of Rome, being engaged in the siege of
ArdeaThe name Ardea may refer to:*Ardea , town in Lazio, Italy*Ardea , genus of herons*Ardea , ornithological journal publisjed by the Netherlands Ornithologists' Union*, an investment management company based in Sydney, Australia...
, sent his son,
Sextus TarquiniusSextus Tarquinius was the son of the last legendary king of the Etruscans, L. Tarquinius Superbus . He is mostly known for his rape of Lucretia, wife of Collatinus and sister of Lucius Junius Brutus....
, on a military errand to
CollatiaCollatia was an ancient town of Latium, c. 15 km northeast of Rome by the Via Collatina.It appears in the legendary history of Rome as captured by Tarquinius Priscus. Livy says it was taken from the Sabines, while Virgil speaks of it as a Latin colony of Alba Longa...
. Sextus was received with great hospitality at the governor's mansion, home of
Lucius Tarquinius CollatinusLucius Tarquinius Collatinus is traditionally one of the first two consuls of Rome, together with Lucius Junius Brutus. He is also the husband of Lucretia, the noblewoman raped by Sextus Tarquinius....
, son of the king's nephew,
EgeriusEgerius Tarquinius was a member of the royal family of early Rome.His father was Aruns, son of Demaratus the Corinthian and a noblewoman Princess from Tarquinii....
Tarquinius Collatinus, former governor of Collatia and first of the
Tarquinii CollatiniTarquinius is the name of an illustrious Roman family of Etruscan origin, two of whose members, according to legend, reigned as king in Rome:* Lucius Tarquinius Priscus* Lucius Tarquinius Superbus...
. 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. 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 their all riding to his home to see what Lucretia was doing. She was weaving with her maids. The party awarded her the palm of victory and Lucius invited them to visit, but for the time being they returned to camp.
At night Sextus entered her bedroom by stealth, quietly going around the slaves who were sleeping at her door. 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 placing the bodies together claim he had caught her in flagrante. In the alternative story, he returned from camp a few days later with one companion to take Collatius up on his invitation to visit and was lodged in a guest bedroom. He entered Lucretia's room, placed his hand on her breast, awakening her, and said "Silence, Lucretia! I am Sextus Tarquin, and I have a sword in my hand; if you utter a word, you shall die." He at first attempted to persuade her but being refused threatened her: "By this awful threat, his lust triumphed over her inflexible chastity...." Lucretia chose to submit for now.
The consequences
Sextus returned to camp. The next day Lucretia dressed in black, went to her father's house in Rome and cast herself down in the suppliant's position (embracing the knees), weeping. Asked to explain herself she insisted on first summoning witnesses and after disclosing the rape called on him and them for vengeance, a plea that could not be ignored, as she was speaking to the chief magistrate of Rome. While they were debating she drew a concealed dagger and stabbed herself in the heart. She died in her father's arms, with the women present keening and lamenting. "This dreadful scene struck the Romans who were present with so much horror and compassion that they all cried out with one voice that they would rather die a thousand deaths in defence of their liberty than suffer such outrages to be committed by the tyrants."
In the alternative version she did not go to Rome but sent to it for her father and to Ardea for her husband asking them to bring one friend each. Those selected were
Publius Valerius PublicolaPublius Valerius Publicola was a Roman consul, the colleague of Lucius Junius Brutus in 509 BC, traditionally considered the first year of the Roman Republic.- Early life :...
from Rome and
Lucius Junius BrutusLucius Junius Brutus was the founder of the Roman Republic and traditionally one of the first consuls in 509 BC. He was the primary ancestor of the Junius family in Ancient Rome, including Marcus Junius Brutus.- Background :...
from the camp at Ardea. They found Lucretia in her room. She explained what happened and after exacting an oath of vengeance: "Pledge me your solemn word that the adulterer shall not go unpunished," while they were discussing the matter drew the poignard and stabbed herself, again in the heart.
In either version Collatinus and Brutus were encountered returning to Rome unaware, were briefed and were brought to the death scene. Brutus happened to be a politically motivated participant. By kinship he was a Tarquin on his mother's side, the son of Tarquinia, daughter of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, the third king before last. He was a candidate for the throne if anything should happen to Superbus. By law, however, as he was a Junius on his father's side, he was not a Tarquin and therefore could later propose the exile of the Tarquins without fear for himself. He acquired the
cognomenThe cognomen was the third name of a citizen of Ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. The cognomen started as a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became hereditary...
Brutus, "stupid", by playing the pleasant fool so as not to attract the king's onus. Superbus had taken his inheritance and left him a pittance, keeping him at court for the entertainment of it.
Collatinus seeing his wife dead became distracted. He held her, kissed her, called her name and spoke to her. Seeing the hand of Destiny in these events his friend Brutus called the grieving party to order, explained that his simplicity had been a sham, and proposed that they drive the Tarquins from Rome. Grasping the bloody dagger,
he swore by Mars and all the other gods that he would do everything in his power to overthrow the dominion of the Tarquinii and that he would neither be reconciled to the tyrants himself nor tolerate any who should be reconciled to them, but would look upon every man who thought otherwise as an enemy and till his death would pursue with unrelenting hatred both the tyranny and its abettors; and if he should violate his oath, he prayed that he and his children might meet with the same end as Lucretia.
He passed the dagger around and each mourner swore the same oath by it. The two stories agree on this point: Livy's version is:
By this blood - most pure before the outrage wrought by the king's son - I swear, and you, O gods, I call to witness that I will drive hence Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, together with his cursed wife and his whole brood, with fire and sword and every means in my power, and I will not suffer them or any one else to reign in Rome.
The revolution
The newly sworn revolutionary committee paraded the bloody corpse to the
Roman ForumThe Roman Forum , sometimes known by its original Latin name, is located between the Palatine hill and the Capitoline hill of the city of Rome. It is the central area around which the ancient Roman civilization developed...
and arriving there heard grievances against the Tarquins and began to enlist an army. Brutus "urged them to act as men and Romans and take up arms against their insolent foes." The gates of Rome were blockaded by the new revolutionary soldiers and more were sent to guard Collatia. By now a crowd had gathered in the forum, The presence of the magistrates among the revolutionaries kept them in good order. Brutus happened to be Tribune of the Celeres, a minor office of some religious duties, but one which as a magistracy gave him the theoretical power to summon the curiae, an organization of patrician families used mainly to ratify the decrees of the king. Summoning them on the spot he transformed the crowd into an authoritative legislative assembly and began to harangue them in one of the more noted and effective speeches of ancient Rome.
He began by revealing that his pose as fool was a sham designed to protect him against an evil king. He leveled a number of charges against the king and his family: the outrage against Lucretia, whom everyone could see on the dais, the king's tyranny, the forced labor of the plebeians in the ditches and sewers of Rome. He pointed out that Superbus had come to rule by the murder of
Servius TulliusServius Tullius was the sixth legendary king of ancient Rome and the second king of the Etruscan dynasty. The traditional dates of his reign are 578-535 BC. Described in one account as originally a slave, he is said to have married a daughter of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, and succeeded him after...
, his wife's father, next-to-the-last king of Rome. He "solemnly invoked the gods as the avengers of murdered parents." The king's wife, Tullia, was in fact in Rome and probably was a witness to the proceedings from her palace near the forum. Seeing herself the target of so much animosity she fled from the palace in fear of her life and proceeded to the camp at Ardea.
Brutus opened a debate on the form of government Rome ought to have; there were many speakers (all patricians). In summation he proposed the banishment of the Tarquins from all the territories of Rome and appointment of an
interrexInterrex or "inter-rex" was literally a ruler "between kings" in the Roman Kingdom and the Roman Republic. He was in effect a short-term regent....
to nominate new magistrates and conduct an election of ratification. They had decided on a republican form of government with two consuls in place of a king executing the will of a patrician senate. This was a temporary measure until they could consider the details more carefully. Brutus renounced all right to the throne. In subsequent years the powers of the king were divided among various elected magistracies.
A final vote of the curiae carried the interim constitution. Spurius Lucretius was swiftly elected interrex; he was prefect of the city anyway. He proposed Brutus and Collatinus as the first two consuls and that choice was ratified by the curiae. Needing to acquire the assent of the population as a whole they paraded Lucretia through the streets summoning the plebeians to legal assembly in the forum. Once there they heard a constitutional speech by Brutus not unlike many speeches and documents of western civilization subsequently. It began:
Inasmuch as Tarquinius neither obtained the sovereignty in accordance with our ancestral customs and laws, nor, since he obtained it — in whatever manner he got it — has he been exercising it in an honourable or kingly manner, but has surpassed in insolence and lawlessness all the tyrants the world ever saw, we patricians met together and resolved to deprive him of his power, a thing we ought to have done long ago, but are doing now when a favourable opportunity has offered. And we have called you together, plebeians, in order to declare our own decision and then ask for your assistance in achieving liberty for our country ....
A general election was held. The vote was for the republic. The monarchy was at an end, even while Lucretia was still displayed in the forum.
Aftermath
Hearing of the doings at Rome the king, his sons and a party of retainers rode posthaste for the city, leaving Titus Herminius and Marcus Horatius in command of the troops at Ardea. The gates of Rome being barred and armed men on the wall, they returned to camp. Meanwhile letters had arrived from the revolutionary committee and were read to the troops by Herminius and Horatius. The men were assembled by unit for a vote, by which the revolution was confirmed. In one story the Tarquins escaped to Gabii. A 15-year truce was made with Ardea. The troops returned to Rome.
Superbus was not long in Gabii. He had to retire with his men to Tarquinii, where he raised the standard of intervention among the Etruscans. In an alternative story he went directly to Tarquinii with two of his sons; the third, Sextus, attempted to resume control of Gabii, but was assassinated. The Romans had to face one intervention by the Etruscans (
Horatius CoclesHoratius Cocles was an officer in the army of the ancient Roman Republic. He participated in the second battle of the Naevian Meadow against the attempted intervention in the republic by king Lars Porsenna of Clusium on behalf of the ousted last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus...
) and another by the
Latin LeagueThe Latin League was a confederation of about 30 villages and tribes in the region of Latium near ancient Rome, organized for mutual defense...
(
Battle of Lake RegillusThe Battle of Lake Regillus was a legendary early Roman victory, won over the Latin League led by the expelled Etruscan former king of Rome. It has been dated at various years, including 499 BC, 496 BC and 493 BC....
). Sentiment ran high against the Tarquins. Collatinus was asked to resign over constitutional issues. He complied and was replaced by
Publius Valerius PublicolaPublius Valerius Publicola was a Roman consul, the colleague of Lucius Junius Brutus in 509 BC, traditionally considered the first year of the Roman Republic.- Early life :...
.
The theme in literature and music
St. AugustineAugustine of Hippo , Bishop of Hippo Regius, also known as St. Augustine or St. Austin, was an Algerian Berber philosopher and theologian....
made use of the figure of Lucretia in
The City of God to defend the honour of Christian women who had been raped in the sack of Rome and had not committed suicide.
The story of Lucretia was a popular moral tale in the later Middle Ages. The story has been recounted in
Geoffrey ChaucerGeoffrey Chaucer was an English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat, courtier and diplomat. Although he wrote many works, he is best remembered for his unfinished frame narrative The Canterbury Tales...
's
The Legend of Good WomenThe Legend of Good Women is a poem in the form of a dream vision by Geoffrey Chaucer.The poem is the third longest of Chaucer’s works, after The Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde and is possibly the first significant work in English to use the iambic pentameter or decasyllabic couplets...
,
John GowerJohn Gower was an English poet, a contemporary of William Langland and a personal friend of Geoffrey Chaucer. He is remembered primarily for three major works, the Mirroir de l'Omme, Vox Clamantis, and Confessio Amantis, three long poems written in French, Latin, and English respectively, which...
's
Confessio AmantisConfessio Amantis is a 33,000-line Middle English poem by John Gower, which uses the confession made by an ageing lover to the chaplain of Venus as a frame story for a collection of shorter narrative poems. According to its prologue, it was composed at the request of Richard II...
(Book VII), and
John LydgateJohn Lydgate of Bury was a monk and poet, born in Lidgate, Suffolk, England.- Early life and education :He was admitted to the Benedictine monastery of Bury St...
's
Fall of Princes. Lucrece is also featured in William Shakespeare's 1594 long poem
The Rape of LucreceThe Rape of Lucrece is a narrative poem by William Shakespeare about the legendary Lucretia. In his previous narrative poem, Venus and Adonis , Shakespeare had included a dedicatory letter to his patron, the Earl of Southampton, in which he promised to write a "graver work"...
; he also mentioned her in
Titus AndronicusTitus Andronicus may be Shakespeare's earliest tragedy; it is believed to have been written in the early 1590s. It depicts a Roman general who is engaged in a cycle of revenge with his enemy Tamora, the Queen of the Goths. The play is by far Shakespeare's bloodiest work...
and
As You Like ItAs You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The work was based upon the novel Rosalynde by Thomas Lodge. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in...
.
She is also mentioned in the poem
Appius and VirginiaAppius and Virginia is an early seventeenth-century stage play, a tragedy by John Webster . It is the third and least famous of his tragedies, after The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi.-Heywood:...
by
John WebsterJohn Webster was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, often regarded as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. He was a contemporary of William Shakespeare.- Biography :Webster's life is obscure, and the dates of his...
and
Thomas HeywoodThomas Heywood was a prominent English playwright, actor, and author whose peak period of activity falls between late Elizabethan and early Jacobean theatre.-Early years:...
, which includes the following lines:
- Two ladies fair, but most unfortunate
- Have in their ruins rais'd declining Rome,
- Lucretia and Virginia
Verginia, or Virginia, was the subject of a story of Ancient Rome, related in Livy's Ab Urbe Condita.The people of Rome were already angry with the decemviri for not calling the proper elections, taking bribes, and other abuses. It seemed that they were returning to the rule of the Kings of Rome...
, both renowned
- For chastity
Thomas HeywoodThomas Heywood was a prominent English playwright, actor, and author whose peak period of activity falls between late Elizabethan and early Jacobean theatre.-Early years:...
's play
The Rape of Lucrece dates from 1607. The subject also enjoyed a revival in the mid twentieth century;
Le Viol de Lucrèce was a 1931 play by
André ObeyAndré Obey was a prominent French playwright during the inter-war years, and into the 1950s....
and
The Rape of Lucretia, a 1946 opera by
Benjamin BrittenEdward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, violist and pianist.-Life:...
.
Ernst KrenekErnst Krenek was an Austrian and—from 1945—American composer. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including Music Here and Now , a study of Johannes Ockeghem , and Horizons Circled: Reflections on my Music .- Life :Krenek was born in Vienna as the son of a...
set Emmet Lavery's
librettoA libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, sacred or secular oratorio and cantata, musical, and ballet. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata.Libretto ,...
TarquinTarquin is a chamber opera by Ernst Krenek to an English libretto by Emmet Lavery. Written in 1940, it is Krenek's only unpublished opera , though a premiere in German translation Tarquin is a chamber opera by Ernst Krenek to an English libretto by Emmet Lavery. Written in 1940, it is Krenek's only...
(1940), a version in a contemporary setting.
Lucretia appears to
DanteDANTE is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various National Research and Education Networks in Europe and surrounding regions...
in the section of Limbo reserved to the nobles of Rome and other "virtuous pagans" in Canto IV of the
InfernoInferno is the first part of Dante's Divine Comedy. The poem was written in the early 14th century. It is an allegory telling of the journey of Dante through what is largely the medieval concept of Hell, guided by the Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as nine Circles of suffering...
. Christine de Pizan used Lucretia just as St. Augustine of Hippo did in her City of Ladies, defending a woman's sanctity.
In
Samuel RichardsonSamuel Richardson was an 18th-century English writer and printer. He is best known for his three epistolary novels: Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded , Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady and The History of Sir Charles Grandison...
's 1740 novel
Pamela, Mr. B. cites the story of Lucretia as a reason why Pamela ought not fear for her reputation, should he rape her. Pamela quickly sets him straight with a better reading of the story. Colonial Mexican poet Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz also mentions "Lucrecia" in her poem "Redondillas", a commentary on prostitution and who is to blame.
The theme in the arts
The suicide of Lucretia has been an enduring subject for visual artists, including
Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio, born 1473/1490 , died 27 August 1576, better known as Titian , was the leading painter of the 16th-century Venetian school of the Italian Renaissance. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno , in the Republic of Venice...
,
RembrandtRembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was a Dutch painter and etcher. He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art history and the most important in Dutch history...
,
DürerAlbrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...
,
RaphaelRaffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance, celebrated for the perfection and grace of his paintings and drawings...
, Botticelli,
Jörg Breu the ElderJörg Breu the Elder of Augsburg was a painter of the German Danube school. He was the son of a weaver.He journeyed to Austria and created several multi-panel altarpieces there in 1500–02, such as the Melk Altar . He returned to Augsburg in 1502 where he became a master. He travelled to Italy...
,
Johannes MoreelseJohannes Paulus Moreelse, or Johan Pauwelszon Moreelse, was a Dutch baroque painter belonging to the school of Utrecht Caravaggism during the Dutch Golden Age. His father, Paulus Moreelse, was at that time a famous Portrait painter. Of his life little is known...
, Gentileschi, Damià Campeny and others.