- Verginia
Verginia was the subject of an almost certainly apocryphalFact|date=February 2007 story of
Ancient Rome , related inLivy 's "Ab Urbe Condita " [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0026:book=3:chapter=44] , designed to show the evil character of the decemvir Appius Claudius. "Verginia" is in this case a variant spelling ofVirginia . Normally "Verginia" is the usual orthography found in Latin manuscripts and English uses "Virginia".The people of
Rome were already angry with thedecemviri for not calling the proper elections, taking bribes, and other abuses. It seemed that they were returning to the rule of theKings of Rome who had been overthrown only a few decades before. In 451 BC, Claudius began to lust after Verginia, a beautifulplebeian girl and the daughter of Lucius Verginius, a respected centurion. Verginia was betrothed toLucius Icilius , a formertribune of the plebs, and when she rejected Claudius, Claudius had one of his clients, Marcus Claudius, claim that she was actually his slave. Marcus Claudius then abducted her while she was on her way to school. The crowd in the Forum objected to this, as both Verginius and Icilius were well-respected men, and they forced Marcus Claudius to bring the case before the decemvirs, led by Appius Claudius himself. Verginius was recalled from the field to defend his daughter, and Icilius, after threats of violence, succeeded in having Verginia returned to her house while the court waited for her father to appear. Claudius tried to have his own supporters intercept the messengers sent to summon Verginius, but they arrived too late to delay Verginius' arrival.When Verginius arrived two days later he gathered his supporters in the Forum. Claudius, however, would not let him speak, and declared that Verginia was indeed Marcus Claudius' slave. Appius Claudius had brought an armed escort with him and accused the citizens of
sedition . The supporters of Verginius left the Forum rather than cause any violence, and Verginius begged to question his daughter himself. Claudius agreed to this, but Verginius grabbed a knife and stabbed Verginia, the only way he felt he could uphold her freedom. Verginius and Icilius were arrested, and their supporters returned to attack thelictor s and destroy theirfasces . This led to the overthrow of the decemviri and the re-establishment of theRoman Republic .Livy compared to this to the rape of
Lucretia and the overthrow of the monarchy in 509 BC. [Livy, "Ab Urbe Condita", 3.44-58 ]The tale is retold, with varying fidelity, in several works of Western literature, including
Geoffrey Chaucer 's "The Physician's Tale " in his "Canterbury Tales ", inThomas Babington Macaulay 's "Lays of Ancient Rome ", and in the play "Appius and Virginia " byJohn Webster andThomas Heywood , which includes the following lines::Two ladies fair, but most unfortunate:Have in their ruins rais'd declining Rome,:
Lucretia and Virginia, both renowned:For chastity.Verginia is also mentioned in "
Titus Andronicus ".References
*Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology [http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/3601.html page 1267]
*History of Rome (Ab Urbe Condita) by Livy Book III Chapter 44 [http://www.romansonline.com/Src_Frame.asp?DocID=Hor_Lv03_44&Lat=NT The Story of Virginia (450 BC)]Footnotes
External links
Fictional portrayals
*, from by
Thomas Babington Macaulay , Wikisource.org
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