THE ROMAN'S WESTERN STYLE
The Roman Republic existed for nearly 500 years, and from it came immeasurable contributions to Western civilization. The Republic ended in 27 BC, when Octavian was proclaimed Augustus, making him essentially the first Roman emperor. It began in 509 BC, in the aftermath of a brutal crime and a tragic death.
In the early 6th century BC, Rome was under the rule of the Etruscan king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, aka Tarquin the Proud, a brutal tyrant who had risen to power through murder and assassination, being prodded and encouraged by his ambitious and seemingly heartless wife Tullia Minor, who orchestrated the murders of her own sister (Tarquin's first wife) and father (the king who preceded Tarquin).
In 509 BC, Tarquin's army was besieging the town of Ardea, southeast of Rome. During the siege, a campfire conversation among the nobles in the army turned to the subject of their wives. As the men boasted of the merits of their respective wives, army commander Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus declared that his wife Lucretia was the most virtuous and dedicated wife in Rome, precipitating a heated argument. Tarquin's son Sextus Tarquinius proposed a way to resolve the dispute—the men would visit each of the wives without warning, to discover who was the most virtuous. In every case but one, they found the wives feasting and enjoying themselves in their husbands' absence. The exception was Lucretia, wife of Collatinus, who was found weaving with her servants by lamplight, mourning the absence of her husband. "The prize of this contest in womanly virtues fell to Lucretia," wrote the Roman historian Livy. "It was there" Livy continued, "that Sextus Tarquinius was seized with a wicked desire to debauch Lucretia by force; not only her beauty, but her proved chastity as well, provoked him."
A few days later, Sextus returned. Late at night, armed with a sword, he entered Lucretia's bedroom, waking her and threatening to kill her if she called for help. Sextus demanded that Lucretia submit to him, offering to marry her and someday make her queen of Rome in exchange. After Lucretia bravely refused, Sextus said that if she did not submit, he would kill her and one of her slaves, then announce that he had found Lucretia and the slave in bed together. To spare her husband the disgrace that would bring upon him, Lucretia submitted and Sextus raped her.
The next morning, Sextus having left, Lucretia sent for her father and her husband. When they arrived, her husband was accompanied by Lucius Junius Brutus, Tribune of the Celeres. Lucretia tearfully told the men everything that had occurred and called upon them to exact vengeance. As the men were assuring her that she was blameless for what had happened, Lucretia suddenly pulled out a dagger and stabbed herself in the heart. While Collatinus held her, crying, kissing her, and calling her name, Brutus took the bloody dagger and swore an oath by all the gods of Rome. "By this blood, most chaste until a prince wronged it, I swear, and I take you, gods, to witness, that I will pursue Lucius Tarquinius Superbus and his wicked wife and all his children, with sword, with fire, aye with whatsoever violence I may; and that I will suffer neither them nor any other to be king of Rome!" The other men then took the oath as well.
The men took Lucretia's body to Rome and displayed it in the Forum. Brutus called an assembly of the patrician families and convinced them to abolish the monarchy and banish the Tarquins. They agreed to replace the monarchy with a new form of representative government, under which the affairs of Rome would be a "public thing," a res publica. Brutus and Collatinus were elected as Rome's first consuls. Sextus fled to the town of Gabii, where he was assassinated. Tarquin made several unsuccessful efforts to retake Rome but was defeated each time by the Republican army led by Brutus.
And thus, the Roman Republic was born, and for nearly five centuries Rome would adamantly refuse to submit to rule by kings.
The rape and suicide of Lucretia has been a favorite subject for painters, sculptors, composers, and writers across the centuries. Shakespeare authored a long narrative poem about it. Titian, Botticelli, Reubens, Raphael, and Rembrandt are among the many painters who have depicted the story. The image here is Henri Pinta's 1884 painting "The Oath of Brutus after the Death of Lucretia."