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Teachers' Resource Web Historical and Literary Background to Jennifer Thompson, UCI Players in Order of Appearance: Tarquin the Proud or Tarquinius Superbus: The last Roman king, father of Sextus Tarquinius, uncle to Collatinus. Young Tarquin or Sextus Tarquinius: third son of Tarquinius Superbus, cousin to Lucius Junius Brutus and Collatinus; rapes Collatinus' wife Lucretia. Lucius Junius Brutus: cousin to Sextus Tarquinius and other Roman princes; his brothers had been slaughtered by Tarquin the Proud when Tarquin won the kingship in a violent palace coup. "Brutus" means "Stupid" or "Dolt"--he played dumb to avoid execution and gain the confidence of the Tarquin family. After leading the revolution against Tarquinius Superbus, he becomes one of three consuls in the Roman republic. Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus: cousin to Sextus Tarquinius and Brutus; husband to Lucretia. Lucretia: A Roman matron famous for her chastity and devotion to her husband, Collatinus; raped by Sextus Tarquinius. Lucretius: Lucretia's father; she summons him along with Collatinus and Brutus to avenge her rape. Plot and Background (Summarized from Livy's Early History of Rome): Ovid lines 689-710: These lines tell of how Sextus Tarquinius helped his father to conquer the nearby city of Gabii. He goes to the people of Gabii pretending that his father has had him flogged and banished. Over several months he gains their confidence; in fact, they make him leader of their armed forces. Then, at his father's command, he has the leading citizens of Gabii executed; his father soon attacks and defeats the weakened city. Ovid lines 711-720: This section tells of an omen and its interpretation. In Rome a snake emerges from an altar and devours the burning sacrifice. The Tarquin princes visit the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi to learn the omen's significance; they bring Brutus "The Dolt" with them, and make him the butt of their jokes during the trip. The oracle predicts that the first man to kiss his mother will be Rome's next ruler. The Tarquin princes rush home to kiss their mother Tullia; Brutus knows that the Earth is the mother of us all, so he pretends to trip and kisses the ground. The Wager: Near the end of his reign, Tarquin the king declared war on Rutuli, a kingdom whose wealth he hoped to use to replenish his treasury. At the Roman siege on the capital city, Ardea, talk among bored noblemen turned to women. Each man claimed to have the most virtuous wife, and "the rivalry got hotter and hotter." Collatinus, a relation of the Tarquin family, boasted with particular extravagance of the beauty and chastity of his wife, Lucretia. To settle the quarrel, the soldiers decided to ride back to Rome to check up on all their wives (in Ovid, lines 721-735). Even the royal wives were found feasting and drinking wine. Only Lucretia was suitably occupied: the soldiers found her spinning with her women and mourning Collatinus' absence (Ovid lines 737-760). The Rape: Sextus Tarquinius, son of the tyrant Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, was struck with Lucretia's chaste beauty and resolved to have her (Ovid lines 761-783). A few days later, he returned to Collatinus' house alone; Lucretia welcomed him as a friend of her husband. After they retired, he broke into her chamber, sword in hand, and demanded sex. She refused. He threatened to kill her and a slave, strip them, entangle the bodies, and tell Collatinus that he found them so. She gave in; he "enjoyed her" and left (Ovid lines 783-812). Lucretia's Suicide: The following day, Lucretia summoned her father and husband, who brought along Valerius and Lucius Junius Brutus. She told all four what had happened, and delivered the following brief and severe speech: In your bed, Collatinus, is the impress of another man. My body only has been violated. My heart is innocent, and death will be my witness. Give me your solemn vow that the adulterer shall be punished--he is Sextus Tarquinius. He it is who last night came as my enemy disguised as my guest, and took his pleasure of me. That pleasure will be my death--and his, too, if you are men.... As for me I am innocent of fault, but I will take my punishment. Never shall Lucretia provide a precedent for unchaste women to escape what they deserve (Livy 1.59). The four men swore to avenge her, and she stabbed herself with a concealed dagger (Ovid lines 813-834). Brutus' Vow: As her father and husband bewailed her death, Brutus pulled the bloody dagger from Lucretia's still-warm body. "‘None more chaste,'" he declared, "‘until a tyrant wronged her.... I will pursue Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, his wicked wife, and all his children, and never again will I allow them or any other man be King in Rome'" (Livy 1.59). He then paraded Lucretia's bloody corpse through the streets of Rome, and harangued the citizens until they rose up, drove the Tarquins from Rome, and established the Roman republic (Ovid lines 835-852). The Final Quatrain: in lines 853-856, Ovid uses the annual return of the swallow to allude to the story of Tereus, Procne and Philomela. Accounts to read for extra credit: Shakespeare's narrative poem, "The
Rape of Lucrece;" Livy's Early History of Rome, 1.46-1.60; St.
Augustine, City of God, 1.19.
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