- Source
- Titi Livi ab urbe condita libri editionem priman, Pars I-IV, Libri I-XL. Editio Stereotypica. Weissenborn, Wilhelm; Mueller, Moritz, editors. Leipzig: Teubner, 1884-1911.
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:1.58.1-1.58.12
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-04
Sextus Tarquinius rapes Lucretia by threatening her with dishonor. Lucretia summons her relatives, demands they avenge her, and then commits suicide.
paucis interiectis diebus Sex. Tarquinius inscio Collatino cum comite uno Collatiam venit.
A few days having intervened, Sextus Tarquinius, without the knowledge of Collatinus, came to Collatia with a single companion.
ubi exceptus benigne ab ignaris consilii cum post cenam in hospitale cubiculum deductus esset, amore ardens, postquam satis tuta circa sopitique omnes videbantur, stricto gladio ad dormientem Lucretiam venit sinistraque manu mulieris pectore oppresso “tace, Lucretia” inquit; “Sex. Tarquinius sum; ferrum in manu est; moriere, si emiseris vocem.”
Having been kindly received there by those who were ignorant of his design, when after dinner he had been conducted to a guest bedroom, burning with love, after all around seemed safe enough and everyone asleep, he came with drawn sword to the sleeping Lucretia, and pressing the woman’s breast with his left hand, said: “Be silent, Lucretia; I am Sextus Tarquinius; there is a sword in my hand; you shall die if you utter a sound.”
cum pavida ex somno mulier nullam opem, prope mortem inminentem videret, tum Tarquinius fateri amorem, orare, miscere precibus minas, versare1 in omnes partes muliebrem animum.
When the woman, terrified from sleep, saw no help and death threatening close at hand, then Tarquinius began to confess his love, to entreat her, to mingle threats with prayers, and to turn the woman’s mind in every direction.
ubi obstinatam videbat et ne mortis quidem metu inclinari, addit ad metum dedecus: cum mortua iugulatum servum nudum positurum ait, ut in sordido adulterio necata dicatur.
When he saw that she was obstinate and not to be bent even by the fear of death, he added dishonor to fear: he said that when she was dead he would place a naked, throat-slit slave beside her, so that she might be said to have been slain in sordid adultery.
quo terrore cum vicisset obstinatam pudicitiam velut vi trux libido profectusque inde Tarquinius ferox expugnato decore muliebri esset, Lucretia maesta tanto malo nuntium Romam eundem ad patrem Ardeamque ad virum mittit, ut cum singulis fidelibus amicis veniant; ita facto maturatoque opus esse;2
When by this terror his fierce lust had overcome her obstinate chastity as if by force, and Tarquinius had departed thence, exulting in having conquered the woman’s honor, Lucretia, grieving at so great a calamity, sends the same messenger to Rome to her father and to Ardea to her husband, asking them to come each with a single faithful friend; that it was necessary to do so and to make haste;
rem atrocem incidisse. Sp. Lucretius cum P. Valerio Volesi filio, Collatinus cum L. Iunio Bruto venit, cum quo forte Romam rediens ab nuntio uxoris erat conventus. Lucretiam sedentem maestam in cubiculo inveniunt.
a dreadful thing had happened. Spurius Lucretius came with Publius Valerius, son of Volesus, and Collatinus with Lucius Junius Brutus, with whom, as he was by chance returning to Rome, he had been met by his wife’s messenger. They find Lucretia sitting sorrowful in her bedroom.
adventu suorum lacrimae obortae quaerentique viro “satin salve?” “minime” inquit; “quid enim salvi est mulieri amissa pudicitia? vestigia viri alieni, Conlatine, in lecto sunt tuo; ceterum corpus est tantum violatum, animus insons; mors testis erit. sed date dexteras fidemque haud inpune adultero fore. Sex. est Tarquinius, qui hostis pro hospite priore nocte vi armatus mihi sibique, si vos viri estis, pestiferum hinc abstulit gaudium.”
At the arrival of her friends, tears burst forth, and to her husband asking “Is all well?” she replied: “By no means; for what can be well with a woman when her chastity is lost? The footprints of another man, Collatinus, are in your bed; yet only my body has been violated, my mind is guiltless; death shall be my witness. But give me your right hands and your solemn promise that the adulterer shall not go unpunished. It is Sextus Tarquinius who, an enemy instead of a guest, last night, armed with force, took away from here a joy ruinous to me and to himself, if you are men.”
dant ordine omnes fidem; consolantur aegram animi3 avertendo noxam ab coacta in auctorem delicti: mentem peccare, non corpus, et unde consilium afuerit, culpam abesse.
They all give their promise in turn; they console her, sick in mind, by turning the guilt from the one forced onto the author of the crime, saying that it is the mind that sins, not the body, and where intention is absent, guilt is absent.
“vos” inquit “videritis, quid illi debeatur; ego me etsi peccato absolvo, supplicio non libero; nec ulla deinde inpudica Lucretiae exemplo vivet.”
”It is for you,” she said, “to see what is due to him; as for me, though I acquit myself of sin, I do not free myself from punishment; nor shall any unchaste woman henceforth live by the example of Lucretia.”
cultrum, quem sub veste abditum habebat, eum in corde defigit prolapsaque in vulnus moribunda cecidit.
The knife which she had kept concealed under her garment she plunges into her heart, and falling forward upon the wound, she fell dying.
conclamat vir paterque.
Her husband and father raise a cry of lamentation.
- 1.58.3fateri amorem, orare, miscere precibus minas, versare
These are historical infinitives (infinitivus historicus) with Tarquinius as the subject. They are used instead of imperfect indicative verbs to vividly depict a rapid and tense sequence of actions.
- 1.58.5ita facto maturatoque opus esse
A construction combining the impersonal expression 'opus est' (there is need of) with the perfect participles in the neuter ablative (facto, maturato). Being part of the indirect speech depending on 'mittit', the verb 'esse' is in the infinitive. It means 'that there was need of acting thus and making haste'.
- 1.58.9aegram animi
The adjective 'aegram' is followed by the genitive 'animi' ('in mind'), which is originally a locative in origin. It carries a literary nuance, meaning 'sick at heart' or 'troubled in spirit'.
Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25) · Revision history (1, latest 2026-09-21)
- 2026-09-21 AI review — translation 1