History of Rome

​There follows another crime in the city, arising from lust, with no less foul an outcome than that which, through the rape and death of Lucretia, had expelled the Tarquins from the city and the kingdom, so that not only was the end of the decemvirs the same as that of the kings, but the cause of losing their power was also the same. A lust for violating a plebeian maiden seized Appius Claudius.

​The father of the maiden, Lucius Verginius, held an honorable rank on Mount Algidus, a man of upright example at home and in military service. His wife had been brought up in like manner, and his children were being brought up. He had betrothed his daughter to Lucius Icilius, a former tribune, ​a man of spirit and of proven courage in the cause of the plebs.

​This maiden, now grown up and of outstanding beauty, Appius, mad with love, attempted to entice with money and promises; but after he noticed that everything was barred by her modesty, he turned his mind to cruel and arrogant force.

​He gave the task to his client Marcus Claudius, that he should claim the maiden as a slave and not yield to those demanding interim custody in favor of her freedom, thinking that, because the girl’s father was absent, there was an opportunity for the injustice.

​As the maiden was coming into the Forum—for there, in booths, were the elementary schools—the agent of the decemvir’s lust laid hands on her, calling her a slave and born of his slave-woman, and ordered her to follow him, ​intending to drag her away by force if she hesitated. While the terrified girl was dazed, at the cry of her nurse imploring the protection of the Roman citizens, a crowd gathered. The popular names of her father Verginius and her betrothed Icilius were on everyone’s lips. Their influence won over their acquaintances, while the indignity of the deed won over the crowd to the maiden’s side.

​Now she was safe from violence, when the claimant said there was no need for an excited crowd; that he was proceeding by law, not by force. He summoned the girl to court.

​On the advice of those present that she should follow, they came to the tribunal of Appius. The plaintiff went through a story well known to the judge, since he himself was the author of the plot: that the girl had been born in his own house, and had been stolen from there and transferred to the house of Verginius, and substituted as his child;

​that he brought this forward discovered by evidence and would prove it, even with Verginius himself as judge, to whom the greater part of that injury pertained; in the meantime, it was fair that the slave-girl should follow her master.

​The girl’s advocates, having said that Verginius was absent on public business and would be present in two days, ​if word were sent to him, and that it was unjust for an absent man to contend for his children, demanded that he postpone the case undecided until the father’s arrival, grant interim custody in favor of freedom according to the law passed by himself, and not allow a grown-up maiden to run the risk of her reputation before that of her freedom.