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Part II
So Tarquin tries to appease the Roman
people by going to war against the Rutuli,
who were a very wealthy
nation. He would obtain
the spoils which would
come with the victory.
Tarquin unsuccessfully sought to take over the
Rutulian capitol by storm, which began an
extensive siege of the city.
During the siege some of the noble men were
sitting around one evening discussing the
virtues of their wives. One of the king's sons,
Arminius, was among the group. They decided
the only way to see whose wife was the most
virtuous was to return to Rome to see what each
wife was doing while their husband was away at
war.
As the group visited each of their own homes
they were surprised at just how non virtuous
some of the wives were.
The only wife who was behaving herself was
Lucretia, the beautiful wife of the nobleman
Collatinus. She was weaving by the fire when
the group burst in.
Tarquin's son Arminius was so jealous of
Collatinus and his beautiful wife Lucretia
that he snuck back the next evening and
raped her.
Lucretia called her husband and kinsmen
back from the battle and explained to them
what happened. She then took a dagger and
killed herself.
She knew that her husband would not be able
to touch her again after she had been violated.
One of Lucretia's kinsmen was Lucius Junius
Brutus, a member of the Tarquin dynasty, and
her husband led the revolt against Tarquinius
Superbus and his family.
The Tarquins fled from Rome and the
Republic was born. Tarquin and his two eldest
sons made several attempts at regaining Rome
but failed.
In 509 B.C. the people of Rome
established the Republic. They would
be ruled by two consuls elected yearly
and the senate.
The first two consuls of Rome
were Brutus and Collatinus.