Source Verification: Lucretia
Every claim below is either what a named ancient source attests, in its own line or section, or a point where the sources themselves disagree.
What the Sources Attest
Who is Lucretia?
Lucretia is a legendary Roman noblewoman, wife of Collatinus and daughter of Spurius Lucretius. Livy, Ovid and Dionysius tell that she killed herself after Sextus Tarquin raped her (Ab Urbe Condita 1.58; Fasti 2.813-852; Roman Antiquities 4.67). Her death led to the expulsion of the kings and the start of the Roman Republic.
Source: Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.58
What was Lucretia known for?
Romans remembered her as the model of a chaste wife. In Livy she wins a contest of wifely virtue at Collatia, and after the assault she refuses to let her family's forgiveness save her (Ab Urbe Condita 1.57; Ab Urbe Condita 1.58). Valerius Maximus calls her the leader of Roman chastity (Facta et Dicta Memorabilia 6.1.1). She is also known as the spark of the revolt against the kings.
Source: Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.58
What is the story of Tarquin and Lucretia?
During the siege of Ardea, the king's son Sextus Tarquin heard Collatinus praise his wife Lucretia and later came to her house as a guest. He raped her under threat of death and disgrace. She told her father and husband, and stabbed herself. Brutus swore over her body to end Tarquin rule (Ab Urbe Condita 1.57; Ab Urbe Condita 1.58; Ab Urbe Condita 1.59).
Source: Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.58
What did Tarquin do to Lucretia?
Sextus Tarquin, son of the last king, raped her. In Livy he came to her room at night with a sword and threatened to kill her and a slave and claim adultery, so she yielded (Ab Urbe Condita 1.58). Ovid tells it the same way (Fasti 2.784-852). Dionysius has him first offer her marriage and a crown (Roman Antiquities 4.65).
Source: Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.58
Who was the husband of Lucretia?
Her husband was Collatinus, called Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus and son of Egerius in Livy. He proposed the ride to Collatia that settled the wine-party dispute about wives (Ab Urbe Condita 1.57). After the revolt he and Brutus became the first consuls (Ab Urbe Condita 1.60).
Source: Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.57
Where Accounts Differ
- where Lucretia dies
- what Sextus Tarquin says to Lucretia
- when Brutus swears the oath
- whether Lucretia is historical
- Lucretia is legendary. Livy, Ovid and Dionysius write centuries after the events they place at the end of the Roman kings, and the traditional date, 509 BCE, is a later reckoning. No source cited here is contemporary.
- Where she dies is disputed. In Livy she dies at Collatia, in front of her father and husband, whom she summoned (Ab Urbe Condita 1.58). In Dionysius she drives to her father's house in Rome and kills herself before assembled kinsmen (Roman Antiquities 4.66; Roman Antiquities 4.67). Ovid has her summon father and husband from the camp and die at home (Fasti 2.813-852).
- What Sextus says to her differs. Livy and Ovid give a threat to kill her and a slave and claim adultery (Ab Urbe Condita 1.58; Fasti 2.784-852). Dionysius adds an offer of marriage and rule over Rome, the Latins and the Etruscans before the same threat (Roman Antiquities 4.65).
- The order of Brutus's oath differs. Livy and Ovid have him draw the knife from her body and swear at once (Ab Urbe Condita 1.59; Fasti 2.813-852). Dionysius has him swear after Valerius brings news of her death (Roman Antiquities 4.70-4.71).
- Ovid's exact line for the assault is 2.784 onward and for her suicide 2.813 onward, checked against the Theoi English text, which marks those line numbers. The lines between them are cited only as the whole passage. Dionysius is cited by chapter, because the translation checked shows chapters, not lines.
Sources
- Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.57
- Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.58
- Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.59
- Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.60
- Virgil, Aeneid 7.341-434
- Ovid, Fasti 2.685-852
- Ovid, Fasti 2.784-852
- Ovid, Fasti 2.813-852
- Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 4.65
- Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 4.66
- Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 4.67
- Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 4.70-4.71
- Valerius Maximus, Facta et Dicta Memorabilia 6.1.1