A Rape Led to the Creation of the Roman Republic
Lucretia (died circa 509 BC) was a Roman noblewoman whose rape by one the king’s sons changed history. Public outrage led to a popular uprising, revolution swept Rome, and the monarchy was overthrown, to be replaced with a representative form of government. The uprising was led by Lucius Junius Brutus (flourished 6th century BC), who is credited as the founder of the Roman Republic. He was also the ancestor of Marcus Junius Brutus, who assassinated Julius Caesar, the dictator who ended that Republic.
In 509 BC, Rome was a monarchy, ruled by the Etruscan king Lucius Tarquinus Superbus. According to Roman tradition, one of the king’sons, Sextus Tarquinus, raped a noblewoman, Lucretia, while her husband was away on a military campaign. Lucretia told her relatives and other gathered Romans, and then, to preserve family honor, stabbed herself to death.
Enter Brutus, whose name means “Dimwit” in Latin. A nephew of the king, Brutus had shown no signs of greatness until then. He had his own grievances against the king, who had executed Brutus’ brother, and it is possible that Brutus had played the dummy to appear nonthreatening to his uncle. The day of Lucretia’s rape and death, Brutus removed the dimwit mask and donned that of a leader: pulling the knife out of Lucretia’s breast, he vowed revenge and led an uprising.
He had Lucretia’s corpse taken to Rome’s central square, where it was publicly displayed. Seizing the moment while passions were high, Brutus whipped the public into joining him in avenging Lucretia by expelling the royals from Rome, and replacing the monarchy with a republic. The king was away on a military campaign, but when the Roman army heard what was going on back home, the troops sided with the rebels.
King and royal family were forced to flee into exile, and Rome became a Republic, with Brutus its first chief magistrate. From early on, the new republic’s founding fathers emphasized duty and self sacrificing service to the state. Brutus embodied the ideal of devotion to duty and severe impartiality in its fulfillment: when his own sons joined a conspiracy to restore the kings, he condemned them to death.
The king tried to regain his throne, first via a conspiracy with leading Roman nobles. It was discovered, however, and the conspirators were executed. The king then tried force, raising an army from neighboring city states that had their own grievances against Rome. The new republic defeated those attempts as well, and went on to flourish for nearly five centuries before it was overthrown and replaced by the Roman Empire.