The Death of Virginia
One of the Decemviri, Appius Claudius (a patrician) demanded sex with a young plebeian woman called Virginia, unmarried but betrothed. Deception and Corruption followed as Appius suborned one of his followers to claim that she was his slave, who had been stolen by her so-called father and Centurion Lucius Virginius.
The judge in the case was Appius himself, who of course found in his accomplice’s favour, and strode through the Forum to grab Virginia. In the argument that followed, her father grabbed his pugio and stabbed his daughter to death, shouting “I am making you free, my child, in the only way I can!”
The display of Virginia’s body and passionate speech that Virginius gave to the Army led to riots, mutiny and the abolition of the tyrannical board of the Decemviri.
