Comparing Prasie Of Turia And Livy's The Rape Of

The works of Q. Lucretius Vespillo's "The Prasie of Turia" and Livy's "The Rape of Lucretia" are two literary documents that allow modern historians a glimpse into the values surrounding the femininity of the Roman Republic. During the Roman Republic, the traditional female virtues in the Roman Republic were to remain chaste and modest to protect their household's reputation. Q. Lucretius Vespillo's Q. Lucretius Vespillo best illustrates this ideology when he declares in his wife Turia's eulogy that "while you were engaged in these things, having secured punishment of the guility, you immediately left your own house in order to guard your modesty, and you came to my mother's house, where you awaited my return" ("The Praise of Turia," p. 376).

She becomes immortalized in stone for her devotion to remaining chaste and modest for her husband rather than her personality or what she liked to do. "The Rape of Lucretia" further demonstrates this ideology surrounding a woman's honor associated with her integrity and modesty through Lucretia's thoughts and actions in the aftermath of her sexual assault. After she calls upon her father and husband, Lucretia declares in her monologue concerning her assault that "...My heart is guiltless, as death shall be my witness. But pledge your right hands and your world that the adulterer shall not go unpunished. Sextus Tarquinius is he that last night returned hostility for hospitality, and brought ruin on me, and on himself no less, if you are men, when he worked his pleasure with me"' (Tivy, "The Rape of Lucretia, p. 302). Lucretia was a victim but decided death would find itself a better opportunity than life because she felt that she had not dishonored only herself but her family. These lines directly demonstrate how much of Roman women's value had become placed on whether a woman kept her honor by remaining chaste and modest, even in cases of sexual

In "The Rape of Lucretia," these values become evident through the actions of the army led by Lucretia's father and her husband. The pair launched a war against Sextus Tarquinius in response to their grief concerning the death of Lucretia by her hand after being sexually assaulted by the Roman prince. Tivy notes how the action of Lucretia's death would become fundamental in causing an uprising as "grief was swallowed up in anger; and when Brutus summoned them to make war from that very moment on the power of the kings, they followed his lead" ("The Rape of Lucretia, pg. 302). Through these actions, the men in Lucretia's life represented the values of bravery and loyalty associated with masculinity as they fought and succeeded in righting the injustice committed against their loved ones. Tivy also represents this ideology of bravery and loyalty once again in his work "The History of Rome" through his account of Spurius Ligustinus's experience as a soldier. Spurius Ligustinus notes in the closing remarks of his statement that "Of whatever rank the military tribunes think me fit, that is their decision; I shall make sure that no one in the army surpasses me in bravery; and, that I have always done so, both my generals and those soldiers who served with me are my witnesses" ("History of