Editing Lucretia (section)

==Rape==
[[File:Tizian 094.jpg|thumb|[[Titian]]'s ''[[Tarquin and Lucretia]]'' (1571), a depiction of Lucretia's rape by Sextus Tarquinius]]
As the events of the story move rapidly, the date that Tarquin raped Lucretia is most likely the same year as the first of the ''[[fasti]]''. Dionysius of Halicarnassus sets this year "at the beginning of the sixty-eighth [[Olympiad]] ... [[Isagoras]] being the annual [[archon]] at [[Athens]]";<ref>D.H. V.1.</ref> that is, 508/507 BC. According to Dionysius, Lucretia therefore died in 508 BC. This approximate date is met with consensus by other historians; however, the exact year is debatable within a range of about five years.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cornell, Tim.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/31515793|title=The beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000-264 BC)|date=1995|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-415-01596-0|location=London|oclc=31515793}}</ref>

While engaged in the siege of [[Ardea (RM)|Ardea]], [[Lucius Tarquinius Superbus]], the last king of Rome, sent his son, [[Sextus Tarquinius|Tarquin]], on a military errand to [[Collatia]]. Tarquin was received with great hospitality at the governor's mansion, home of [[Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus]], son of the king's cousin, [[Arruns Tarquinius (Egerius)|Arruns Tarquinius]], former governor of Collatia and first of the [[Tarquinius|Tarquinii Collatini]]. [[Spurius Lucretius]], father of Collatinus' wife Lucretia and prefect of Rome,<ref name="DHIV642">D.H. IV.64.</ref> made sure that the king's son was treated as a guest and a figure of his rank.

In a variant of the story,<ref>T.L. I.57.</ref> Tarquin and Collatinus, at a wine party on furlough, were debating the virtues of wives when Collatinus volunteered to settle the debate. In order to do so, he proposed riding to his home to observe Lucretia. Upon their arrival, she was weaving with her maids. The party awarded her the palm of victory and Collatinus invited them to stay, but for the time being they returned to camp.<ref name=":04"/>

Later in the night, Tarquin entered Lucretia's bedroom, quietly avoiding the slaves who were sleeping at her door. When she awoke, he identified himself and offered her two choices: he would rape her and she would become his wife and future queen, or he would kill her and one of her slaves, place the bodies together, and claim he had caught her having adulterous sex (see [[sexuality in ancient Rome]] for Roman attitudes toward sex). In the alternative story, he returned from camp a few days later with one companion to take Collatinus up on his invitation to visit and was lodged in a guest bedroom. He entered Lucretia's room while she lay naked in her bed and started to wash her belly with water, which woke her up. Tarquin tried to convince Lucretia that she should be with him, using "every argument likely to influence a female heart."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Briscoe, John|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/768261|title=A commentary on Livy, books XXXI-XXXIII.|date=1973|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=0-19-814442-3|location=Oxford|oclc=768261}}</ref> However, Lucretia stood firm in her devotion to her husband, even when Tarquin threatened her life and honor, while ultimately raping her.