Collatinus married Lucretia, whose exemplary virtue he boasted of among his fellow officers at camp, prompting the fateful wager that led them riding home to test their wives.
Spurius Lucretius fathered Lucretia, the Roman noblewoman whose chastity and tragic death became the catalyst for the overthrow of the Tarquin dynasty.
Lucretia plunged a concealed knife into her own heart before Collatinus and her father, declaring that no woman would live unchaste by citing her example, and her blood-soaked body became the rallying point for the revolt against the Tarquins.
Lucius Junius Brutus drew the bloody knife from Lucretia's body and swore by her blood that he would drive the Tarquins from Rome, transforming a family tragedy into the founding oath of the Roman Republic.
Sextus Tarquinius stole into Lucretia's chamber by night and raped her at sword-point, threatening to place a slave's naked body beside hers if she resisted — a violation that became the most infamous crime in Roman legendary history.
Tarquinius Superbus was driven from Rome after his son Sextus raped Lucretia and her kinsmen swore vengeance over her body, turning the crime into the catalyst that ended Roman kingship forever.
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