Upon this, the young princes enquired which of them should
succeed Tarquin. The answer returned was: "He who shall first give a
kiss to his mother." The two brothers then declared that they would both
kiss her at the same moment, that they might reign jointly. Brutus,
however, thought the oracle had another meaning, and, pretending to fall
down, he kissed the earth, the common mother of all living.
_Emily_. The regal power lasted but a very little time longer in Rome.
A brutal insult, offered by Sextus to Lucretia, the virtuous wife of
Collatinus, roused the dormant spirit of the people. Brutus threw off
the mark of idiotism, by which he had been hitherto concealed, and
seizing the dagger, which Lucretia, unable to survive the insult she had
received, had plunged into her breast, he held it up to the assembly,
stained as it was with the blood of that unhappy woman, and, in a very
animated speech, called upon his fellow-citizens to avenge her cause.
They were all astonished at the sudden change in Brutus, who then told
them his former folly had been affected, as the only means of securing
him from the murderous designs of Tarquin. The nobility all submitted
to the will of Brutus. He caused the still bleeding body of Lucretia to
be carried to the place where the senators usually assembled, and,
placing the corpse where it might be seen by every body, ordered the
people to be called together, and addressed them in a very spirited
speech, which was often interrupted by the acclamations of the people.
Pages:
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174