Nelson A. Pryor: Guest Columnist
There’s a lot of stuff going on, unheard of things, even from just 10 years ago. Like learning about, and cutting off, body parts, to become someone you didn’t start out to be. In that regard, I’m glad, that as a lad, the do-gooders, who are behind all this, didn’t try to cut off my Adam’s apple. Now, that’s something I could not abide!
Family Fidelity
I like the spirit of the old Roman centurion. A decemvir-Appius Claudius,-a ruler of the strong side-became enamored of the centurion’s (L. Verginius) daughter (Virginia). He first persuaded, but persuasion failing to secure consent, he resorted to his power, the power of his office.
The girl’s father, L. Verginius, held a high rank in the army on Algidus; he was a man of exemplary character both at home and in the field. His wife had been brought up on equally high principles, and their children were being brought up in the same way. He had betrothed his daughter to I. Icilius, who had been tribune, an active and energetic man whose courage had been proven in his battle for the plebs. This girl, now in the bloom of her youth and beauty, excited Appius’ passions, and he tried to prevail on her by presents and promises. When he found that her virtue was proof against all temptation, he had recourse to unscrupulous and brutal violence. He commissioned a client, M. Claudius, to claim the girl as his slave and to bar any claim on the part of her friends to retain possession of her until the case was tried, as he thought that the father’s absence afforded a good opportunity for the illegal action. As the girl was going to her school in the Forum-the grammar schools were held in booths there-the decemvir’s pander laid his hand upon her, declaring that she was the daughter of a slave of his and a slave herself. He then ordered her to follow him, and threatened, if she hesitated, to carry her off by force. While the girl was stupefied with terror, her maid’s shrieks, invoking the protection of the Quirites, drew a crowd together. The names of her father, Verginius, and her betrothed lover, Icilius, were held in universal respect. Regard for them brought their friends feelings of indignation and brought the crowd to the maiden’s support. She was now safe from violence; the man who claimed her said that he was proceeding according to law, not by violence, there was no need for any excited gathering. He cited the girl into court. Her supporters advised her to follow him; they came before the tribunal of Appius. The claimant rehearsed a story already perfectly familiar to the judge, as he was the author of the plot, how the girl had been born in his house, stolen from there, transferred to the house of Verginius and fathered by him; these allegations would be supported by definite evidence, and he would prove them to the satisfaction of Verginius himself, who was really most concerned, as an injury had been done to him.
When the hour of supposed helplessness was reached, the father snatched a knife and plunged it into the breast of his daughter, explaining, “This is all, my dearest daughter, I can give thee to preserve thy chastity from the lust and violence of a tyrant.”
What was the result in heathen Rome? The soldiers and people honored the father, and rose with indignation and abolished the decimvir power of Rome forever, and the guilty decemvirs slew themselves. And, to this day, the thing is told as a memorial of the noble father and of the glorious army and people who avenged him. And the daughter’s name was remembered: Virginia. This is from a book by Titus Levius, entitled: From the Founding of the City. NY: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1912. Translated by Rev. Canon Roberts. And the year, 451 B.C.