Livy Lucretia Essay

The Iron Age is also characterized by the rise of the Roman Empire. In Livy’s The Rise of Rome, he documents a collection of accounts that contributed to the rise of Rome (Livy Lucretia). One of the accounts is that of Lucretia, the faithful wife of Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus. As a result of Lucius and his friends bragging about their wives, they make a drunk bet and decide to visit each them to see which is the best by what they find them doing. “…they found Lucretia still in the main hall of her home, bent over her spinning and surrounded by her maids as they worked by lamplight. Lucretia was the clear winner of the contest. She graciously welcomed her husband and the Tarquins as they approached.” (Livy Lucretia, 2). In this account, we find the pedestal example of what a Roman women ought to be. By the time Lucius and the Tarquins arrive, it was evening, and yet Lucretia is found to be the good wife working for the family income. The rest of her account is a tragedy. She is raped by Sextus

“From the time of the crossing of Xerxes to Greece, and more especially from a date some thirty-two years after that, the details of the Roman political system continued to pass through even more perfect from at the time of the Hannibalic War.” (Polybius Constitution, 2). A theme that can be found in such period documentation, is the theme of having the individuals entire life focus on the betterment of the whole city. This includes men serving in the senate, councils, in trade and military. Women are then required to support their husbands in contributing as well as baring children, which ties back to Lucretia. He states that the citizens are obligated on a individual and collective level (Polybius Constitution, 5). He also presents Hannibal not only as model citizen but a man. He is man skilled in politics, economics and combat, which should be a King’s