T. Davina MCCLAIN
Gabii and Lucretia, Siccius and Verginia:   domi militiaeque in Livy's Ab Urbe Condita

 

Although the stories of Lucretia and Verginia-one in Book 1, the other in Book 3-have been carefully and repeatedly compared, no one has noticed the similarities between the way Livy presents Sextus' destruction of Gabii and his rape of Lucretia, nor have scholars compared the two last violent acts of the decimvirs-the murder of Siccius and Appius' attempted assault on Verginia, even though Livy himself explicitly links the two both in his prefatory statement before the murder of Siccius (3.43.1: Ad clades ab hostibus acceptas duo nefanda facinora decemviri belli domique adiciunt) and in the introduction to the story of Verginia which follows immediately (3.44.1: Sequitur aliud in urbe nefas....). Because Livy asks the reader to see these two episodes as functioning together, it is important for scholars to recognize that Livy has intertwined stories as part of his historical program to examine action both at Rome and in the field (Praef. 9: domi militiaeque).

 

Verbal parallels and structural similarities in the stories of the destruction of Gabii and the rape of Lucretia demonstrate the similarity of Sextus' actions in each instance: benigne ab Gabinis excipitur (1.53.2), Adueniens uir Tarquiniique excepti benigne (1.57.10), exceptus benigne ab ignariis (1.58.2) mark Sextus' welcome into Gabii and into Lucretia's home. He uses a familial relationship to gain entrance to the walls of the city and the home. He attacks by surprise and conquers with no opposing sword raised against him. He leaves the site of his victory, assuming that there will be no retribution. In addition, the military vocabulary that Livy uses to convey Sextus' assault on Lucretia likens her rape to an assault on a city. Moreover, Livy brings the two elements of the story full circle after the Tarquins have been driven out of Rome: "When Sextus Tarquinius set out to Gabii, as if to his own kingdom, he was killed by the avengers of old hatreds, which he himself had aroused against himself by slaughter and thievery" (1.60.2).

 

Livy introduces the story of Siccius' murder as one of "two criminal acts in war and at home the decimvirs add" to their recent inglorious defeats on the battlefield (3.43.1), making the link explicit, and recalling his words in the preface (3.43.1: belli domique; Praef. 9: domi militiaeque).Both Siccius and Verginia leave an area of safety (the camp and the home) on a mission of learning-Siccius as part of recognizance group and Verginia, to school. Each is assaulted through a plot. Siccius and Verginia are each surrounded by a group; for Siccius that group means death whereas for Verginia, the people surround her to protect her. Siccius is buried quickly to prevent soldiers from carrying his body to Rome as evidence of the treachery of the decimvirs, while Verginia's body demonstrates Appius' crime and rouses the people at Rome, even as her father, fiancé, and uncle ride to the different camps to rouse the soldiers to mutiny against the decimvirs. Livy states that the soldiers of the camp in Sabine territory, where Siccius had been stationed, were motivated no less by the renewed memory (memoria renouata) of Siccius' murder than by the new story (noua fama) of the attempt to seize a maiden for lust (3.51.13).

 

The combination of these episodes serves one of Livy's stated goals in the preface: to explore men's actions and characters domi militiaeque to find models of behavior to emulate and to avoid. Moreover, they demonstrate the carefully woven complexity of Livy's narrative and the need for scholars to read beyond the boundaries of individual episodes to see Livy's larger narrative plan.

 

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