Rome was a civilized culture when Augustus came to power. Before him, Rome was a monarchy and then a republic. Romans were more conservative than the Etruscans and were honorable. The Etruskans were poorly organized but developed many great things which were adopted by the Romans in the long run.
Around 500 BCE the Romans overthrew the Etruscan monarchy. The Etruscan monarch was Tarquinius Superbus, and he had a son Sextus Tarquin. One night Sextus Tarquin decided he wanted to rape Lucretia, a roman housewife who was a model for all citizens. He wanted to rape her because she was beautiful and he wanted to destroy her virtue. .
When the night came, he held a sword to her and raped her. She did not want him to blame the rape on someone else, so she killed herself. When she killed herself, she simply stated that she did not want to live without her honor and would need to destroy hers for others to emulate her actions if situations similar happened to themselves. She was making an example of herself to show her great virtue.
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Even though Lucretia was a roman, she was raped by an Etruscan. This set off the republican revolution in Rome. The Tarquin monarchy was overthrown by the Romans, and the Romans have yet to change back to a monarchy. This honor that Lucretia showed is among the highest possible; for she has sacrificed herself for the living. This conservative action is very similar to the Republican Rome.
Lucretia's rape served as a model of the Republican Rome for a few reasons. One main point is honor. She withheld her honor just like all citizens should in a republic. She did not let anyone suffer for her troubles, and had to kill herself because it was the only solution that would not impose troubles upon others. She followed morality, like the republic.
The rape of Lucretia affected the Republican Rome. Overall, she was a model citizen who ended up being a model government. The courage she had was overcome only by her virtues which served as an extremely honorable trait.
