Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita 3.47.6-8

Stunned silence falls over the crowd at the outrage, then as Marcus moves to seize Verginia amid the wailing of the surrounding women, Verginius turns on Appius and declares that he betrothed his daughter to Icilius, not to him, and raised her for marriage not for dishonor, asking whether Romans are to mate like animals and warning that those who bear arms will not stand for it; Marcus is pushed back by the crowd of women and supporters until a herald calls for silence.

 

Tier 1

Primo, stupor pulsavit omnes admiratione rei tam atrocis; inde silentium tenuit omnes breve tempus.

Deinde, tristes clamores feminarum quae circum Verginiam stabant Marcum Claudium cepit cum Marcus Claudius iret ad prehendam virginem. Cum id fiat, Verginius tendens manus in Appium, "Icilio," inquit "non tibi ego filiam despondi et ad nuptas, non ad infamiam sexualem ego filiam educavi.

Placet ne tibi ruere promisce in concubitus (into sexual acts) in modo pecudum (of herd animals) et ferarum? Istine haec passuri sint? Nescio. Spero illos qui arma habent non passuros esse."

Cum Marcus Claudius repelleretur a turba feminarum et circumstantiumque advocatorum, silentium factum est per praeconem (herald, crier).

Written by Robert Amstutz