blic cost. So they
buried Sicinius with great lamentation; but the Ten were thereafter in
very ill repute among the soldiers.

Again, there was a certain centurion, Lucius Virginius by name, an upright
man and of good credit both at home and abroad. This Virginius had a
daughter, Virginia, a very fair and virtuous maiden, whom he had espoused
to a certain Icilius that had once been a tribune of the commons. On this
maiden Appius Claudius, the chief of the Ten, sought to lay hands, and for
this end gave commandment to one Marcus Claudius, who was one of the
clients of his house, that he should claim the girl for a slave. On the
morrow therefore, as Virginia passed across the market-place, being on her
way to school (for the schools in those days were held in the
market-place), this Claudius seized her, affirming that she was born of a
woman that was a slave, and was therefore by right a slave herself. The
maiden standing still for fear, the nurse that attended her set up a great
cry and called the citizens to help. Straightway there was a great
concourse, for many knew the maiden's father Virginius, and Icilius to
whom she was betrothed. Then said Claudius, seeing that he could not take
her by force, "There is no need of tumult or of gathering a crowd. I would
proceed by law, not by force." Thereupon he summoned the girl before the
judge. When they came to the judgment-seat of Appius the man told a tale
that had already been agreed upon between the two. "This girl," he said,
"was born in my house, and was thence secretly taken to the house of
Virginius, and passed off on the man as his daughter. Of this I will bring
proof sufficient, such as will convince Virginius himself, who doubtless
has received the chief wrong in this matter. But in the meanwhile it is
reasonable that the slave should remain in the house of her master." To
this the friends of the girl made answer, "Virginius is absent on the
service of the state, and will be here within the space of two days, if
tidings of this matter be sent to him. Now it is manifestly wrong that
judgment concerning a man's children should be given while he is himself
absent. Let the cause, therefore, be postponed till he come. Meanwhile let
the maiden have her freedom, according to the law which Appius and his
fellows have themselves established."

Appius gave sentence in these words: "That I am a favorer of freedom is
manifest from this law of which ye make mention. Yet this la