he laws of God and man.

As soon as Sextus had left her and returned to the camp, Lucretia sent
to Rome for her father and to Ardea for her husband. Tarquin brought
with him his cousin Lucius Junius, or Brutus the Dullard. When they
arrived the lady, with bitter tears, told them of the wickedness of
Sextus, and said, "If you are men, avenge it!" They heard her tale in
horror, and swore to deeply revenge her wrong.

"I am not guilty," she now said; "yet I too must share in the punishment
of this deed, lest any should think that they may be false to their
husbands and live." As she spoke she drew a knife from her bosom and
stabbed herself to the heart.

As they saw her fall, a cry of horror arose from her husband and father.
But Brutus, who saw that the time had come for him to throw off his
pretence of stupidity and act the man, drew the knife from the bleeding
wound and held it up, saying, in solemn accents, "By this blood, I swear
that I will visit this deed upon King Tarquin and all his accursed race!
And no man hereafter shall reign as king in Rome, lest he may do the
like wickedness."

He then handed the knife to the others, and bade them to take the same
oath. This they did, wondering at the sudden transformation in Brutus.
They then took up the body of the slain woman and carried it into the
forum of the town, crying to the gathering people, "Behold the deeds of
the wicked family of Tarquin, the tyrant of Rome!"

The people, maddened by the sight, hastily sought their arms, and while
some guarded the gates, that none might carry the news to the king, the
others followed Brutus to Rome. Here the story of the wickedness of
Sextus and the self-sacrifice of Lucretia ran through the city like
wildfire, and a multitude gathered in the Forum, where Brutus addressed
them in fervent words. He recalled to them all the tyranny of Tarquin
and the vices of his sons, reminding them of the murder of Servius, the
impious act of Tullia, and ending with an earnest recital of the wrongs
of the virtuous Lucretia, whose bleeding corpse still lay in evidence in
the forum of Collatia.

[Illustration: BRUTUS ORDERING THE EXECUTION OF HIS SONS.]

His words went to the souls of his hearers. An assembly of the people
being quickly called, it was voted that the Tarquins should be banished,
and the office of king should be forever abolished in Rome. Tullia,
learning of the cause of the tumult, hastily left the palace, and fled
from Ro