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Some young men of the principal families in the state, who had been educated about the king, and had shared in all the luxuries and pleasures of the court, undertook to re-establish monarchy. 4. This party secretly increased every day; and what may create surprise, the sons of Bru'tus himself, and the Aqui'lii, the nephews of Collati'nus, were among the number, 5.

Struck with sorrow, pity, and indignation, Spu'rius and Collati'nus gave vent to their grief; but Bru'tus, drawing the poinard, reeking, from Lucre'tia's wound, and lifting it up towards heaven, "Be witness, ye gods," he cried, "that, from this moment, I proclaim myself the avenger of the chaste Lucretia's cause; from this moment I profess myself the enemy of Tarquin and his wicked house; from henceforth this life, while life continues, shall be employed in opposition to tyranny, and for the happiness and freedom of my much-loved country." 19.

Her modest beauty, and the easy reception she gave her husband and his friends, so charmed them all, that they unanimously gave her the preference, but kindled, in the breast of Sextus Tarquin'ius, a detestable passion, which occasioned the grossest insult and injury to Lucre'tia, who, detesting the light, and resolving to destroy herself for the crime of another, demanded her husband Collati'nus, and Spu'rius, her father, to come to her; an indelible disgrace having befallen the family. 16.

Collati'nus offered to decide the dispute by putting it to an immediate trial, whose wife should be found possessed of the greatest beauty, and most sedulously employed at that very hour: being heated with wine, the proposal was relished by the whole company; and, taking horse without delay, they posted to Rome, though the night was already pretty far advanced.

While the army was encamped before this place, the king's son Sextus Tarquinius, Collati'nus a noble Roman, and some others, sitting in a tent drinking together, the discourse turned upon wives, each man preferring the beauty and virtue of his own.

Brutus, the deliverer of his country, and Collati'nus, the husband of Lucre'tia, were chosen the first consuls in Rome. But this new republic, however, which seemed so grateful to the people, had like to have been destroyed in its very commencement. A party was formed in favour of Tarquin.

The other judges who were present felt all the pangs of nature; Collati'nus wept, and Vale'rius could not repress his sentiments of pity. Brutus, alone, seemed to have lost all the softness of humanity; and, with a stern countenance and a tone of voice that marked his gloomy resolution, demanded of his sons if they could make any defence, to the crimes with which they had been charged.

There they found Lucre'tia, the wife of Collati'nus, not like the other women of her age, spending the time in ease and luxury, but spinning in the midst of her maids, and cheerfully portioning out their tasks.