The time is the 6th century, the place is Rome and the person is Lucrezia, a woman who contributed to one of the most important moments in Roman history: the creation of the Roman republic. The rape of the virtuous Lucretia by Sextus Tarquinius, son of Tarquinius Superbus (an Etruscan king) was the straw that broke the camel's back for the Roman people and pushed them to want to move from monarchy to republic. From the accounts of the rape of Lucretia provided by ancient historians such as Titus Livy, Cicero and Dionysius, it is clear that the rape of Lucretia not only pushed the Roman people to want to rid themselves of the Etruscan king and his family, but also revealed the important role of virtues in women in Roman society. There is no doubt that Lucretia, wife of Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, son of Arruns Tarquinius, was a virtuous woman. This is evident through Cicero who describes her as a 'noble and chaste woman' (Cicero 100), Dionysius who describes her as a woman who 'surpassed all women in beauty as well as virtue' (Dionysius, Book IV 64) and finally through Titus Livy who explains how she «won the race of female virtue» (Livy, Book 1, 100). It was this dispute that "kindled the flame of lust in Sextus Tarquinius" (Livy 101) and was started by Lucretia's own husband, Collatinus, during a drunken dinner in the neighborhoods of Sextus. The competition was between all the men present at the party and the aim was to find out who had the most virtuous wife among all. Collatinus, who was very drunk and therefore overconfident, declared that none of the other men's wives could beat the "incomparable superiority of my Lucretia" (Livy 100). The men decided to participate in the Collatinus competition and so they all returned to Ro...... middle of paper ......public.Works Cited1) Langlands, Rebecca. Sexual morality in ancient Rome. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2006. Print.2) MacLachlan, Bonnie. Women in Ancient Rome: A Sourcebook. London: Bloomsbury, 2013. Print.3) Gwynn, David M. The Roman Republic: a very brief introduction. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2012. Print.4)Rosenstein, Nathan Stewart. and Robert Morstein-Marx. A companion of the Roman Republic. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2006. Print.1)De, Selincourt Aubrey. Livy, The ancient history of Rome: Book I - V of the History of Rome from its foundation. London: Penguin, 1960. Print.2) Cicero, Marcus Tullius., George William Featherstonhaugh and Anthony Imbert. Cicero's Republic. New-York:: Published by G. & C. Carvill, 108 Broadway., 1829. Print.3)Dionysius, Earnest Cary and Edward Spelman. Roman Antiquities. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP, 1937. Print.