![]() His body is tense and knotted as he broods over the consequences of his act, he grasps the death warrant and clenches his feet one across the other. The main character, Brutus, is placed at the extreme left, plunged into deep shadow. As the picture title tells us, Brutus' two sons, Titus and Tiberius, were drawn into a royalist conspiracy to return Tarquin, and their father condemned them to death.įor the grim and terrible event depicted in the painting, David adopted a radical compositional format. Tarquin was exiled and the first Roman republic was established in 508 BC, with Brutus and Collatinus elected as co-consuls. She then committed suicide in the presence of both her husband Collatinus and Brutus, who withdraw the knife from the fatal wound and swore on Lucretia's blood to avenge her death and destroy the corrupt monarchy. This came about because Tarquin's son Sextus had raped the virtuous Lucretia. Lucius Junius Brutus (not to be confused with Julius Caesar's assassin Marcus Brutus, who lived some 500 years later), had helped to rid Rome of the last of its kings, the tyrannical Tarquin the Proud. This was an inflammatory subject in 1789, speaking out for self-sacrifice, the sacrifice of one's own flesh and blood for a higher ideal. In this painting David also deals with the subject of death in service of the state. This painting was exhibited at the salon of 1789, its full title was J Brutus, First Consul, returned to his house after having condemned his two sons who had allied themselves with the Tarquins and conspired against Roman liberty the lictors return their bodies so that they may be given burial. Publius Valerius Poplicola was appointed consul suffectus in the place of Collatinus, and the elderly Spurius Lucretius in place of Brutus but he died soon after, and Marcus Horatius Pulvillus became consul in his place, the fifth and final consul of the first year of the Republic.The Lictors Returning to Brutus the Bodies of his Sons ![]() Fearing what might become of him should he refuse the popular demand, Collatinus laid down the consulship and went into exile at Lanuvium.īrutus, who as the king's nephew was even closer to the royal house, was spared the same indignity, as a part of the Junia gens but he fell in battle the same year against the king's forces. Collatinus was dumbstruck when Brutus, his colleague and cousin, called upon him to resign, but resisted until his father-in-law, Lucretius, added his voice to the chorus. Brutus and Collatinus were the first consuls, and set about the defense of the city.Ĭollatinus' ascendency was short-lived although he himself had suffered at the hands of the king, and ushered in the Republic, he soon became the object of revulsion from those who would not abide any of the Tarquins in power at Rome. While the king was away on a campaign, the conspirators barred the gates of Rome and established a republican government, headed by two consuls, so that one man should not be master of Rome. They were supported by Brutus, the king's nephew, and others who had suffered various cruelties at the hands of the king and his sons. Main article: Overthrow of the Roman monarchyĮnraged by his cousin's deed, Collatinus and his father-in-law brought news of the crime before the people. Despite their entreaties and protests of her innocence, Lucretia then plunged a dagger into her breast in expiation of her shame. After his departure, Lucretia sent for her husband and father, and recounted the events to them. Forcing himself upon Lucretia, Sextus threatened to kill her, together with a slave, and tell her husband that he had caught her in the act of adultery with the slave, unless she should accede to his desire. According to legend, while Collatinus was away from home, his cousin, Sextus Tarquinius, son of the king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, came to his house by night. The surname Collatinus was derived from this town.Ĭollatinus married Lucretia, daughter of Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus. Through an accident, Arruns had been born into poverty, but when his uncle subdued the Latin town of Collatia, he was placed in command of the Roman garrison there. He was forced to resign his office and go into exile as a result of the hatred he had helped engender in the people against the former ruling house.Īccording to Roman tradition, Collatinus was the son of Arruns Tarquinius, better known as Egerius, a nephew of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth King of Rome. The two men had led the revolution which overthrew the Roman monarchy. Collatinus was one of the first two consuls of the Roman Republic in 509 BC, together with Lucius Junius Brutus.
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