Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 2.djvu/208

196 entered the bed-chamber of Lucretia, and putting one hand upon her breast, while he held a drawn sword in the other, said, "Comply with my wishes, or I will kill you." But she resolutely repelled him; and Sextus, enraged, assured her that he would stab a slave and place him in her bed; so that the world should believe her guilty of the most low-lived and flagrant wickedness. At last, Sextus accomplishing his villainy, went away; and the lady, full of the most corroding griefs, despatched letters to her father and husband; to her brothers, to the emperor, and grand-children, together with the proconsuls; and when they were all present she spoke thus: "Not as a friend, but as a foe, Sextus entered my house. Calatinus, your bed has known the garments of a stranger ; but though violated, I am innocent. Acquit me of crime, and I will provide my own punishment." At these words, snatching a sword which she had hidden beneath her robe, she