Claudius, Appius

Claudius, Appius, a Roman decemvir (451 and 450 B.C.), who gained the high favour of his fellow-citizens by his ability and activity. In the latter year, however, he began to show his real aims towards absolute and illegal power. The growing indignation of the Roman populace reached a height on account of his grossly tyrannous action towards Virginia, daughter of a respected plebeian named Lucius Virginus, who was abroad with the army. The proud patrician gained possession of the person of the maiden by pretending that she was the born slave of one of his clients. Her lover Icilius summoned her father Virginus from the army, but another mock-trial again adjudged the girl to be the property of the decemvir's client. To save his daughter from dishonour, the unhappy father seized a knife and slew her. The popular indignation and the father's appeal to the army overthrew the decemviri, and the proud Appius was flung into prison, where he died by his own hand. The story is specially familiar to English readers from Macaulay's Lays. The Claudian Genus was one of the most numerous and important of the patrician tribes of Rome; and besides the sons and grandsons of the decemvir, there were numerous persons of distinction who bore the name of Appius.