person
Lucius Verginius
Verginius
also: Verginius, Lucius Verginius, L. Verginius
A Roman centurion and plebeian of the mid-fifth century BC who, according to the legend of the fall of the Decemvirate, killed his own daughter Verginia with his own hand rather than surrender her to the lust of the decemvir Appius Claudius. Cicero cites the deed in De Finibus 2.66 as a proof that virtue is chosen for its own sake.
Reading notes
- On the Ends of Good and Evil §2.66 Lucius Verginius
A Roman of modest means who, in the legend of the fall of the Decemvirate, killed his own daughter rather than surrender her to the lust of the decemvir Appius Claudius. The deed precipitated the second secession of the plebs.