Ab urbe condita

She had a knife concealed in her dress which she plunged into her, heart, and fell dying on the floor.

Her father and husband raised the death-cry.[*](As soon as life was extinct, those round the death-bed raised a loud cry of woe and called out the name of the deceased. For a similar custom among the Hebrews, comp. 2 Sam. xviii. 33.)

Whilst[*](The Expulsion of the Tarquins.) they were absorbed in grief, Brutus drew the knife from Lucretia's wound and holding it, dripping with blood, in front of him, said, “By this blood - most pure before the outrage wrought by the king's son —I swear, and you, 0 gods, I call to witness that I will drive hence Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, together with his cursed wife and his whole brood, with fire and sword and every means in my power, and I will not suffer them or any one else to reign in Rome.”