Ap'pius, sitting one day on his tribunal to dispense justice, saw a maiden of exquisite beauty, aged about fifteen, passing to one of the public schools, attended by a matron, her nurse.

The charms of the damsel, heightened by all the innocence of virgin modesty, caught his attention, and fired his heart.

The day following, as she passed, he found her still more beautiful, and his breast still more inflamed.

3.
He now, therefore, resolved to obtain the gratification of his passion, whatever should be the consequence, and found means to inform himself of the maiden's name and family.4.Her name was Virgin'ia; she was the daughter of Virgin'ius, a centurion, then with the army in the field, and had been contracted to Icil'ius, formerly a tribune of the people, who had agreed to marry her at the end of the present campaign.
5.

Ap'pius at first resolved to break off this match, and to espouse her himself; but the laws of the Twelve Tables had forbidden the patricians to intermarry with the plebeians, and he could not infringe these, as he was the enactor of them.6.He determined, therefore, to make her his slave.7.After having vainly tried to corrupt the fidelity of her nurse, he had recourse to another expedient, still more wicked.