Lucretius comes with P.Valerius, the son of Volesus, Collatinus with L.Junius Brutus, with whom, as he was returning to Rome, he happened to be met by his wife's messenger.

They find Lucretia sitting in her chamber in sorrowful dejection.

On the arrival of her friends the tears burst from her eyes; and to her husband, on his inquiry "whether all was right," she says, "By no means, for what can be right with a woman who has lost her honour?
The traces of another man are on your bed, Collatinus.

But the body only has been violated, the mind is guiltless; death shall be my witness.

But give me your right hands, and your honour, that the adulterer shall not come off unpunished.