Virginius had set out from the camp with Icilius before the messengers
of Appius had reached the general with orders to stop him, and he came
to the Forum leading his daughter by the hand, weeping, and attended by
a great many ladies. Claudius brought his slave, who made false oath
that she had sold her child to Numitoria; while, on the other hand, all
the kindred of Virginius and his wife gave such proof of the contrary as
any honest judge would have thought sufficient, but Appius chose to
declare that the truth was with his client. There was a great murmur of
all the people, but he frowned at them, and told them he knew of their
meetings, and that there were soldiers in the Capitol ready to punish
them, so they must stand back and not hinder a master from recovering
his slave.

Virginius took his poor daughter in his arms as if to give her a last
embrace, and drew her close to the stall of a butcher where lay a great
knife. He wiped her tears, kissed her, and saying, "My own dear little
girl, there is no way but this," he snatched up the knife and plunged it
into her heart, then drawing it out he cried, "By this blood, Appius, I
devote thy blood to the infernal gods."

He could not reach Appius, but the lictors could not seize him, and he
mounted his horse and galloped back to the army, four hundred men
following him, and he arrived still holding the knife. Every soldier who
heard the story resolved no longer to bear with the Decemvirs, but to
march back to the city at once and insist on the old government being
restored. The Decemvir generals tried to stop them, but they only
answered, "We are men with swords in our hands." At the same time there
was such a tumult in the city, that Appius was forced to hide himself in
his own house while Virginia's corpse was carried on a bier through the
streets, and every one laid garlands, scarfs, and wreaths of their own