The Rape of Lucretia and the Fall of the House of Trump
Trigger warning: sexual assault/suicide/Trump
It would be quite the comeuppance, quite the ironic but exquisitely just outcome if the fallout from the Epstein case were to lead to the collapse of the Trump cult and the fall of his benighted administration.
You have to go back in history quite a ways to find another instance of sexual violence against a single woman or even a group of women leading to the overthrow of a government. The one example that comes immediately to mind is the Rape of Lucretia, in the sixth century BC, which more or less directly resulted in the fall of the Roman monarchy and the institution of the Roman Republic.
The story has been recounted by some of the greatest minds in literature, and alluded to by many others. In English these include both Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare, who used the story as the subject of their poems, anglicizing her name to “Lucrece.” In Italian Lucretia appears as a character in Dante’s Inferno.
Rome at this time was governed by a king, much like all the other city states of the Mediterranean world. The Tarquins had ruled for centuries and through some seven generations, but they over time become more and more arbitrary, more and more tyrannical. According to Livy, Tarquinius Superbus was particularly despotic—“superbus” in Latin meaning “arrogant, proud”—while his son Sextus Tarquinius or Tarquin was equally arrogant and dissolute.
“Under Tarquin the Proud brutality and decadence flourished. Tarquin did not hesitate to use violence to maintain power. He disrespected the Senate and most Roman traditions. While he and his relatives devoted themselves to pleasure, his henchmen carried out campaigns of political murder to remove any and all opposition.”
The Rape of Lucretia and the Birth of the Roman Republic
http://www.vta-romae.com/lucretia.html.
Lucretia was the daughter of a Roman magistrate and the wife of a prominent Roman general. She and her husband Collatinus were known for their devotion to each other, and both were respected and well liked by the public. While Collatinus was away on a military campaign, Sextus Tarquinius snuck into her apartment and raped her, threatening to kill her if she didn’t comply and keep his crime a secret. After he left Lucretia instead sent messengers to her husband and father, asking them to each bring some other member of the elite whose word would be trusted by the citizenry. She told them what had happened and made them all swear that Tarquin be punished, even if a member of the royal family. And then, before the eyes of her shocked onlookers, she produced a knife and stabbed herself to death.
Her body was taken to the Forum, where her husband, father, and the other notables told both the Senate and the crowd what Tarquin had done. Seeing Lucretia’s body and hearing what had happened, the Senators and citizens in general were so outraged that they determined to end the rule of the Tarquins and drive them from the city. Hearing of the rage of the people, the Tarquins fled for their lives. The Roman monarchy was then abolished and a republic formed in its place, which lasted until the advent of Caesar Augustus some four centuries later.
I can’t think of another instance in history where violence against a single woman, or even a generation of women, has resulted in the complete overthrow of a tyranny and a fundamental restructuring of government. And given the depth of MAGA delusions and the control Trump and his enablers have over the media and all three branches of government, I tend to doubt that the Epstein case will have the same effect, even if documents are released that directly and convincingly connect Trump to the sexual abuse of underage girls. Which I suppose is a statement about how far the re-election of Trump has undermined my faith in the strength of our democracy and the sagacity and even the basic decency of the American people. It is indeed sad to think that the people of 21st century America—“the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave”--seem to care less about the morality of those in their government than people living in a late Bronze Age city state some 2500 years ago.
Then again, this just might turn enough of his base against him to significantly lessen Trump’s grip on our body politic. I’ve been hoping against hope that Trump would end up subject to a well-deserved prison sentence, but at this point I’d quite happily settle for his exile, along with that of his smarmy family.
I think of these lines penned so many centuries ago:
“Courageous Roman, do not steep thy heart
In such [un]relenting dew of lamentations,
But kneel with me and help to bear thy part
To rouse our Roman gods with invocations
That they will [not] suffer these abominations,
Since Rome herself in them doth stand disgraced….
[And] when they had sworn to this advisèd doom,
They did conclude to bear dead Lucrece thence,
To show her bleeding body [throughout all] Rome,
And so to publish Tarquin’s foul offense,
Which being done with speedy diligence,
The Romans with applause did give consent
To Tarquin’s everlasting banishment.”
William Shakespeare, “The Rape of Lucrece.”