the famous Roman matron, wife of Collatinus, and the cause of the revolution in Rome by which the constitution of the state was changed from a monarchy to a republic. This lady being ravished by Sextus, the eldest son of Tarquin king of Rome, stabbed herself, in the year 509 before Christ. The bloody poniard, with her dead body exposed to the senate, was the signal of Roman liberty; the expulsion of the Tarquins, and the abolition of the regal dignity, were instantly resolved on, and carried into execution.