2. 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.
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