During Silius Italicus' epic poem, the Punica, Scipio visits the underworld, where he witnesses a procession of great men and women from Roman history; among them he is invited, by the Sibyl who is his guide, to ‘behold the glory of pudicitia!’ There can have been no doubt in any Roman reader's mind about what we see (though the sight is glossed in the following line): the figure of Lucretia, legendary paragon of the virtue. Lucretia was part of Roman history and also part of Roman education, but what her story taught depended to an extent on the context of the telling. The next two chapters will explore both the story of Lucretia itself and the broader contexts of two versions of the story. This chapter will examine Livy's history of the Roman Republic and the role played by the concept of pudicitia within it. The following chapter will analyse the work of Valerius Maximus and in particular the chapter devoted to pudicitia which Lucretia's story heads.

EXEMPLARY TALES IN ANCIENT ROME

The prevalent Roman lament about moral decline and the idealisation of the Roman past, particularly the early days of the Republic, is not merely an expression of regret at the loss of innocence. On the contrary, it is a powerful weapon in the armoury of Roman ethical teaching with a blade that is regularly freshly sharpened.