Lucretia
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Lucretia. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
A celebrated Roman lady, daughter of Lucretius and wife of Tarquinius Collatinus. A number of young noble Romans at Ardea, among whom were Collatinus and the sons of Tarquin the Proud, were discussing the virtues of their wives at home, and it was agreed to go to Rome to ascertain how their wives employed themselves in their husbands' absence in the camp. While the wives of the others were indulging in feasting and dissipation, Lucretia was found in her house employing herself with her servants in domestic duties. She was brutally treated by Sextus Tarquin, a relative of Collatinus, and stabbed herself. This was the signal for a rebellion, the result being the expulsion of the Tarquins from Rome. Lucretius, Carus T. A celebrated Roman poet and philosopher. The tenets of Epicurus were embraced by him, and were explained and elucidated in a poem which he wrote, De Rerum Naturâ. This poem is distinguished by genius and elegance, but the doctrines it inculcates have an atheistical tendency. Lucretius is said to have destroyed himself B. c. 54. Lucullus, Lucius Licinius . A Roman noted for his fondness of luxury and for his military abilities. He was born about 115 years before the Christian era, and distinguished himself by his proficiency in eloquence and philosophy. He was soon advanced to the consulship, and intrusted with the management of the Mithridatic war, in which he displayed his military talents.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the wife of L. Tarquinius Collatinus, famous for her heroic virtue. She was shamefully outraged by Sextus Tarquinius, whereupon she summoned her husband and a group of friends, and, after making them take a solemn oath to drive out the hated race of Tarquins from the city, plunged a knife into her heart. Of the poetic poetic ela elaborations of the story the most famous is the "Rape of Lucrece" of Shakespeare's youth.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Both accounts treat Lucretia as a real Roman lady whose death in 509 BC "was the signal for a rebellion" that expelled the Tarquins; 1000 Classical Characters (1900) even names her father. Modern historians class the episode as legend rather than record: the earliest surviving narratives, in Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, were written some five centuries after the events, and no contemporary source exists for the fall of the monarchy. The story itself is unchanged in outline, and Shakespeare's poem of 1594 that Collier's cites in 1921 is still the best-known English version — but scholarship now reads it as a founding myth about Roman virtue and the legitimacy of the Republic, and feminist critics since the 1970s have made Lucretia a central case in the history of how rape has been depicted and used politically.
Written for this edition, 2026.