1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:05,040 Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim 2 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:08,360 Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised. 3 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:13,880 Speaker 2: One brief content note before I begin, I talk about 4 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:17,639 Speaker 2: sexual violence and suicide in this episode, so if those 5 00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:21,480 Speaker 2: themes are something that you are particularly sensitive to, this 6 00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:29,760 Speaker 2: might be an episode to skip. The story of Medusa, 7 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:35,200 Speaker 2: like many ancient legends, plays out differently depending on which 8 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:39,680 Speaker 2: version you're reading. It was Avid, in his Greek mythology 9 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:44,680 Speaker 2: fan fiction Metamorphoses, who introduced the version of Medusa's story 10 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:49,360 Speaker 2: that most listeners are probably familiar with today. In that version, 11 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:52,720 Speaker 2: Medusa was the daughter of a sea god who grew 12 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:57,480 Speaker 2: up to be a beautiful young priestess of Athena or Minerva, 13 00:00:57,680 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 2: as the goddess would have been known to Avid and 14 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:06,440 Speaker 2: the Romans. Medusa tragically caught the attention of Poseidon or Neptune, 15 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:12,080 Speaker 2: who proceeded to rape her in Minerva's temple. Avid uses 16 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:18,720 Speaker 2: the brutal word vitiace injure, defile, or damage to describe 17 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:23,160 Speaker 2: the act. You might know what happens next in the story. 18 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:28,400 Speaker 2: It's not Neptune who's punished, but Medusa herself. Her hair 19 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:33,840 Speaker 2: is transformed into snakes by her own goddess. There is 20 00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:38,440 Speaker 2: a feminist reading of that outcome, in which some see 21 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:44,520 Speaker 2: Minerva giving Medusa a means to protect herself against future assault. 22 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:50,320 Speaker 2: That's a generous reading, as classic scholar Natalie Haynes reminds 23 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:54,639 Speaker 2: us Minerva wasn't exactly a girl's girl, but it's also 24 00:01:54,800 --> 00:02:00,200 Speaker 2: a fairly depressing reading. In my view. Protected may be, 25 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:04,440 Speaker 2: but Medusa's fate is also sealed. She will be a 26 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:08,760 Speaker 2: monster to be hunted, and her severed head will later 27 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:14,680 Speaker 2: be turned into a weapon for another's use. Avid's Metamorphosies 28 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:17,800 Speaker 2: is far from a light read, both in terms of 29 00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:23,480 Speaker 2: its length and content. Sexual violence is pervasive throughout many 30 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:29,040 Speaker 2: of its stories. Jokingly calling Metamorphoses Greek mythology fan fiction 31 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:34,079 Speaker 2: is not really inaccurate, but it's also not fully painting 32 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:38,160 Speaker 2: the whole picture. The text was meant to serve as 33 00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 2: a history of the world from creation to the death 34 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:46,360 Speaker 2: of Caesar. Just as it's pervasive in the pages of 35 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:51,480 Speaker 2: the text, sexual violence is also pervasive in the history 36 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:57,360 Speaker 2: of the world. Avid followed Metamorphosies with Fasti, which, instead 37 00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:01,440 Speaker 2: of focusing on Greek legends, finished wishes what the last 38 00:03:01,639 --> 00:03:08,399 Speaker 2: three books of Metamorphoses began turning the lens to Roman history, religion, culture, 39 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:13,240 Speaker 2: and figures. Because both books blend genre, and because of 40 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:16,520 Speaker 2: the time they were written, much of the content in 41 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:22,720 Speaker 2: both Metamorphoses and Fosti fall somewhere in between myth and history. 42 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:28,120 Speaker 2: The noble woman Lucretia and the famous story of the 43 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:32,720 Speaker 2: rape she suffered at the hands of Sextus Tarquinius, who 44 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:38,400 Speaker 2: is also known as Tarquin, is one such mythohistory found 45 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:43,440 Speaker 2: in the pages of Avid's Fasti. Some historians take an 46 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:48,240 Speaker 2: extreme view on Lucretia's story, claiming that it was a 47 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:53,920 Speaker 2: complete fabrication, but the more widely accepted understanding is that 48 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:57,880 Speaker 2: the legend probably grew out of real events, but that 49 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:03,520 Speaker 2: it was later shaped or metamorphosed over time to create 50 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:10,360 Speaker 2: a poignant, symbolic narrative. Though Medusa and Lucretia hail from 51 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:16,280 Speaker 2: different cultures and different Ovid poems, their stories say a 52 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:20,919 Speaker 2: lot in conversation with one another. They were both daughters 53 00:04:20,960 --> 00:04:25,560 Speaker 2: of powerful fathers, both hailed for their beauty and purity, 54 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:30,240 Speaker 2: both were raped by men with more power than they had, 55 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:34,640 Speaker 2: and in death they both became weapons to be yielded 56 00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 2: by yet more powerful men. But where Medusa's head was 57 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:45,080 Speaker 2: quite literally wielded by Perseus, who used it to turn 58 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:49,560 Speaker 2: his own enemies to stone, Lucretia's body became more of 59 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:55,920 Speaker 2: a symbolic weapon. After her rape and subsequent suicide, her 60 00:04:55,960 --> 00:05:01,520 Speaker 2: body was displayed on the streets by revolutionaries to incite rebellion. 61 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:07,320 Speaker 2: Lucretia's suicide after her assault is known as the catalyst 62 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:11,320 Speaker 2: that led to the fall of the Roman monarchy, the 63 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:16,320 Speaker 2: reason that the Roman Empire no longer had kings. The 64 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:20,440 Speaker 2: story of the ideal Roman woman driven to take her 65 00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:23,080 Speaker 2: own life because of the actions of a man drunk 66 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:28,080 Speaker 2: on his own power became itself a powerful enough narrative 67 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:32,200 Speaker 2: to be, as the French philosopher Pierre Bale put it, quote, 68 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:35,760 Speaker 2: one of the hinges on which the history of the 69 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:42,480 Speaker 2: Romans turns. Perhaps more critically, we can look at Lucretia 70 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:46,039 Speaker 2: through the words of Simone de Beauvois, who wrote that 71 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:51,120 Speaker 2: it is through women that quote certain historical events have 72 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:55,719 Speaker 2: been set off, but the women have been pretexts rather 73 00:05:55,960 --> 00:06:00,880 Speaker 2: than agents. The suicide of Lucretia has had value only 74 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:06,080 Speaker 2: as symbol. But where did the story and the symbol 75 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:10,240 Speaker 2: come from? What role has it played in different moments 76 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:15,039 Speaker 2: and history? And is it possible to know who Lucretia 77 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:19,480 Speaker 2: was really or will she always be in the hands 78 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:24,880 Speaker 2: of men using her for their ends. I'm Dana Schwartz, 79 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:33,600 Speaker 2: and this is noble blood. Just as with the myth 80 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:37,760 Speaker 2: of Medusa, the story of Lucretia will differ from historian 81 00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 2: to historian, storyteller to storyteller. The first recorded account of 82 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:48,440 Speaker 2: Lucretia's story comes from the Roman historian Livy in his 83 00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:52,640 Speaker 2: History of Rome, written nearly five hundred years after the 84 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:57,880 Speaker 2: event described. Before Livy, the story existed in oral tradition, 85 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:01,640 Speaker 2: and after him it would continue on in the hands 86 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:07,520 Speaker 2: of other writers and historians like Dionysus of Halikarnassis, Dio, 87 00:07:07,640 --> 00:07:14,040 Speaker 2: Cassius Avid, and eventually Shakespeare, Machiavelli, and Rousseau, each with 88 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:20,600 Speaker 2: their own interpretation and agenda in their tellings. The scholar 89 00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:24,520 Speaker 2: ian Donaldson, in his book Rapes of Lucretia, A Myth 90 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:30,160 Speaker 2: and Its Transformations, reconstructs the earliest versions of the story 91 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:33,280 Speaker 2: to give a composite picture of what might have been 92 00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:38,160 Speaker 2: the quote historic event. It goes like this. In five 93 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:44,200 Speaker 2: hundred and nine BC, the Roman King Tarquinis Superbus was 94 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:48,040 Speaker 2: attempting a siege of the town of Ardea. One night 95 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:51,480 Speaker 2: during the siege, a group of noblemen, the king's son 96 00:07:51,680 --> 00:07:56,360 Speaker 2: among them, were having a wife off, boasting about whose 97 00:07:56,440 --> 00:08:01,440 Speaker 2: wife was the most virtuous, the most beautiful, the most exemplary. 98 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 2: One nobleman, Calatinus, insisted that his wife, Lucretia, daughter of 99 00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:12,720 Speaker 2: the magistrate Lucretius, was second to none, her virtue the 100 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:17,960 Speaker 2: most virtuous, her beauty the most beauteous. When the boasting 101 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:21,880 Speaker 2: turned competitive, it was suggested that the group would make 102 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:26,120 Speaker 2: the twenty somethingter mile trip back to Rome to assess 103 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:30,840 Speaker 2: each wife themselves. Most of the wives were found together 104 00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:37,000 Speaker 2: chatting and engaging in idle pastimes, but Lucretia hashtag not 105 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:41,840 Speaker 2: like other girls, was found at home alone spinning wool 106 00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:45,600 Speaker 2: homemaking while her husband was away on the front lines. 107 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:51,360 Speaker 2: Lucretia won the contest of best and most wife. Though 108 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:54,640 Speaker 2: the story begins light and even a little bit silly 109 00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:59,160 Speaker 2: to our modern ears, the story takes a dark turn. 110 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:05,480 Speaker 2: In Livy's words in translation, the king's son quote Sextus 111 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:10,600 Speaker 2: Tarquinius was seized with a wicked desire to debauch Lucretia 112 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:14,520 Speaker 2: by force. Not only her beauty, but her proved chastity 113 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:20,000 Speaker 2: as well provoked him. The men returned to Ardia, but 114 00:09:20,200 --> 00:09:26,160 Speaker 2: Tarquin later returned alone. Lucretia courteously received the king's son 115 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:29,880 Speaker 2: as anyone would be expected to, giving him food and 116 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:32,920 Speaker 2: a room to stay in for the night, but when 117 00:09:32,960 --> 00:09:36,400 Speaker 2: the household was asleep, he entered her bedroom in the 118 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:39,560 Speaker 2: middle of the night with a sword on his person. 119 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:45,320 Speaker 2: Tarquin first attempted to seduce Lucretia with promises to marry 120 00:09:45,320 --> 00:09:48,400 Speaker 2: her and make her queen, but when that didn't work, 121 00:09:48,480 --> 00:09:52,040 Speaker 2: he turned to threats. If he couldn't have her, he 122 00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:56,600 Speaker 2: would kill her. She continued to deny him, and so 123 00:09:56,679 --> 00:10:00,320 Speaker 2: he came up with another plan. He threatened to kill 124 00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:04,120 Speaker 2: not only her but also one of his slaves, and 125 00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:07,720 Speaker 2: to place their naked bodies in her bed together and 126 00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:11,840 Speaker 2: then claim he found them together and killed them in outrage. 127 00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:16,400 Speaker 2: The posthumous shame of that final threat was too much 128 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:22,280 Speaker 2: for Lucretia. She stopped resisting, and Tarquin proceeded to rape her. 129 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:28,040 Speaker 2: The following morning, Lucretia summoned her father, Lucretius and her 130 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:32,000 Speaker 2: husband Calatinus, to their home, and she asked each of 131 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:38,680 Speaker 2: them to bring a trusted friend. Calatinus brought Lucius Junius Brutus, 132 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:42,200 Speaker 2: not the A two guy, to be very clear, but 133 00:10:42,400 --> 00:10:47,160 Speaker 2: a nephew of King Superbus, a nephew and not a fan. 134 00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:51,800 Speaker 2: Brutus was generally thought of as an idiot, but he 135 00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:55,679 Speaker 2: was in reality putting on an act of ignorance, waiting 136 00:10:55,800 --> 00:10:58,840 Speaker 2: for his moment to get revenge on the king who 137 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:03,480 Speaker 2: murdered his father and brother. And so with those four 138 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:07,439 Speaker 2: men gathered, Lucretia told the story of what happened the 139 00:11:07,559 --> 00:11:11,320 Speaker 2: night before, and when she was done telling the story, 140 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:15,800 Speaker 2: she revealed a knife beneath her garments, which she used 141 00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:21,560 Speaker 2: to stab herself and die. Brudus removed the knife from 142 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:24,280 Speaker 2: her body and swore an oath by the blood of 143 00:11:24,360 --> 00:11:28,920 Speaker 2: Lucretia none more chaste. Tell a tyrant wronged her that 144 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:33,080 Speaker 2: he would drive the Tarquins from Rome. With that, a 145 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:38,080 Speaker 2: revolution began to form. Lucretia's body was displayed at the 146 00:11:38,160 --> 00:11:42,360 Speaker 2: Forum in Rome, where Brudus rallied the Romans by showing 147 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:46,880 Speaker 2: them the tyranny of the Tarquins and its consequences. It 148 00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:51,760 Speaker 2: was a successful publicity campaign and the people drove the 149 00:11:51,880 --> 00:11:56,679 Speaker 2: royal family out of Rome, vowing to have no more kings. 150 00:11:56,720 --> 00:12:01,880 Speaker 2: Brudus and Lucretia's husband Calatinus were installed as the first 151 00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:07,280 Speaker 2: consuls of the Roman Republic. The end or is it? 152 00:12:08,280 --> 00:12:13,360 Speaker 2: That is the SparkNotes version of events, but technically yeah. 153 00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:17,360 Speaker 2: The last mention of Lucretia in her story is that 154 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:21,720 Speaker 2: of her body on display while she was alive. However, 155 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:26,600 Speaker 2: she does get a bit more characterization in other versions 156 00:12:26,679 --> 00:12:36,760 Speaker 2: of her story. In Livy's telling, Lucretia has a poignant 157 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:41,559 Speaker 2: rallying speech before she takes her life, quote, my body 158 00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:46,120 Speaker 2: alone has been violated. My heart is guiltless, as death 159 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:49,640 Speaker 2: shall be my witness. But pledge your right hands and 160 00:12:49,679 --> 00:12:54,240 Speaker 2: your words that the adulterer shall not go unpunished. Her 161 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:59,040 Speaker 2: death is than heroic, even masculine in a sense, as 162 00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:03,120 Speaker 2: death by night was not traditionally associated with women at 163 00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:08,520 Speaker 2: the time, It's portrayed as a morally virtuous death. Lucretia 164 00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:13,240 Speaker 2: is killing herself, she explains, so that promiscuous women cannot 165 00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:18,240 Speaker 2: use her as an example to justify their own actions. Avid, 166 00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:22,240 Speaker 2: for his part, gives Lucretia more dialogue in the story's 167 00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:26,240 Speaker 2: beginning when she laments the danger her husband may be 168 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:29,960 Speaker 2: in on the front lines, and when she joyously throws 169 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:33,959 Speaker 2: herself into his arms upon his return, even in front 170 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:38,160 Speaker 2: of all of his comrades. Lucretia is portrayed as devoted 171 00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:43,600 Speaker 2: and tender, while also sheltered and a little naive. Avid 172 00:13:43,679 --> 00:13:47,280 Speaker 2: also gives us a physical description for the first time. 173 00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:52,800 Speaker 2: Her complexion is snowy, she uses no cosmetics, her hair 174 00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:58,319 Speaker 2: is golden and flowing freely. It's this physical Lucretia that 175 00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:02,040 Speaker 2: we will most often see in artistic depictions to come. 176 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:07,280 Speaker 2: Her appearance was a feminine ideal. By Avid's time, most 177 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:11,640 Speaker 2: Roman women had dark hair and an olive complexion to 178 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:16,960 Speaker 2: imitate the desirable German beauty standard. Sex workers were actually 179 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:21,160 Speaker 2: known to wear blonde wigs, while women across classes wore 180 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:26,680 Speaker 2: chalk on their faces to appear paler. Lucretia's characterization through 181 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:31,960 Speaker 2: her words, actions, and appearance, then all serves to portray 182 00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:37,240 Speaker 2: her as an ideal in every sense. But what happens 183 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:42,240 Speaker 2: when you kill an ideal? Avid's telling takes an arguably 184 00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:47,480 Speaker 2: more human approach when compared to Livy. His Lucretia does 185 00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:53,360 Speaker 2: not die grandly, calling for revenge. Instead, the morning after 186 00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:58,400 Speaker 2: the horrific event, she's visibly disheveled and wearing a morning gown. 187 00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:03,400 Speaker 2: She's distraught and finds herself having trouble telling her father 188 00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:08,200 Speaker 2: and husband what has happened. This Lucretia is overcome by 189 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:13,160 Speaker 2: grief and cannot find her heart guiltless. Instead, her last 190 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:17,880 Speaker 2: words are quote, though you forgive me, I cannot forgive myself. 191 00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:23,000 Speaker 2: Only through death does Lucretia believe that she can preserve 192 00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:27,120 Speaker 2: her virtues. But her death becomes far bigger than that. 193 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:30,720 Speaker 2: In the end, she doesn't just die for what she 194 00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:34,720 Speaker 2: saw as her sins, she also dies for the birth 195 00:15:34,840 --> 00:15:39,840 Speaker 2: of the republic. As the ideal woman of the Roman Republic, 196 00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:46,800 Speaker 2: Lucretia's death both literally and metaphorically expunged the tyrant and 197 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:51,000 Speaker 2: his lineage from Rome, literally because she might have been 198 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:53,480 Speaker 2: pregnant with the son of the son of the king. 199 00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:59,760 Speaker 2: Lucretia's role in Roman history is not completely dissimilar from 200 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:03,120 Speaker 2: that of an earlier woman in Roman mythology, one of 201 00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:07,840 Speaker 2: the famed Vestal virgins, Raya Silvia, who according to legend, 202 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:13,280 Speaker 2: was raped by Mars and gave birth to Ramus and Romulus. 203 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:18,000 Speaker 2: The wolf raised twins, whose battle for divine favor is 204 00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:23,800 Speaker 2: remembered as the traditional founding story of Rome. Both stories 205 00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:27,920 Speaker 2: were that of a chaste woman. One would bring about 206 00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:31,960 Speaker 2: the Kingdom of Rome and the other the Roman Republic. 207 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:37,040 Speaker 2: If we remember Simon de Beauvoir's words here quote, women 208 00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:42,840 Speaker 2: have been pretexts rather than agents. Livy states in his 209 00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:46,080 Speaker 2: history that his writing is not just intended to be 210 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:51,400 Speaker 2: a history lesson, but also moral instruction, hoping Roman readers 211 00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:54,280 Speaker 2: of the day could learn from Romans of the past, 212 00:16:54,800 --> 00:17:01,240 Speaker 2: which probably explains Lucretia's inspirational speech. Ofvid was less concerned 213 00:17:01,360 --> 00:17:05,439 Speaker 2: with the morality of the average Roman. His Lucretius story 214 00:17:05,560 --> 00:17:08,639 Speaker 2: was actually written during his exile from Rome by the 215 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:14,040 Speaker 2: Emperor Augustus. The reasons for this exile were never actually documented, 216 00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:17,680 Speaker 2: but do not worry, the city of Rome did revoke 217 00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:22,000 Speaker 2: his exile in twenty seventeen, only two thousand years later. 218 00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:27,520 Speaker 2: Both Avid and Livy had a vested interest in portraying 219 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:32,240 Speaker 2: the corruption of power, emphasizing in their stories the inherent 220 00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:37,800 Speaker 2: wickedness and immorality of the son of the king, Sextus Tarquinius. 221 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:42,159 Speaker 2: This is how the story would be understood for many years, 222 00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:46,919 Speaker 2: with Tarquin as a monster and Lucretia as both a 223 00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:58,360 Speaker 2: victim and a martyr. It wasn't until Augustine, the bishop 224 00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:01,960 Speaker 2: and theologian, who wrote on the City of God against 225 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:06,480 Speaker 2: the Pagans, that Lucretia's role would be altered in the 226 00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:12,119 Speaker 2: public consciousness. Regarded today as a cornerstone of Western thought. 227 00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:16,679 Speaker 2: Augustine's work was written between four hundred and thirteen and 228 00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:20,639 Speaker 2: four hundred and twenty six a d. In the context 229 00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:26,080 Speaker 2: of the ongoing conflict between Christians and Pagans. After the 230 00:18:26,119 --> 00:18:29,680 Speaker 2: sack of Rome by the Goths in four hundred and ten, 231 00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:35,200 Speaker 2: Pagans were beginning to fear that Christianity and the abandonment 232 00:18:35,320 --> 00:18:39,600 Speaker 2: of Roman gods was the cause of their suffering, and 233 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:44,080 Speaker 2: with City of God, Augustine, from the Roman province in 234 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:49,080 Speaker 2: North Africa, was seeking to counter those arguments and bolster 235 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:52,959 Speaker 2: the faith of Christians. The title comes from the idea 236 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:57,520 Speaker 2: that even if earthly empires fall, the City of God 237 00:18:57,720 --> 00:19:04,400 Speaker 2: will ultimately prevail. When it comes to Augustine's writing on Lucretia, 238 00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:09,080 Speaker 2: he begins quote they, as in Pagans, will certainly bring 239 00:19:09,119 --> 00:19:14,040 Speaker 2: out Lucretia with great praises for her chastity. If that 240 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:19,440 Speaker 2: feels a little mocking, it's because it was. Augustine goes 241 00:19:19,480 --> 00:19:23,560 Speaker 2: on to question why Lucretia killed herself if she was 242 00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:28,680 Speaker 2: truly guilty of nothing. He argues that she actually killed 243 00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:33,919 Speaker 2: herself because even though she was attacked, she eventually consented, 244 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:38,359 Speaker 2: and her consent, rather than being out of fear of 245 00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:43,160 Speaker 2: the consequences as in the original tellings, was in Augustine's 246 00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:49,679 Speaker 2: mind because she secretly desired Tarquin Eleanor Glendinning writes in 247 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:53,080 Speaker 2: her analysis that quote, a person committed to the Christian 248 00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:57,359 Speaker 2: faith could suffer any bodily suffering and emerge with an 249 00:19:57,359 --> 00:20:01,040 Speaker 2: even stronger mind and conviction in the existence of God. 250 00:20:01,119 --> 00:20:05,960 Speaker 2: By doing so, Augustine's City of God also laid the 251 00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:11,920 Speaker 2: foundations for early Christian beliefs surrounding suicide. In general. Augustine 252 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:16,840 Speaker 2: believed that thou shalt not kill also referred to oneself. 253 00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:23,720 Speaker 2: Augustine is disparaging a pagan hero using a Christian narrative, 254 00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:27,280 Speaker 2: and the Western world will of course only continue to 255 00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:32,919 Speaker 2: move further from paganism and towards Christianity as time marches. On. 256 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:38,200 Speaker 2: The other change, Augustine makes here is distancing Lucretia from 257 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:43,000 Speaker 2: the revolutionary narrative. Augustine does not care about the Tarquins 258 00:20:43,119 --> 00:20:47,320 Speaker 2: or Brutus. He has just focused on Lucretia as an 259 00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:53,919 Speaker 2: unworthy pagan martyr figure. It's important to discuss Augustine because 260 00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:57,679 Speaker 2: his words will have permeated the culture of every writer 261 00:20:57,800 --> 00:21:01,080 Speaker 2: that tells the story of Lucretia going far forward, whether 262 00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:05,480 Speaker 2: they agreed with him or not. Disconnecting her from politics 263 00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:10,760 Speaker 2: also gave way to new narratives want about chastity, lust, 264 00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:16,480 Speaker 2: and temptation. There are many Renaissance paintings of Lucretia, but 265 00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:21,760 Speaker 2: most are domestic, not political scenes, domestic scenes with her 266 00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:26,120 Speaker 2: in various states of undress, either fending off her attacker 267 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:30,080 Speaker 2: or pointing the knife at her own chest. There's also 268 00:21:30,280 --> 00:21:34,680 Speaker 2: an eroticism to these paintings that can arguably be traced 269 00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:43,879 Speaker 2: back to Augustine. All of this brings me to Shakespeare. 270 00:21:44,359 --> 00:21:48,480 Speaker 2: Shakespeare's main source for his narrative poem The Rape of 271 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:54,560 Speaker 2: Lucrece wasn't Augustine, but actually the originals Avid and Livy. 272 00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:58,800 Speaker 2: There are, though, a number of ways in which Shakespeare's 273 00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:03,280 Speaker 2: poem depart arts from its source material. But one in 274 00:22:03,359 --> 00:22:10,240 Speaker 2: particular is shockingly different. Lucretia's suicide in Shakespeare's poem does 275 00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:13,719 Speaker 2: not lead to a revolution. In fact, there is no 276 00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:18,240 Speaker 2: mention of the Roman Republic at all. Late in the poem, 277 00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:24,520 Speaker 2: Lucretia has a lengthy speech reflecting back on her rapist's crime. Quote, 278 00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:28,760 Speaker 2: thou seemest not what thou art a god? A king? 279 00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:34,560 Speaker 2: For kings, like gods, should govern everything. How wilt thy 280 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:38,920 Speaker 2: shame be seated in thine age? When thus thy vices 281 00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:43,800 Speaker 2: bud before thy spring? If in thy hope thou darst 282 00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:48,800 Speaker 2: do such outrage? What darst thou not? When once thou 283 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:52,600 Speaker 2: art a king? Right off the bat? We are in 284 00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:57,000 Speaker 2: a very different political atmosphere than the world of Livy 285 00:22:57,080 --> 00:23:01,600 Speaker 2: and Avid. Maybe it's obvious Shakespeare lived in England under 286 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:06,600 Speaker 2: a monarchy. His Lucretia is comparing kings and gods in 287 00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:10,080 Speaker 2: a positive way, going so far as to say that 288 00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:14,920 Speaker 2: they should govern everything. The message is not that absolute 289 00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:20,920 Speaker 2: power corrupts absolutely. It's that Tarquin is corrupted absolutely. One 290 00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:27,600 Speaker 2: bad apple. Shakespeare's Lucretia continues, quote, this deed will make 291 00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:31,840 Speaker 2: thee only loved for fear. But happy monarchs are still 292 00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:36,720 Speaker 2: feared for love with foul offenders, Thou perforce must bear 293 00:23:37,280 --> 00:23:41,639 Speaker 2: when they in thee the like offenses prove, if but 294 00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:46,560 Speaker 2: for fear of this, thy will remove. For princes are 295 00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:51,320 Speaker 2: the glass, the school, the book where subjects, eyes do learn, 296 00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:56,720 Speaker 2: do read, do look. Lucretia is speaking with more political 297 00:23:56,800 --> 00:23:59,880 Speaker 2: language than she has in any other version of her story, 298 00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:03,440 Speaker 2: but it is a far cry from what the original 299 00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:08,240 Speaker 2: political purpose of her story was. Shakespeare is instead working 300 00:24:08,359 --> 00:24:13,520 Speaker 2: within the genre of mirrors for Princes, a literary genre 301 00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:17,200 Speaker 2: that was popular throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, 302 00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:22,399 Speaker 2: which sought to, as the title implies, provide advice and 303 00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:26,720 Speaker 2: examples for rulers to give advice on how to be 304 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:31,760 Speaker 2: a good prince. Shakespeare's The Rape of Lucrece ends with 305 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:36,399 Speaker 2: Brutus declaring to avenge her death, but this is done 306 00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:41,919 Speaker 2: by banishing Tarquin from Rome, not starting the republic. The 307 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:46,240 Speaker 2: poem ends quote, when they had sworn to this advised doom, 308 00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:50,760 Speaker 2: they did conclude to bear dead Lucrece, thence to show 309 00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:55,320 Speaker 2: her bleeding body through Rome, and so to publish Tarquin's 310 00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:59,960 Speaker 2: foul offense, which being done with speedy diligence, The Roman 311 00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:07,600 Speaker 2: plausibly did give consent to Tarquin's everlasting banishment. Lucretia's body 312 00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:11,719 Speaker 2: is still a political weapon, but as a symbol she 313 00:25:11,800 --> 00:25:16,200 Speaker 2: carries much less weight when Tarquin is simply banished, as 314 00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:19,840 Speaker 2: opposed to he and his family being forever removed from 315 00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:24,440 Speaker 2: power and the entire system of government of Rome changing forever. 316 00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:31,720 Speaker 2: Shakespeare is much more focused on the actions of the individual, 317 00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:36,600 Speaker 2: and make no mistake, he thinks Tarquinius is corrupt. Though 318 00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:40,000 Speaker 2: he is writing in a post Augustine world. It is 319 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:44,560 Speaker 2: clear that what Lucretia feels towards her attacker in Shakespeare's 320 00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:50,040 Speaker 2: poem is fear she is not consenting. Shakespeare uses a 321 00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:54,800 Speaker 2: metaphor of Tarquin as a predator, the wolf hath seized 322 00:25:54,840 --> 00:26:01,000 Speaker 2: his prey, the poor lamb cries. Compared to Augustine, Shakespeare 323 00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:04,919 Speaker 2: also displays a far greater understanding of the reality of 324 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:11,280 Speaker 2: the physiological repercussions of rape. While Lucretia's family believes quote 325 00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:16,239 Speaker 2: her bodies stain, her mind untainted clears, he writes that 326 00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:21,320 Speaker 2: quote with a joyless smile. She turns away the face 327 00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:27,119 Speaker 2: that map, which deep impression bears of hard misfortune carved 328 00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:31,959 Speaker 2: in it with tears. Her suicide is not the result 329 00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:36,479 Speaker 2: of her secretly being unchased. In Shakespeare's version, it is, 330 00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:40,800 Speaker 2: as it was in the beginning, a preservation of her chastity. 331 00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:45,760 Speaker 2: We know this because Shakespeare has her tell us quote 332 00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:49,280 Speaker 2: for me, I am the mistress of my fate, she 333 00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:53,120 Speaker 2: states as she contemplates what to do in the aftermath 334 00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:56,600 Speaker 2: of her assault. She's given more dialogue, more of an 335 00:26:56,640 --> 00:27:00,000 Speaker 2: inner life here than in any other telling, aligning her 336 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:06,240 Speaker 2: more with Shakespeare's other tragic heroines. Shakespeare's telling of Lucretia 337 00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:09,640 Speaker 2: may appear to be removed from key points of its 338 00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:15,840 Speaker 2: original context, but again, it fits quite nicely in Elizabethan England. 339 00:27:16,400 --> 00:27:19,880 Speaker 2: It's not a stretch to draw parallels between the virgin 340 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:25,320 Speaker 2: queen who proudly sacrificed marriage for her country, and Lucretia, 341 00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:29,600 Speaker 2: who was so chaste that she died for hers. The 342 00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:33,520 Speaker 2: poem was written around the same time Shakespeare would make 343 00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:38,240 Speaker 2: another reference to the virgin Queen in A Midsummer Night's Dream, 344 00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:43,680 Speaker 2: when Oberon speaks of quote a fair vestal throned by 345 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:49,480 Speaker 2: the west. Shakespeare's flattery also appears in Richard the Third, 346 00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:55,040 Speaker 2: in which the mad villainous hunchbacked king is overthrown not 347 00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:59,120 Speaker 2: by a revolution but by combat with the next king, 348 00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:08,520 Speaker 2: who have to be Elizabeth's great grandfather. But for a 349 00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:14,719 Speaker 2: prospective on Lucretia's story that returns to the original revolutionary sentiments, 350 00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:20,840 Speaker 2: let's go where else to France or more specifically, Geneva. 351 00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:26,200 Speaker 2: As Jean Jacques Rousseau bounced between European countries throughout his life, 352 00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:31,560 Speaker 2: His unfinished tragic play LaMonte de Lucrece was composed around 353 00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:36,560 Speaker 2: seventeen fifty four seventeen fifty six, still early years in 354 00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:40,680 Speaker 2: Rousseau's career. Seventeen fifty four was the same year he 355 00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:45,480 Speaker 2: wrote his foundational Discourse on the Origin and Basis of 356 00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:50,240 Speaker 2: Inequality among Men, in which he argued that moral inequality 357 00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:55,280 Speaker 2: is not innate to humans, rather a product of quote, wealth, 358 00:28:55,440 --> 00:29:01,880 Speaker 2: nobility or rank, power, and personal merit. Given Russeau's lofty 359 00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:07,000 Speaker 2: Enlightenment ideals, his play does, as you might imagine, return 360 00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:11,480 Speaker 2: Lucretia's story to its Republican roots, the roots that we're 361 00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:16,479 Speaker 2: lacking in Shakespeare's telling. But like in Shakespeare's a number 362 00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:22,000 Speaker 2: of details have been changed for storytelling purposes. Lucretia begins 363 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:27,479 Speaker 2: Russeau's story engaged to sexist Tarquinius, but her father breaks 364 00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:30,960 Speaker 2: it off despite the wishes of the king, and Lucretia 365 00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:35,960 Speaker 2: instead marries the less powerful Calatin for different political reasons. 366 00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:39,680 Speaker 2: There may have once been something between the two, but 367 00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:44,360 Speaker 2: Lucretia tells her handmaiden that she prefers quote the constant 368 00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:48,800 Speaker 2: and peaceful love of Coltan to the fiery passions of Sextus. 369 00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:54,240 Speaker 2: Referring to Tarquin still, she prays, quote, O God who 370 00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:59,160 Speaker 2: sees my heart, clarify my judgment. Guarantee I do not 371 00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:02,840 Speaker 2: cease to be virtuous. You know that although I want 372 00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:06,080 Speaker 2: to be, I will always be if you want it 373 00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:10,240 Speaker 2: as well. So in this version there is a temptation 374 00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:16,280 Speaker 2: to return to Tarquin, but Lucretia fights against it. Because 375 00:30:16,320 --> 00:30:19,880 Speaker 2: this is theater, we're given a story that's a more 376 00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:24,520 Speaker 2: dramatic and be an introduction to a number of additional 377 00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:28,680 Speaker 2: moving parts that weren't present in any other version. In 378 00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:32,640 Speaker 2: Rousseau's version, Tarquin has promised that he'll arrange a marriage 379 00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:37,200 Speaker 2: between two lovers, his servant and Lucretia's handmaiden, if the 380 00:30:37,240 --> 00:30:40,200 Speaker 2: two of them can arrange a secret meeting between him 381 00:30:40,320 --> 00:30:45,880 Speaker 2: and his ex fiancee, Lucretia. Lucretia's maid is wary, believing 382 00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:49,560 Speaker 2: her lady is quote not capable of feeling anything but 383 00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:54,200 Speaker 2: for her spouse and her duty. But Tarquin's servant argues 384 00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:58,600 Speaker 2: that Lucretia only puts up appearances of virtue, and no 385 00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:03,920 Speaker 2: one would ultimately but virtue above personal passions. While all 386 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:07,360 Speaker 2: of that is going on, Brutus is already plotting his 387 00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:12,360 Speaker 2: revolution to overthrow the Tarquins. He tries to persuade Colton 388 00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:15,640 Speaker 2: to join his cause by telling him about how Tarquin 389 00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:19,080 Speaker 2: is in love with his wife, but Coltan simply tells 390 00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:23,520 Speaker 2: him quote, I know the virtues of Lucretia's heart. On 391 00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:29,200 Speaker 2: top of that, Colton fears war and the possibility of anarchy, slavery, 392 00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:34,240 Speaker 2: and civil strife after the monarchs are driven out. Lucretius, 393 00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:38,760 Speaker 2: his father in law, accuses him of being childish, taking 394 00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:42,040 Speaker 2: the easy way out by continuing to live in comfort 395 00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:46,239 Speaker 2: under tyrants rather than fighting for the greater good of 396 00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:51,280 Speaker 2: liberty and equality. The rest of Rousseau's play is only 397 00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:56,640 Speaker 2: available to us in fragments. Tarquin laments that Lucretia's quote 398 00:31:56,960 --> 00:32:00,960 Speaker 2: virtue deserving of adoration by the gods has been soiled 399 00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:05,600 Speaker 2: by him quote the violist of mortals, before in a twist, 400 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:11,000 Speaker 2: he kills himself. It's unclear in this version whether rape 401 00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:19,160 Speaker 2: or consensual sex happened, but Lucretia ultimately kills herself as well. 402 00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:26,640 Speaker 2: In Rousseau's autobiographical work Confessions, he describes his reasoning for 403 00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:31,760 Speaker 2: writing about Lucretia quote, I planned a prose tragedy on 404 00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:35,840 Speaker 2: no less a subject than Lucrece, with which I had 405 00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:40,160 Speaker 2: some hope of overcoming derision, even though I ventured to 406 00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:43,720 Speaker 2: bring that unfortunate woman back to the stage when she 407 00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:47,920 Speaker 2: had become an impossible subject for the French theater. He 408 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:52,560 Speaker 2: was referring to two failed productions by French playwrights, first 409 00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:57,600 Speaker 2: Jean Francois Rignard and Charles de Francais, who had produced 410 00:32:57,760 --> 00:33:02,800 Speaker 2: comedies of the story, notes, which I have to imagine 411 00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:08,160 Speaker 2: is probably why they didn't work. Rousseau instead believed Lucretia 412 00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:13,400 Speaker 2: could be a quote useful heroine with whom Parisian audiences 413 00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:19,080 Speaker 2: could identify. Melissa M. Mathis, in her book The Rape 414 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:23,160 Speaker 2: of Lucretia and the Founding of Republics, writes that quote. 415 00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:26,400 Speaker 2: For Rousseau, the story of the rape of Lucretia is 416 00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:32,240 Speaker 2: in part an apt encapsulation of deterioration and renewal, an 417 00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:37,000 Speaker 2: allegory for the loss and potential rebirth of the Republic. 418 00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:41,880 Speaker 2: And for Rousseau, women are the perfect emblem of both 419 00:33:41,960 --> 00:33:47,120 Speaker 2: corruption and the possibility of renewal. Who else in eighteenth 420 00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:52,600 Speaker 2: century French society has fallen further than women, specifically the 421 00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:56,600 Speaker 2: bourgeois women of the salons. Yet upon whom else can 422 00:33:56,640 --> 00:34:01,160 Speaker 2: the possibility for renewal be placed? Even the wretched can 423 00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:05,600 Speaker 2: be redeemed, made into the virtuous nursemaids of the republic. 424 00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:09,920 Speaker 2: Surely there is still reason to believe in the possibility 425 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:11,760 Speaker 2: of a Republican rebirth. 426 00:34:12,840 --> 00:34:13,840 Speaker 1: That is why. 427 00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:19,440 Speaker 2: Rousseau's Lucretia struggles with temptation, not because she is ultimately sinful, 428 00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:24,560 Speaker 2: but because she is virtuous but human. Rousseau isn't as 429 00:34:24,640 --> 00:34:29,640 Speaker 2: obsessed with innocence as other Enlightenment figures. He believes that 430 00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:34,600 Speaker 2: redemption and rebirth can come from places of corruption. This 431 00:34:34,960 --> 00:34:39,680 Speaker 2: Lucretia's world is one of scheming fathers and maids and servants, 432 00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:43,720 Speaker 2: all using her as a pawn in their larger games. 433 00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:49,920 Speaker 2: Even Calatinus, her husband, is corrupt here, fitting the model 434 00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:56,480 Speaker 2: of the nouveau bourgeois that Rousseau detested. He, like the bourgeois, 435 00:34:56,560 --> 00:35:00,600 Speaker 2: is absorbed in his own comfort, reluctant to give up 436 00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:05,560 Speaker 2: his privileges even for the greater good. In Rousseau's version, 437 00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:09,520 Speaker 2: we don't see Lucretia's body weaponized as literally as in 438 00:35:09,560 --> 00:35:13,319 Speaker 2: the others, but it's still used as a tool, only 439 00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:18,600 Speaker 2: this time for Tarquin's redemption. Tarquin is so horrified by 440 00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:22,839 Speaker 2: what he has done, whether it was tempting Lucretia or 441 00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:26,960 Speaker 2: assaulting her, that he is driven to kill himself, as 442 00:35:27,239 --> 00:35:32,360 Speaker 2: she usually exclusively is. In the wake of his transgression, 443 00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:37,240 Speaker 2: he realizes that he is the vilest of mortals, reaching 444 00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:42,800 Speaker 2: a quite literal moment of enlightenment, his violation of Lucretia 445 00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:48,280 Speaker 2: was his path to redemption. Lucretia, for her part, kills 446 00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:51,839 Speaker 2: herself in one part to preserve her virtue, but also 447 00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:56,919 Speaker 2: because of Quote having shared in the crime. Because these 448 00:35:56,960 --> 00:36:00,640 Speaker 2: parts of the play are only available to us as fragments, 449 00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:04,600 Speaker 2: it's hard to do a complete analysis, but it does 450 00:36:04,760 --> 00:36:10,719 Speaker 2: present an interesting contrast with Augustine. Augustine believed Lucretia killed 451 00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:15,160 Speaker 2: herself because she was guilty of desiring Tarquin, and therefore 452 00:36:15,239 --> 00:36:20,680 Speaker 2: she was unworthy of pagan admiration. Rousseau believes that she 453 00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:25,200 Speaker 2: potentially killed herself for the same reasons, but he presents 454 00:36:25,200 --> 00:36:29,480 Speaker 2: it as heroic. There's not a sense that killing herself 455 00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:32,880 Speaker 2: is purifying her body and her country, as there was 456 00:36:32,920 --> 00:36:37,120 Speaker 2: in the original version, but rather the larger idea that 457 00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:41,399 Speaker 2: the republic can still be born from an imperfect mother. 458 00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:46,960 Speaker 2: But no matter which narrative we look at from any date, place, 459 00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:51,520 Speaker 2: or time, Lucretia is always the pretext rather than the agent. 460 00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:56,279 Speaker 2: Her value is mostly that of symbol. In some of 461 00:36:56,320 --> 00:37:00,480 Speaker 2: these tellings, she's given a greater inner life, a richer carecterzation, 462 00:37:01,120 --> 00:37:04,120 Speaker 2: but it's always to serve the ultimate goal of saying 463 00:37:04,200 --> 00:37:07,840 Speaker 2: something about the place and time in which her story 464 00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:12,520 Speaker 2: is being retold. It's difficult to answer the question I 465 00:37:12,640 --> 00:37:17,240 Speaker 2: posed at the beginning of this episode, who is Lucretia really? 466 00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:21,839 Speaker 2: Because she's something different to every writer that she's been 467 00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:26,520 Speaker 2: the subject of. Maybe there isn't even a real Lucretia 468 00:37:26,560 --> 00:37:30,000 Speaker 2: at all. But that's also a question that's impossible to 469 00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:35,759 Speaker 2: answer ultimately. For better or for worse, Lucretia exists, but 470 00:37:35,880 --> 00:37:44,120 Speaker 2: she exists as legend. That's the story of Lucretia and 471 00:37:44,239 --> 00:37:47,759 Speaker 2: the many, many ways she's been interpreted over the course 472 00:37:47,800 --> 00:37:51,760 Speaker 2: of history. But keep listening after a brief sponsor break 473 00:37:51,920 --> 00:38:00,160 Speaker 2: for a very important artistic interpretation of Lucretia by a woman. 474 00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:10,759 Speaker 2: Artemisia Gentileschi was a Baroque painter, the first woman to 475 00:38:10,800 --> 00:38:14,960 Speaker 2: become a member of the Academia in Florence, perhaps best 476 00:38:15,040 --> 00:38:19,399 Speaker 2: known for her paintings of Judith, the Jewish heroine. Not 477 00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:23,120 Speaker 2: only did several of her paintings focus on Judith, but 478 00:38:23,200 --> 00:38:28,320 Speaker 2: Lucretia was also a subject that Artemisia returned to multiple times. 479 00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:35,239 Speaker 2: Her sixteen twenty five portrait of Lucretia, fittingly entitled Lucretia, 480 00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:40,319 Speaker 2: shows a well known scene with new nuance. Lucretia is 481 00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:44,279 Speaker 2: moments from suicide, her left hand clutching the knife and 482 00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:48,000 Speaker 2: her right hand clutching her breast. She's disheveled in the 483 00:38:48,040 --> 00:38:51,880 Speaker 2: aftermath of her assault, but the painting doesn't feel erotic 484 00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:55,000 Speaker 2: as it sometimes does in the hands of other masters. 485 00:38:55,760 --> 00:38:59,640 Speaker 2: She is not fair haired or flawless. Her brow is 486 00:38:59,760 --> 00:39:03,600 Speaker 2: tightly wrinkled and The distress is evident on her face, 487 00:39:04,040 --> 00:39:08,600 Speaker 2: and she looks up in contemplation. We see the defined 488 00:39:08,800 --> 00:39:12,040 Speaker 2: muscles of her legs and the strength in her hands. 489 00:39:12,640 --> 00:39:17,480 Speaker 2: There is clear pain, but there's also clear strength. When 490 00:39:17,640 --> 00:39:23,320 Speaker 2: Artemisia was seventeen, she herself was raped by another Italian painter, 491 00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:27,880 Speaker 2: Agostino Tassi, and when the case went to trial on 492 00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:33,080 Speaker 2: the grounds of Tossi dishonoring her family, Artemisia was subjected 493 00:39:33,239 --> 00:39:37,080 Speaker 2: to torture during her testimony to prove she was telling 494 00:39:37,200 --> 00:39:41,600 Speaker 2: the truth. Her experiences have affected the way art historians 495 00:39:41,719 --> 00:39:45,960 Speaker 2: view her paintings, and while many have believed she sought 496 00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:50,319 Speaker 2: to portray vengeance, a newer school of thought argues that 497 00:39:50,360 --> 00:39:55,319 Speaker 2: what Artemisia was actually interested in was showing strength in 498 00:39:55,400 --> 00:40:00,200 Speaker 2: her female heroines. There are even some art historians who 499 00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:07,000 Speaker 2: see similarities between Artemisia's self portraits, one entitled quite Poignantly 500 00:40:07,560 --> 00:40:12,280 Speaker 2: Self Portrait as a Female Martyr, and her sixteen twenty 501 00:40:12,400 --> 00:40:16,759 Speaker 2: five portrait of Lucretia. I encourage you to look at 502 00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:22,200 Speaker 2: these works for yourself, along with Artemisia's other masterful compositions. 503 00:40:22,600 --> 00:40:26,120 Speaker 2: She is wonderful both as an artist and just a 504 00:40:26,239 --> 00:40:31,920 Speaker 2: name that we get to say Artemisia Gentileschi, who ultimately 505 00:40:32,239 --> 00:40:36,920 Speaker 2: whether or not Artemisia Genta Leschi's past influenced her future 506 00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:42,880 Speaker 2: decision to paint Lucretia, her perspective introduced a new depth 507 00:40:43,400 --> 00:40:45,480 Speaker 2: that was lacking amongst her peers. 508 00:40:55,520 --> 00:40:59,759 Speaker 1: Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and 509 00:40:59,800 --> 00:41:04,200 Speaker 1: miniled from Aaron Manke. Noble Blood is created and hosted 510 00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:08,960 Speaker 1: by me Dana Shwarts, with additional writing and researching by 511 00:41:09,080 --> 00:41:14,600 Speaker 1: Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zwick, Mira Hayward, Courtney Sender, and Lori Goodman. 512 00:41:15,080 --> 00:41:18,880 Speaker 1: The show is edited and produced by Noemi Griffin and 513 00:41:19,080 --> 00:41:24,759 Speaker 1: rima Il Kahali, with supervising producer Josh Thain and executive 514 00:41:24,840 --> 00:41:29,480 Speaker 1: producers Aaron Manke, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more 515 00:41:29,560 --> 00:41:35,320 Speaker 1: podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 516 00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:37,520 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.