VIRGINIA or VERGINIA, in Roman legendary history, daughter of L. Virginius, a plebeian centurion. Her beauty attracted the notice of the decemvir Appius Claudius, who instructed Marcus Claudius, one of his clients, to claim her as his slave. Marcus accordingly brought her before Appius, and asserted that she was the daughter of one of his female slaves, who had been stolen and passed off by the wife of Virginius as her own child. Appius, refusing to listen to any argument, declared Virginia a slave and the property of Marcus. Virginius thereupon stabbed her to the heart in the presence of Appius and the people. A storm of popular indignation arose and the decem
virs were forced to resign. The people for the second time "seceded" to the Sacred Mount, and refused to return to Rome until the old form of government was re-established.