APPIUS • CLAUDIUS CRASSUS, a Roman patrician, of the family of the Claudii. In 451 B.C., when the decemvirs were appointed to compose a complete legal code for Rome (afterward known as the Laws of the Twelve Tables), and to wield the supreme power in the state for a year Appius Claudius was chosen one of the 10, and when the office was con tinned for another year he was re-elected. As he and some of his colleagues had ruled in a very tyrannical manner, the people had become incensed against them, and the following cir cumstances led to their overthrow. Appius Claudius had conceived an evil passion for a damsel named Virginia, the daughter of Lucius Virginius, a respected plebeian, and at his in stigation Marcus Claudius, one of his clients, claimed Virginia as the daughter of one of his own female slaves and offered to prove this even to the satisfaction of her reputed father, while Appius Claudius decided that in the meantime she should remain in the custody of the claimant. This decision being directly con trary to law, and Icilius and her uncle Numi torius having exposed the decemvir's criminal designs, the aspect of the people became so threatening that he was forced to leave the maiden in the hands of her family, declaring, however, that he would finally settle the case next day. Virginius, hastily summoned from
the army, appeared with his daughter next day in the forum in mourning robes and appealed to the people; but Appius Claudius, attended by a strong guard, again adjudged her to M. Claudius. Unable to rescue his daughter, the unhappy father snatched a knife from a butcher's stall and plunged it into her bosom, saying, uThere is no way but this to keep thee free.' Virginius escaped to the camp and with the army returned to Rome, demanding re venge. The decemvirs were deposed by the indignant people, and the government by tribunes and consuls restored 448 B.c. Appius Claudius died in prison or was strangled, while Marcus Claudius was banished.