A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Chiomara
CHIOMARA,
The heroic wife of Ortiagon, a Gaulish prince, equally celebrated for her beauty and her chastity. During the war between the Romans and the Gauls, B. C. 186, the latter were entirely defeated on Mount Olympus. Chiomara, among many other ladies, was taken prisoner, and committed to the chaise of a centurion. This centurion, not being able to overcome the chastity of the princess by persuasion, employed force; and then, to make her amends, offered her her liberty, for an Attic talent. To conceal his design from the other Romans, he allowed her to send a slave of her own, who was among the prisoners, to her relations, and assigned a place near the river where she could be exchanged for the gold.
She was carried there the next night by the centurion, and found there two relations of her own, with the money. While the centurion was weighing it, Chiomara, speaking in her own tongue, commanded her friends to kill him, which they did. Then cutting off his head herself, she carried it under her robe to her husband, Ortiagon, who had returned home after the defeat of his troops. As soon as she came into his presence she threw the head at his feet. Surprised at such a sight, he asked whose head it was, and what had induced her to do a deed so uncommon with her sex? Blushing, but at the same time expressing her fierce indignation, she declared the outrage that had been done her, and the revenge she had taken. During the remainder of her life, she strenuously retained her purity of manners, and was ever treated with great respect.