This telleth how—the judgment given—
Virginius unto madness driven,
Strake off his well-loved daughter’s head,
Though to her life his life was wed,
Preferring rather that his child
Should die unstained than live defiled;
Then the sad head to Appius sent,
Who met his well-earned chastisement.
How Emperor Nero, in his mad
And cruel unchecked fury, bade
In daylight clear, before his eyes,
His minions to anatomise
His mother living, and the spot
Disclose where he was erst begot.
