Her mother died, and left me to a charge
Of double duty bound,—how she hath been
My pondered thought by day, my dream by night,
My prayer, my vow, my offering, my praise,
My sweet companion, pupil, tutor, child!—
Thou wouldst not wonder that my drowning eye
And choking utterance upbraid my tongue
That tells thee she is thine!"
The plot progresses, and the air is thick with the clamor and strife of Rome, the hates of parties and the reverberation of war. Virginius is called to a distance with the army. His daughter is left under the guardianship of her uncle. One day the lustful Appius has a sight of her passing in the street.
"Her young beauty,