An ancient tribe from the mountainous region of central Italy, the Sabines frequently were at war with the early Romans, until they finally were subdued and granted full citizenship in 268 BC. This amalgamation of Latin and Sabine stock has its legendary explanation in the rape of the Sabine women.
Livy (I.11) and Plutarch (Life of Romulus, XVII) both tell the story of Tarpeia, daughter of the commander of the Roman citadel, who, tricked by the Sabines with the promise to be given whatever was on their left arm, opened the gates to the Capitoline Hill and admitted the enemy into the Roman camp. But, instead of the gold bracelets that she expected, the hapless girl was crushed under the shields they carried. Thrown from what later came to be called the Tarpeian Rock, her fate became that of all those condemned of capital crimes.
Portrayed as well by Bolgna, Poussin, and Rubens, this detail from David (1799) conveys a later scene, after the abduction, when the Sabine women, now grown fond their husbands and the mother of their children, intervene when their male relatives attack the Romans, pleading with both sides to make peace.
