Collatinus, a Roman nobleman, leaves his wife. Lucrece, to join his Emperor, Tarquin the Superb, at the siege of Ardea. During a lull in the siege, Sextus, son of Tarquin, suggests to several companions that they should ride to Rome and surprise their wives. They find their wives in the midst of revelry, wining and dining and disporting themselves most hilariously. They are evidently not thinking of the perils of their honorable husbands at the scenes of war. Lucrece of all the wives is absent. They find her amongst her maids, busy at her spinning-wheel. Her calm and serene beauty deeply impresses Sextus. Her image so preys upon his mind, that, after the men have returned to their camp, Sextus rides back to the house of Lucrece. He pretends to bring news of her husband. It is necessary that Lucrece show hospitality to her royal guest. He wines more than he dines and becomes riotous and insulting in his familiarities, whereupon Lucrece leaves him and goes to her honorable couch. In the night Sextus arises from his bed. His mind inflamed with wine, he steals to the door of Lucrece's room. Before daybreak Sextus flees from the house. Later in the morning, Lucrece, having sent to her father's house for Brutus, one of her husband's kinsmen, tells him of the visit of Sextus. With life then no longer holding sweetness for her, her honor taken from her, she takes her dagger and plunges it into her ravished breast. Snatching the dagger from the wound, which still flowed red from the cold bosom of the dead and outraged wife, Brutus calls upon the crowd to follow him. They raise a revolt to restore the republic and do away with the monarchy. Written by Moving Picture World synopsis

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