12 Tablets and the 10 Men (Decemviri)

The end of the Roman monarchy followed the rape and suicide of Lucretia. The end of the Decemvirate, the 10 men who held themselves above the law, ended following the attempted rape of Verginia by Appius Claudius. Her father killed her rather than let her be dishonored. This led to a new secession of the plebs and soon the overthrow of the second Decemvirate. Livy tells the story of Verginia, but its parallel to the earlier rape seems too perfect to be true and the attitude of late Republican writers -- like Cicero -- to the Claudii may have had something to do with story.
12 Tablets and the 10 Men (Decemviri)
Clodius (Claudius) Pulcher
Condensed story of the rape of Verginia