Tarquin the Proud - Tarquinius Superbus

Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquin the Proud) was the seventh king of Rome. His youngest son, Sextus Tarquinius, fell in love with Lucretia, the wife of his second cousin, Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus.

When she refused his advances, he threatened to kill her and then put a dead slave in bed with her to make it look as if she had been caught in adultery. She gave way under this threat to her reputation, and then after Sextus had left, sent for her husband and father, who were away with the troops fighting a war. She told them something terrible had happened and to each bring a friend as a witness. Her father brought Publius Valerius and her husband brought Lucius Junius Brutus, the king's nephew. (510 BC)

Lucretia told them what had happened and then stabbed herself before their eyes. Brutus vowed vengeance on Tarquin and his children, and led the citizens in deposing the king and exiling the royal family. Rather than appoint a new king, the Romans instituted a republic with Brutus and Collatinus as the first consuls.