3. To this Icilius consented; but he delayed giving bail, pretending that he could not procure it readily, and in the mean time he sent off a secret message to the camp on Algidus to inform Virginius of what had happened. As soon as the bail was given, Appius also sent a message to the decemvirs in command of that army, ordering them to refuse leave of absence to Virginius. But when this last message arrived, Virginius was already half-way on his road to Rome; for the distance was not more than twenty miles, and he had started at nightfall.
4. Next morning early, Virginius entered the forum leading his daughter by the hand, both clad in mean attire. A great number of friends and matrons attended him; and he went about among the people entreating them to support him against the tyranny of Appius. So, when Appius came to take his place on the judgment-seat, he found the forum full of people, all friendly to Virginius and his cause. But he inherited the boldness as well as the vices of his sires, and though he saw Virginius standing there, ready to prove that he was the maiden's father, he at once gave judgment against his own law, that Virginia should be given up to M. Claudius, till it should be proved that she was free. The wretch came up to seize her, and the lictors kept the people from him. Virginius now despairing of deliverance, begged Appius to allow him to ask the maiden whether she were indeed his daughter or no. "If," said he, "I find I am not her father, I shall bear her loss the lighter." Under this pretense, he drew her aside to a spot upon the northern side of the forum (afterward called the Novæ Tabernæ), and here, snatching up a knife from a butcher's stall, he cried: "In this way only can I keep thee free!" and, so saying, stabbed her to the heart.
5. Then he turned to the tribunal, and said: "On thee, Appius, and on thy head be this blood." Appius cried out to sieze "the murderer"; but the crowd made way for Virginius, and he passed through them holding up the bloody knife, and went out at the gate, and made straight for the army. There, when the soldiers had heard his tale, they at once abandoned their decemviral generals, and marched to Rome. They were soon followed by the other army from the Sabine frontier; for to them Icilius had gone, and Numitorius; and they found willing ears among the men. So the two armies joined their banners, elected new generals, and encamped upon the Aventine hill, the quarter of the plebeians.