BACKGROUND. The scene is set circa 509 B.C. outside Ardea, chief town of the Rutuli, which was approximately 30 miles from
Rome. It is currently under siege by a Roman force sent by Tarquinius
Superbus (the last in the line of monarchs who ruled Rome in the
6th-century). With the besieging army were Sextus Tarquinius,
son of the king, and Tarquinius Collatinus, cousin of Sextus and
husband of Lucretia.
“As usually happens more often in the course of a long, rather
than a hotly-contested war, furloughs were granted rather freely
in the permanent camp: more so to the leaders, however, than to
the rank and file. Indeed, the young princes wiled away their
leisure hours with each other in parties and drinking bouts…”