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APIUS. Apius Claudius felt savage lust for Verginia, a maiden who lived with her father Verginius. He hired a villain, Marcus Claudius, to swear in his court that Verginia was Claudius's slave, taken from him by Verginius. Apius intended to award Verginia to Claudius, who would then give her to Apius (Livy, Ab urbe condita liber III.xliv-lviii). Livy places the story in 449 B.C. Jean de Meun tells the story to illustrate that judges too often commit outrages: Appius hires a sergeant, Claudius, to lie in court that Virginia is his slave, RR 5589-5634. Gower's version shows Apius as governor and king of Rome; he plots with his brother Marcus Claudius to summon Virginia to court while her father fights at the front, Confessio Amantis, VII.5131-5306.

Chaucer follows Livy and Jean de Meun in making Apius a judge in The Physician's Tale. The people imprison him after Virginia's death, and he slays himself. [Claudius2: Livius: Virginia: Virginius]

The form Apius indicates a long initial vowel, in contrast with Livy's Appius, where the doubled consonant indicates a short initial vowel. The name never occurs initially; it appears three times in medial positions, PhysT 128, 227, 267; and four times in final rhyming position, PhysT 154, 204, 265, 270.


John Gower, The Complete Works, ed. G.C. Macaulay, III: 377-382; Livy, Ab urbe condita libri, ed. and trans. B.O. Foster, II: 142-199; RR, ed. E. Langlois, II: 263-265; RR, trans. C. Dahlberg, 114.
From CHAUCER NAME DICTIONARY
Copyright © 1988, 1996 Jacqueline de Weever
Published by Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London.

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