COLATYN. Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus is regarded by Roman tradition as the founder of the republic and one of the first consuls of Rome for 509 B.C. During a lull in the siege of Ardea in 510 B.C., Collatinus boasted at supper of the beauty and virtue of his wife Lucretia, and to prove his words, took his cousin Tarquinius Superbus and other men to visit Lucretia in Collatia. Tarquinius was inflamed by her beauty and returned stealthily the following night. She welcomed him as a relative, and during the night he raped her at knifepoint. Lucretia sent for Collatinus and her father, told them what had happened, and then committed suicide. Legend tells that this was the cause of the expulsion of the Tarquins from Rome (Fasti II.685-852).

Colatyn, Lucretia's husband, says that his wife is thought good by all who know her, LGW 1706-1710. He takes Tarquinius to his house, and they watch Lucretia from a spot where she cannot see them, LGW 1712-1720. Then Colatyn makes himself known, and Lucretia receives them, LGW 1739-1744. The next night Tarquinius rides to Colatyn's house, LGW 1775-1778. Robinson (850) notes that Colatyn is not directly named in Ovid's account, while Shannon, on the basis of the word Collatina, discounts the use of Ovid, although Chaucer names him as one of his sources. Frazer notes variant readings for Fasti I.787, and points out that Collatini is the name in six of the best manuscripts. [Brutus²: Lucrece: Tarquinius]

Colatyn, the English contraction for Latin Collatinus, occurs twice in medial positions, LGW 1705, 1778; and twice in final rhyming position, LGW 1714, 1740. Colatynes, the ME genitive case, occurs in LGW 1713. Colatinus means in Latin "of Collatia," a town in Latium, and denotes that part of the Tarquin family native to Collatia.