Davin Unger

Rhetoric

Recitation 4

Narrative Exercise

September 5, 2023

Word Count: 326

 

A condemned priestess survived a fall from the Tarpeian Rock, and now some people insist she be thrown off again.

 

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            It was a moonless night over Rome, at that time of night known variously as the dead of night, the witching hour, midnight, a time when reputations are tainted and promises broken. On this particular night, a lone priestess named Julia was burning incense in the Temple of Vesta, a seductive aroma filled the warm air overcoming her senses, her thoughts drifting from holy devotion toward carnal passion, her mind strayed this way and that until at last, she gave in. Leaving the temple she crept silently through the shadows, tip toeing unseen along the bare streets until she approached the house of a certain merchant well known throughout Rome, for his scandalous associations. As she approached the courtyard, a man met her, the two whispered for a moment, embraced, and hurried into the house unnoticed (or so they thought). When the crimson rays of dawn stained the ivory walls of the temple, a detachment of guards, having been informed of Julia's activities, surrounded the house, broke down the door, seized the profane priestess, and brought her before the local magistrates to be tried. She was convicted at once upon the testimony of six temple guards and by her own bitter admission. Needless to say, she was condemned, and sentenced to be thrown from the Tarpeian Rock, such is the law for all who defile the sacred places with unchaste deeds. The next day she was brought to the rock kicking and swearing and spitting and screaming until the men seized her by her arms and legs (as best they could) and hurled from the precipice. Her shrill screams were hushed at once, but when the men went to collect her lifeless body, they were astonished to find that she was still breathing, that in fact the Tarpeian Rock, had failed to end her life.