ROMAN MYTHOLOGY AND SAGA^661
Rape of Lucrèce, by Reuben Nakian (1897-1986). Steel, 1953-1958; height 144 in. Nakian has
transformed conventional representations of the scene into a violent confrontation of ab-
stract forms constructed from steel plates and pipes. The intimidating figure on the left,
topped by a helmetlike shape, threatens the slighter figure on the right, who starts back
from the attacker, while she leaps (we can imagine) to the ground from her bed. Nakian's
disjointed shapes starkly express the breakdown of moral and social order represented by
the crime of Tarquinius. (Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D.C. Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1974. Photograph by Lee Stalsworth.)
it does recognize the peculiar ability of the Romans to make national heroes of
their historical figures, as Livy saw. Nevertheless, the stories of these early
Roman heroes belong more to the realm of history than to that of pure myth,
and we end our survey of Roman mythology with the end of the Roman
monarchy.^10