Two years were spent by this commission, and upon their return in 452 the above mentioned Decemvirate was appointed.
The laws drawn up by this board were approved, engraved on ten tables of copper, and placed in the Forum in front of the Senate-House.

Two more tables were added the next year.

These TWELVE TABLES were the only Roman code.
The DECEMVIRI should have resigned as soon as these laws were approved, but they neglected to do so, and began to act in a cruel and tyrannical manner.

The people, growing uneasy under their injustice, finally rebelled when one of the Decemviri, Appius Claudius, passed a sentence that brought an innocent maiden, Virginia, into his power.

Her father, Virginius, saved his daughter's honor by stabbing her to the heart, and fleeing to the camp called upon the soldiers to put down such wicked government.
A second time the army deserted its leaders, and seceded to the SACRED MOUNT, where they nominated their own Tribunes.