a. [f. L. Tarpei-us, or ad. L. Tarpeiān-us adj., f. proper name Tarpeius or Tarpeia.] Denoting a rock-face on the Capitoline Hill at Rome over which persons convicted of treason to the state were thrown headlong.
1600. Marlowe, Lucan, I.
| Thou thunderer that guardst | |
| Roomes mighty walles built on Tarpeian rocke. |
1607. Shaks., Cor., III. i. 213. Beare him toth’ Rock Tarpeian, and from thence Into destruction cast him. Ibid., III. iii. 88. Let them pronounce the steepe Tarpeian death.
1671. Milton, P. R., IV. 47.
| There the Capitol thou seest | |
| Above the rest lifting his stately head | |
| On the Tarpeian rock, her Cittadel | |
| Impregnable. |
1746. Francis, trans. Hor. Sat. I. vi. 51. From the Tarpeian rock’s tremendous height, Or to the hangman Cadmus give their fate.
1843. Macaulay, Horatius, xvi. Now, from the rock Tarpeian, Could the wan burghers spy The line of blazing villages.
1921. Kenneth Campbell, John Masterson, xi. 6.
| Long, long ago some troglodyte, | |
| … hurled the ape | |
| Tarpeian over. |
