LIBERTAS (509 BC): the end of the kings

A ready-to-teach lesson built around our anthem: the song with its Latin and English lyrics, vocabulary, grammar, questions with an answer key and a legend or history activity. Free to print and use.

Print this packOpen the videoThe story page

Note for teachers. The story includes the assault on Lucretia and her death (Livy 1.57 to 1.59). The song refers to it only briefly and with restraint, and this pack does not dwell on it. Prepare your class as you would for any serious historical text; the history version can focus on the oath, the exile and the first consuls.

At a glance

Lesson plan (Latin class)

1. Warm-up (5 min). Ask: what is the difference between a king and an elected leader? Who decides how long they rule?
2. First listen (5 min). Play the video with its on-screen lyrics. Task: catch the word the chorus shouts, and the name of the king.
3. Vocabulary (8 min). The words below, starting from their English children.
4. Read the lyrics in pairs (10 min). Pairs answer comprehension questions 1 to 6.
5. Grammar spotlight (7 min). Brutus speaks in the first person: iuro, facio, exigam.
6. Real or legend? (7 min). Read the teacher box; the class sorts the statements.
7. Civics discussion (5 min). Imperia legum potentiora quam hominum: what does it mean that laws are stronger than people?

Grammar spotlight

• First person singular: iuro (I swear), facio (I make: testes facio, I call as witnesses). Ask: which letter ends them? (-o = I.)
• Future tense: exigam (I will drive out, from exigo) and habebit (he will hold) in the prologue, the oracle's words in Livy 1.56.10.
• Comparison: imperia legum potentiora quam hominum (Livy 2.1.1): the commands of laws, more powerful than those of men. potentior = more powerful; quam = than.
• Challenge (Latin II): in forum curritur, literally it is run into the Forum, meaning everyone runs to the Forum: an impersonal passive.

Real or legend? (teacher box)

• History in outline: Rome did end its monarchy around 509 BC and replaced the king with two magistrates elected for one year at a time.
• Roman tradition, written centuries later: Lucretia's story, Brutus playing the fool, the golden staff hidden in cornel wood and the kiss of the earth (Livy 1.56 to 1.59), and Brutus judging his own sons (Livy 2.5). The 244 years of kings (Livy 1.60.3) is a traditional count, not a record.
• From the sources: Brutus and Arruns, the king's son, kill each other in single combat, each spear going through the other's shield (Livy 2.6.9), and the Roman matrons mourn Brutus for a year like a father (Livy 2.7.4).

Answer key

History class version (no Latin needed)

Use the English column. Focus on the oath, the exile of the king, the first consuls and the rule of law. Discussion: many later republics borrowed Roman ideas such as elected officials, fixed terms and laws above any one person. Which of these do you see in your own country?

Standards

Standards for Classical Language Learning (2017): Communication (reading and listening to Latin) · Cultures (the Roman Republic, the oath) · Connections (civics, government) · Comparisons (English derivatives; kings and elected leaders) · Communities (where the rule of law matters today).

Sources

Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.56 to 1.60 and 2.1 to 2.7; National Latin Exam syllabus 2025 (nle.org).

Free classroom resource from Anthems Of Empires · anthemsofempires.com · YouTube: youtube.com/@AnthemsOfEmpires. Free to use, print, copy and adapt for teaching. We would be honoured if you keep this line. The song and video are made with AI and directed by humans; the lyrics follow Livy and were checked against the Latin text.