Tribune of the Plebs
Lucius Icilius was a Tribune of the Plebs in 456 BC. On his proposal the public land on the Aventine Hill was parcelled out to provide dwellings for the plebs. A few years later, around 451 BC, he was betrothed to one Verginia, daughter of Lucius Verginius. The decemvir Appius Claudius Crassus lusted after her and tried to use his power to take her as his own, possibly as a slave. The ensuing struggle led to the death of Verginia at her father's hand, the arrest of Lucius Icilius and Verginius, and the overthrow of the decemvirs and the reinstatement of the Roman Republic.