THE LAST THREE KINGS OF ROME, AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE REPUBLIC DOWN
TO THE BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. B.C. 616-498.
5. REIGN OF LUCIUS TARQUINIUS PRISCUS, or the ELDER TARQUIN, B.C.
616-578.--The fifth king of Rome was an Etruscan by birth, but a Greek
by descent. His father Demaratus was a wealthy citizen of Corinth, who
settled in the Etruscan city of Tarquinii, where he married an Etruscan
wife. Their son married Tanaquil, who belonged to one of the noblest
families in Tarquinii, and himself became a Lucumo or a noble in the
state. But he aspired to still higher honors; and, urged on by his wife,
who was an ambitious woman, he resolved to try his fortune at Rome.
Accordingly, he set out for this city, accompanied by a large train of
followers. When he had reached the Janiculum an eagle seized his cap,
and, after carrying it away to a great height, placed it again upon his
head. Tanaquil, who was skilled in the Etruscan science of augury, bade
her husband hope for the highest honors. Her predictions were soon
verified. He took the name of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, and gained the
favor both of Ancus Marcius and the people. Ancus appointed the stranger
guardian of his children; and, when he died, the senate and the people
unanimously elected Tarquin to the vacant throne.
The reign of Tarquin was distinguished by great exploits in war and by
great works in peace. He defeated the Sabines, and took their town
Collatia, which he placed under his nephew Egerius, who was thence
called Collatinus. He also captured many of the Latin towns, and became
the ruler of all Latium; but the important works which he executed in
peace have rendered his name still more famous. The great cloacæ, or
sewers, by which he drained the lower parts of the city, still remain,
after so many ages, with not a stone displaced. He laid out the Circus
Maximus, and instituted the great or Roman games performed in the
circus. He also made some changes in the constitution of the state. He
added to the Senate 100 new members, taken from the Luceres, the third
tribe, and called _patres minorum gentium_, to distinguish them from the
old Senators, who were now termed _patres majorum gentium_. To the three
centuries of equites established by Romulus he wished to add three new
centuries, and to call them after himself and two of his friends. But
his plan was opposed by the augur Attus Navius, who said that the gods
forbade it. The tale runs that the king, to test the augur, asked him to
divine whether what he was thinking of could be done. After consulting
the heavens, the augur replied that it could; whereupon the king said,
"I was thinking that thou shouldst cut this whetstone with a razor."
Navius, without a moment's hesitation, took a razor and cut it in twain.
In consequence of this miracle, Tarquin gave up his design of
establishing new centuries; but with each of the former centuries he
associated another under the same name, so that henceforth there were
the first and second Ramnes, Tities, and Luceres. The number of Vestal
Virgins was also increased from four to six, the two new vestals being
probably taken from the Luceres.
[Illustration: Cloaca Maxima.]
Tarquin had a favorite, Servius Tullius, said to have been the son of a
female slave taken at the capture of the Latin town Corniculum. His
infancy was marked by prodigies which foreshadowed his future greatness.
On one occasion a flame played around his head, as he was asleep,
without harming him. Tanaquil foresaw the greatness of the boy, and from
this time he was brought up as the king's child. Tarquin afterward gave
him his daughter in marriage, and left the government in his hands. But
the sons of Ancus Marcius, fearing lest Tarquin should transmit the
crown to his son-in-law, hired two countrymen to assassinate the king.
These men, feigning to have a quarrel, came before the king to have
their dispute decided, and while he was listening to the complaint of
one, the other gave him a deadly wound with his axe. But the sons of
Ancus did not reap the fruit of their crime; for Tanaquil, pretending
that the king's wound was not mortal, told them that he would soon
return, and that he had, meantime, appointed Servius to act in his
stead. Servius forthwith proceeded to discharge the duties of king,
greatly to the satisfaction of the people; and when the death of Tarquin
could no longer be concealed, he was already in firm possession of the
regal power. Tarquin had reigned thirty-eight years.
6. SERVIUS TULLIUS, B.C. 578-534.--Servius thus succeeded to the throne
without being elected by the Senate and the Assembly of the Curiæ. The
reign of this king is almost as barren of military exploits as that of
Numa. His great deeds were those of peace; and he was regarded by
posterity as the author of the later Roman constitution, just as Romulus
was of the earlier. Three important acts are assigned to Servius by
universal tradition. Of these the greatest was:
I. The reform of the Roman Constitution. In this reform his two main
objects were to give the Plebeians political rights, and to assign to
property that influence in the state which had previously belonged
exclusively to birth. To carry his purpose into effect he made a twofold
division of the Roman people, one territorial and the other according to
property.
_a._ It must be recollected that the only existing political
organization was that of the Patricians into 3 tribes, 30 curiæ, and 300
gentes; but Servius now divided the whole Roman territory into _Thirty
Tribes_, and, as this division was simply local, these tribes contained
Plebeians as well as Patricians. But, though the institution of the
Thirty Tribes gave the Plebeians a political organization, it conferred
upon them no political power, nor any right to take part in the
elections, or in the management of public affairs. At a later time the
tribes assembled in the forum for the transaction of business, and were
hence called _Comitia Tributa_. The Patricians were then excluded from
this assembly, which was summoned by the Tribunes of the Plebs, and was
entirely Plebeian.
_b._ The means by which Servius gave the Plebeians a share in the
government was by establishing a new Popular Assembly, in which
Patricians and Plebeians alike voted. It was so arranged that the
wealthiest persons, whether Patricians or Plebeians, possessed the chief
power. In order to ascertain the property of each citizen, Servius
instituted the _Census_, which was a register of Roman citizens and
their property. All Roman citizens possessing property to the amount of
12,500 asses and upward[7] were divided into five great _Classes_. The
First Class contained the richest citizens, the Second Class the next in
point of wealth, and so on. The whole arrangement was of a military
character. Each of the five Classes was divided into a certain number of
Centuries or Companies, half of which consisted of Seniores from the age
of 46 to 60, and half of Juniores from the age of 17 to 45. All the
Classes had to provide their own arms and armor, but the expense of the
equipment was in proportion to the wealth of each Class. The Five
_Classes_ formed the infantry. To these five Classes were added two
centuries of smiths and carpenters, and two of trumpeters and
horn-blowers. These four centuries voted with the Classes. Those persons
whose property did not amount to 12,500 asses were not included in the
Classes, and formed a single century.
At the head of the Classes were the Equites or cavalry. These consisted
of eighteen centuries, six being the old patrician Equites, as founded
by Romulus and augmented by Tarquinius Priscus, and the other twelve
being chosen from the chief plebeian families.[8]
The Centuries formed the new National Assembly. They mustered as an army
in the Campus Martius, or the Field of Mars, on the banks of the Tiber,
outside the city. They voted by Centuries, and were hence called the
_Comitia Centuriata_. Each Century counted as one vote, but did not
consist of the same number of men. On the contrary, in order to give the
preponderance to wealth, the first or richest class contained a far
greater number of Centuries than any of the other classes (as will be
seen from the table below), although they must at the same time have
included a much smaller number of men. The Equites and First Class alone
amounted to 100 Centuries, or more than half of the total number; so
that, if they agreed to vote the same way, they possessed at once an
absolute majority. An advantage was also given to age; for the Seniores,
though possessing an equal number of votes, must of course have been
very inferior in number to the Juniores.
Servius made the Comitia Centuriata the sovereign assembly of the
nation; and he accordingly transferred to it from the Comitia Curiata
the right of electing kings and the higher magistrates, of enacting and
repealing laws, and of deciding in cases of appeal from the sentence of
a judge. But he did not dare to abolish the old Patrician assembly, and
was even obliged to enact that no vote of the Comitia Centuriata should
be valid till it had received the sanction of the Comitia Curiata.
Thus, in consequence of the legislation, we shall find that Rome
subsequently possessed three sovereign assemblies: 1. The _Comitia
Centuriata_, consisting of both Patricians and Plebeians, and voting
according to Centuries; 2. The _Comitia Curiata_, consisting exclusively
of Patricians, and voting according to Curiæ; 3. The _Comitia Tributa_,
exclusively of Plebeians, and voting according to Tribes.
II. The second great work of Servius was the extension of the
Pomoerium, or hallowed boundary of the city, and the completion of the
city by incorporating with it the Quirinal, Viminal, and Esquiline
Hills.[9] He surrounded the whole with a stone wall, called after him
the wall of Servius Tullius; and from the Porta Collina to the Esquiline
Gate, where the hills sloped gently to the plain, he constructed a
gigantic mound nearly a mile in length, and a moat 100 feet in breadth
and 30 in depth, from which the earth of the mound was dug. Rome thus
acquired a circumference of five miles, and this continued to be the
legal extent of the city till the time of the emperors, although suburbs
were added to it.
III. An important alliance with the Latins, by which Rome and the cities
of Latium became the members of one great league, was one of the great
events which distinguished the reign of Servius.
[Illustration: Map of Rome, showing the Servian Wall and the Seven
Hills.]
Servius gave his two daughters in marriage to the two sons of Tarquinius
Priscus. Lucius, the elder, was married to a quiet and gentle wife;
Aruns, the younger, to an aspiring and ambitious woman. The character of
the two brothers was the very opposite of the wives who had fallen to
their lot; for Lucius was proud and haughty, but Aruns unambitious and
quiet. The wife of Aruns, enraged at the long life of her father, and
fearing that at his death her husband would tamely resign the
sovereignty to his elder brother, resolved to murder both her father and
husband. Her fiendish spirit put into the heart of Lucius thoughts of
crime which he had never entertained before. Lucius made way with his
wife, and the younger Tullia with her husband; and the survivors,
without even the show of mourning, were straightway joined in
unhallowed wedlock. Tullia now incessantly urged her husband to murder
her father, and thus obtain the kingdom which he so ardently coveted.
Tarquin formed a conspiracy with the Patricians, who were enraged at the
reforms of Servius; and when the plot was ripe he entered the forum
arrayed in the kingly robes, seated himself in the royal chair, in the
senate-house, and ordered the senators to be summoned to him as their
king. At the first news of the commotion Servius hastened to the
senate-house, and, standing at the doorway, bade Tarquin to come down
from the throne; but Tarquin sprang forward, seized the old man, and
flung him down the stone steps. Covered with blood, the king hastened
home; but, before he reached it, he was overtaken by the servants of
Tarquin, and murdered. Tullia drove to the senate-house and greeted her
husband as king; but her transports of joy struck even him with horror.
He bade her go home; and, as she was returning, her charioteer pulled up
and pointed out the corpse of her father lying in his blood across the
road. She commanded him to drive on; the blood of her father spirted
over the carriage and on her dress; and from that day forward the place
bore the name of the Wicked Street. The body lay unburied; for Tarquin
said, scoffingly, "Romulus too went without burial;" and this impious
mockery is said to have given rise to his surname of Superbus, or the
Proud. Servius had reigned forty-four years.
7. Reign of LUCIUS TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS, or, THE PROUD, B.C.
534-510.--Tarquin commenced his reign without any of the forms of
election. One of his first acts was to abolish all the privileges which
had been conferred upon the Plebeians by Servius. He also compelled the
poor to work at miserable wages upon his magnificent buildings, and the
hardships which they suffered were so great that many put an end to
their lives. But he did not confine his oppressions to the poor. All the
senators and patricians whom he mistrusted, or whose wealth he coveted,
were put to death or driven into exile. He surrounded himself with a
body-guard, by whose means he was enabled to carry out his designs. But,
although a tyrant at home, he raised the state to great influence and
power among the surrounding nations, partly by his alliances and partly
by his conquests. He gave his daughter in marriage to Octavius Mamilius,
of Tusculum, the most powerful of the Latins, by whose means he acquired
great influence in Latium. Any Latin chiefs like Turnus Herdonius, who
attempted to resist him, were treated as traitors, and punished with
death. At the solemn meeting of the Latins at the Alban Mount, Tarquin
sacrificed the bull on behalf of all the allies, and distributed the
flesh to the people of the league.
Strengthened by this Latin alliance, Tarquin turned his arms against the
Volscians. He took the wealthy town of Suessa Pometia, with the spoils
of which he commenced the erection of a magnificent temple on the
Capitoline Hill, which his father had vowed. This temple was dedicated
to the three gods of the Latin and Etruscan religions, Jupiter, Juno,
and Minerva. A human head (_caput_), fresh, bleeding and undecayed, is
said to have been found by the workmen as they were digging the
foundations, and being accepted as a sign that the place was destined to
become the head of the world, the name of CAPITOLIUM was given to the
temple, and thence to the hill. In a stone vault beneath were deposited
the Sibylline books, containing obscure and prophetic sayings. One day a
Sibyl, a prophetess from Cumæ, appeared before the king and offered to
sell him nine books. Upon his refusing to buy them she went away and
burned three, and then demanded the same sum for the remaining six as
she had asked for the nine. But the king laughed, whereupon she again
burnt three and then demanded the same sum as before for the remaining
three. Wondering at this strange conduct, the king purchased the books.
They were placed under the care of two patricians, and were consulted
when the state was in danger.
Tarquin next attacked Gabii, one of the Latin cities, which refused to
enter into the league. Unable to take the city by force, he had recourse
to stratagem. His son, Sextus, pretending to be ill, treated by his
father, and covered with the bloody marks of stripes, fled to Gabii. The
infatuated inhabitants intrusted him with the command of their troops;
and when he had obtained the unlimited confidence of the citizens, he
sent a messenger to his father to inquire how he should deliver the city
into his hands. The king, who was walking in his garden when the
messenger arrived, made no reply, but kept striking off the heads of the
tallest poppies with his stick. Sextus took the hint. He put to death or
banished, on false charges, all the leading men of the place, and then
had no difficulty in compelling it to submit to his father.
In the midst of his prosperity Tarquin was troubled by a strange
portent. A serpent crawled out from the altar in the royal palace, and
seized on the entrails of the victim. The king, in fear, sent his two
sons, Titus and Aruns, to consult the oracle at Delphi. They were
accompanied by their cousin L. Junius Brutus. One of the sisters of
Tarquin had been married to M. Brutus, a man of great wealth, who died,
leaving two sons under age.[10] Of these the elder was killed by
Tarquin, who coveted their possessions; the younger escaped his
brother's fate only by feigning idiotcy. On arriving at Delphi, Brutus
propitiated the priestess with the gift of a golden stick inclosed in a
hollow staff. After executing the king's commission, Titus and Aruns
asked the priestess who was to reign at Rome after their father. The
priestess replied, whichsoever should first kiss his mother. The princes
agreed to keep the matter secret from Sextus, who was at Rome, and to
cast lots between themselves. Brutus, who better understood the meaning
of the oracle, fell, as if by chance, when they quitted the temple, and
kissed the earth, the mother of them all.
Soon afterward Tarquin laid siege to Ardea, a city of the Rutulians. The
place could not be taken by force, and the Roman army lay encamped
beneath the walls. Here, as the king's sons, and their cousin Tarquinius
Collatinus, were feasting together, a dispute arose about the virtue of
their wives. As nothing was doing in the field, they mounted their
horses to visit their homes by surprise. They first went to Rome, where
they surprised the king's daughters at a splendid banquet. They then
hastened to Collatia, and there, though it was late in the night, they
found Lucretia, the wife of Collatinus, spinning amid her handmaids. The
beauty and virtue of Lucretia excited the evil passions of Sextus. A few
days after he returned to Collatia, where he was hospitably received by
Lucretia as her husband's kinsman. In the dead of night he entered her
chamber with a drawn sword, threatening that, if she did not yield to
his desires, he would kill her and lay by her side a slave with his
throat cut, and would declare that he had killed them both taken in
adultery. Fear of such a shame forced Lucretia to consent; but, as soon
as Sextus had departed, she sent for her husband and father. Collatinus
came, accompanied by L. Brutus, her father, Lucretius, brought with him
P. Valerius. They found her in an agony of sorrow. She told them what
had happened, enjoined them to avenge her dishonor, and then stabbed
herself to the heart. They all swore to avenge her. Brutus threw off his
assumed stupidity, and placed himself at their head. They carried the
corpse into the market-place of Collatia. There the people took up arms,
and renounced the Tarquins. A number of young men attended the funeral
procession to Rome. Brutus summoned the people, and related the deed of
shame. All classes were inflamed with the same indignation. A decree was
passed deposing the king, and banishing him and his family from the
city. Brutus now set out for the army at Ardea. Tarquinius meantime had
hastened to Rome, but found the gates closed against him. Brutus was
received with joy at Ardea; and the army renounced their allegiance to
the tyrant. Tarquin, with his two sons, Titus and Aruns, took refuge at
Cæré, in Etruria. Sextus fled to Gabii, where he was shortly after
murdered by the friends of those whom he had put to death.
Tarquin had reigned 22 years when he was driven out of Rome. In memory
of this event an annual festival was celebrated on the 24th of February,
called the _Regifugium_ or _Fugalia_.
THE REPUBLIC.--Thus ended monarchy at Rome. Tarquin the Proud had made
the name of king so hateful that the people resolved to intrust the
kingly power to two men, who were only to hold office for a year. In
later times they were called _Consuls_, but at their first institution
they were named _Prætors_. They were elected by the Comitia Curiata, and
possessed the same honors as the king had had. The first consuls were L.
Brutus and Tarquinius Collatinus (B.C. 509). But the people so hated the
very name and race of Tarquin, that Collatinus was obliged to resign his
office and retire from Rome. P. Valerius was elected consul in his
place.
Meantime embassadors came to Rome from Tarquin, asking that his private
property should be given up to him. The demand seemed just to the Senate
and the People; but, while the embassadors were making preparation for
carrying away the property, they formed a conspiracy among the young
Roman nobles for the restoration of the royal family. The plot was
discovered by means of a slave, and among the conspirators were found
the two sons of Brutus himself. But the consul would not pardon his
guilty children, and ordered the lictors[11] to put them to death with
the other traitors. The agreement to surrender the property was made
void by this attempt at treason. The royal goods were given up to the
people to plunder.
As the plot had failed, Tarquin now endeavored to recover the throne by
arms. The people of Tarquinii and Veii espoused the cause of their
Etruscan kinsmen, and marched against Rome. The two Consuls advanced to
meet them. When Aruns, the king's son, saw Brutus at the head of the
Roman cavalry, he spurred his horse to the charge. Brutus did not shrink
from the combat; and both fell from their horses mortally wounded by
each other's spears. A desperate battle between the two armies now
followed. Both parties claimed the victory, till a voice was heard in
the dead of night, proclaiming that the Romans had conquered, as the
Etruscans had lost one man more. Alarmed at this, the Etruscans fled;
and Valerius, the surviving Consul, returned to Rome, carrying with him
the dead body of Brutus. The matrons mourned for Brutus a whole year,
because he had revenged the death of Lucretia.
This was the first war for the restoration of Tarquin.
Valerius was now left without a colleague; and as he began to build a
house on the top of the hill Velia, which looked down upon the forum,
the people feared that he was aiming at kingly power. Thereupon Valerius
not only pulled down the house, but, calling an assembly of the people,
he ordered the lictors to lower the fasces before them, as an
acknowledgment that their power was superior to his. He likewise brought
forward a law enacting that every citizen who was condemned by a
magistrate should have a right of appeal to the people. Valerius became,
in consequence, so popular that he received the surname of _Publicola_,
or "The People's Friend."
Valerius then summoned an assembly for the election of a successor to
Brutus, and Sp. Lucretius was chosen. Lucretius, however, lived only a
few days, and M. Horatius was elected consul in his place. It was
Horatius who had the honor of consecrating the temple on the Capitol,
which Tarquin had left unfinished when he was driven from the throne.
The second year of the republic (B.C. 508) witnessed the second attempt
of Tarquin to recover the crown. He now applied for help to Lars
Porsena, the powerful ruler of the Etruscan town of Clusium, who marched
against Rome at the head of a vast army. The Romans could not meet him
in the field; and Porsena seized without opposition the Janiculum, a
hill immediately opposite the city, and separated from it only by the
Tiber. Rome was now in the greatest danger, and the Etruscans would have
entered the city by the Sublician bridge had not Horatius Cocles, with
two comrades, kept the whole Etruscan army at bay while the Romans broke
down the bridge behind him. When it was giving way he sent back his two
companions, and withstood alone the attacks of the foe till the cracks
of the falling timbers and the shouts of his countrymen told him that
the bridge had fallen. Then praying, "O Father Tiber, take me into thy
charge and bear me up!" he plunged into the stream and swam across in
safety, amid the arrows of the enemy. The state raised a statue in his
honor, and allowed him as much land as he could plow round in one day.
Few legends are more celebrated in Roman history than this gallant deed
of Horatius, and Roman writers loved to tell
"How well Horatius kept the bridge
In the brave days of old."
The Etruscans now proceeded to lay siege to the city, which soon began
to suffer from famine. Thereupon a young Roman, named C. Mucius,
resolved to deliver his country by murdering the invading king. He
accordingly went over to the Etruscan camp; but, ignorant of the person
of Porsena, killed the royal secretary instead. Seized and threatened
with torture, he thrust his right hand into the fire on the altar, and
there let it burn, to show how little he heeded pain. Astonished at his
courage, the king bade him depart in peace; and Mucius, out of
gratitude, advised him to make peace with Rome, since three hundred
noble youths, he said, had sworn to take the life of the king, and he
was the first upon whom the lot had fallen. Mucius was henceforward
called Scævola, or the _Left-handed_, because his right hand had been
burnt off. Porsena, alarmed for his life, which he could not secure
against so many desperate men, forthwith offered peace to the Romans on
condition of their restoring to the Veientines the land which they had
taken from them. These terms were accepted, and Porsena withdrew his
troops from the Janiculum after receiving ten youths and ten maidens as
hostages from the Romans. Cloelia, one of the maidens, escaped from
the Etruscan camp, and swam across the Tiber to Rome. She was sent back
by the Romans to Porsena, who was so amazed at her courage that he not
only set her at liberty, but allowed her to take with her those of the
hostages whom she pleased.
Thus ended the second attempt to restore the Tarquins by force.[12]
After Porsena quitted Rome, Tarquin took refuge with his son-in-law,
Octavius Mamilius, of Tusculum. The thirty Latin cities now espoused the
cause of the exiled king, and declared war against Rome. The contest was
decided by the battle of the Lake Regillus, which was long celebrated
in Roman story, and the account of which resembles one of the battles in
the Iliad. The Romans were commanded by the Dictator,[13] A. Postumius,
and by T. Æbutius, the Master of the Horse; at the head of the Latins
were Tarquin and Octavius Mamilius. The struggle was fierce and bloody,
but the Latins at length fled. Almost all the chiefs on either side fell
in the conflict, or were grievously wounded. Titus, the son of Tarquin,
was killed; and the aged king was wounded, but escaped with his life. It
was related in the old tradition that the Romans gained this battle by
the assistance of the gods Castor and Pollux, who were seen charging the
Latins at the head of the Roman cavalry, and who afterward carried to
Rome the tidings of the victory. A temple was built in the forum on the
spot where they appeared, and their festival was celebrated yearly.
This was the third and last attempt to restore the Tarquins. The Latins
were completely humbled by this victory. Tarquinius Superbus had no
other state to which he could apply for assistance. He had already
survived all his family; and he now fled to Cumæ, where he died a
wretched and childless old man (B.C. 496).
[Illustration: Coin representing the children of Brutus led to death by
Lictors.]
[Footnote 7: The _As_ was originally a pound weight of copper of 12
ounces.]
[Footnote 8: The following table will show the census of each class, and
the number of centuries which each contained:
_Equites._--Centuriæ 18
_First Class._--Census 100,000 asses and upward.
Centuriæ Seniorum 40 \
Centuriæ Juniorum 40 > 82
Centuriæ Fabrum (smiths and carpenters) 2 /
_Second Class._--Census, 75,000 asses and upward.
Centuriæ Seniorum 10 \
Centuriæ Juniorum 10 / 20
_Third Class._--Census, 50,000 asses and upward.
Centuriæ Seniorum 10 \
Centuriæ Juniorum 10 / 20
_Fourth Class._--Census, 25,000 asses and upward.
Centuriæ Seniorum 10 \
Centuriæ Juniorum 10 / 20
_Fifth Class._--Census, 12,500 asses and upward.
Centuriæ Seniorum 15 \
Centuriæ Juniorum 15 > 32
Centuriæ cornicinum, tubicinum 2 /
Centuriæ capita censorum 1
---
Sum total of the centuriæ 198
]
[Footnote 9: The celebrated seven hills upon which Rome stood were the
Palatine, Aventine, Capitoline, Cælian, Quirinal, Viminal, and
Esquilian. The Mons Pincius was not included within the Servian Wall.]
[Footnote 10: The following genealogical table exhibits the relationship
of the family:
Demaratus of Corinth.
|
----------------------------------------
| |
TARQUINIUS PRISCUS. Aruns.
| |
-------------------------------------------- |
| | | | |
Tarquinia, Tarquinia, L. TARQUINIUS Aruns. Egerius,
married married SUPERBUS. commander of
Servius Tullius. M. Brutus. | Collatia.
| | |
----------------- ------------------ |
| | | | | |
M. Brutus, L. Brutus, Titus. Sextus. Aruns. Tarquinius
put to the Collatinus,
death by Consul. married
Tarquinius. Lucretia.
]
[Footnote 11: The _Lictors_ were public officers who attended upon the
Roman magistrate. Each consul had twelve lictors. They carried upon
their shoulders _fasces_, which were rods bound in the form of a bundle,
and containing an axe in the middle.]
[Footnote 12: There is, however, reason to believe that these brilliant
stories conceal one of the earliest and greatest disasters of the city.
It appears that Rome was really conquered by Porsena, and lost all the
territory which the kings had gained on the right side of the Tiber.
Hence we find the thirty tribes, established by Servius Tullius, reduced
to twenty after the war with Porsena.]
[Footnote 13: The _Dictator_ was an extraordinary magistrate appointed
by one of the Consuls in seasons of great peril. He possessed absolute
power. Twenty-four lictors attended him, bearing the axes in the fasces,
even in the city; and from his decision there was no appeal. He could
not hold the office longer than six months, and he usually laid it down
much sooner. He appointed a _Magister Equitum_, or Master of the Horse,
who acted as his lieutenant. From the time of the appointment of the
Dictator, all the other magistrates, even the Consuls, ceased to
exercise any power.]
[Illustration: The Campagna of Rome.]