lady of the place, and she became the mother of a son, Lucomo. When
this young man grew up, he found that, though a native of the city, he
was looked upon as a foreigner on his father's account, and that,
though he belonged to a family of the highest rank and wealth through
his mother's connections, he was excluded from political power and
influence. He had inherited the love of authority that had possessed
his father's ancestors, and as his father had migrated from home to
gain peace, he felt no reluctance in leaving Tarquinii in the hope of
gaining the power he thought his wealth and pedigree entitled him to.
There was no more attractive field for his ambition than Rome
presented, and Lucomo probably knew that that city had been from its
very foundation an asylum for strangers. Thither, therefore, he decided
to take himself.
We can imagine the removal, as the long procession of chariots and
footmen slowly passed over the fifty miles that separated Tarquinii
from Rome. Just above Civita Vecchia you may see on your modern map of
Italy a town called Corneto, and a mile from that, perhaps, another
named Turchina, which is all that remains of the old town in which
Lucomo lived. Even now relics of the Tarquinians are found there, and
there are many in the museums of Europe that illustrate the ancient
civilization of the Etruscans, which was greater at this time than that
of the Romans. On his journey Lucomo was himself seated in a chariot
with his wife Tanaquil, whom he seems to have honored very highly, and
the long train of followers stretched behind them. It represented all
that great wealth directed by considerable cultivation could purchase,
and must have formed an imposing sight. Rome was approached from the
south side of the Tiber, by the way of the Janiculum Hill and over the
wooden bridge.
When the emigrants reached the Janiculum, and saw the hills and the
modest temples of Rome before them, an eagle, symbol of royalty, flew
down, and gently stooping, took off Lucomo's cap. Then, after having
flown around the chariot with loud screams, it replaced it, and was
soon lost again in the blue heavens. It was as though it had been sent
by the gods to encourage the strangers to expect good fortune in their
new home. Tanaquil, who was well versed in the augury of her
countrymen, embraced her husband; told him from what divinity the eagle
had come, and from what auspicious quarter of the heavens; and said
that it had performed its message about the highest part of the body,
which was in itself prophetic of good.
Considerable impression must have been made upon the subjects of Ancus
Martius as the distinguished stranger and his long suite entered the
city over the bridge, and when Lucomo bought a fine house, and showed
himself affable and courteous, he was received with a cordial welcome,
and soon admitted to the rights of a Roman citizen. Seldom had the town
received so acceptable an addition to its population. Lucomo soon
changed his name to Lucius Tarquinius, and to this, in after years,
when there were two of the same family name, the word Priscus, or
Elder, was added. Tarquinius, as we may now call him, flattered the
Romans by invitations to his hospitable mansion, where his
entertainments added greatly to his popularity, and in time Ancus
himself heard of his acts of kindness, and added his name to the list
of the new citizen's intimate friends. Tarquinius was admitted by the
king to private as well as public deliberations about matters of
foreign and domestic importance, and doubtless his knowledge of other
countries stood him in good stead on these occasions.
The stranger had taken the king and people by storm, and when Ancus
died, he left his sons to the guardianship of Tarquinius, and the
Populus Romanus chose him to be their king. Thus Rome came to have at
the head of its affairs a man not a Roman nor a Sabine, but a citizen
of Greek extraction, who was familiar with a much higher state of
civilization than was known on the banks of the Tiber. The result is
seen in the great strides in advance that the city took during his
reign. The architectural grandeur of Rome dates its beginning from this
time. Tarquinius laid out vast drains to draw away the water that stood
in the Lacus Curtius, between the Capitoline and the Palatine hills,
and these remain to this day, as any one who has visited Rome
remembers--the mouth of the Cloaca Maxima (the great sewer) being one
of the remarkable sights there. The king also drained other parts of
the city; vowed to build, and perhaps began, the temple on the
Capitoline; built a wall about the city, and erected the permanent
buildings on the great forum. These works involved vast labor and
expense, and must have been very burdensome to the people. Like other
oppressive monarchs, Tarquinius planned games and festivities to amuse
them. He enlarged the Circus Maximus, and imported boxers and horses
from his native country to perform at games there, which were
afterwards celebrated annually. Besides these victories of peace, this
king conquered the people about him, and greatly added to the number of
his subjects. He for the first time instituted the formal "triumph," as
it was afterwards celebrated, riding into the city after a victory in a
chariot drawn by four white horses, and wearing a robe bespangled with
gold. He brought in also the augural science of his country, which had
been only partially known before.
[Illustration: MOUTH OF CLOACA MAXIMA, AT THE TIBER, AND THE SO-CALLED
TEMPLE OF VESTA.]
While Tarquinius was thus adding to the greatness of Rome, there
appeared in the palace one of those marvels that the early historians
delighted to relate, such as, indeed, mankind in all ages has been
pleased with. A boy was asleep in the portico when a flame was seen
encircling his little head, and the attendants were about to throw
water upon it, when the queen interfered, forbidding the boy to be
disturbed. She then brought the matter to the notice of her husband,
saying: "Do you see this boy whom we are so meanly bringing up? He is
destined to be a light in our adversity, and a help in our distress.
Let us care for him, for he will become a great ornament to us and to
the state." Tarquinius knew well the importance of his wife's advice,
and educated the boy, whose name was Servius Tullius, in a way
befitting a royal prince. In the course of time he married the king's
daughter, and found himself in favor with the people as well as with
his royal father-in-law.
For all the forty years of the prosperous reign of Tarquinius, the
traditions would have us believe, the two sons of Ancus had been
nursing their wrath and inwardly boiling over with indignation because
they had been deprived of the kingship, and now, as they saw the
popularity of young Servius, they determined to wrench the crown from
him after destroying the king. They therefore sent two shepherds into
his presence, who pretended to wish advice about a matter in dispute.
While one engaged Tarquin's attention, the other struck him a fatal
blow with his axe. The queen was, however, quick-witted enough to keep
them from enjoying the fruit of their perfidy, for she assured the
people from a window that the king was not killed but only stunned, and
that for the present he desired them to obey the directions of Servius
Tullius. She then called upon the young man to let the celestial flame
with which the gods had surrounded his head in his youth arouse him to
action. "The kingdom is yours!" she exclaimed; "if you have no plans of
your own, then follow mine!" For several days the king's death was
concealed, and Servius took his place on the throne, deciding some
cases, and in regard to others pretending that he would consult
Tarquinius (B.C. 578). Thus he made the senate and the people
accustomed to seeing him at the head of affairs, and when the actual
fact was allowed to transpire, Servius took possession of the kingdom
with the consent of the senate, but without that of the people, which
he did not ask. This was the first king who ascended the throne without
the suffrages of the Populus Romanus. The sons of Ancus went into
banishment, and the royal power, which had passed from the Romans to
the Etruscans, now fell into the hands of a man of unknown citizenship,
though he has been described as a native of Corniculum, one of the
mountain towns to the northeast of Rome, which is never heard of
excepting in connection with this reign.
IV.
THE RISE OF THE COMMONS.
Whatever may have been the origin of the new king, he was evidently not
of the ruling class, the Populus Romanus, and for this reason his
sympathies were naturally with the Plebeians, or, as they would now be
called, the Commons. The long reign of Servius was marked by the
victories of peace, though he was involved in wars with the surrounding
nations, in which he was successful. These conquests seemed to fix the
king more firmly upon the throne, but they did not render him much less
desirous of obtaining the good-will of his subjects, and they never
seemed to tempt him to exercise his power in a tyrannical manner. He
thought that by marrying his two daughters to two sons of Tarquin, he
might make his position on the throne more secure, and he accomplished
this intention, but it failed to benefit him as he had expected.
Besides adding largely to the national territory, Servius brought the
thirty cities of Latium into a great league with Rome, and built a
temple on the Aventine consecrated to Diana (then in high renown at
Ephesus), at which the Romans, Latins, and Sabines should worship
together in token of their unity as one civil brotherhood, though it
was understood that the Romans were chief in rank. On a brazen pillar
in this edifice the terms of the treaty on which the league was based
were written, and there they remained for centuries. The additions to
Roman territory gave Servius an opportunity of strengthening his hold
upon the commons, for he took advantage of it to cause a census to be
taken under the direction of two Censors, on the basis of which he made
new divisions of the people, and new laws by which the plebeians came
into greater prominence than they had enjoyed before. The census showed
that the city and suburbs contained eighty-three thousand inhabitants.
The increase of population led to the extension of the pomoerium, and
Servius completed the city by including within a wall of stone all of
the celebrated seven hills [Footnote: The "seven hills" were not always
the same. In earlier times they had been: Palatinus, Cermalus, Velia,
Fagutal, Oppius, Cispius, and Coelius. Oppius and Cispius, were names
of summits of the Esquiline; Velia was a spur of the Palatine; Cermalus
and Fagutal, according to Niebuhr, were not hills at all.]--the
Palatine, Aventine, Capitoline, Coelian, Quirinal, Viminal, and
Esquilian,--for, though new suburbs grew up beyond this wall, the legal
limits of the city were not changed until the times of the empire.
The inhabitants within the walls were divided into four "regions" or
districts--the Palatine, the Colline, the Esquiline, and the Suburran.
The subjected districts outside, which were inhabited by plebeians,
were divided into twenty-six other regions, thus forming thirty tribes
containing both plebeians and patricians. The census gave Servius a
list of all the citizens and their property, and upon the basis of this
information he separated the entire population into six classes,
comprising one hundred and ninety-three subdivisions or "centuries,"
thus introducing a new principle, and placing wealth at the bottom of
social distinctions, instead of birth. This naturally pleased the
plebeians, but was not approved by the citizens of high pedigree, who
thus lost some of their prestige. The newly formed centuries together
constituted the _Comitia Centuriata_ (gathering of the centuries),
or National Assembly, which met for business on the Campus Martius,
somewhat after the manner of a New England "Town Meeting." In these
conclaves they elected certain magistrates, gave sanction to
legislative acts, and decided upon war or peace. This Comitia formed
the highest court of appeal known to Roman law.
Besides this general assembly of the entire Populus Romanus, Servius
established a _Comitia_ in each tribe, authorized to exercise
jurisdiction in local affairs.
The first of the six general classes thus established comprised the
Horsemen, _Equites_, Knights, or Cavalry, consisting of six patrician
centuries of Equites established by Romulus, and twelve new ones formed
from the principal plebeian families. Next in rank to them were eighty
centuries composed of persons owning property (not deducting debts) to
the amount of one hundred thousand ases (_æs_, copper, brass, bronze),
and two centuries of persons not possessed of wealth, but simply
_Fabrûm_, or workmen who manufactured things out of hard material, so
important to the state were such considered at the time. One would not
think it very difficult to get admission to this high class, when it is
remembered that an _as_ (originally a pound of copper in weight)
[Footnote: The English word _ace_ gets its meaning, "one," from the
fact that in Latin as signified the unit either of weight or measure.
Two and a half ases were equal to a sestertius, and ten ases (or four
sesterces) equalled one denarius, worth about sixteen cents.] was worth
but about a cent and a half, and that a hundred thousand such coins
would amount to only about fifteen hundred dollars; though, of course,
we should have to make allowance for the price of commodities if we
wished to arrive at the exact value in the money of our time. The
second, third, and fourth centuries were arranged on a descending grade
of property qualification, and the fifth comprised those persons whose
property was not worth less than twelve thousand five hundred ases, or
about two hundred dollars. The sixth class included all whose
possessions did not amount to even so little as this. These were called
_Proletarii_ or _Capite Censorum_; _caput_, the Latin for head, being
used in reference to these unimportant citizens for "person," as
farmers use it nowadays when they enumerate animals as so many "head."
Though the new arrangement of Servius Tullius gave the plebeians power,
it did not give them so much as might be supposed, because it was
contrived that the richest class should have the greatest number of
votes, and they with the Equites had so many that they were able to
carry any measure upon which they agreed. The older men, too, had an
advantage, for every class was divided into Seniors and Juniors, each
of which had an equal number of votes, though it is apparent that the
seniors must have been always in the minority. Servius did not dare to
abolish the old Comitia Curiata, and he felt obliged to enact that the
votes of the new Comitia should be valid only after having received the
sanction of the more ancient body. Thus it will be seen that there were
three assemblies, with sovereignty well defined.
The armor of the different classes was also accurately ordered by the
law. The first class was authorized to wear, for the defence of the
body, brazen helmets, shields, and coats of mail, and to bear spears
and swords, excepting the mechanics, who were to carry the necessary
military engines and to serve without arms. The members of the second
class, excepting that they had bucklers instead of shields and wore no
coats of mail, were permitted to bear the same armor, and to carry the
sword and spear. The third class had the same armor as the second,
excepting that they could not wear greaves for the protection of their
legs. The fourth had no arms excepting a spear and a long javelin. The
fifth merely carried slings and stones for use in them. To this class
belonged the trumpeters and horn-blowers.
[Illustration: ROMAN SOLDIERS, COSTUMES, AND ARMOR]
These reforms were very important, and very reasonable, too, but though
they gained for the king many friends, it was rather among the
plebeians than among the more wealthy patricians, and from time to time
hints were thrown out that the consent of the people had not been asked
when Servius took his seat upon the throne, and that without it his
right to the power he wielded was not complete. There was a very solemn
and striking ceremony on the Campus Martius after the census had been
finished. It was called the Lustration or _Suovetaurilia_. The first
name originated from the fact that the ceremony was a purification of
the people by water, and the second because the sacrifice on the
occasion consisted of a pig, a sheep, and an ox, the Latin names of
which were _sus_, _ovis_, and _taurus_, these being run together in a
single manufactured word. Words are not easily made to order, and this
one shows how awkward they are when they do not grow naturally.
On the completion of the census (B.C. 566) Servius ordered the members
of all the Centuries to assemble on the Campus Martius, which was
enclosed in a bend of the Tiber outside of the walls that he built.
They came in full armor, according to rank, and the sight must have
been very grand and impressive. Three days were occupied in the
celebration. Three times were the pig, the sheep, and the bull carried
around the great multitude, and then, amid the flaunting of banners,
the burning of incense, and the sounding of trumpets, the libation was
poured forth, and the inoffensive beasts were sacrificed for the
purification of the people. Once every five years the inhabitants were
thus counted, and once in five years were they also purified, and in
this way it came to pass that that period was known as a _lustrum_.
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown, says the proverb, and it was
true in the case of Servius, for he could never forget that the people
had not voted in his favor. For this reason he divided among them the
lands that he had taken from the enemies he had defeated, and then,
supposing that he had obtained their good-will, he called upon them to
vote whether they chose and ordered that he should be king. When the
votes came to be counted, Servius found that he had been chosen with a
unanimity that had not been manifested before in the selection of a
sovereign. Whatever confidence he may have derived from this vote, his
place was not secure, and his fatal enemy proved to be in his own
household.
It happened that of the two husbands of the daughters of Servius, one
was ambitious and unprincipled, and the other quiet and peaceable. The
same was true of their wives, only the unprincipled wife found herself
mated with the well-behaving husband. Now the wicked wife agreed with
the wicked husband that they should murder their partners and then
marry together, thus making a pair, both members of which should be
ambitious and without principle. This was accomplished, and then the
wicked wife, whose name was Tullia, told her husband, whose name was
Lucius Tarquinius, that what she wanted was not a husband whom she
might live with in quiet like a slave, but one who would remember of
whose blood he was, who would consider that he was the rightful king;
and that if _he_ would not do it he had better go back to Tarquinii or
Corinth and sink into his original race, thus shaming his father and
Tanaquil, who had bestowed thrones upon her husband and her son-in-law.
The taunts and instigations of Tullia led Lucius to solicit the younger
patricians to support him in making an effort for the throne. When he
thought he had obtained a sufficient number of confederates, he one day
rushed into the forum at an appointed time, accompanied by a body of
armed men, and, in the midst of a commotion that ensued, took his seat
upon the throne and ordered the senate to attend "King Tarquinius."
That august body convened very soon, some having been prepared
beforehand for the summons, and then Tarquinius began a tirade against
Servius, whom he stigmatized as "a slave and the son of a slave," who
had favored the most degraded classes, and had, by instituting the
census, made the fortunes of the better classes unnecessarily
conspicuous, so as to excite the envy and base passions of the meaner
citizens.
Servius came to the senate-house in the midst of the harangue, and
called to Lucius to know by what audacity he had taken the royal seat,
and summoned the senate during the life of the sovereign. Lucius
replied in an insulting manner, and, taking advantage of the king's
age, seized him by the middle, carried him out, and threw him down the
steps to the bottom! Almost lifeless, Servius was slain by emissaries
of Lucius as he was making his way to his home on the Esquiline Hill
(B.C. 534). The royal retinue, in their fright, left the body where it
fell, and there it was when Tullia, returning from having congratulated
her husband, reached the place. Her driver, terrified at the sight,
stopped, and would have avoided the king's corpse, though the
narrowness of the street made it difficult; but the insane daughter
ordered him to drive on, and stained and sprinkled herself with her
father's blood, which seemed to cry out for vengeance upon such a cruel
act! The vengeance came speedily, as we shall see.
V.
HOW A PROUD KING FELL.
The new king was a tyrant. He was elected by no general consent of the
people he governed; he allowed himself to be bound by no laws; he
recognized no limit to his authority; and he surrounded himself with a
body-guard for protection from the attacks of any who might wish to
take the crown from him in the way that he had snatched it from his
predecessor. As soon as possible after coming to the throne, he swept
away all privilege and right that had been conceded to the commons,
commanded that there should no longer be any of those assemblages on
the occasions of festivals and sacrifices that had before tended to
unite the people and to break the monotony of their lives; he put the
poor at taskwork, and mistrusted, banished, or murdered the rich. To
strengthen the position of Rome as chief of the confederates cities,
and his own position as the ruler of Rome, he gave his daughter to
Octavius Mamilius of Tusculum to wife; and to beautify the capital he
warred against other peoples, and with their spoil pushed forward the
work on the great temple on the Capitoline Hill, [Footnote: This hill
is said to have received its name from the fact that as the men were
preparing for the foundation of the temple, they came upon a human
head, fresh and bleeding, from which it was augured that the spot was
to become the head of the world. (_Caput_, a head.)] a wonderful
and massy structure.
It is said that Amalthea, the mysterious sibyl of Cumæ, one day came to
Tarquin with nine sealed prophetical books (which, she said, contained
the destiny of the Romans and the mode to bring it about), that she
offered to sell. The king refused, naturally unwilling to pay for
things that he could not examine; and thereupon the unreasonable being
went away and destroyed three of the volumes that she had described as
of inestimable value. Soon after she returned and offered the remaining
six for the price that she had demanded for the nine. Once more, the
tyrant declined the offer, and again the aged sibyl destroyed three,
and demanded the original price for the remainder. The king's curiosity
was now aroused, and he bought the three books, upon which the
prophetess vanished. The volumes were placed under the new temple on
the Capitoline, no one doubting that they actually contained precepts
of the utmost importance. The wise-looking augurs came together, peered
into the rolls, and told the king and the people that they were right,
and age after age the books were appealed to for direction, though, as
the people never were permitted even to peep into the sacred cell in
which they were hidden, they never could be quite certain that the
augurs who consulted them found any thing in them that they did not put
there themselves.