29. During these occurrences the cavalry had been despatched onward to

Alba to remove the multitude to Rome. The legions were next led thither

to demolish the city. When they entered the gates, there was not indeed

that tumult nor panic, such as usually takes place with captured cities

when the gates being burst open, or the walls levelled by the ram, or

the citadel taken by assault, the shouts of the enemy and rush of armed

men through the city throws every thing into confusion by fire and

sword: but gloomy silence and speechless sorrow so absorbed the minds of

all, that, through fear, forgetting what they should leave behind, what

they should take with them, all concert failing them, and frequently

making inquiries of each other, they now stood at their thresholds, now

wandering about they strayed through their houses, doomed to see them

for that the last time. But as soon as the shouts of the horsemen

commanding them to depart now urged them on, the crashing of the

dwellings which were being demolished, was now heard in the remotest

parts of the city, and the dust, rising in distant places, had filled

every quarter as with a cloud spread over them; hastily snatching up

whatever each of them could, whilst they went forth leaving behind them

their guardian deity and household gods, and the homes in which each had

been born and brought up, a continued train of emigrants soon filled the

ways, and the sight of others through mutual commiseration renewed their

tears, and piteous cries too were heard, of the women more especially,

when they passed by their revered temples now beset with armed men, and

left their gods as it were in captivity. After the Albans had evacuated

the town, the Roman soldiery level all the public and private edifices

indiscriminately to the ground, and one short hour consigned to

demolition and ruin the work of four hundred years, during which Alba

had stood. The temples of the gods, however, for such had been the

orders given by the king, were spared.

30. In the mean time Rome increases by the demolition of Alba. The

number of citizens is doubled. The Cœlian mount is added to the city,

and in order that it might be inhabited more populously, Tullus selects

that situation for his palace and there took up his abode. The leading

persons among the Albans he enrols among the patricians, that that

branch of the state also might increase, the Julii, Servilii, Quinctii,

Geganii, Curiatii, Clœlii; and as a consecrated place of meeting for

the order augmented by him he built a senate-house, which was called

Hostilia even down to the age of our fathers. And that every rank might

acquire some additional strength from the new people, he formed ten

troops of horsemen from among the Albans: he likewise recruited the old,

and raised new legions from the same source. Confiding in this increase

of strength, Tullus declares war against the Sabines, a nation at that

time the most powerful, next to the Etrurians, in men and in arms.

Injuries had been done on both sides, and restitution demanded in vain.

Tullus complained that some Roman merchants had been seized in an open

market near the temple of Feronia; the Sabines, that some of their

people had taken refuge in the asylum, and were detained at Rome. These

were assigned as the causes of the war. The Sabines, holding in

recollection both that a portion of their strength had been fixed at

Rome by Tatius, and that the Roman power had also been lately increased

by the accession of the Alban people, began, on their part, to look

around for foreign aid. Etruria was in their neighbourhood; of the

Etrurians the Veientes were the nearest. From thence they drew some

volunteers, their minds being stirred up to a revolt, chiefly in

consequence of the rankling animosities from (former) wars. And pay also

had its weight with some stragglers belonging to the indigent

population. They were assisted by no aid from the government, and the

faith of the truce stipulated with Romulus was strictly observed by the

Veientes (for with respect to the others it is less surprising). While

they were preparing for war with the utmost vigour, and the matter

seemed to turn on this, which should first commence hostilities, Tullus

first passes into the Sabine territory. A desperate battle ensued at the

wood called Malitiosa,[47] in which the Roman army was far superior,

both by the strength of their foot, and also by the recent augmentation

of their cavalry. The Sabine ranks were thrown into disorder by a sudden

charge of the cavalry, nor could either the fight be afterwards

restored, or a retreat accomplished without great slaughter.

[Footnote 47: _Malitiosam_. ??? ???? ?a???µ???? ?a???????. Dio. iii.]

31. After the defeat of the Sabines, when the government of Tullus and

the whole Roman state was in high renown, and in a very flourishing

condition, word was brought to the king and senators, that it rained

stones on the Alban Mount. As this could scarcely be credited, on

persons being sent to inquire into the prodigy, a thick shower of stones

fell from heaven in their sight, just as when hail collected into balls

is pelted down to the earth by the winds. Besides, they imagined that

they heard a loud voice from the grove on the summit of the hill,

requiring the Albans to perform their religious service according to the

rites of their native country, which they had consigned to oblivion, as

if their gods had been abandoned together with their country; and they

had either adopted the religion of Rome, or, as may happen, enraged at

their evil destiny, had renounced altogether the worship of the gods. A

festival of nine days was instituted publicly by the Romans also on

account of the same prodigy, either in obedience to the heavenly voice

sent from the Alban mount, (for that too is stated,) or by the advice of

the aruspices. Certain it is, it continued a solemn observance, that

whenever the same prodigy was announced, a festival for nine days was

observed. Not long after, they were afflicted with a pestilence; and

though from this there arose an aversion to military service, yet no

respite from arms was granted by this warlike king, who considered that

the bodies of the young men were even more healthy abroad than at home,

until he himself also was seized with a lingering disease. Then,

together with his body, those fierce spirits became so broken, that he,

who formerly considered nothing less worthy of a king than to devote his

mind to religion, suddenly became a slave to every form of superstition,

important and trifling, and filled the people's minds also with

religious scruples. The generality of persons, now wishing to recur to

that state of things which had existed under king Numa, thought that the

only relief left for their sickly bodies was, if peace and pardon could

be obtained from the gods. They say that the king himself, turning over

the commentaries of Numa, after he had found therein that certain

sacrifices of a secret and solemn nature had been performed to Jupiter

Elicius, shut himself up and set about the performance of this

solemnity; but that that rite was not duly undertaken or conducted, and

that not only no appearance of heavenly notification was presented to

him, but that he was struck with lightning and burnt to ashes, together

with his house, through the anger of Jupiter, exasperated at the

impropriety of the ceremony. Tullus reigned two-and-thirty years with

great military renown.

32. On the death of Tullus the government devolved once more upon the

senate, and they nominated an interrex; and on his holding the comitia,

the people elected Ancus Marcius king. The fathers confirmed the

election. Ancus Marcius was the grandson of king Numa Pompilius by his

daughter. As soon as he ascended the throne, reflecting on the renown of

his grandfather, and that the late reign, glorious in every other

respect, in one particular had not been sufficiently prosperous, the

rites of religion having either been utterly neglected, or improperly

performed; deeming it of the highest importance to perform the public

ceremonies of religion as they had been instituted by Numa, he orders

the pontiff, after he had transcribed them all from the king's

commentaries on white tables, to expose them to public view. Hence, both

his own subjects, desirous of peace, and the neighbouring nations,

entertained a hope that the king would conform to the conduct and

institutions of his grandfather. Accordingly the Latins, with whom a

treaty had been concluded in the reign of Tullus, assumed new courage;

and after they had made an incursion upon the Roman lands, return a

contemptuous answer to the Romans on their demanding restitution,

supposing that the Roman king would spend his reign in indolence among

chapels and altars. The genius of Ancus was of a middle kind, partaking

both of that of Numa and of Romulus; and, besides that, he thought that

peace was more necessary in his grandfather's reign, considering the

people were but recent as well as uncivilized, he also (considered) that

he could not, without injury, preserve the tranquillity which had fallen

to his lot; that his patience was tried, and being tried, was now

despised; and that the times were more suited to a king Tullus than to a

Numa. In order, however, that as Numa had instituted religious rites in

peace, ceremonies relating to war might be transmitted by him, and that

wars might not only be waged, but proclaimed also according to some

rite, he borrowed from an ancient nation, the Æquicolae, the form which

the heralds still preserve, according to which restitution is demanded.

The ambassador, when he comes to the frontiers of the people from whom

satisfaction is demanded, having his head covered with a fillet, (the

fillet is of wool,) says, "Hear, O Jupiter, hear, ye confines, (naming

the nation they belong to,) let Justice hear. I am a public messenger of

the Roman people; I come justly and religiously deputed, and let my

words gain credit." He then makes his demands; afterwards he makes a

solemn appeal to Jupiter, "If I unjustly or impiously demand those

persons and those goods to be given up to me, the messenger of the Roman

people, then never permit me to enjoy my native country." These words he

repeats when he passes over the frontiers; the same to the first man he

meets; the same on entering the gate; the same on entering the forum,

some few words in the form of the declaration and oath being changed. If

the persons whom he demands are not delivered up, on the expiration of

thirty-three days, for so many are enjoined by the rule, he declares

war, thus: "Hear, Jupiter, and thou, Juno, Romulus, and all ye

celestial, terrestrial, and infernal gods, give ear! I call you to

witness, that this nation (naming it) is unjust, and does not act with

equity; but we will consult the fathers in our own country concerning

these matters, and by what means we may obtain our right." After that

the messenger returns to Rome to consult: the king immediately used to

consult the fathers almost in the following words: "Concerning such

matters, differences, and quarrels, as the pater patratus of the Roman

people, the Quirites, has conferred with the pater patratus of the

ancient Latins, and with the ancient Latin people, which matters ought

to be given up, performed, discharged, which matters they have neither

given up, performed, nor discharged, declare," says he to him, whose

opinion he first asked, "what think you?" Then he said, "I think that

they should be demanded by a just and regularly declared war, therefore

I consent, and vote for it." Then the others were asked in order, and

when the majority of those present agreed in the same opinion, the war

was resolved on. It was customary for the fecialis to carry in his hand

a javelin pointed with steel, or burnt at the end and dipped in blood,

to the confines of the enemy's country, and in presence of at least

three grown-up persons, to say, "Forasmuch as the states of the ancient

Latins, and the ancient Latin people, have offended against the Roman

people, the Quirites, forasmuch as the Roman people, the Quirites, have

ordered that there should be war with the ancient Latins, and the senate

of the Roman people, the Quirites, have given their opinion, consented,

and voted that war should be made with the ancient Latins, on this

account I and the Roman people declare and make war on the states of the

ancient Latins, and on the ancient Latin people." After he had said

that, he threw the spear within their confines. After this manner

restitution was demanded from the Latins at that time, and war

proclaimed: and that usage posterity have adopted.

33. Ancus, having committed the care of sacred things to the flamines

and other priests, set out with a new army, which he had levied, and

took Politorium, a city of the Latins, by storm; and following the

example of former kings, who had increased the Roman state by taking

enemies into the number of the citizens, he transplanted all the people

to Rome. And since the Sabines occupied the Capitol and citadel, and the

Albans the Cœlian mount around the Palatium, the residence of the old

Romans, the Aventine was assigned to the new people; not long after, on

Telleni and Ficana being taken, new citizens were added in the same

quarter. After this Politorium was taken a second time by force of arms,

because the ancient Latins had taken possession of it when vacated. This

was the cause of the Romans demolishing that city, that it might not

ever after serve as a receptacle to the enemy. At last, the whole war

with the Latins being concentrated in Medullia, they fought there with

various fortune, sometimes the one and sometimes the other gaining the

victory; for the town was both well fortified by works, and strengthened

by a strong garrison, and the Latins, having pitched their camp in the

open fields, had several times fought the Romans in close engagement. At

last Ancus, making an effort with all his forces, obtained a complete

victory over them in a pitched battle, and having got a considerable

booty, returned thence to Rome; many thousands of the Latins being then

also admitted into the city, to whom, in order that the Aventine might

be joined to the Palatium, a settlement was assigned near the temple of

Murcia. The Janiculum was likewise added, not for want of room, but lest

at any time it should become a lodgment for the enemy. It was determined

to join it to the city, not only by a wall, but likewise, for the sake

of the convenience of passage, by a wooden bridge, then for the first

time built across the Tiber. The Fossa Quiritium, no inconsiderable

defence against the easy access to the city from the low grounds, is the

work of king Ancus. The state being augmented by such great accessions,

seeing that, amid such a multitude of persons, the distinction of right

and wrong being as yet confounded, clandestine crimes were committed, a

prison is built in the heart of the city, overlooking the forum, to

intimidate the growing licentiousness. And not only was the city

increased under this king, but the territory also and the boundaries.

The Mæsian forest was taken from the Veientes, the Roman dominion was

extended as far as the sea, and the city of Ostia built at the mouth of

the Tiber; salt-pits were formed around it, and, in consequence of the

distinguished success achieved in war, the temple of Jupiter Feretrius

was enlarged.

34. In the reign of Ancus, Lucumo, a rich and enterprising man, came to

settle at Rome, prompted chiefly by the desire and hope of obtaining

great preferment there, which he had no means of attaining at Tarquinii

(for there also he was descended from an alien stock). He was the son of

Demaratus, a Corinthian, who, flying his country for sedition, had

happened to settle at Tarquinii, and having married a wife there, had

two sons by her. Their names were [48]Lucumo and Aruns. Lucumo survived

his father, and became heir to all his property. Aruns died before his

father, leaving a wife pregnant. The father did not long survive the

son, and as he, not knowing that his daughter-in-law was pregnant, died

without taking any notice of his grandchild in his will, to the boy that

was born after the death of his grandfather, without having any share in

his fortune, the name of Egerius was given on account of his poverty.

And when his wealth already inspired Lucumo, on the other hand, the heir

of all his father's wealth, with elevated notions, Tanaquil, whom he

married, further increased such feeling, she being descended from a very

high family, and one who would not readily brook the condition into

which she had married to be inferior to that in which she had been born.

As the Etrurians despised Lucumo, because sprung from a foreign exile,

she could not bear the affront, and regardless of the innate love of her

native country, provided she might see her husband advanced to honours,

she formed the determination to leave Tarquinii. Rome seemed

particularly suited for her purpose. In this state, lately founded,

where all nobility is recent and the result of merit, there would be

room for her husband, a man of courage and activity. Tatius a Sabine had

been king of Rome: Numa had been sent for from Cures to reign there:

Ancus was sprung from a Sabine mother, and rested his nobility on the

single statue of Numa. She easily persuades him, as being ambitious of

honours, and one to whom Tarquinii was his country only on the mother's

side. Accordingly, removing their effects they set out together for

Rome. They happened to have reached the Janiculum; there, as he sat in

the chariot with his wife, an eagle, suspended on her wings, gently

stooping, takes off his cap, and flying round the chariot with loud

screams, as if she had been sent from heaven for the very purpose,

orderly replaced it on his head, and then flew aloft. Tanaquil is said

to have received this omen with great joy, being a woman well skilled,

as the Etrurians generally are, in celestial prodigies, and embracing

her husband, bids him hope for high and elevated fortune: that such bird

had come from such a quarter of the heavens, and the messenger of such a

god: that it had exhibited the omen around the highest part of man: that

it had lifted the ornament placed on the head of man, to restore it to

the same, by direction of the gods. Carrying with them these hopes and

thoughts, they entered the city, and having purchased a house there,

they gave out the name of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus. His being a

stranger and very rich, caused him to be taken notice of by the Romans.

He also promoted his own good fortune by his affable address, by the

courteousness of his invitations, and by conciliating those whom he

could by acts of kindness; until a report of him reached even to the

palace; and by paying court to the king with politeness and address, he

in a short time so improved the acquaintance to the footing of intimate

friendship, that he was present at all public and private deliberations,

foreign and domestic; and being now tried in every trust, he was at

length, by the king's will, appointed guardian to his children.

[Footnote 48: The Lucumones were a class of persons among the Etrurians

of a warlike sacerdotal character, patricians, not kings. Vid. Niebuhr,

i. p. 372.]

35. Ancus reigned twenty-four years, equal to any of the former kings

both in the arts and renown of war and peace. His sons were now nigh

the age of puberty, for this reason Tarquin was more urgent that the

assembly for the election of a king should be held as soon as possible.

The assembly being proclaimed, he sent away the boys to hunt towards the

time of their meeting. He is said to have been the first who earnestly

sued for the crown, and to have made a set speech for the purpose of

gaining the affections of the people: _he said_ "that he did not aim at

any thing unprecedented; for that he was not the first foreigner, (a

thing at which any one might feel indignation or surprise,) but the

third who aspired to the sovereignty of Rome. That Tatius not only from

being an alien, but even an enemy, was made king: that Numa,

unacquainted with the city, and without soliciting it, had been

voluntarily invited by them to the throne. That he, as soon as he was

his own master, had come to Rome with his wife and whole fortune, and

had there spent a greater part of that age, in which men are employed in

civil offices, than he had in his native country: that he had both in

peace and war thoroughly learned the Roman laws and religious customs,

under a master not to be objected to, king Ancus himself; that he had

vied with all in duty and loyalty to his prince, and even with the king

himself in his bounty to others." While he was recounting these

undoubted facts, the people by a great majority elected him king. The

same ambition which had prompted Tarquin, in other respects an excellent

man, to aspire to the crown, followed him whilst on the throne. And

being no less mindful of strengthening his own power, than of increasing

that of the commonwealth, he elected a hundred into the fathers, who

from that time were called Minorum Gentium, _i. e._ of the younger

families: a party hearty in the king's cause, by whose favour they had

got into the senate. The first war he waged was with the Latins, from

whom he took the town of Apiolæ by storm, and having brought back thence

more booty than the character of the war would lead one to expect, he

celebrated games with more cost and magnificence than former kings. The

place for the circus, which is now called Maximus, was then first marked

out, and spaces were parted off for the senators and knights, where they

might each erect seats for themselves: they were called fori (benches).

They viewed the games from scaffolding which supported seats twelve

feet high from the ground. The show took place; horses and boxers were

sent for, chiefly from Etruria. These solemn games afterwards continued

annual, being variously called the Roman and Great (games). By the same

king also spaces round the forum were portioned off for private

individuals to build on; porticoes and shops were erected.

36. He was also preparing to surround the city with a stone wall, when a

Sabine war obstructed his designs. The matter was so sudden, that the

enemy had passed the Anio before the Roman army could meet and stop

them; great alarm therefore was produced at Rome. And at first they

fought with dubious success, but with great slaughter on both sides.

After this, the enemy's forces being led back into their camp, and the

Romans getting time to make new levies for the war, Tarquin, thinking

that the weakness of his army lay in the want of horse, determined to

add other centuries to the Ramnenses, the Titienses, and Luceres which

Romulus had appointed, and to leave them distinguished by his own name.

Because Romulus had done this by augury, Attus Navius, at that time a

celebrated soothsayer, insisted that no alteration or new appointment of

that kind could be made, unless the birds approved of it. The king,

enraged at this, and, as it is related, ridiculing the art, said, "Come,

thou diviner, tell me, whether what I am thinking on can be done or

not?" When he had tried the matter by divination, he affirmed it

certainly could. "But I was thinking," says he, "whether you could cut

asunder this whetstone with a razor. Take it, and perform what thy birds

portend may be done." Upon this, as they say, he immediately cut the

whetstone in two. A statue of Attus, with his head veiled, was erected

in the comitium, upon the very steps on the left of the senate-house, on

the spot where the transaction occurred. They say that the whetstone

also was deposited in the same place, that it might remain a monument of

that miracle to posterity. There certainly accrued so much honour to

augury and the college of augurs, that nothing was undertaken either in

peace or war without taking the auspices. Assemblies of the people, the

summoning of armies, and affairs of the greatest importance were put

off, when the birds would not allow of them. Nor did Tarquin then make

any other alteration in the centuries of horse, except doubling the

number of men in each of these corps, so that the three centuries

consisted of one thousand eight hundred knights. Those that were added

were called "the younger," but by the same names with the former; which,

now that they have been doubled, they call six centuries.

37. This part of his forces being augmented, a second battle is fought

with the Sabines. But, besides that the Roman army was thus reinforced,

a stratagem also is secretly resorted to, persons having been sent to

throw into the river a great quantity of timber that lay on the banks of

the Anio, it being first set on fire; and the wood being further kindled

by favour of the wind, and the greater[49] part of it (being placed) on

rafts, when it stuck firmly impacted against the piers, sets the bridge

on fire. This accident struck terror into the Sabines during the battle,

and, after they were routed, impeded their flight; so that many, who had

escaped the enemy, perished in the river. Their arms floating down the

Tiber, and being recognised at the city, made known the victory, almost

before any account of it could be carried there. In that action the

glory of the cavalry was prominent: they say that, being posted in the

two wings, when the centre of their own infantry was being beaten, they

charged so briskly in flank, that they not only checked the Sabine

legions who pressed hard on those who retired, but quickly put them to

flight. The Sabines made for the mountains with great precipitation, yet

few reached them; for, as we said before, the greatest part were driven

by the cavalry into the river. Tarquin, thinking it advisable to pursue

the enemy closely while in this consternation, after sending the booty

and the prisoners to Rome, piling up and burning the spoils which he had

vowed to Vulcan, proceeds to lead his army onward into the Sabine

territory. And though matters had turned out adversely, nor could they

hope for better success; yet, because the occasion did not allow time

for deliberation, the Sabines came out to meet him with a hastily raised

army; and being again defeated there, and matters having now become

desperate, they sued for peace.

[Footnote 49: In my version of this passage I have followed the reading,

_et pleraque in ratibus, impacta sublicis quum hærerent_, p. i. The

burning logs were not sent down the river one by one, but were placed on

rafts, so that being incapable of passing on between the piers of the

bridge, they firmly stuck there, and burnt the bridge. This mode of

interpretation is confirmed by Dion. iii. 5, 6. The bridge here meant is

the one built by the Sabines at the confluence of the Anio and the

Tiber----Another reading is, _pleraque in ratibus impacta subliciis quam

hærerent_, "most of them being driven against the boats, resting on

piles, stuck there," &c.]

38. Collatia and all the land about it was taken from the Sabines, and

Egerius, son to the king's brother, was left there with a garrison. I

understand that the people of Collatia were thus surrendered, and that

the form of the surrender was as follows: the king asked them, "Are ye

ambassadors and deputies sent by the people of Collatia to surrender

yourselves and the people of Collatia?" "We are." "Are the people of

Collatia their own masters?" "They are." "Do ye surrender yourselves and

the people of Collatia, their city, lands, water, boundaries, temples,

utensils, and every thing sacred or profane belonging to them, into my

power, and that of the Roman people?" "We do." "Then I receive them."

The Sabine war being ended, Tarquin returned in triumph to Rome. After

that he made war upon the ancient Latins, where they came on no occasion

to a general engagement; yet by carrying about his arms to the several

towns, he subdued the whole Latin nation. Corniculum, old Ficulea,

Cameria, Crustumerium, Ameriola, Medullia, and Nomentum, towns which

either belonged to the ancient Latins, or which had revolted to them,

were taken. Upon this a peace was concluded. The works of peace were

then set about with greater spirit, even than the efforts with which he

had conducted his wars; so that the people enjoyed no more ease and

quiet at home, than they had done abroad: for he both set about

surrounding the city with a stone wall, on the side where he had not

fortified it, the beginning of which work had been interrupted by the

Sabine war, and the lower parts of the city round the forum and the

other valleys lying between the hills, because they did not easily carry

off the water from the flat grounds, he drains by means of sewers drawn

sloping downward into the Tiber. Moreover he levels an area for founding

a temple to Jupiter in the Capitol, which he had vowed to him in the

Sabine war; his mind even then presaging the future grandeur of the

place.

39. At that time, a prodigy occurred in the palace, wonderful both in

its appearance and in its result. They relate, that the head of a boy,

called Servius Tullius, as he lay fast asleep, blazed with fire in the

sight of many persons. That by the very great noise made at so

miraculous a phenomenon, the royal family were awakened; and when one of

the servants was bringing water to extinguish the flame, that he was

kept back by the queen, and after the confusion was over, that she

forbade the boy to be disturbed till he should awake of his own accord.

As soon as he awoke the flame disappeared. Then Tanaquil, taking her

husband into a private place, said, "Do you observe this boy whom we

bring up in so mean a style? Be assured that hereafter he will be a

light to us in our adversity, and a protector to our palace in distress.

From henceforth let us, with all our care, train up this youth, who is

capable of becoming a great ornament publicly and privately." From this

time the boy began to be treated as their own son, and instructed in

those arts by which men's minds are qualified to maintain high rank. The

matter was easily accomplished, because it was agreeable to the gods.

The young man turned out to be of a disposition truly royal. Nor, when

they looked out for a son-in-law for Tarquin, could any of the Roman

youth be compared to him in any accomplishment; therefore the king

betrothed his own daughter to him. This high honour conferred upon him,

from whatever cause, prevents us from believing that he was the son of a

slave, and that he had himself been a slave when young. I am rather of

the opinion of those who say that, on the taking of Corniculum, the wife

of Servius Tullius, who had been the leading man in that city, being

pregnant when her husband was slain, being known among the other female

prisoners, and, in consequence of her high rank, exempted from servitude

by the Roman queen, was delivered of a child at Rome, in the house of

Tarquinius Priscus. Upon this, that both the intimacy between the ladies

was improved by so great a kindness, and that the boy, having been

brought up in the house from his infancy, was beloved and respected;

that his mother's lot, in having fallen into the hands of the enemy,

caused him to be considered the son of a slave.

40. About the thirty-eighth year of Tarquin's reign, Servius Tullius was

in the highest esteem, not only with the king, but also with the senate

and people. At this time the two sons of Ancus, though they had before

that always considered it the highest indignity that they had been

deprived of their father's crown by the treachery of their guardian,

that a stranger should be king of Rome, who was not only not of a

civic, but not even of an Italian family, yet now felt their indignation

rise to a still higher pitch at the notion that the crown would not only

not revert to them after Tarquin, but would descend even lower to a

slave, so that in the same state about the hundredth year[50] after

Romulus, descended from a deity, and a deity himself, occupied the

throne as long as he lived, a slave, and one born of a slave, should now

possess it. That it would be a disgrace both common to the Roman name,

and more especially to their family, if, whilst there was male issue of

king Ancus still living, the sovereignty of Rome should be accessible

not only to strangers, but even to slaves. They determine therefore to

prevent that disgrace by the sword. But both resentment for the injury

done to them incensed them more against Tarquin himself, than against

Servius; and (the consideration) that a king was likely to prove a more

severe avenger of the murder, if he should survive, than a private

person; and moreover, in case of Servius being put to death, whatever

other person he might select as his son-in-law,[51] it seemed likely

that he would adopt as his successor on the throne.[52] For these

reasons the plot is laid against the king himself. Two of the most

ferocious of the shepherds being selected for the daring deed, with the

rustic implements to which each had been accustomed, by conducting

themselves in as violent a manner as possible in the porch of the

palace, under pretence of a quarrel, draw the attention of all the

king's attendants to themselves; then, when both appealed to the king,

and their clamour reached even the interior of the palace, they are

called in and proceed before the king. At first both bawled aloud, and

vied in interrupting each other by their clamour, until being restrained

by the lictor, and commanded to speak in turns, they at length cease

railing. According to concert, one begins to state the matter. When the

king, attentive to him, had turned himself quite that way, the other,

raising up his axe, struck it into his head, and leaving the weapon in

the wound, they both rush out of the house.

[Footnote 50: _The hundredth year_. 138 years had elapsed since the

death of Romulus: they diminish the number of years designedly, to make

the matter appear still worse.]

[Footnote 51: _Son-in-law_. Why not one of his two sons, Lucius and

Aruns? Dio. iv. 1. If these were not his grandchildren rather, they must

have been infants at the time. Dio. iv. 4, 6.--At this time infants

could not succeed to the throne.--_Ruperti._]

[Footnote 52: This sentence has given some trouble to the

commentators.--Some will have it that three distinct reasons are given

for assassinating Tarquinius rather than Servius Tullius, and that these

are severally marked and distinguished by _et_--_et_--_tum_, the second

only having _quia_.--Stroth will have it that only two reasons are

assigned, one, why the king should be killed, and the other, why Servius

Tullius should not be killed, arising from the danger and uselessness of

the act--the former has not a _quia_, because it was a fact, (_et

injuriæ dolor_, &c.,) while the latter has it in the first part (the

danger, _et quia gravior_, &c, _quia_ being understood also before the

other, the uselessness, _tum_, _Servio occiso_, &c.) because it

contained the reasoning of the youths. Doering says there were only two

powerful reasons, revenge and fear, and a ratio probabilis introduced by

_tum_; which has the force of insuper. According to Dr. Hunter, there

are two formal assertions, one, that resentment stimulated the sons of

Ancus against the king himself; the other, that the plot is laid for the

king himself upon two considerations, of reason and policy.]

41. When those who were around had raised up the king in a dying state,

the lictors seize on the men who were endeavouring to escape. Upon this

followed an uproar and concourse of people, wondering what the matter

was. Tanaquil, during the tumult, orders the palace to be shut, thrusts

out all who were present: at the same time she sedulously prepares every

thing necessary for dressing the wound, as if a hope still remained; at

the same time, in case her hopes should disappoint her, she projects

other means of safety. Sending immediately for Servius, after she had

showed to him her husband almost expiring, holding his right hand, she

entreats him not to suffer the death of his father-in-law to pass

unavenged, nor his mother-in-law to be an object of insult to their

enemies. "Servius," she said, "if you are a man, the kingdom is yours,

not theirs, who, by the hands of others, have perpetrated the worst of

crimes. Exert yourself, and follow the guidance of the gods, who

portended that this head would be illustrious by having formerly shed a

blaze around it. Now let that celestial flame arouse you. Now awake in

earnest. We, too, though foreigners, have reigned. Consider who you are,

not whence you are sprung. If your own plans are not matured by reason

of the suddenness of this event, then follow mine." When the uproar and

violence of the multitude could scarcely be withstood, Tanaquil

addresses the populace from the upper part of the palace through the

windows facing the new street (for the royal family resided near the

temple of Jupiter Stator). She bids them "be of good courage; that the

king was stunned by the suddenness of the blow; that the weapon had not

sunk deep into his body; that he was already come to himself again; that

the wound had been examined, the blood having been wiped off; that all

the symptoms were favourable; that she hoped they would see him very

soon; and that, in the mean time, he commanded the people to obey the

orders of Servius Tullius. That he would administer justice, and would

perform all the functions of the king." Servius comes forth with the

trabea and lictors, and seating himself on the king's throne, decides

some cases, with respect to others pretends that he will consult the

king. Therefore, the death being concealed for several days, though

Tarquin had already expired, he, under pretence of discharging the duty

of another, strengthened his own interest. Then at length the matter

being made public, and lamentations being raised in the palace, Servius,

supported by a strong guard, took possession of the kingdom by the

consent of the senate, being the first who did so without the orders of

the people. The children of Ancus, the instruments of their villany

having been already seized, as soon as it was announced that the king

still lived, and that the power of Servius was so great, had already

gone into exile to Suessa Pometia.

42. And now Servius began to strengthen his power, not more by

public[53] than by private measures; and lest the feelings of the

children of Tarquin might be the same towards himself as those of the

children of Ancus had been towards Tarquin, he unites his two daughters

in marriage to the young princes, the Tarquinii, Lucius and Aruns. Nor

yet did he break through the inevitable decrees of fate by human

measures, so that envy of the sovereign power should not produce general

treachery and animosity even among the members of his own family. Very

opportunely for maintaining the tranquillity of the present state, a war

was commenced with the Veientes (for the truce had now expired[54]) and

with the other Etrurians. In that war, both the valour and good fortune

of Tullius were conspicuous, and he returned to Rome, after routing a

great army of the enemy, now unquestionably king, whether he tried the

dispositions of the fathers or the people. He then sets about a work of

peace of the utmost importance; that, as Numa had been the author of

religious institutions, so posterity might celebrate Servius as the

founder of all distinction among the members of the state, and of those

orders by which a limitation is established between the degrees of rank

and fortune. For he instituted the census, a most salutary measure for

an empire destined to become so great, according to which the services

of war and peace were to be performed, not by every person,

(indiscriminately,) as formerly, but in proportion to the amount of

property. Then he formed, according to the census, the classes and

centuries, and the arrangement as it now exists, eminently suited either

to peace or war.

[Footnote 53: By _public_--_private_. The "public" were the steps taken

by Servius to establish his political ascendency, whilst the "private"

refer to those intended to strengthen his family connexions.]

[Footnote 54: _The truce had now expired._ If the truce concluded with

them by Romulus be here meant, it was long since expired, since about

140 years had now elapsed. It is probable, however, that it was renewed

in the reign of Tullius.]

43. Of those who had an estate of a hundred thousand asses or more, he

made eighty centuries, forty of seniors and forty of juniors. All these

were called the first class, the seniors were to be in readiness to

guard the city, the juniors to carry on war abroad. The arms enjoined

them were a helmet, a round shield, greaves, and a coat of mail, all of

brass; these were for the defence of their body; their weapons of

offence were a spear and a sword. To this class were added two centuries

of mechanics, who were to serve without arms; the duty imposed upon them

was to carry the military engines. The second class comprehended all

whose estate was from seventy-five to a hundred thousand asses, and of

these, seniors and juniors, twenty centuries were enrolled. The arms

enjoined them were a buckler instead of a shield, and except a coat of

mail, all the rest were the same. He appointed the property of the third

class to amount to fifty thousand asses; the number of centuries was the

same, and formed with the same distinction of age, nor was there any

change in their arms, only greaves were taken from them. In the fourth

class, the property was twenty-five thousand asses, the same number of

centuries was formed: the arms were changed, nothing was given them but

a spear and a long javelin. The fifth class was increased, thirty

centuries were formed; these carried slings and stones for throwing.

Among them were reckoned the horn-blowers, and the trumpeters,

distributed into three centuries. This whole class was rated at eleven

thousand asses. Property lower than this comprehended all the rest of

the citizens, and of them one century was made up which was exempted

from serving in war. Having thus divided and armed the infantry, he

levied twelve centuries of knights from among the chief men of the

state. Likewise out of the three centuries, appointed by Romulus, he

formed other six under the same names which they had received at their

first institution. Ten thousand asses were given them out of the public

revenue, for the buying of horses, and widows were assigned them, who

were to pay two thousand asses yearly for the support of the horses. All

these burdens were taken off the poor and laid on the rich. Then an

additional honour was conferred upon them; for the suffrage was not now

granted promiscuously to all, as it had been established by Romulus, and

observed by his successors, to every man with the same privilege and the

same right, but gradations were established, so that no one might seem

excluded from the right of voting, and yet the whole power might reside

in the chief men of the state. For the knights were first called, and

then the eighty centuries of the first class; and if they happened to

differ, which was seldom the case, those of the second were called: and

they seldom ever descended so low as to come to the lowest class. Nor

need we be surprised, that the present regulation, which now exists,

since the tribes were increased to thirty-five, should not agree in the

number of centuries of juniors and seniors with the amount instituted by

Servius Tullius, they being now double of what they were at that time.

For the city being divided into four parts, according to the regions and

hills which were then inhabited, he called these divisions tribes, as I

think, from the tribute.[55] For the method of levying taxes rateably

according to the value of estates was also introduced by him; nor had

these tribes any relation to the number and distribution of the

centuries.

[Footnote 55: Varro, de L.L. iv. 36, thinks, on the contrary, that

_tributum_ was so called, as being paid by the _tribes_.]

44. The census being now completed, which he had expedited by the terror

of a law passed on those not rated, with threats of imprisonment and

death, he issued a proclamation that all the Roman citizens, horse and

foot, should attend at the dawn of day in the Campus Martius, each in

his century. There he drew up his army and performed a lustration of it

by the sacrifices called suovetaurilia, and that was called the closing

of the lustrum, because that was the conclusion of the census. Eighty

thousand citizens are said to have been rated in that survey. Fabius

Pictor, the oldest of our historians, adds, that such was the number of

those who were able to bear arms. To accommodate that number the city

seemed to require enlargement. He adds two hills, the Quirinal and

Viminal; then in continuation he enlarges the Esquiliæ, and takes up his

own residence there, in order that respectability might attach to the

place. He surrounds the city with a rampart, a moat, and a wall: thus he

enlarges the pomœrium. They who regard only the etymology of the

word, will have the pomœrium to be a space of ground without the

walls; but it is rather a space on each side the wall, which the

Etrurians in building cities consecrated by augury, reaching to a

certain extent both within and without in the direction they intended to

raise the wall; so that the houses might not be joined to it on the

inside, as they commonly are now, and also that there might be some

space without left free from human occupation. This space, which it was

not lawful to till or inhabit, the Romans called the pomœrium, not

for its being without the wall, more than for the wall's being without

it: and in enlarging the city, as far as the walls were intended to

proceed outwards, so far these consecrated limits were likewise

extended.

45. The state being increased by the enlargement of the city, and every

thing modelled at home and abroad for the exigencies both of peace and

war, that the acquisition of power might not always depend on mere force

of arms, he endeavoured to extend his empire by policy, and at the same

time to add some ornament to the city. [56]The temple of Diana at

Ephesus was at that time in high renown; fame represented it to have

been built by all the states of Asia, in common. When Servius, amid some

grandees of the Latins with whom he had taken pains to form connexions

of hospitality and friendship, extolled in high terms such concord and

association of their gods, by frequently insisting on the same subject,

he at length prevailed so far as that the Latin states agreed to build a

temple to Diana at Rome, in conjunction with the Roman people. This was

an acknowledgment that Rome was the head of both nations, concerning

which they had so often disputed in arms. Though that object seemed to

have been left out of consideration by all the Latins, in consequence of

the matter having been so often attempted unsuccessfully by arms,

fortune seemed to present one of the Sabines with an opportunity of

recovering the superiority to his country by his own address. A cow is

said to have been calved to a certain person, the head of a family among

the Sabines, of surprising size and beauty. Her horns, which were hung

up in the porch of the temple of Diana, remained, for many ages, a

monument of this wonder. The thing was looked upon as a prodigy, as it

was, and the soothsayers declared, that sovereignty would reside in that

state of which a citizen should immolate this heifer to Diana. This

prediction had also reached the ears of the high priest of Diana. The

Sabine, when he thought the proper time for offering the sacrifice was

come, drove the cow to Rome, led her to the temple of that goddess, and

set her before the altar. The Roman priest, struck with the uncommon

size of the victim, so much celebrated by fame, thus accosted the

Sabine: "What intendest thou to do, stranger?" says he. "Is it with

impure hands to offer a sacrifice to Diana? Why dost not thou first wash

thyself in running water? The Tiber runs along in the bottom of that

valley." The stranger, being seized with a scruple of conscience, and

desirous of having every thing done in due form, that the event might

answer the prediction, from the temple went down to the Tiber. In the

mean time the priest sacrificed the cow to Diana, which gave great

satisfaction to the king, and to the whole state.

[Footnote 56: _Temple of Diana_. Built on the summit of the Aventine

mount towards the Tiber. On its brazen pillar were engraved the laws of

the treaty, and which were still extant in the time of Augustus.]

46. Servius, though he had now acquired an indisputable right to the

kingdom by long possession, yet as he heard that expressions were

sometimes thrown out by young Tarquin, importing, "That he held the

crown without the consent of the people," having first secured their

good will by dividing among them, man by man, the lands taken from their

enemies, he ventured to propose the question to the people, whether they

"chose and ordered that he should be king," and was declared king with

such unanimity, as had not been observed in the election of any of his

predecessors. But this circumstance diminished not Tarquin's hope of

obtaining the throne; nay, because he had observed that the question of

the distribution of land to the people[57] was carried against the will

of the fathers, he felt so much the more satisfied that an opportunity

was now presented to him of arraigning Servius before the fathers, and

of increasing his own influence in the senate, he being himself

naturally of a fiery temper, and his wife, Tullia, at home stimulating

his restless temper. For the Roman palace also afforded an instance of

tragic guilt, so that through their disgust of kings, liberty might come

more matured, and the throne, which should be attained through crime,

might be the last. This L. Tarquinius (whether he was the son or

grandson of Tarquinius Priscus is not clear; with the greater number of

authorities, however, I would say, his son[58]) had a brother, Aruns

Tarquinius, a youth of a mild disposition. To these two, as has been

already stated, the two Tulliæ, daughters of the king, had been married,

they also being of widely different tempers. It had so happened that the

two violent dispositions were not united in marriage, through the good

fortune, I suspect, of the Roman people, in order that the reign of

Servius might be more protracted, and the morals of the state be firmly

established. The haughty Tullia was chagrined, that there was no

material in her husband, either for ambition or bold daring. Directing

all her regard to the other Tarquinius, him she admired, him she called

a man, and one truly descended of royal blood; she expressed her

contempt of her sister, because, having got a man, she was deficient in

the spirit becoming a woman. Similarity of mind soon draws them

together, as wickedness is in general most congenial to wickedness. But

the commencement of producing general confusion originated with the

woman. She, accustomed to the secret conversations of the other's

husband, refrained not from using the most contumelious language of her

husband to his brother, of her sister to (her sister's) husband, and

contended, that it were better that she herself were unmarried, and he

single, than that they should be matched unsuitably, so that they must

languish away through life by reason of the dastardly conduct of others.

If the gods had granted her the husband of whom she was worthy, that she

should soon see the crown in her own house, which she now saw at her

father's. She soon inspires the young man with her own daring notions.

Aruns Tarquinius and the younger Tullia, when they had, by immediate

successive deaths, made their houses vacant for new nuptials, are united

in marriage, Servius rather not prohibiting than approving the measure.

[Footnote 57: This is noticed as the first trace of the Agrarian

division by Niebuhr, i. p. 161.]

[Footnote 58: _His son_. Dionysius will have it that he was the

grandson. See Nieb. i. p. 367.]

47. Then indeed the old age of Servius began to be every day more

disquieted, his reign to be more unhappy. For now the woman looked from

one crime to another, and suffered not her husband to rest by night or

by day, lest their past murders might go for nothing. "That what she had

wanted was not a person whose wife she might be called, or one with whom

she might in silence live a slave; what she had wanted was one who would

consider himself worthy of the throne; who would remember that he was

the son of Tarquinius Priscus; who would rather possess a kingdom than

hope for it. If you, to whom I consider myself married, are such a one,

I address you both as husband and king; but if not, our condition has

been changed so far for the worse, as in that person crime is associated

with meanness. Why not prepare yourself? It is not necessary for you, as

for your father, (coming here) from Corinth or Tarquinii, to strive for

foreign thrones. Your household and country's gods, the image of your

father, and the royal palace, and the royal throne in that palace,

constitute and call you king. Or if you have too little spirit for this,

why do you disappoint the nation? Why do you suffer yourself to be

looked up to as a prince? Get hence to Tarquinii or Corinth. Sink back

again to your (original) race, more like your brother than your father."

By chiding him in these and other terms, she spurs on the young man; nor

can she herself rest; (indignant) that when Tanaquil, a foreign woman,

could achieve so great a project, as to bestow two successive thrones on

her husband, and then on her son-in-law, she, sprung from royal blood,

should have no weight in bestowing and taking away a kingdom.

Tarquinius, driven on by these frenzied instigations of the woman,

began to go round and solicit the patricians, especially those of the

younger families;[59] reminded them of his father's kindness, and

claimed a return for it; enticed the young men by presents; increased

his interest, as well by making magnificent promises on his own part, as

by inveighing against the king at every opportunity. At length, as soon

as the time seemed convenient for accomplishing his object, he rushed

into the forum, accompanied by a party of armed men; then, whilst all

were struck with dismay, seating himself on the throne before the

senate-house, he ordered the fathers to be summoned to the senate-house

by the crier to attend king Tarquinius. They assembled immediately, some

being already prepared for the occasion, some through fear, lest their

not having come might prove detrimental to them, astounded at the

novelty and strangeness of the matter, and considering that it was now

all over with Servius. Then Tarquinius, commencing his invectives

against his immediate ancestors: "that a slave, and born of a slave,

after the untimely death of his parent, without an interregnum being

adopted, as on former occasions, without any comitia (being held),

without the suffrages of the people, or the sanction of the fathers, he

had taken possession of the kingdom as the gift of a woman. That so

born, so created king, ever a favourer of the most degraded class, to

which he himself belongs, through a hatred of the high station of

others, he had taken their land from the leading men of the state and

divided it among the very meanest; that he had laid all the burdens,

which were formerly common, on the chief members of the community; that

he had instituted the census, in order that the fortune of the wealthier

citizens might be conspicuous to (excite) public envy, and that all was

prepared whence he might bestow largesses on the most needy, whenever he

might please."

[Footnote 59: _Younger families_. These had been brought into the

senate, as we have seen, by Tarquinius Priscus, and consequently

favoured the Tarquinian interest. Nieb. i. p. 372.]

48. When Servius, aroused by the alarming announcement, came in during

this harangue, immediately from the porch of the senate-house, he says

with a loud voice, "What means this, Tarquin? by what audacity hast thou

dared to summon the fathers, while I am still alive? or to sit on my

throne?" To this, when he fiercely replied "that he, the son of a king,

occupied the throne of his father, a much fitter successor to the throne

than a slave; that he (Servius) had insulted his masters full long

enough by his arbitrary shuffling," a shout arises from the partisans of

both, and a rush of the people into the senate-house took place, and it

became evident that whoever came off victor would have the throne. Then

Tarquin, necessity itself now obliging him to have recourse to the last

extremity, having much the advantage both in years and strength, seizes

Servius by the middle, and having taken him out of the senate-house,

throws him down the steps to the bottom. He then returns to the

senate-house to assemble the senate. The king's officers and attendants

fly. He himself, almost lifeless, when he was returning home with his

royal retinue frightened to death, and had arrived at the top of the

Cyprian street, is slain by those who had been sent by Tarquin, and had

overtaken him in his flight. As the act is not inconsistent with her

other marked conduct, it is believed to have been done by Tullia's

advice. Certain it is, (for it is readily admitted,) that driving into

the forum in her chariot, and not abashed by the crowd of persons there,

she called her husband out of the senate-house, and was the first to

style him king; and when, on being commanded by him to withdraw from

such a tumult, she was returning home, and had arrived at the top of the

Cyprian street, where Diana's temple lately was, as she was turning to

the right to the Orbian hill, in order to arrive at the Esquiline, the

person who was driving, being terrified, stopped and drew in the reins,

and pointed out to his mistress the murdered Servius as he lay. On this

occasion a revolting and inhuman crime is stated to have been committed,

and the place is a monument of it. They call it the Wicked Street, where

Tullia, frantic and urged on by the furies of her sister and husband, is

reported to have driven her chariot over her father's body, and to have

carried a portion of her father's body and blood to her own and her

husband's household gods, herself also being stained and sprinkled with

it; through whose vengeance results corresponding to the wicked

commencement of the reign were soon to follow. Tullius reigned

forty-four years in such a manner that a competition with him would

prove difficult even for a good and moderate successor. But this also

has been an accession to his glory, that with him perished all just and

legitimate reigns. This authority, so mild and so moderate, yet, because

it was vested in one, some say that he had it in contemplation to

resign,[60] had not the wickedness of his family interfered with him

whilst meditating the liberation of his country.

[Footnote 60: _To resign_. Niebuhr is of opinion that what is said

regarding the Commentaries of Servius Tullius, chap. 60, has reference

to this.]

49. After this period Tarquin began his reign, whose actions procured

him the surname of the Proud, for he refused his father-in-law burial,

alleging, that even Romulus died without sepulture. He put to death the

principal senators, whom he suspected of having been in the interest of

Servius. Then, conscious that the precedent of obtaining the crown by

evil means might be adopted from him against himself, he surrounded his

person with armed men, for he had no claim to the kingdom except force,

inasmuch as he reigned without either the order of the people or the

sanction of the senate. To this was added (the fact) that, as he reposed

no hope in the affection of his subjects, he found it necessary to

secure his kingdom by terror; and in order to strike this into the

greater number, he took cognizance of capital cases solely by himself

without assessors; and under that pretext he had it in his power to put

to death, banish, or fine, not only those who were suspected or hated,

but those also from whom he could obtain nothing else but plunder. The

number of the fathers more especially being thus diminished, he

determined to elect none into the senate, in order that the order might

become contemptible by their very paucity, and that they might feel the

less resentment at no business being transacted by them. For he was the

first king who violated the custom derived from his predecessors of

consulting the senate on all subjects; he administered the public

business by domestic counsels. War, peace, treaties, alliances, he

contracted and dissolved with whomsoever he pleased, without the

sanction of the people and senate. The nation of the Latins in

particular he wished to attach to him, so that by foreign influence also

he might be more secure among his own subjects; and he contracted not

only ties of hospitality but affinities also with their leading men. To

Octavius Mamilius of Tusculum he gives his daughter in marriage; (he was

by far the most eminent of the Latin name, being descended, if we

believe tradition, from Ulysses and the goddess Circe, and by this match

he attaches to himself his numerous kinsmen and friends).

50. The influence of Tarquin among the chief men of the Latins was now

considerable, when he issues an order that they should assemble on a

certain day at the grove of Ferentina; that there was business about

which he wished to confer with them touching their common interest. They

assemble in great numbers at the break of day. Tarquinius himself

observed the day indeed, but he came a little before sun-set. Many

matters were there canvassed in the meeting in various conversations.

Turnus Herdonius, from Aricia, inveighed violently against Tarquin for

his absence. "That it was no wonder the cognomen of Proud was given him

at Rome;" for they now called him so secretly and in whispers, but still

generally. "Could anything be more proud than thus to trifle with the

entire nation of the Latins? After their chiefs had been called at so

great a distance from home, that he who summoned the meeting did not

attend; that no doubt their patience was tried, in order that if they

submitted to the yoke, he may crush them when at his mercy. For to whom

did it not plainly appear that he was aiming at sovereignty over the

Latins? But if his own countrymen did well in intrusting it to him, or

if it was intrusted, and not seized on by means of murder, that the

Latins also ought to intrust him (though not even so, inasmuch as he was

a foreigner). But if his own subjects are dissatisfied with him, (seeing

that they are butchered one upon another, driven into exile, and

deprived of their property,) what better prospects are held out to the

Latins? If they follow his advice, that they would depart thence, each

to his own home, and take no more notice of the day of meeting than the

person who appointed it." When this man, turbulent and daring, and one

who had attained influence at home by these means, was pressing these

and other observations having the same tendency, Tarquin came in. This

put a conclusion to his harangue. All turned away from him to salute

Tarquin, who, on silence being enjoined, being advised by those next him

to apologize for having come at that time, says, that he had been chosen

arbiter between a father and a son; that, from his anxiety to reconcile

them, he had delayed; and because that circumstance had consumed that

day, that on the morrow he would transact the business which he had

determined on. They say that he did not make even that observation

without a remark from Turnus; "that no controversy was shorter than one

between a father and son, and that it might be decided in a few

words,--unless he submitted to his father, that he must prove

unfortunate."

51. The Arician withdrew from the meeting, uttering these reflections

against the Roman king. Tarquin, feeling the matter much more acutely

than he appeared to do, immediately sets about planning the death of

Turnus, in order that he might inspire into the Latins the same terror

with which he had crushed the spirits of his own subjects at home; and

because he could not be put to death openly, by virtue of his authority,

he accomplished the ruin of this innocent man by bringing a false

accusation against him. By means of some Aricians of the opposite

faction, he bribed a servant of Turnus with gold, to suffer a great

number of swords to be introduced privately into his lodging. When this

had been completed in the course of one night, Tarquin, having summoned

the chiefs of the Latins to him a little before day, as if alarmed by

some strange occurrence, says, "that his delay of yesterday, having been

occasioned as it were by some providential care of the gods, had been

the means of preservation to him and them; that it was told to him that

destruction was prepared by Turnus for him and the chiefs of the Latins,

that he alone might obtain the government of the Latins. That he was to

have made the attempt yesterday at the meeting; that the matter was

deferred, because the person who summoned the meeting was absent, whom

he chiefly aimed at. That thence arose that abuse of him for being

absent, because he disappointed his hopes by delaying. That he had no

doubt, but that if the truth were told him, he would come at the break

of day, when the assembly met, attended with a band of conspirators, and

with arms in his hands. That it was said that a great number of swords

had been conveyed to his house. Whether that be true or not, might be

known immediately. He requested that they would accompany him thence to

Turnus." Both the daring temper of Turnus, and his harangue of

yesterday, and the delay of Tarquin, rendered the matter suspicious,

because it seemed possible that the murder might have been put off in

consequence of it. They proceed then with minds inclined indeed to

believe, yet determined to consider every thing false, unless the swords

were detected. When they arrived there, Turnus is aroused from sleep,

and guards are placed around him; and the servants, who, from affection

to their master, were preparing to use force, being secured, when the

swords, which had been concealed, were drawn out from all parts of the

lodging, then indeed the whole matter appeared manifest, and chains were

placed on Turnus; and forthwith a meeting of the Latins was summoned

amid great confusion. There, on the swords being brought forward in the

midst, such violent hatred arose against him, that without being allowed

a defence, by a novel mode of death, being thrown into the reservoir of

the water of Ferentina, a hurdle[61] being placed over him, and stones

being thrown into that, he was drowned.

[Footnote 61: _Hurdle_, a mode of punishment in use among the

Carthaginians. See Tac. Germ. 12. Similar to the Greek, ?atap??t?sµ??.]

52. Tarquin, having recalled the Latins to the meeting, and applauded

those who had inflicted well-merited punishment on Turnus, as one

convicted of parricide, by his attempting a change of government, spoke

as follows: "That he could indeed proceed by a long-established right;

because, since all the Latins were sprung from Alba, they were included

in that treaty by which the entire Alban nation, with their colonies,

fell under the dominion of Rome, under Tullus. However, for the sake of

the interest of all parties, he thought rather, that that treaty should

be renewed; and that the Latins should, as participators, enjoy the

prosperity of the Roman people, rather than that they should be

constantly either apprehending or suffering the demolition of their town

and the devastations of their lands, which they suffered formerly in the

reign of Ancus, afterwards in the reign of his own father." The Latins

were persuaded without any difficulty, though in that treaty the

advantage lay on the side of Rome; but they both saw that the chiefs of

the Latin nation sided and concurred with the king, and Turnus was a

recent instance of his danger to each, if he should make any opposition.

Thus the treaty was renewed, and notice was given to the young men of

the Latins, that, according to the treaty, they should attend in

considerable numbers in arms, on a certain day, at the grove of

Ferentina. And when they assembled from all the states according to the

edict of the Roman king, in order that they should neither have a

general of their own, nor a separate command, or their own standards, he

compounded companies of Latins and Romans, so as to make one out of two,

and two out of one; the companies being thus doubled, he appointed

centurions over them.

53. Nor was Tarquin, though a tyrannical prince in peace, a despicable

general in war; nay, he would have equalled his predecessors in that

art, had not his [62]degeneracy in other respects likewise detracted

from his merit here. He began the war against the Volsci, which lasted

two hundred years after his time, and took from them Suessa Pometia by

storm; and when by the sale of the spoils he had amassed forty talents

of silver and of gold, he designed such magnificence for a temple to

Jupiter, as should be worthy of the king of gods and men, of the Roman

empire, and of the majesty of the place itself: for the building of this

temple he set apart the money arising from the spoils. Soon after a war

came upon him, more tedious than he expected, in which, having in vain

attempted to storm Gabii, a city in his neighbourhood, when being

repulsed from the walls all hopes of taking it by siege also was taken

from him, he assailed it by fraud and stratagem, arts by no means Roman.

For when, as if the war was laid aside, he pretended to be busily taken

up with laying the foundation of the temple, and with his other works in

the city, Sextus, the youngest of his three sons, according to concert,

fled to Gabii, complaining of the inhuman cruelty of his father, "that

he had turned his tyranny from others against his own family, and was

uneasy at the number of his own children, intending to make the same

desolations in his own house which he had made in the senate, in order

that he might leave behind him no issue, nor heir to his kingdom. That

for his own part, as he had escaped from amidst the swords and other

weapons of his father, he was persuaded he could find no safety any

where but among the enemies of L. Tarquin. And, that they might not be

led astray, that the war, which it is now pretended has been given up,

still lies in reserve, and that he would attack them when off their

guard on the occurrence of an opportunity. But if there be no refuge

for suppliants among them, that he would traverse all Latium, and would

apply to the Volscians, and Æquians, and Hernicians, until he should

come to those who knew how to protect children from the impious and

cruel persecution of parents. That perhaps he would find some ardour

also to take up arms and wage war against this proud king and his

haughty subjects." As he seemed a person likely to go further onward,

incensed with anger, if they paid him no regard, he is received by the

Gabians very kindly. They bid him not to be surprised, if he were at

last the same to his children as he had been to his subjects and

allies;--that he would ultimately vent his rage on himself if other

objects failed him;--that his coming was very acceptable to them, and

they thought that it would come to pass that by his aid the war would be

transferred from the gates of Gabii to the walls of Rome.

[Footnote 62: _His degeneracy--degeneratum_. This use of the passive

participle is of frequent occurrence in Livy.]

54. Upon this he was admitted into their public councils, where though,

with regard to other matters, he professed to submit to the judgment of

the old inhabitants of Gabii, to whom they were better known, yet he

every now and then advised them to renew the war; to that he pretended

to a superior knowledge, because he was well acquainted with the

strength of both nations, and knew that the king's pride was decidedly

become hateful to his subjects, which not even his own children could

now endure. As he thus by degrees stirred up the nobles of the Gabians

to renew the war, went himself with the most active of their youth on

plundering parties and expeditions, and ill-grounded credit was attached

to all his words and actions, framed as they were for deception, he is

at length chosen general-in-chief in the war. There when, the people

being still ignorant of what was really going on, several skirmishes

with the Romans took place, wherein the Gabians generally had the

advantage, then all the Gabians, from the highest to the lowest, were

firmly persuaded, that Sextus Tarquinius had been sent to them as their

general, by the special favour of the gods. By his exposing himself to

fatigues and dangers, and by his generosity in dividing the plunder, he

was so beloved by the soldiers, that Tarquin the father had not greater

power at Rome than the son at Gabii. When he saw he had got sufficient

strength collected to support him in any undertaking, he sent one of

his confidants to Rome to ask his father what he wished him to do,

seeing the gods had granted him the sole management of all affairs at

Gabii. To this courier no answer by word of mouth was given, because, I

suppose, he appeared of questionable fidelity. The king going into a

garden of the palace, as it were to consider of the matter, followed by

his son's messenger; walking there for some time in silence, he is said

to have struck off the heads of the tallest poppies with his staff. The

messenger, wearied with demanding and waiting for an answer, returned to

Gabii as if without having accomplished his object, and told what he had

said himself, and what he had observed, adding, "that Tarquin, either

through passion, aversion to him, or his innate pride, had not spoke a

word." As soon as it became evident to Sextus what his father wished,

and what conduct he recommended by those silent intimations, he put to

death the most eminent men of the city, accusing some of them to the

people, and others who were exposed by their own unpopularity. Many were

executed publicly, and some, against whom an impeachment was likely to

prove less specious, were secretly assassinated. Means of escape were to

some allowed, and others were banished, and their estates, as well as

the estates of those who were put to death, publicly distributed. By the

sweets of corruption, plunder, and private advantage resulting from

these distributions, the sense of the public calamities became

extinguished in them, till the state of Gabii, destitute of counsel and

assistance, was delivered without a struggle into the hands of the Roman

king.

55. Tarquin, thus put in possession of Gabii, made peace with the

Æquians, and renewed the treaty with the Etrurians. Then he turned his

thoughts to the business of the city. The chief whereof was that of

leaving behind him the temple of Jupiter on the Tarpeian mount, as a

monument of his name and reign; [since posterity would remember] that of

two Tarquinii, both kings, the father had vowed, the son completed it.

And that the area, excluding all other forms of worship, might be

entirely appropriated to Jupiter, and his temple, which was to be

erected upon it, he resolved to unhallow several small temples and

chapels, which had been vowed first by king Tatius, in the heat of the

battle against Romulus, and which he afterwards consecrated and

dedicated. In the very beginning of founding this work it is said that

the gods exerted their divinity to presage the future greatness of this

empire; for though the birds declared for the unhallowing of all the

other temples, they did not admit of it with respect to that of

Terminus. This omen and augury were taken to import that Terminus's not

changing his residence, and being the only one of the gods who was not

called out of the places devoted to their worship, presaged the duration

and stability of their empire. This being deemed an omen of the

perpetuity, there followed another portending the greatness of the

empire. It is reported that the head of a man, with the face entire,

appeared to the workmen when digging the foundation of the temple. The

sight of this phenomenon unequivocally presaged that this temple should

be the metropolis of the empire, and the head of the world; and so

declared the soothsayers, both those who were in the city, and those

whom they had sent for from Etruria, to consult on this subject. The

king was encouraged to enlarge the expense; so that the spoils of

Pometia, which had been destined to complete the work, scarcely sufficed

for laying the foundation. On this account I am more inclined to believe

Fabius Pictor, besides his being the more ancient historian, that there

were only forty talents, than Piso, who says that forty thousand pounds

weight of silver were set apart for that purpose; a sum of money neither

to be expected from the spoils of any one city in those times, and one

that would more than suffice for the foundation of any structure, even

though exhibiting the magnificence of modern structures.

56. Tarquin, intent upon finishing this temple, having sent for workmen

from all parts of Etruria, employed on it not only the public money, but

the manual labour of the people; and when this labour, by no means

inconsiderable in itself, was added to their military service, still the

people murmured less at their building the temples of the gods with

their own hands; they were afterwards transferred to other works, which,

whilst less in show, (required) still greater toil: such as the erecting

benches in the circus, and conducting under ground the principal

sewer,[63] the receptacle of all the filth of the city; to which two

works even modern splendour can scarcely produce any thing equal. The

people having been employed in these works, because he both considered

that such a multitude was a burden to the city when there was no

employment for them, and further, he was anxious that the frontiers of

the empire should be more extensively occupied by sending colonists, he

sent colonists to Signia and Circeii, to serve as defensive barriers

hereafter to the city by land and sea. While he was thus employed a

frightful prodigy appeared to him. A serpent sliding out of a wooden

pillar, after causing dismay and a run into the palace, not so much

struck the king's heart with sudden terror, as filled him with anxious

solicitude. Accordingly when Etrurian soothsayers only were employed for

public prodigies, terrified at this as it were domestic apparition, he

determined on sending persons to Delphos to the most celebrated oracle

in the world; and not venturing to intrust the responses of the oracle

to any other person, he despatched his two sons to Greece through lands

unknown at that time, and seas still more so. Titus and Aruns were the

two who went. To them were added, as a companion, L. Junius Brutus, the

son of Tarquinia, sister to the king, a youth of an entirely different

quality of mind from that the disguise of which he had assumed. Brutus,

on hearing that the chief men of the city, and among others his own

brother, had been put to death by his uncle, resolved to leave nothing

in his intellects that might be dreaded by the king, nor any thing in

his fortune to be coveted, and thus to be secure in contempt, where

there was but little protection in justice. Therefore designedly

fashioning himself to the semblance of foolishness, after he suffered

himself and his whole estate to become a prey to the king, he did not

refuse to take even the surname of Brutus, that, concealed under the

cover of such a cognomen, that genius that was to liberate the Roman

people might await its proper time. He, being brought to Delphos by the

Tarquinii rather as a subject of sport than as a companion, is said to

have brought with him as an offering to Apollo a golden rod, enclosed in

a staff of cornel-wood hollowed out for the purpose, a mystical emblem

of his own mind. When they arrived there, their father's commission

being executed, a desire seized the young men of inquiring on which of

them the sovereignty of Rome should devolve. They say that a voice was

returned from the bottom of the cave, "Young men, whichever of you shall

first kiss his mother shall enjoy the sovereign power at Rome." The

Tarquinii order the matter to be kept secret with the utmost care, that

Sextus, who had been left behind at Rome, might be ignorant of the

response, and have no share in the kingdom; they cast lots among

themselves, as to which of them should first kiss his mother, after they

had returned to Rome. Brutus, thinking that the Pythian response had

another meaning, as if he had stumbled and fallen, touched the ground

with his lips; she being, forsooth, the common mother of all mankind.

After this they all returned to Rome, where preparations were being made

with the greatest vigour for a war against the Rutulians.

[Footnote 63: _The principal sewer_--the _cloaca maxima_. This is

attributed to Tarquinius Priscus by several writers. Dio. iii. 67,

states that it was he who commenced it. See Plin. H. N. xxxvi. Nieb. i.

p. 385.]

57. The Rutulians, a nation very wealthy, considering the country and

age they lived in, were at that time in possession of Ardea. Their

riches gave occasion to the war; for the king of the Romans, being

exhausted of money by the magnificence of his public works, was desirous

both to enrich himself, and by a large booty to soothe the minds of his

subjects, who, besides other instances of his tyranny, were incensed

against his government, because they were indignant that they had been

kept so long a time by the king in the employments of mechanics, and in

labour fit for slaves. An attempt was made to take Ardea by storm; when

that did not succeed, the enemy began to be distressed by a blockade,

and by works raised around them. As it commonly happens in standing

camps, the war being rather tedious than violent, furloughs were easily

obtained, more so by the officers, however, than the common soldiers.

The young princes sometimes spent their leisure hours in feasting and

entertainments. One day as they were drinking in the tent of Sextus

Tarquin, where Collatinus Tarquinius, the son of Egerius, was also at

supper, mention was made of wives. Every one commended his own in an

extravagant manner, till a dispute arising about it, Collatinus said,

"There was no occasion for words, that it might be known in a few hours

how far his Lucretia excelled all the rest. If then, added he, we have

any share of the vigour of youth, let us mount our horses and examine

the behaviour of our wives; that must be most satisfactory to every one,

which shall meet his eyes on the unexpected arrival of the husband."

They were heated with wine; "Come on, then," say all. They immediately

galloped to Rome, where they arrived in the dusk of the evening. From

thence they went to Collatia, where they find Lucretia, not like the

king's daughters-in-law, whom they had seen spending their time in

luxurious entertainments with their equals, but though at an advanced

time of night, employed at her wool, sitting in the middle of the house

amid her maids working around her. The merit of the contest regarding

the ladies was assigned to Lucretia. Her husband on his arrival, and the

Tarquinii, were kindly received; the husband, proud of his victory,

gives the young princes a polite invitation. There the villanous passion

for violating Lucretia by force seizes Sextus Tarquin; both her beauty,

and her approved purity, act as incentives. And then, after this

youthful frolic of the night, they return to the camp.

58. A few days after, without the knowledge of Collatinus, Sextus came

to Collatia with one attendant only; where, being kindly received by

them, as not being aware of his intention, after he had been conducted

after supper into the guests' chamber, burning with passion, when every

thing around seemed sufficiently secure, and all fast asleep, he comes

to Lucretia, as she lay asleep, with a naked sword, and with his left

hand pressing down the woman's breast, he says, "Be silent, Lucretia; I

am Sextus Tarquin; I have a sword in my hand; you shall die, if you

utter a word." When awaking terrified from sleep, the woman beheld no

aid, impending death nigh at hand; then Tarquin acknowledged his

passion, entreated, mixed threats with entreaties, tried the female's

mind in every possible way. When he saw her inflexible, and that she was

not moved even by the terror of death, he added to terror the threat of

dishonour; he says that he will lay a murdered slave naked by her side

when dead, so that she may be said to have been slain in infamous

adultery. When by the terror of this disgrace his lust, as it were

victorious, had overcome her inflexible chastity, and Tarquin had

departed, exulting in having triumphed over a lady's honour, Lucretia,

in melancholy distress at so dreadful a misfortune, despatches the same

messenger to Rome to her father, and to Ardea to her husband, that they

would come each with one trusty friend; that it was necessary to do so,

and that quickly.[64] Sp. Lucretius comes with P. Valerius, the son of

Volesus, Collatinus with L. Junius Brutus, with whom, as he was

returning to Rome, he happened to be met by his wife's messenger. They

find Lucretia sitting in her chamber in sorrowful dejection. On the

arrival of her friends the tears burst from her eyes; and to her

husband, on his inquiry "whether all was right," she says, "By no means,

for what can be right with a woman who has lost her honour? The traces

of another man are on your bed, Collatinus. But the body only has been

violated, the mind is guiltless; death shall be my witness. But give me

your right hands, and your honour, that the adulterer shall not come off

unpunished. It is Sextus Tarquin, who, an enemy in the guise of a guest,

has borne away hence a triumph fatal to me, and to himself, if you are

men." They all pledge their honour; they attempt to console her,

distracted as she was in mind, by turning away the guilt from her,

constrained by force, on the perpetrator of the crime; that it is the

mind sins, not the body; and that where intention was wanting guilt

could not be. "It is for you to see," says she, "what is due to him. As

for me, though I acquit myself of guilt, from punishment I do not

discharge myself; nor shall any woman survive her dishonour pleading the

example of Lucretia." The knife, which she kept concealed beneath her

garment, she plunges into her heart, and falling forward on the wound,

she dropped down expiring. The husband and father shriek aloud.

[Footnote 64: _To do so, and that quickly_,--a use of the participles

_facto_ and _maturato_ similar to that already noticed in chap. 53,

_degeneratum_.]

59. Brutus, while they were overpowered with grief, having drawn the

knife out of the wound, and holding it up before him reeking with blood,

said, "By this blood, most pure before the pollution of royal villany, I

swear, and I call you, O gods, to witness my oath, that I shall pursue

Lucius Tarquin the Proud, his wicked wife, and all their race, with

fire, sword, and all other means in my power; nor shall I ever suffer

them or any other to reign at Rome." Then he gave the knife to

Collatinus, and after him to Lucretius and Valerius, who were surprised

at such extraordinary mind in the breast of Brutus. However, they all

take the oath as they were directed, and converting their sorrow into

rage, follow Brutus as their leader, who from that time ceased not to

solicit them to abolish the regal power. They carry Lucretia's body

from her own house, and convey it into the forum; and assemble a number

of persons by the strangeness and atrocity of the extraordinary

occurrence, as usually happens. They complain, each for himself, of the

royal villany and violence. Both the grief of the father moves them, as

also Brutus, the reprover of their tears and unavailing complaints, and

their adviser to take up arms against those who dared to treat them as

enemies, as would become men and Romans. Each most spirited of the youth

voluntarily presents himself in arms; the rest of the youth follow also.

From thence, after leaving an adequate garrison at the gates at

Collatia, and having appointed sentinels, so that no one might give

intelligence of the disturbance to the king's party, the rest set out

for Rome in arms under the conduct of Brutus. When they arrived there,

the armed multitude cause panic and confusion wherever they go. Again,

when they see the principal men of the state placing themselves at their

head, they think that, whatever it may be, it was not without good

reason. Nor does the heinousness of the circumstance excite less violent

emotions at Rome than it had done at Collatia; accordingly they run from

all parts of the city into the forum, whither, when they came, the

public crier summoned them to attend the tribune of the celeres, with

which office Brutus happened to be at that time vested. There an

harangue was delivered by him, by no means of that feeling and capacity

which had been counterfeited up to that day, concerning the violence and

lust of Sextus Tarquin, the horrid violation of Lucretia and her

lamentable death, the bereavement of Tricipitinus, to whom the cause of

his daughter's death was more exasperating and deplorable than the death

itself. To this was added the haughty insolence of the king himself, and

the sufferings and toils of the people, buried in the earth in cleansing

sinks and sewers; that the Romans, the conquerors of all the surrounding

states, instead of warriors had become labourers and stone-cutters. The

unnatural murder of king Servius Tullius was dwelt on, and his

daughter's driving over the body of her father in her impious chariot,

and the gods who avenge parents were invoked by him. By stating these

and other, I suppose, more exasperating circumstances, which though by

no means easily detailed by writers, the heinousness of the case

suggested at the time, he persuaded the multitude, already incensed, to

deprive the king of his authority, and to order the banishment of L.

Tarquin with his wife and children. He himself, having selected and

armed some of the young men, who readily gave in their names, set out

for Ardea to the camp to excite the army against the king: the command

in the city he leaves to Lucretius, who had been already appointed

prefect of the city by the king. During this tumult Tullia fled from her

house, both men and women cursing her wherever she went, and invoking on

her the furies the avengers of parents.

60. News of these transactions having reached the camp, when the king,

alarmed at this sudden revolution, was going to Rome to quell the

commotions, Brutus, for he had notice of his approach, turned out of the

way, that he might not meet him; and much about the same time Brutus and

Tarquin arrived by different routes, the one at Ardea, the other at

Rome. The gates were shut against Tarquin, and an act of banishment

passed against him; the deliverer of the state the camp received with

great joy, and the king's sons were expelled. Two of them followed their

father, and went into banishment to Cære, a city of Etruria. Sextus

Tarquin, having gone to Gabii, as to his own kingdom, was slain by the

avengers of the old feuds, which he had raised against himself by his

rapines and murders. Lucius Tarquin the Proud reigned twenty-five years:

the regal form of government continued from the building of the city to

this period of its deliverance, two hundred and forty-four years. Two

consuls, viz. Lucius Junius Brutus and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus,

were elected by the prefect of the city at the comitia by centuries,

according to the commentaries of Servius Tullius.