THE SONS OF BRUTUS
After Tarquin the Proud had been driven away from Rome, the people
determined that they would never again be ruled by kings.
They resolved to follow the wise laws of Servius, who had bidden them
choose each year two men to rule, giving them equal power, the right to
make laws, and to see that justice was done in the land.
The two men, chosen by the Senate and the people, were called Consuls.
In token of his office, each Consul had at his command six men, named
lictors.
When a Consul went into the Forum or into the street, he was preceded
by his lictors, who carried, as a sign of their master’s power, rods to
chastise and an axe to kill.
Rome had now become a Republic, and the first Consuls to be elected
were Brutus and Collatinus.
But if the Romans expected Tarquin to make no effort to recover his
throne, they soon discovered their mistake.
Before long, the king sent messengers to Rome to ask that his own
private possessions might be sent to him, and to this simple request
the Senate and the people agreed.
As perhaps the Romans might have suspected, Tarquin had another reason
for sending to Rome than the one his messengers carried to the Senate.
He knew that among the younger patricians were many who wished to place
him again upon the throne, and his messengers had come to talk secretly
with these nobles. They even hoped to arrange the best time for the
king’s return.
But as the conspirators talked together, a slave chanced to overhear
what they said, and he at once went to the Consuls and told them of the
danger that threatened the city.
The conspirators were immediately seized and thrown into prison, while
the slave was set free and made a citizen of Rome.
Among the prisoners were Titus and Tiberius, the sons of Brutus.
The brave Consul was dismayed to learn that his sons, whom he loved
well, had been guilty of treason. How could he bear to pronounce
judgment upon them as upon other traitors?
Yet soon he thrust aside his weakness. A true Roman must love his
country better even than his own children.
So when the conspirators were brought before him he did not flinch.
With stern, set face he condemned Titus and Tiberius to death along
with the other traitors, nor did he stoop to ask the people to show
mercy to his sons.
The young men were bound to the stake before his eyes, after which the
lictors beat them with rods and then cut off their heads with the axe.
So angry were the Senate and the people with Tarquin for attempting to
plot against the Republic, that they now refused to send to him his
possessions. And not only so, but they divided his goods among the
people, while the field between the city and the Tiber which Tarquin
had sown with corn was destroyed, the corn cut down and thrown into the
river. The angry citizens then dedicated the field to the god Mars, and
henceforth it was known as the Field of Mars.
The Senate then made a law banishing for ever from Rome all who bore
the hated name of Tarquin.
So Collatinus, whose other name was Tarquinius, resigned his Consulship
and left the city in obedience to the law. And this he did, although he
was the friend of Brutus, and hated the exiled king.
Valerius was then chosen Consul in his stead.
Meanwhile, Tarquin was full of wrath because he had not been able
to enter Rome by craft, and he went to Etruria, and persuaded the
Etruscans to help him to recover his throne.
But when the Etruscans proclaimed war against Rome, Brutus gathered
together an army and led it against the enemy.
Close to a wood the battle raged. Aruns, one of Tarquin’s sons, saw
Brutus at the head of the Roman army, wearing the royal robes which he
considered belonged to his house alone. In sudden fury he put spurs to
his horse, and with his spear ready dashed toward his enemy.
Brutus saw Aruns drawing near, and he also spurred his horse forward
and couched his spear.
Onward flew the two warriors until at length they met. Then each,
pierced by the other’s spear, fell from his horse and moved no more.
All day the battle raged, and still when night fell the victory was
uncertain.
But, during the night, while both armies were encamped on the
battlefield, a loud voice was heard coming from the direction of the
wood.
It was Silvanus, the god of the wood, who was speaking. ‘The victory
belongs to the Romans,’ said the god, ‘for they have slain one more
than their enemy.’
Obedient to the voice of Silvanus, the Etruscans on the following
morning withdrew their army, while the Romans marched back to Rome.
In spite of their victory they were sad, for they carried with them the
dead body of their leader.
Brutus was mourned by all the people. But the Roman matrons lamented
more than others, setting aside a whole year in which to grieve for his
death, because he had so bravely avenged the matron Lucretia.