[4,0] BOOK IV.

[4,1] King Tarquinius, accordingly, who had conferred not a few important benefits 
upon the Romans, died in the manner I have mentioned, after holding the 
sovereignty for thirty-eight years, leaving two grandsons who were infants and two 
daughters already married. His son-in-law Tullius succeeded him in the sovereignty 
in the fourth year of the fiftieth Olympiad (the one in which Epitelides, a 
Lacedaemonian, won the short-distance foot-race), Archestratides being archon at 
Athens. It is now the proper time to mention those particulars relating to Tullius 
which we at first omitted, namely, who his parents were and what deeds he 
performed while he was yet a private citizen, before his accession to the sovereignty. 
Concerning his family, then, the account with which I can best agree is this: There 
lived at Corniculum, a city of the Latin nation, a man of the royal family named 
Tullius, who was (p267) married to Ocrisia, a woman far excelling all the other women in 
Corniculum in beauty and modesty. When this city was taken by the Romans, Tullius 
himself was slain while fighting, and Ocrisia, then with child, was selected from the 
spoils and taken by King Tarquinius, who gave her to his wife. She, having been 
informed of everything that related to this woman, freed her soon afterwards and 
continued to treat her with kindness and honour above all other women.  While 
Ocrisia was yet a slave she bore a son, to whom, when he had left the nursery, she 
gave the name of Tullius, from his father, as his proper and family name, and also 
that of Servius as his common and first name, from her own condition, since she had 
been a slave when she had given birth to him. Servius, if translated into the Greek 
tongue, would be doulios or "servile." 

[4,2] There is also current in the local records another story relating to his birth which 
raises the circumstances attending to the realm of the fabulous, and we have found it 
in many Roman histories. This account — if it be pleasing to the gods and the lesser 
divinities that it be related — is somewhat as follows: They say that from the hearth in 
the palace, on which the Romans offer various other sacrifices and also consecrate the 
first portion of their meals, there rose up above the fire a man's privy member, and 
that Ocrisia was the first to see it as she was carrying the customary cakes to the fire, 
and immediately (p269) informed the king and queen of it. Tarquinius, they add, upon 
hearing this and left beholding the prodigy, was astonished; but Tanaquil, who was 
not only wise in other matters but also inferior to none of the Tyrrhenians in her 
knowledge of divination, told him it was ordained by fate that from the royal hearth 
should issue a scion superior to the race of mortals, to be born of the woman who 
should conceive by that phantom. And the other soothsayers affirming the same 
thing, the king thought it fitting that Ocrisia, to whom the prodigy had first appeared, 
should have intercourse with it. Thereupon this woman, having adorned herself as 
brides are usually adorned, was shut up alone in the room in which the prodigy had 
been seen.  And one of the gods or lesser divinities, whether Vulcan, as some think, 
or the tutelary deity of the house,4 having had intercourse with her and afterwards 
disappearing, she conceived and was delivered of Tullius at the proper time. This 
fabulous account, although it seems not altogether credible, is rendered less 
incredible by reason of another manifestation of the gods relating to Tullius which 
was wonderful and extraordinary.  For when he had fallen asleep one day while 
sitting in the portico of the palace about noon, a fire shone forth from his head. This 
was seen by his mother and by the king's wife, as they were walking through the 
portico, as well as by all who happened to be present with them at the time. The flame 
continued to illumine his whole head till his mother ran to him (p271) and wakened 
him; and with the ending of his sleep the flame was dispersed and vanished. Such are 
the accounts that are given of his birth. 

[4,3]  The memorable actions he performed before becoming king, in consideration of 
which Tarquinius admired him and the Roman people honoured him next to the 
king, are these: When, scarcely more than a boy as yet, he was serving in the cavalry 
in the first campaign that Tarquinius undertook against the Tyrrhenians, he was 
thought to have fought so splendidly that he straightway became famous and received 
the prize of valour ahead of all others. Afterwards, when another expedition was 
undertaken against the same nation and a sharp battle was fought near the city of 
Eretum, he showed himself the bravest of all and was again crowned by the king as 
first in valour.  And when he was about twenty years old he was appointed to 
command the auxiliary forces sent by the Latins, and assisted King Tarquinius in 
obtaining the sovereignty over the Tyrrhenians. In the first war that arose against the 
Sabines, being general of the horse, he put to flight that of the enemy, pursuing them 
as far as the city of Antemnae, and again received the prize of valour because of this 
battle. He also took part in many other engagements against the same nation, 
sometimes commanding the horse and sometimes the foot, in all of which he showed 
himself a man of the greatest courage and was always the first to be crowned ahead of 
the others.  And when that nation came to surrender themselves and deliver up their 
cities to the Romans, he was regarded by Tarquinius as the chief cause of his gaining 
this dominion also, and was crowned by him with the victor's crown. Moreover, he 
not only (p273) had the shrewdest understanding of public affairs, but was inferior to 
none in his ability to express his plans; and he possessed in an eminent degree the 
power of accommodating himself to every circumstance of fortune and to every kind 
of person.  Because of these accomplishments the Romans thought proper to transfer 
him by their votes from the plebeian to the patrician order, an honour they had 
previously conferred on Tarquinius, and, still earlier, on Numa Pompilius. The king 
also made him his son-in-law, giving him one of his two daughters in marriage, and 
whatever business his infirmities or his age rendered him incapable of performing by 
himself, he ordered Tullius to transact, not only entrusting to him the private 
interests of his own family, but also asking him to manage the public business of the 
commonwealth. In all these employments he was found faithful and just, and the 
people felt that it made no difference whether it was Tarquinius or Tullius who looked 
after the public affairs, so effectually had he won them to himself by the services he 
had rendered to them. 

[4,4] This man,  therefore, being endowed with a nature adequately equipped for 
command and also supplied by Fortune with many great opportunities for attaining 
it, believed, when Tarquinius died by the treachery of the sons of Ancus Marcius, who 
desired to recover their father's kingdom, as I have related in the preceding book,  
that he was called to the kingship by the very course of events and so, being a man of 
action, he did not let the opportunity slip from his grasp.  The person who helped 
him to seize possession of the supreme power and the author of all his good fortune 
was the wife (p275) of the deceased conflict, who aided him both because he was her 
son-in-law and also because she knew from many oracles that it was ordained by fate 
that this man should be king of the Romans. It chanced that her son, a youth, had 
died shortly before and that two infant sons were left by him.  She, therefore, 
reflecting on the desolation of her house and being under the greatest apprehension 
lest, if the sons of Marcius possessed themselves of the sovereignty, they should 
destroy these infants and extirpate all the royal family, first commanded that the 
gates of the palace should be shut and guards stationed there with orders to allow no 
one to pass either in or out. Then, ordering a the rest to leave the room in which they 
had laid Tarquinius when he was at the point of death, she detained Ocrisia, Tullius 
and her daughter who married to Tullius, and after ordering the children to be 
brought by their nurses, she spoke to them as follows: 
"Our king Tarquinius, in whose home you received your nurture and training, 
Tullius, and who honoured you above all his friends and relations, has finished his 
destined course, the victim of an impious crime, without having either made any 
disposition by will of his private interests or left injunctions concerning the public 
business of the commonwealth, and without having had it in his power even to 
embrace any of us and utter his last farewells. And these unhappy children here are 
left destitute and orphaned and in imminent danger of their lives. For if the power 
falls into the hands of the Marcii, the murderers of their grandfather, they will be put 
to death by them (p277) in the most piteous manner. Even the lives of you men, to whom 
Tarquinius gave his daughters in preference to them, will not be safe, should his 
murderers obtain the sovereignty, any more than the lives of the rest of his friends 
and relations or of us miserable women; but they will endeavour to destroy us all both 
openly and secretly.  Bearing all this in mind, then, we must not permit the wicked 
murderers of Tarquinius and the enemies of us all to obtain so great power, but must 
oppose and prevent them, now by craft and deceit, since these means are necessary at 
present, but when our first attempt has succeeded, then coming to grips with them 
openly with all our might and with arms, if those too shall be necessary. But they will 
not be necessary if we are willing to take the proper measures now.  And what are 
these measures? Let us, in the first place, conceal the king's death and cause a report 
to be spread among the people that he has received no mortal wound, and let the 
physicians state that in a few days they will show him safe and sound. Then I will 
appear in public and will announce to the people, as if Tarquinius had so enjoined, 
that he has committed to one of his two sons-in-law (naming you, Tullius) the care 
and guardianship both of his private interests and of the public business till he is 
recovered of his wounds; and the Romans, far from being displeased, will be glad to 
see the state administered by you, who often have administered it already in the past. 
 Then, when we have averted the present danger — (p279) for the power of our enemies 
will be at an end the moment the king is reported to be alive — do you assume the 
rods and the military power and summon before the people those who formed the 
plot to assassinate Tarquinius, beginning with the sons of Marcius, and cause them to 
stand trial. After you have punished all these, with death, if they submit to be tried, or 
with perpetual banishment and the confiscation of their estates, if they let their case 
go by default, which I think they will be more apt to do, then at last set about 
establishing your government. Win the affections of the people by kindly affability, 
take great care that no injustice be committed, and gain the favour of the poorer 
citizens by sundry benefactions and gifts. Afterwards, when we see a proper time, let 
us announce that Tarquinius is dead and hold a public funeral for him.  And as for 
you, Tullius, if you, who have been brought up and educated by us, have partaken of 
every advantage that sons receive from their mother and father, and are married to 
our daughter, shall in addition actually become king of the Romans, it is but just, 
since I helped to win this also for you, that you should show all the kindness of a 
father to these little children, and when they come to manhood and are capable of 
handling public affairs, that you should appoint the elder to be leader of the Romans." 

[4,5]  With these words she thrust each of the children in turn into the arms of both her 
son-in-law and her daughter and roused great compassion in them both; then, when 
it was the proper time, she went out of the room and ordered the servants to get 
everything ready for dressing the king's wounds and to call the (p281) physicians. And 
letting that night pass, the next day, when the people flocked in great numbers to the 
palace, she appeared at the windows that gave upon the narrow street before the 
gates and first informed them who the persons were who had plotted the murder of 
the king, and produced in chains those whom they had sent to commit the deed. 
 Then, finding that many lamented the calamity and were angry at the authors of it, 
she at last told them that these men had gained naught from their wicked designs, 
since they had not been able to kill Tarquinius. This statement being received with 
universal joy, she then commended Tullius to them as the person appointed by the 
king to be the guardian of all his interests, both private and public, till he himself 
recovered.  The people, therefore, went away greatly rejoicing, in the belief that the 
king had suffered no fatal injury, and continued for a long time in that opinion. 
Afterwards Tullius, attended by a strong body of men and taking along the king's 
lictors, went to the Forum and caused proclamation to be made for the Marcii to 
appear and stand trial; and upon their failure to obey, he pronounced sentence of 
perpetual banishment against them, and having confiscated their property, he was 
now in secure possession of the sovereignty of Tarquinius. 

[4,6] I shall interrupt the narration of what follows that I may give the reasons which 
have induced me to disagree with Fabius and the rest of the historians who affirm 
that the children left by Tarquinius were his sons, to the end that none who have read 
those (p283) histories may suspect that I am inventing when I call them his grandsons 
rather than his sons. For it is sheer heedlessness and indolence that has led these 
historians to publish that account of them without first examining any of the 
impossibilities and absurdities that are fatal to it. each of these absurdities I will 
endeavour to point out in a few words.  Tarquinius packed up and removed from 
Tyrrhenia with all his household at an age the most capable of reflection; for it is 
reported that he already aspired to take part in public life, to hold magistracies and to 
handle public affairs, and that he removed from there because he was not allowed to 
share in any position of honour in the state.  Anyone else, then, might have assumed 
that he was at least in his thirtieth year when he left Tyrrhenia, since it is from this 
age onwards, as a rule, that the laws call to the magistracies and to the administration 
of public affairs those who desire such a career; but I will suppose him five whole 
years younger than this and put him in his twenty-fifth year when he removed. 
Moreover, all the Roman historians agree that he brought with him a Tyrrhenian 
wife, whom he had married while his father was yet alive.  He came to Rome in the 
first year of the reign of Ancus Marcius, as Gellius8 writes, but according to Licinius,8 
in the eighth year. Grant, then, that he came in the year Licinius states and not 
before; for he could not have come (p285) after that time, since in the ninth year of the 
reign of Ancus he was sent by the king to command the cavalry in the war against the 
Latins, as both these historians state. Now, if he was not more than twenty-five years 
old when he came to Rome, and, having been received into the friendship of Ancus, 
who was then king, in the eighth year of his reign (for Ancus reigned twenty-four 
years), and if he himself reigned thirty-eight, as all agree, he must have been 
fourscore years old when he died; for this is the sum obtained by adding up the years. 
 If his wife was five years younger, as may well be supposed, she was presumably in 
her seventy-fifth year when Tarquinius died. Accordingly, if she conceived her second 
and last son when she was in her fiftieth year (for at a more advanced age a woman 
no longer conceives, but this is itself the limit of her child-bearing, as those authors 
write who have looked into these things), this son could not have been less than 
twenty-five years old when his father died, and Lucius, the elder, not less than 
twenty-seven; hence the sons whom Tarquinius left by this wife could not have been 
infants.  But surely, if her sons had been grown men when their father died, it cannot 
be imagined either that their mother would have been so miserable a creature or so 
infatuated as to deprive her own children of the sovereignty their father had left them 
and bestow it upon an outsider and the son of a slave-woman, or, again, that her sons 
themselves, (p287) when thus deprived of their father's sovereignty, would have borne 
the injustice in so abject and supine a manner, and that at an age when they were at 
the very height of their powers both of speech and of action. For Tullius neither had 
the advantage of them in birth, being the son of a slave-woman, nor excelled them 
much in the dignity of age, being only three years older than one of them; so that they 
would not willingly have yielded the kingship to them. 

[4,7] This view involves some other absurdities, too, of which all the Roman historians 
have been ignorant, with the exception of one whom I shall name presently. For it has 
been agreed that Tullius, having succeeded to the kingdom after the death of 
Tarquinius, held it for forty-four years; so that, if the eldest of the Tarquinii was 
twenty-seven years old when he was deprived of the sovereignty, he must have been 
above seventy when he killed Tullius.  But he was then in the prime of life, according 
to the tradition handed down by the historians, and they state that he himself lifted 
up Tullius, and carrying him out of the senate-house, hurled him down the steps. His 
expulsion from the kingship happened in the twenty-fifth year after this, and in that 
same year he is represented as making war against the people of Ardea and 
performing all the duties himself; but it is not reasonable to suppose that a man 
ninety-six years old should be taking part in wars.a  And after his expulsion he still 
makes war against the Romans (p289) for no less than fourteen years, being present 
himself, they say, at all the engagements — which is contrary to all common sense. 
Thus, according to them, he must have lived above one hundred and ten years; but 
this length of life is not produced by our climes. Some of the Roman historians, 
being sensible of these absurdities, have endeavoured to solve them by means of 
other absurdities, alleging that not Tanaquil but one Gegania, of whom no other 
account has come down to us, was the mother of the children. But here again, the 
marriage of Tarquinius is unseasonable, he being then very near fourscore years old, 
and the begetting of children by men of that age is incredible;  nor was he a childless 
man, who would wish by all means for children, for he had two daughters and these 
already married.  In the light, therefore, of these various impossibilities and 
absurdities, I state that the children were not the sons, but the grandsons, of 
Tarquinius, agreeing therein with Lucius Piso Frugi11 (for he in his Annals is the only 
historian who has given this account); unless, indeed, the children were the king's 
grandsons by birth and his sons by adoption and this circumstance misled all the 
(p291) other Roman historians. Now that these explanations have been made by way of 
preface, it is time to resume my narrative where it was broken off. 

[4,8] When Tullius, after receiving the guardianship of the kingdom and expelling the 
faction of the Marcii, thought he was now in secure possession of the sovereignty, he 
honoured King Tarquinius, as if he had but recently died of his wounds, with a very 
costly funeral, an imposing monument, and the other usual honours. And from that 
time, as guardian of the royal children, he took under his protection and care both 
their private fortunes and the public interests of the commonwealth.  The patricians, 
however, were not pleased with these proceedings, but felt indignation and 
resentment, being unwilling that Tullius should build up a kind of royal power for 
himself without either a decree of the senate or the other formalities prescribed by 
law. And the most powerful of them met together frequently and discussed with one 
another means of putting an end to his illegal rule; and they resolved that in the first 
time Tullius should assemble them in the senate-house they would compel him to lay 
aside the rods and the other symbols of royalty, and that after this was done they 
would appoint the magistrates called interreges  and through them choose a man to 
rule the state in accordance with the laws.  
While they were making these plans, Tullius, becoming aware of their purpose, applied himself 
to flattering and courting the poorer citizens, and hopes of retaining the sovereignty through 
them; and having called an assembly of the (p293) people, he brought the children forward to the 
tribunal and delivered a speech somewhat as follows: 

[4,9] "I find myself under great obligation, citizens, to take care of these infant children. 
For Tarquinius, their grandfather, received me when I was fatherless and without a 
country, and brought me up, holding me in no respect inferior to his own children. 
He also gave me one of his two daughters in marriage, and during the whole course of 
his life continued to honour and love me, as you also know, with the same affection as 
if I had been his own son. And after that treacherous attack was made upon him he 
entrusted me with the guardianship of these children in case he should suffer the fate 
of all mortals.  Who, therefore, will think me pious towards the gods or just towards 
men if I abandon and betray the orphans to with I owe so great a debt of gratitude? 
But, to the best of my ability, I shall neither betray the trust reposed in me nor yet 
abandon the children in their forlorn condition. You too ought in justice to remember 
the benefits their grandfather conferred upon the commonwealth in reducing to your 
obedience so many cities of the Latins, your rivals for the sovereignty, in making all 
the Tyrrhenians, the most powerful of your neighbours, your subjects, and in forcing 
the Sabine nation to submit to you — all of which he effected at the cost of many great 
dangers.  As long, therefore, as he himself was living, it became you to give him 
thanks for the benefits you had received from him; and now that he is dead, it 
becomes you to make a grateful return to his posterity, and not to bury the (p295) 
remembrance of their deeds together with the persons of your benefactors. Consider, 
therefore, that you have all jointly been left guardians of these little children, and 
confirm to them the sovereignty which their grandfather left them. For they would 
not receive so great an advantage from my guardianship, which is that of one man 
only, as from the joint assistance of you all.  I have been compelled to say these 
things because I have perceived that some persons are conspiring against them and 
desire to hand the sovereignty over the others. I ask you, Romans, also to call to mind 
the struggles I have undergone in the interest of your supremacy — struggles neither 
inconsiderable nor few, which I need not relate to you who are familiar with them — 
and to repay to these little children the gratitude you owe me in return. For it has not 
been with a view to securing a sovereignty of my own — of which, if that had been my 
aim, I was as worthy as anyone — but in order to aid the family of Tarquinius, that 
I have chosen to direct public affairs.  And I entreat you as a suppliant not to 
abandon these orphans, who are now, indeed, only in danger of losing the 
sovereignty, but, if this first attempt of their enemies succeeds, will also be expelled 
from the city. But on this subject I need say no more to you, since you both know 
what is required and will perform your duty. 
 "Hear from me now the benefits I myself have arranged to confer upon you and the 
reasons that induced me to summon this assembly. Those among you who already 
have debts which through poverty they are unable to discharge, I am eager to help, 
(p297) since they are citizens and have undergone many hardships in the service of their 
country; hence, in order that these men who have securely established the common 
liberty may not be deprived of their own, I am giving them from my own means 
enough to pay their debts.  And those who shall hereafter borrow I will not permit to 
be haled to prison on account of their debts, but will make a law that no one shall 
lend money on the security of the persons of free men; for I hold that it is enough for 
the lenders to possess the property of those who contracted the debts. And in order to 
lighten for the future the burden also of the war taxes you pay to the public treasury, 
by which the poor are oppressed and obliged to borrow, I will order all the citizens to 
give in a valuation of their property and everyone to pay his share of the taxes 
according to that valuation, as I learn is done in the greatest and best governed 
cities;  for I regard it as both just and advantageous to the public that those who 
possess much should pay much in taxes and those who have little should pay little. 
 I also believe that the public lands, which you have obtained by your arms and now 
enjoy, should not, as at present, be held by those who are the most shameless, 
whether they got them by favour or acquired them by purchase, but by those among 
you who have no allotment of land, to the end that you, being free men, may not be 
serfs to others or cultivate others' lands instead of your own;  for a noble spirit 
cannot dwell in the breasts of men (p299) who are in want of the necessaries of daily 
life.  But, above all these things, I have determined to make the government fair and 
impartial and justice the same for all and towards all. For some have reached that 
degree of presumption that they take upon themselves to maltreat the common 
people and do not look upon the poor among you as being even free men. To the end, 
therefore, that the more powerful may both receive justice from and do justice to 
their inferior impartially, I will establish such laws as shall prevent violence and 
preserve justice, and I myself will never cease to take thought for the equality of all 
the citizens." 

[4,10] While he was thus speaking there was much praise from the assembly, some 
commending him for his loyalty and justice to his benefactors, os for his humanity 
and generosity to the poor, and still others for his moderation and democratic spirit 
towards those of humbler station; but all loved and admired him for being a lawful 
and just ruler.  The assembly having been dismissed, during the following days he 
ordered lists to be made of all the debtors who were unable to keep their pledges, with 
the amount each owed and the names of the creditors; and when this list had been 
delivered to him, he commanded tables to be placed in the Forum and in the presence 
of all the citizens counted out to the lenders the amount of the debts.  Having 
finished with this, he published a royal edict commanding that all those who were 
enjoying the use of the public lands and holding them for their own should quit 
possession within a certain specified time, and that those citizens who had no 
allotments of land should give in their names (p301) to him. He also drew up laws, in 
some cases renewing old laws that had been introduced by Romulus and Numa 
Pompilius and had fallen into abeyance, and establishing others himself.  While he 
was pursuing these measures, the patricians were growing indignant as they saw the 
power of the senate being overthrown, and they proceeded to a plan of action which 
was no longer the same as before, but the opposite.  For whereas at first they had 
determined to deprive him of his illegal power, to appoint interreges, and through 
them to choose one who should hold the office legally, they now thought they ought to 
acquiesce in the existing state of affairs and not to interfere at all. For it occurred to 
them that, if the senate attempted to place a man of its own choosing at the head of 
affairs, the people, when they came to give their votes, would oppose him; whereas, if 
they should leave the choice of the king to the people, all the curiae would elect 
Tullius and the result would be that he would seem to hold the office legally. They 
thought it better, therefore, to permit him to continue in the possession of the 
sovereignty by stealth and by deceiving the citizens rather than after persuading them 
and receiving it openly.  But none of their calculations availed them aught, so artfully 
did Tullius outmanoeuvre them and get possession of the royal power against their 
will. For having long before caused a report to be spread through the city that the 
patricians were plotting (p303) against him, he came into the Forum meanly dressed 
and with a dejected countenance, accompanied by his mother Ocrisia, Tanaquil, the 
wife of Tarquinius, and all the royal family. And when great crowds flocked together 
at so unexpected a sight, he called an assembly, and ascending the tribunal, 
addressed them much as follows: 

[4,11] "It is no longer the children of Tarquinius alone whom I see in danger of suffering 
some injury at the hands of their enemies, but I am already coming to fear for my 
own life, lest I receive a bitter requital for my justice. For the patricians are plotting 
against me and I have received information that some of them are conspiring to kill 
me, not because they can charge me with any crime, great or trivial, but because they 
resent the benefits I have conferred and am prepared to confer upon the people and 
feel that they are being treated unjustly.  The money-lenders, for their part, feel 
aggrieved because I did not permit the poor among you to be haled to prison by them 
because of their debts and to be deprived of their liberty. And those who 
misappropriate and hold what belongs to the state, finding themselves obliged to give 
up the land which you acquired with your blood, are as angry as if they were being 
deprived of their inheritances instead of merely restoring what belongs to others. 
Those, again, who have been exempt from war taxes resent being compelled to give in 
a valuation of their property and to pay taxes in property to those valuations. But the 
general complaint of them all is that they will have to accustom themselves to live 
according to written laws and impartially dispense justice to you and receive it from 
you, instead of abusing the poor, as they now do, as if (p305) they were so many 
purchased slaves.  And making common cause of these complaints, they have taken 
counsel and sworn to recall the exiles and to restore the kingdom to Marcius' sons, 
against whom you passed a vote forbidding them the use of fire and water for having 
assassinated Tarquinius, your king, a worthy man and a lover of his country, and, 
after they had committed such an act of pollution, for having failed to appear for their 
trial and thus condemned themselves to exile. And if I had not received early 
information of these designs, they would, with the assistance of a foreign force, have 
brought back the exiles into the city in the dead of night.  You all know, of course, 
what would have been the consequence of this, even without my mentioning it — that 
the Marcii, with the support of the patricians, after getting control of affairs without 
any trouble, would first have seized me, as the guardian of the royal family and as the 
person who had pronounced sentence against them, and after that would have 
destroyed these children and all the other kinsmen and friends of Tarquinius; and, as 
they have much of the savage and the tyrant in their nature, they would have treated 
our wives, mothers and daughters and all the female sex like slaves.   If, therefore, it 
is your pleasure also, citizens, to recall the assassins and make them kings, to banish 
the sons of your benefactors and to deprive them of the kingdom their grandfather 
left them, we shall submit to our fate. But we all, together with our wives and 
children, make supplication (p307) to you by all the gods and lesser divinities who watch 
over the lives of men that, in return for the many benefits Tarquinius, the grandfather 
of these children, never ceased to confer upon you, and in return for the many 
services I myself, as far as I have been able, have done you, you will grant us this 
single boon — to declare your own sentiments.  For if you have come to believe that 
any others are more worthy than we of this honour, the children, with all the other 
relations of Tarquinius, shall withdraw, leaving the city to you. As for me, I shall take 
a more generous resolution in my own case For I have already lived long enough both 
for virtue and for glory, and if I am disappointed of your goodwill, which I have 
preferred to every other good thing, I could never bring myself to live in disgrace 
among any other people. Take the rods, then, and give them to the patricians, if you 
wish; I shall not trouble you with my presence." 

[4,12] While he was speaking these words and seemed about to leave the tribunal, they 
all raised a tremendous clamour, and mingling tears with their entreaties, besought 
him to remain and to retain control of affairs, fearing no one. Thereupon some of his 
partisans, who had stationed themselves in different parts of the Forum, following his 
instructions, cried out, "Make him king," and demanded that the curiae should be 
called together and a vote taken; and after these had set the example, the whole 
populace was promptly of the same opinion.  Tullius, seeing this, no longer let the 
occasion slip, but told them that he felt very grateful to them for remembering 
(p309) his services; and after promising to confer even more benefits if they should 
make him king, he appointed a day for the election, at which he ordered everybody to 
be present including those from the country.  When the people had assembled he 
called the curiae and took the vote of each curia separately. And upon being judged 
worthy of the kingship by all the curiae, he then accepted it from the populace, telling 
the senate to go hang; for he did not ask that body to ratify the decision of the people, 
as it was accustomed to do.  After coming to the sovereignty in this manner, he 
introduced many reforms in the civil administration and also carried on a great and 
memorable war against the Tyrrhenians. But I shall first give an account of his 
administrative reforms. 

[4,13] Immediately upon receiving the sovereignty he divided the public lands among 
those of the Romans who served others for hire. Next he caused both the laws relating 
to private contracts and those concerning torts to be ratified by the curiae; these laws 
were about fifty in number, of which I need not make any mention at present.  He 
also added two hills to the city, those called the Viminal and the Esquiline,  each of 
which has the size of a fairly large city. These he divided among such of the 
(p311) Romans as had no homes of their own, so that they might build houses there; and 
he himself fixed his habitation there, in the best part of the Esquiline Hill. This king 
was the last who enlarged the circuit of the city, by adding these two hills to the other 
five, after he had first consulted the auspices, as the law directed, and performed the 
other religious rites. Farther than this the building of the city has not yet progressed, 
since the gods, they say, have not permitted it; but all the inhabited places round it, 
which are many and large, are unprotected and without walls, and very easy to be 
taken by any enemies who may come.  If anyone wishes to estimate the size of Rome 
by looking at these suburbs he will necessarily be misled for want of a definite clue by 
which to determine up to what point it is still the city and where it ceases to be the 
city; so closely is the city connected with the country, giving the beholder the 
impression of a city stretching out indefinitely.  But if one should wish to measure 
Rome by the wall, which, though hard to be discovered by reason of the buildings that 
surround it in many places, yet preserves in several parts of it some traces of its 
ancient structure, and to compare it with the circuit of the city of Athens, the circuit 
of Rome would not seem to him very much larger than the other. But for an account 
of the extent and beauty of the city of (p313) Rome, as it existed in my day, another 
occasion will be more suitable. 

[4,14]  After Tullius had surrounded the seven hills with one wall, he divided the city 
into four regions, which he named after the hills, calling the first the Palatine, the 
second the Suburan, the third the Colline, and the fourth the Esquiline region; and 
by this means he made the city contain four tribes, whereas it previously had 
consisted of but three. And he ordered that the citizens inhabiting each of the four 
regions should, like persons living in villages, neither take up another abode nor be 
enrolled elsewhere; and the levies of troops, the collection of taxes for military 
purposes, and the other services which every citizen was bound to offer to the 
commonwealth, he no longer based upon the three national tribes, as aforetime, but 
upon the four local tribes established by himself. And over each region he appointed 
commanders, like heads of tribes or villages, whom he ordered to know what house 
each man lived in.  After this he commanded that there should be erected in every 
street  by the inhabitants of the neighbourhood chapels to heroes whose statues 
stood in front of the houses,  and (p315) he made a law that sacrifices should be 
performed to them every year, each family contributing a honey-cake. He directed 
also that the persons attending and assisting those who performed the sacrifices at 
these shrines  on behalf of the neighbourhood should not be free men, but slaves, the 
ministry of servants being looked upon as pleasing to the heroes.  This festival the 
Romans still continued to celebrate even in my day in the most solemn and 
sumptuous manner a few days after the Saturnalia, calling it the Compitalia, after the 
streets; for compiti,  is their name for streets.  And they still observe the ancient 
custom in connexion with those sacrifices, propitiating the heroes by the ministry of 
their servants, and during these days removing every badge of their servitude, in 
order that the slaves, being softened by this instance of humanity, which has 
something great and solemn about it, may make themselves more agreeable to their 
masters and be less sensible of the severity of their condition. 

[4,15]   Tullius  also divided the country  as a whole (p317) into twenty-six parts, according 
to Fabius, who calls these divisions tribes also and, adding the four city tribes to 
them, says that there were thirty tribes in all under Tullius. But according to 
Vennonius  he divided the country into thirty-one parts, so that with the four city 
tribes the number was rounded out to the thirty-five tribes that exist down to our day. 
However, Cato, who is more worthy of credence than either of these authors, does not 
specify the number of the parts into which the country was divided.  After Tullius, 
therefore, had divided the country into a certain number of parts, whatever that 
number was, he built places of refuge upon such lofty eminences as could afford 
ample security for the husbandmen, and called them by a Greek name, pagi or 
"hills."  Thither all the inhabitants fled from the fields whenever a raid was made by 
enemies, and generally passed the night there.  These places also had their governors, 
whose duty it was to know not only the names of all the husbandmen who belonged to 
the same district but also the lands which afforded them their livelihood. And 
whenever there was occasion to summon the countrymen to take arms or to collect 
the taxes that were assessed against each of them, these governors assembled the 
men together and collected the money. And in order that the number of these 
husbandmen might not be hard to ascertain, but might be easy to compute and be 
known at once, he ordered them to (p319) erect altars to the gods who presided over 
and were guardians of the district, and directed them to assemble every year and 
honour these gods with public sacrifices. This occasion also he made one of the most 
solemn festivals, calling it the Paganalia; and he drew up laws concerning these 
sacrifices, which the Romans still observe.  Towards the expense of this sacrifice and 
of this assemblage he ordered all those of the same district to contribute each of them 
a certain piece of money, the men paying one kind, the women another and the 
children a third kind. When these pieces of money were counted by those who 
presided over the sacrifices, the number of people, distinguished by their sex and age, 
became known.  And wishing also, as Lucius Piso writes in the first book of his 
Annals, to know the number of the inhabitants of the city, and of all who were born 
and died and arrived at the age of manhood, he prescribed the piece of money which 
their relations were to pay for each — into the treasury of Ilithiya (called by the 
Romans Juno Lucina) for those who were born, into that of the Venus of the Grove 
(called by them Libitina)  for those who died, and into the treasury of Juventas for 
those who were arriving at manhood. By means of these pieces of money he would 
know every year both the number of all the inhabitants and which of them were of 
military age. (p321) After he had made these regulations, he ordered all the Romans to 
register their names and give in a monetary valuation of their property, at the same 
time taking the oath required by law that they had given in a true valuation in good 
faith; they were also to set down the names of their fathers, with their own age and 
the names of their wives and children, and every man was to declare in what tribe of 
the city or in what district of the country he lived. If any failed to give in their 
valuation, the penalty he established was that their property should be forfeited and 
they themselves whipped and sold for slaves. This law continued in force among the 
Romans for a long time. 

[4,16] After all had given in their valuations, Tullius took the registers and the size of 
their estates, introduced the wisest of all measures, and one which has been the 
source of the greatest advantages to the Romans, as the results have shown. The 
measure was this: He selected from the whole number of the citizens one part, 
consisting of those whose property was rated the highest and amounted to no less 
than one hundred minae.  Of these he formed eighty centuries, whom he ordered to 
be armed with Argolic bucklers, with spears, brazen helmets, corslets, greaves and 
swords. Dividing these centuries into two groups, he made forty centuries of younger 
men, whom he appointed to take the (p323) field in time of war, and forty of older men, 
whose duty it was, when the youth went forth to war, to remain in the city and guard 
everything inside the walls.  This was the first class; in wars it occupied a position in 
the forefront of the whole army. Next, from those who were left he took another part 
whose rating was under ten thousand drachmae but not less than seventy-five minae. 
Of these he formed twenty centuries and ordered them to wear the same armour as 
those of the first class, except that he took from them the corslets, and instead of the 
bucklers gave them shields.  Here also he distinguished between those who were over 
forty-five years old and those who were of military age, constituting ten centuries of 
the younger men, whose duty it was to serve their country in the field, and ten of the 
older, to whom he committed the defence of the walls. This was the second class; in 
engagements they were drawn up behind those fighting in the front ranks.  The third 
class he constituted out of those who were left, taking such as had a rating of less than 
seven thousand five hundred drachmae but not less than fifty minae. The armour of 
these he diminished not only by taking away the corslets, as from the second class, 
but also the greaves.  He formed likewise twenty centuries of these, dividing them, 
like the former, according to their age and assigning ten centuries to the younger men 
and ten to the older. In battles the post and station of these centuries was in the third 
line from the front. 

[4,17] (p325) Again taking from the remainder those whose property amounted to less than 
five thousand drachmae but was as much as twenty-five minae, he formed a fourth 
class. This he also divided into twenty centuries, ten of which he composed of such as 
were in the vigour of their age, and the other ten of those who were just past it, in the 
same manner as with the former classes. He ordered the arms of these to be shields, 
swords and spears, and their post in engagements to be in the last line.  The fifth 
class, consisting of those whose property was between twenty-five minae and twelve 
minae and a half, he divided into thirty centuries. These were also distinguished 
according to their age, fifteen of the centuries being composed of the older men and 
fifteen of the younger. These he armed with javelins and slings, and placed outside 
the line of battle.  He ordered four unarmed centuries to follow those that were 
armed, two of them consisting of armourers and carpenters and of those whose 
business it was to prepare everything that might be of use in time of war, and the 
other two of trumpeters and horn-blowers and such as sounded the various calls with 
any other instruments. The artisans were attached to the second class and divided 
according to their age, one of their centuries following the older centuries, and the 
other the younger centuries;  the trumpeters and horn-blowers were added to the 
fourth class, and one of their centuries also consisted of the older men and the other 
of the younger.  Out of all the centuries the bravest men were chosen as centurions, 
and each of these commanders took care (p327) that his century should yield a ready 
obedience to orders. 

[4,18] This was the arrangement he made of the entire infantry, consisting of both the 
heavy-armed and light-armed troops. As for the cavalry, he chose them out of such as 
had the highest rating and were of distinguished birth, forming eighteen centuries of 
them, and added them to the first eighty centuries of the heavy-armed infantry; these 
centuries of cavalry were also commanded by persons of the greatest distinction.  The 
rest of the citizens, who had a rating of less than twelve minae and a half but were 
more numerous than those already mentioned, he put into a single century and 
exempted them from service in the army and from every sort of tax. Thus there were 
six divisions which the Romans call classes, by a slight change of the Greek word 
klκseis  (for the verb which we Greeks pronounce in the imperative mood kalei, the 
Romans call cala,  and the classes they anciently called caleses),  and the centuries 
included in these divisions amounted to one hundred and ninety-three. The first class 
contained ninety-eight centuries, counting the cavalry; the second, twenty-two, 
counting the artificers; the third, twenty; the fourth, again, contained twenty-two, 
counting the trumpeters and horn-blowers; the fifth, thirty; and the last of all, one 
century, consisting of the poor citizens. 

[4,19] (p329) In pursuance of this arrangement he levied troops according to the division 
of the centuries, and imposed taxes39 in proportion to the valuation of their 
possessions. For instance, whenever he had occasion to raise ten thousand men, or, if 
it should so happen, twenty thousand, he would divide that number among the 
hundred and ninety-three centuries and then order each century to furnish the 
number of men that fell to its share. As to the expenditures that would be needed for 
the provisioning of soldiers while on duty and for the various warlike supplies, he 
would first calculate how much money would be sufficient, and having in like manner 
divided that sum among the hundred and ninety-three centuries, he would order 
every man to pay his share towards it in proportion to his rating.  Thus it happened 
that those who had the largest possessions, being fewer in number but distributed 
into more centuries, were obliged to serve oftener and without any intermission, and 
to pay greater taxes than the rest; that those who had small and moderate 
possessions, being more numerous but distributed into fewer centuries, serve seldom 
and in rotation and paid small taxes, and that those whose possessions were not 
sufficient to maintain them were exempt from all burdens.  Tullius made none of 
these regulations without reason, but from the conviction that all men look upon 
their possessions as the prizes at stake in war and that it is for the sake of retaining 
these that they all endure its hardships; he thought (p331) it right, therefore, that those 
who had greater prizes at stake should suffer greater hardships, both with their 
persons and with their possessions, that those who had less at stake should be less 
burdened in respect to both, and that those who had no loss to fear should endure no 
hardships, but be exempt from taxes by reason of their poverty and from military 
service because they paid no tax. For at that time the Romans received no pay as 
soldiers from the public treasury but served at their own expense.  Accordingly, he 
did not think it right either that those should pay taxes who were so far from having 
wherewithal to pay them that they were in want of the necessities of daily life, or that 
such as contributed nothing to the public taxes should, like mercenary troops, be 
maintained in the field at the expense of others. 

[4,20] Having by this means laid upon the rich the whole burden of both the dangers 
and expenses and observing that they hand discontented, he contrived by another 
method to relieve their uneasiness and mitigate their resentment by granting to them 
an advantage which would make them complete masters of the commonwealth, while 
he excluded the poor from any part in the government; and he effected this without 
the plebeians noticing it. This advantage that he gave to the rich related to the 
assemblies, where the matters of greatest moment were ratified by the people.  I have 
already said before40 that by the ancient laws the people had control over the three 
most important and vital matters: they elected the magistrates, both civil (p333) and 
military; they sanctioned and repealed laws; and they declared war and made peace. 
In discussing and deciding these matters they voted by curiae, and citizens of the 
smallest means had an equal vote with those of the greatest; but as the rich were few 
in number, as may well be supposed, and the poor much more numerous, the latter 
carried everything by a majority of votes.  Tullius, observing this, transferred this 
preponderance of votes from the poor to the rich. For whenever he thought proper to 
have magistrates elected, a law considered, or war to be declared, he assembled the 
people by centuries instead of by curiae. And the first centuries that he called to 
express their opinion41 were those with the highest rating, consisting of the eighteen 
centuries of cavalry and the eighty centuries of infantry.  As these centuries 
amounted to three more than all the rest together, if they agreed they prevailed over 
the others and the matter was decided. But in case these were not all of the same 
mind, then he called the twenty-two centuries of the second class; and if the votes 
were still divided, he called the centuries of the third class, and, in the fourth place, 
those of the fourth class; and this he continued to do till ninety-seven centuries 
concurred in the same opinion.  And if after the calling of the fifth class this had not 
yet happened but the opinions of the hundred and ninety-two centuries were equally 
divided, he then called the last century, consisting (p335) of the mass of the citizens who 
were poor and for that reason exempt from all military service and taxes; and 
whichever side this century joined, that side carried the day. But this seldom 
happened and was next to impossible. Generally the when was determined by calling 
the first class, and it rarely went as far as the fourth; so that the fifth and the last were 
superfluous. 

[4,21] In establishing this political system, which gave so great an advantage to the rich, 
Tullius outwitted the people, as I said, without their noticing it and excluded the poor 
from any part in public affairs. For they all thought that they had an equal share in 
the government because every man was asked his opinion, each in his own century; 
but they were deceived in this, that the whole century, whether it consisted of a small 
or a very large number of citizens, had but one vote; and also in that the centuries 
which voted first, consisting of men of the highest rating, though they were more in 
number than all the rest, yet contained fewer citizens; but, above all, in that the poor, 
who were very numerous, had but one vote and were the last called.  When this had 
been brought about, the rich, though paying out large sums and exposed without 
intermission to the dangers of war, were less inclined to feel aggrieved now that they 
had obtained control of the most important matters and had taken the whole power 
out of the hands of those who were not performing the same services; and the poor, 
who had but the slightest share in the government, finding (p337) themselves exempt 
both from taxes and from military service, prudently and quietly submitted to this 
diminution of their power; and the commonwealth itself had the advantage of seeing 
the same persons who were to deliberate concerning its interests allotted the greatest 
share of the dangers and ready to do whatever required to be done.  This form of 
government was maintained by the Romans for many generations, but is altered in 
our times and changed to a more democratic form, some urgent needs having forced 
the change, which was effected, not by abolishing the centuries, but by no longer 
observing the strict ancient manner of calling them  — a fact which I myself have 
noted, having often been present at the elections of their magistrates. But this is not 
the proper occasion to discuss these matters. 

[4,22] Thereupon Tullius, having completed the business of the census, commanded 
all the citizens to assemble in arms in the largest field before the city; and having 
drawn up the horse in their respective squadrons and the foot in their massed ranks, 
and placed the light-armed troops each in their own centuries, he performed an 
expiatory (p339) sacrifice for them with a bull, a ram and a boar.  These victims he 
ordered to be led three times round the army and then sacrificed them to Mars, to 
whom that field is consecrated.  The Romans are to this day purified by this same 
expiatory sacrifice, after the completion of each census, by those who are invested 
with the most sacred magistracy,  and they call the purification a lustrum.  
The number of all the Romans who then gave in a valuation of their possessions was, 
as appears by the censors' records, 84,700.   This king also took no small care to 
enlarge the body of citizens, hitting upon a method that had been overlooked by all 
the kings before him. For they, by receiving foreigners and bestowing upon them 
equal rights of citizenship without rejecting any, whatever their birth or condition, 
had indeed rendered the city populous;  but Tullius permitted even manumitted 
slaves to enjoy these same rights, unless they chose to return to their own countries. 
For he ordered these also to report the value of their property at the same time as all 
the other free men, and he distributed them among the four city tribes, in which the 
body of freedmen, however numerous, continued to be ranked even to my day; and he 
permitted them to share (p341) in all the privileges which were open to the rest of the 
plebeians. 

[4,23] The patricians being displeased and indignant at this, he called an assembly of 
the people and told them that he wondered at those who were displeased at his 
course, first, for thinking that free men differed from slaves by their very nature 
rather than by their condition, and, second, for not determining by men's habits and 
character, rather than by the accidents of their fortune, those who were worthy of 
honours, particularly when they saw how unstable a thing good fortune is and how 
subject to sudden change, and how difficult it is for anyone, even of the most 
fortunate, to say how long it will remain with him.  He asked them also to consider 
how many states, both barbarian and Greek, had passed from slavery to freedom and 
how many from freedom to slavery. He called it great folly on their part if, after they 
had granted liberty to such of their slaves as deserved it, they envied them the rights 
of citizens; and he advised them, if they thought them bad men, not to make them 
free, and if good men, not to ignore them because they were foreigners.  He declared 
that they were doing an absurd and stupid thing, if, while permitting all strangers to 
share the rights of citizenship without distinguishing their condition or inquiring 
closely whether any of them had been manumitted or not, they regarded such as had 
been slaves among themselves as unworthy of this favour. And he said that, though 
they thought themselves wiser than other people, they did not even see what lay at 
their very feet and was to be observed every day and what was clear to the most 
ordinary men, namely, that not only the masters would take great (p343) care not to 
manumit any of their slaves rashly, for fear of granting the greatest of human 
blessings indiscriminately, but the slaves too would be more zealous to observe their 
masters faithfully when they knew that if they were thought worthy of liberty they 
should presently become citizens of a great and flourishing state and receive both 
these blessings from their masters.  He concluded by speaking of the advantage that 
would result from this policy, reminding those who understood such matters, and 
informing the ignorant, that to a state which aimed at supremacy and thought itself 
worthy of great things nothing was so essential as a large population, in order that it 
might be equal to carrying on all its wars with its own armed forces and might not 
exhaust itself as well as its wealth in hiring mercenary troops; and for this reason, he 
said, the former kings had granted citizenship to all foreigners.   But if they enacted 
this law also, great numbers of youths would be reared from those who were 
manumitted and the state would never lack for armed forces of its own, but would 
always have sufficient troops, even if it should be forced to make war against all the 
world.  And besides this advantage to the public, the richest men would privately 
receive many benefits if they permitted the freedmen to share in the government, 
since in the assemblies and in the voting and in their other acts as citizens they would 
receive their reward in the very situations in which they most needed it, and 
furthermore would be leaving the children of these freedmen as so many clients to 
their posterity.  These arguments of Tullius induced the patricians (p345) to permit this 
custom to be introduced into the commonwealth, and to this day it continues to be 
observed by the Romans as one of their sacred and unalterable usages. 

[4,24] Now that I have come to this part of my narrative, I think it necessary to give an 
account of the customs which at that time prevailed among the Romans with regard 
to slaves, in order that no one may accuse either the king who first undertook to make 
citizens of those who had been slaves, or the Romans who accepted the law, of 
recklessly abandoning their noble traditions.  The Romans acquired their slaves by 
the most just means; for they either purchased them from the state at an auction49 as 
part of the spoils, or the general permitted the soldiers to keep the prisoners they had 
taken together with the rest of the booty, or else they bought them of those who had 
obtained possession of them by these same means.  So that neither Tullius, who 
established this custom, nor those who received and maintained thought they were 
doing anything dishonourable or detrimental to the public interest, if those who had 
lost both their country and their liberty in war and had proved loyal to those who had 
enslaved them, or to those who had purchased them from these, had both those 
blessings restored to them by their masters.  Most of these slaves obtained their 
liberty as a free gift because of meritorious conduct, and this was the best kind of 
discharge from their masters; but a few paid a ransom raised by lawful and honest labour. 
(p347) This, however, is not the case in our day, but things have come to such a state of 
confusion and the noble traditions of the Roman commonwealth have become so 
debased and sullied, that some who have made a fortune by robbery, housebreaking, 
prostitution and every other base means, purchase their freedom with the money so 
acquired and straightway are Romans.  Others, who have been confidants and 
accomplices of their masters in poisonings, receive from them this favour as their 
reward. Some are freed in order that, when they have received the monthly allowance 
of corn  given by the public or some other largesse distributed by the men in power to 
the poor among the citizens, they may bring it to those who granted them their 
freedom. And others owe their freedom to the levity of their masters and to their vain 
thirst for popularity.  I, at any rate, know of some who have allowed all their slaves to 
be freed after their death, in order that they might be called good men when they 
were dead and that many people might follow their biers wearing their liberty-caps;  
indeed, some of those taking part in these processions, as one might have heard from 
those who knew, have been malefactors just out of jail, who had committed crimes 
deserving of a thousand deaths. Most people, nevertheless, as they look upon these 
stains  that can scarce be washed away from the city, are grieved and condemn the 
custom, (p349) looking upon it as unseemly that a dominant city which aspires to rule 
the whole world should make such men citizens. 
 One might justly condemn many other customs also which were wisely devised by 
the ancients but are shamefully abused by the men of to-day. Yet, for my part, I do 
not believe that this law ought to be abolished, lest as a result some greater evil 
should break out to the detriment of the public; but I do say that it ought to be 
amended, as far as possible, and that great reproaches and disgraces hard to be wiped 
out should not be permitted entrance into the body politic.  And I could wish that the 
censors, preferably, or, if that may not be, then the consuls, would take upon 
themselves the care of this matter, since it requires the control of some it magistracy, 
and that they would make inquiries about the persons who are freed each year — who 
they are and for what reason they have been freed and how — just as they inquire into 
the lives of the knights and senators; after which they should enroll in the tribes such 
of them as they find worthy to be citizens and allow them to remain in the city, but 
should expel from the city the foul and corrupt herd under the specious pretence of 
sending them out as a colony. These are the things, then, which as the subject 
required it, I thought it both necessary and just to say to those who censure the 
customs of the Romans. 

[4,25] Tullius showed himself a friend to the people, not only in these measures by 
which he seemed to lessen the authority of the senate and the power of the 
(p351) patricians, but also in those by which he diminished the royal power, of half of 
which he deprived himself.  For whereas the kings before him had thought proper to 
have all causes brought before them and had determined all suits both private and 
public as they themselves thought fit, he, making a distinction between public and 
private suits, took cognizance himself of all crimes which affected the public, but in 
private cases appointed private persons to be judges, prescribing for them as norms 
and standards the laws which he himself had established. 
 When  he had arranged affairs in the city in the best manner, he conceived a desire to 
perpetuate his memory with posterity by some illustrious enterprise. And upon 
turning his attention to the monuments both of ancient kings and statesmen by which 
they had gained reputation and glory, he did not envy either that Assyrian woman  
for having built the walls of Babylon, or the kings of Egypt for having raised the 
pyramids at Memphis, or any other prince for whatever monument he might have 
erected as a display of his riches and of the multitude of workmen at his command. 
On the contrary, he regarded all these things as trivial and ephemeral and unworthy 
of serious attention, mere beguilements for the eyes, but no real aids to the conduct of 
life or to the administration of public affairs, since they led to nothing more than a 
reputation for great felicity on the part of those who built them. But the things that he 
regarded as worthy of praise and emulation were the works of the mind, the 
(p353) advantages from which are enjoyed by the greatest number of people and for the 
greatest length of time. And of all the achievements of this nature he admired most 
the plan of Amphictyon, the son of Hellen,  who, seeing the Greek nation weak and 
easy to be destroyed by the barbarians who surrounded them, brought them together 
in a general council and assemblage of the whole nation, named after him the 
Amphictyonic council; and then, apart from the particular laws by which each city 
was governed, established others common to all, which they call the Amphictyonic 
laws, in consequence of which they lived in mutual friendship, and fulfilling the 
obligations of kinship by their actions rather than by their professions, continued 
troublesome and formidable neighbours to the barbarians.  His example was 
followed by the Ionians who, leaving Europe, settled in the maritime parts of Caria, 
and also by the Dorians, who built their cities in the same region and erected temples 
at the common expense — the Ionians building the temple of Diana at Ephesus and 
the Dorians that of Apollo at Triopium — where they assembled with their wives and 
children at the appointed times, joined together in sacrificing and celebrating the 
festival, engaged in various contests, equestrian, gymnastic and musical, and made 
joint offerings to the gods.  After they had witnessed the spectacles, celebrated the 
festival, and received the (p355) other evidences of goodwill from one another, if any 
difference had arisen between one city and another, arbiters sat in judgment and 
decided the controversy; and they also consulted together concerning the means both 
of carrying on the war against the barbarians and of maintaining their mutual 
concord.  These and the like examples inspired Tullius also with a desire of bringing 
together and uniting all the cities belonging to the Latin race, so that they might not, 
as the result of engaging in strife at home and in wars with one another, be deprived 
of their liberty by the neighbouring barbarians. 

[4,26] After he had taken this resolution he called together the most important men of 
every city, stating that he was summoning them to take counsel with him about 
matters of great consequence and of mutual concern. When they had assembled, he 
caused the Roman senate and these men who came from the cities to meet together, 
and made a long speech exhorting them to concord, pointing out what a fine thing it 
is when a number of states agree together and what a disgraceful sight when kinsmen 
are at variance, and declaring that concord is a source of strength to weak states, 
while mutual slaughter reduces and weakens even the strongest.  After this he went 
on to show them that the Latins ought to have the command over their neighbours 
and, being Greeks, ought to give laws to barbarians, and that the Romans ought to 
have the leadership of all the Latins, not only because they excelled in the size of their 
city and the greatness of their achievements, but also because they, more than the 
others, had enjoyed the favour of divine providence and in consequence had attained 
to so (p357) great eminence.  Having said this, he advised them to build a temple of 
refuge at Rome at their joint expense, to which the cities should repair every year and 
offer up sacrifices both individually and in common, and also celebrate festivals at 
such times as they should appoint; and if any difference should arise between these 
cities, they should terminate it over the sacrifices, submitting their complaints to the 
rest of the cities for decision.  By enlarging upon these and the many other 
advantages they would reap from the appointment of a general council, he prevailed 
on all who were present at the session to give their consent. And later, with the money 
contributed by all the cities, he built the temple of Diana, which stands upon the 
Aventine, the largest of all the hills in Rome; and he drew up laws relating to the 
mutual rights of the cities and prescribed the manner in which everything else that 
concerned the festival and the general assembly should be performed.  And to the 
end that no lapse of time should obliterate these laws, he erected a bronze pillar upon 
which he engraved both the decrees of the council and the names of the cities which 
had taken part in it. This pillar still existed down to my time in the temple of Diana, 
with the inscription in the characters that were anciently used in Greece.  This alone 
would serve as no slight proof that the founders of Rome were not barbarians; for if 
they had been, they would not have used Greek characters.  These (p359) are the most 
important and most conspicuous administrative measures that are recorded of this 
king, besides many others of less note and certainty. His military operations were 
directed against one nation only, that of the Tyrrhenians; of these I shall now give an 
account. 

[4,27] After  the death of Tarquinius those cities which had yielded the sovereignty to 
him refused to observe the terms of their treaties any longer, disdaining to submit to 
Tullius, since he was a man of lowly birth, and anticipating great advantages for 
themselves from the discord that had arisen between the patricians and their ruler. 
 The people called the Veientes were the leaders of this revolt; and when Tullius sent 
ambassadors they replied that they had no treaty with him either concerning their 
yielding the sovereignty or concerning friendship and an alliance. These having set 
the example, the people of Caere and Tarquinii followed it, and at last all Tyrrhenia 
was in arms.  This war lasted for twenty years without intermission, during which 
time both sides made many irruptions into one another's territories with great armies 
and fought one pitched battle after another. But Tullius, after being successful in all 
the battles in which he engaged, both against the several cities and against the whole 
nation, and after being honoured with three most splendid triumphs, at last forced 
those who refused to be ruled to accept the (p361) yoke  against their will.  In the 
twentieth year, therefore, the twelve cities, having become exhausted by the war both 
in men and in money, again met together and decided to yield the sovereignty to the 
Romans upon the same terms as previously. And so the men chosen as envoys from 
each city arrived with the tokens of suppliants, and entrusting their cities to Tullius, 
begged of him not to adopt any extreme measures against them.  Tullius told them 
that because of their folly and their impiety towards the gods whom they had made 
sponsors of their treaties, only to violate their agreements afterwards, they deserved 
many severe punishments; but that, since you acknowledged their fault and were 
come with the fillets of suppliants and with entreaties to deprecate the resentment 
they had merited, they should fail of none of the clemency and moderation of the 
Romans at this time.  Having said this, he put an end to the war against them, and in 
the case of most of the cities, without imposing any conditions or harbouring any 
resentment for past injuries, he permitted them to retain the same government as 
before and also to enjoy their own possessions as long as they should abide by the 
treaties made with them by Tarquinius. But in the case of the three cities of Caere, 
Tarquinii and Veii, which had not only begun the revolt but had also induced the rest 
to make war upon the Romans, he punished them by seizing a part of their lands, 
which he portioned out among those who had lately been added to the body of 
Roman citizens. 
(p363)  Besides these achievements in both peace and war, he built two temples to 
Fortune, who seemed to have favoured him all his life, one in the market called the 
Cattle Market, the other on the banks of the Tiber to the Fortune which he named 
Fortuna Virilis,  as she is called by the Romans even to this day. And being now 
advanced in years and not far from a natural death, he was treacherously slain by 
Tarquinius, his son-in-law, and by his own daughter. I shall also relate the manner in 
which this treacherous deed was carried out; but first I must go back and mention a 
few things that preceded it. 

[4,28] Tullius  had two daughters by his wife Tarquinia, whom King Tarquinius had 
given to him in marriage. When these maidens were of marriageable age, he gave 
them to the nephews of their mother, who were also the grandsons of Tarquinius, 
joining the elder daughter to the elder nephew and the younger to the younger, since 
he thought they would thus live most harmoniously with their husbands.  But it 
happened that each of his sons-in-law was joined by an adverse fate in the matter of 
dissimilarity of character. For the wife of Lucius, the elder of the two brothers, who 
was of a bold, arrogant and tyrannical nature, was a good woman, modest and fond of 
her father; on the other hand, the wife of Arruns, the younger brother, a man of great 
mildness and prudence, was a wicked woman who hated her father and was capable 
of any rash (p365) action.  Thus it chanced that each of the husbands tried to follow his 
own bent, but was drawn in the opposite direction by his wife. For when the wicked 
husband desired to drive his father-in-law from the throne and was devising every 
means to accomplish this, his wife by her prayers and tears endeavoured to prevail on 
him to desist. And when the good husband thought himself obliged to abstain from 
all attempts against the life of his father-in-law and to wait till he should end his days 
by the course of nature, and tried to prevent his brother from doing what was wrong, 
his wicked wife, by her remonstrances and reproaches and by reviling him with a 
want of spirit, sought to draw him in the opposite direction.  But when nothing was 
accomplished by either the entreaties of the virtuous wife as she urged upon her 
unjust husband the best course, or by the exhortations of the wicked wife when she 
strove to incite to impious deeds the husband who was not by nature evil, but each 
husband followed his natural bent and thought his wife troublesome because her 
wishes differed from his own, nothing remained but for the first wife to lament and 
submit to her fate and for her audacious sister to rage and endeavour to rid herself of 
her husband.  At last this wicked woman, grown desperate and believing her sister's 
husband to be most suitable to her own character, sent for him, as if she wanted to 
talk with him concerning a matter of urgent importance. 

[4,29] And when he came, after first ordering those who were in the room to withdraw, 
that she might talk with him in private, she said: "May I, Tarquinius, speak freely and 
without risk all my thoughts concerning our common interests? And (p367) will you 
keep to yourself what you shall hear? Or is it better for me to remain silent and not to 
communicate plans that require secrecy?"  And when Tarquinius bade her say what 
she wished, and gave her assurances, by such oaths as she herself proposed, that he 
would keep everything to himself, Tullia, laying aside all shame from that moment, 
said to him: "How long, Tarquinius, do you intend to permit yourself to be deprived 
of the kingship? Are you descended from mean and obscure ancestors, that you 
refuse to entertain high thoughts of yourself? But everyone knows that your early 
ancestors, who were Greeks and descended from Hercules, exercised the sovereign 
power in the flourishing city of Corinth for many generations, as I am informed, and 
that your grandfather, Tarquinius, after removing from Tyrrhenia, was able by his 
merits to become king of this state; and not only his possessions, but his kingdom as 
well, ought to descend to you who are the elder of his grandsons.  Or have you been 
given a body incapable of performing the duties of a king because of some weakness 
and deformity? But surely you are endowed both with strength equal to those most 
highly favoured by Nature and with a presence worthy of your royal birth. Or is it 
neither of these, but your youth, as yet weak and far from being capable of forming 
sound judgments, that holds you back and causes you to decline the government of 
the state — you who want not many years from being fifty? Yet at about this age a 
man's judgment is naturally at its best.  (p369) Well, then, is it the high birth of the 
man who is now in control of affairs and his popularity with the best citizens — which 
makes him difficult to attack — that forces you to submit? But in both these respects 
too he happens to be unfortunate, as not even he himself is unaware. Moreover, 
boldness and willingness to undergo danger are inherent in your character, qualities 
most necessary to one who is going to reign. You have sufficient wealth also, 
numerous friends, and many other important qualifications for public life.  Why, 
then, do you still hesitate and wait for an occasion to be provided by chance, an 
occasion that will come bringing to you the kingship without your having made any 
effort to obtain it? And that, I presume, will be after the death of Tullius! As if Fate 
waited on men's delays or Nature dispensed death to each man according to his age, 
and the outcome of all human affairs were not, on the contrary, obscure and difficult 
to be foreseen!  But I will declare frankly, even though you may call me bold for it, 
what seems to me to be the reason why you reach out for no coveted honour or glory. 
You have a wife whose disposition is in no respect like your own and who by her 
allurements and enchantments has softened you; and by her you will insensibly be 
transformed from a man into a nonentity. Just so have I a husband who is timorous 
and has nothing of a man in him, who makes me humble though I am worthy of great 
things, and though I am fair of body, yet because of him I have withered away.  But if 
it had been possible for you to take me as your wife and for me to get you as my 
(p371) husband, we had not lived so long in a private station. Why, therefore, do we not 
ourselves correct this error of fate by exchanging our marital ties, you removing your 
wife from life and I making this disposition of my husband? And when we have put 
them out of the way and are joined together, we will then consider in secure what 
remains to be done, having rid ourselves of what now causes our distress. For though 
one may hesitate to commit all the other crimes, yet for the sake of a throne one 
cannot be blamed for daring anything."  

[4,30] Such were Tullia's words, and Tarquinius, gladly agreeing to the course she 
proposed, immediately exchanged pledges with her, and then, after celebrating the 
rites preliminary to their unholy nuptials, he departed. Not long after this the elder 
daughter of Tullius and the year Tarquinius died the same kind of death. 
 Here again, I find myself obliged to make mention of Fabius and to show him guilty 
of negligence in his investigation of the chronology of events. For when he comes to 
the death of Arruns he commits not only one error, as I said before,  in stating that 
he was the son of Tarquinius, but also another in saying that after his death he was 
buried by his mother Tanaquil, who could not possibly have been alive at that time. 
 For it was shown in the beginning that when Tarquinius died Tanaquil was seventy-
five years of age; (p373) and if to the seventy-five years forty more are added (for we find 
in the annals that Arruns died in the fortieth year of the reign of Tullius), Tanaquil 
must have been one hundred and fifteen years old. So little evidence of a laborious 
inquiry after truth do we find in that author's history. 
 After this deed of theirs Tarquinius married Tullia without any further delay, though 
the marriage had neither the sanction of her father nor the approval of her mother, 
but he took her of her own gift.  As soon as these impious and bloodthirsty natures 
were commingled they began plotting to drive Tullius from the throne if he would not 
willingly resign his power. They got together bands of their adherents, appealed to 
such of the patricians as were ill-disposed towards the king and his popular 
institutions, and bribed the poorest among the plebeians who had no regard for 
justice; and all this they did without any secrecy.  Tullius, seeing what was afoot, was 
not only disturbed because of his fears for his own safety, if he should be caught 
unprepared and come to some harm, but was especially grieved at the thought that he 
should be forced to take up arms against his own daughter and his son-in-law and to 
punish them as enemies. Accordingly, he repeatedly invited Tarquinius and his 
friends to confer with him, and sought, with by reproaches, now by admonitions, and 
again by arguments, to prevent him from doing him any wrong. (p375) When Tarquinius 
gave no heed to what he said but declared he would plead his cause before the senate, 
Tullius called the senators together and said to them:  "Senators,  it has become clear 
to me that Tarquinius is gathering bands of conspirators against me and is anxious to 
drive me from power. I desire to learn from him, therefore, in the presence of you all, 
what wrong he has personally received from me or what injury he has seen the 
commonwealth suffer at my hands, that he should be forming these plots against me. 
Answer me, then, Tarquinius, concealing nothing, and say what you have to accuse 
me of, since you have asked that these men should hear you." 

[4,31] Tarquinius answered him: "My arriving, Tullius, is brief and founded on justice, 
and for that reason I have chosen to lay it before these men. Tarquinius, my 
grandfather, obtained the sovereignty of the Romans after fighting many hard battles 
in its defence. He being dead, I am his successor according to the laws common to all 
men, both Greeks and barbarians, and it is my right, just as it is of any others who 
succeed to the estates of their grandfathers, to inherit not only his property but his 
kingship as well.  You have, it is true, delivered up to me the property that he left, but 
you are depriving me of the kingship and have retained possession of it for so long a 
time now, though you obtained it wrongfully. For neither did any interreges appoint 
you king nor did the senate pass a vote in your favour, nor did you obtain this power 
by a legal election of the people, as my grandfather and all the kings before him 
obtained it; (p377) but by bribing and corrupting in every way possible the crowd of 
vagabonds and paupers, who had been disfranchised for convictions or for debts and 
had no concern for the public interests, and by not admitting even then that you were 
seeking the power for yourself, but by pretending that you were going to guard it for 
us who were orphans and infants, you came into control of affairs and kept promising 
in the hearing of all that when we came to manhood you would hand over the 
sovereignty to me as the elder brother.  You ought, therefore, if you desired to do 
right, when you handed over to me the estate of my grandfather, to have delivered up 
his kingship also together with his property, following the example of all the upright 
guardians who, having taken upon themselves the care of royal children bereft of 
their parents, have rightly and justly restored to them the kingdoms of their fathers 
and ancestors when they came to be men.  But if you thought I had not yet attained a 
proper degree of prudence and that by reason of my youth I was still unequal to the 
government of so great a state, yet when I attained to my full vigour of body and mind 
at the age of thirty, you ought, at the same time that you gave me your daughter in 
marriage, to have put also the affairs of the state into my hands; for it was at that very 
age that you yourselves first undertook both the guardianship of our family and the 
oversight of the kingship. 

[4,32] "If you had done this you would, in the first place, have gained the reputation of 
a loyal and just man, and again, you would have reigned with me and shared in every 
honour; and you would have been called my benefactor, my father, my preserver, and 
all the other laudatory names that (p379) men bestow in recognition of noble actions, 
instead of depriving me for all these forty-four years of what was mine, though I was 
neither maimed in body nor stupid in mind. And after that have you the assurance to 
ask me what ill-treatment provokes me to look upon you as my enemy and for what 
reason I accuse you?  Nay, do you, answer me rather, Tullius, and declare why you 
think me unworthy to inherit the honours of my grandfather and what specious 
reason you allege for depriving me of them. Is it because you do not regard me as the 
legitimate offspring of his blood, but as some supposititious and illegitimate child? If 
so, why did you act as guardian to one who was a stranger to his blood, and why did 
you deliver up his estate to me as soon as I reached manhood? Or is it that you still 
look upon me as an orphan child and incapable of handling the business of the state 
— me who am not far from fifty years old? Lay aside now the dissimulation of your 
shameless questions and cease at last to play the rogue.  However, if you have any 
just reason to allege against what I have said, I am ready to leave the decision to these 
men as judges, than whom you can name none better in the city. But if you attempt to 
run away from this tribunal and fly for refuge, as is ever your habit, to the rabble you 
mislead by your cajolery, I will not permit it. For I am prepared, not only to speak in 
defence of my rights, but also, if this should fail to convince you, to act with force." 

[4,33] When he had done speaking, Tullius took the floor and said: "Anything, it seems, 
senators, that is unexpected is to be expected by a mortal man, and nothing should be 
regarded as (p381) incredible, since Tarquinius here is set upon deposing me from my 
office, though I received him when he was an infant and, when his enemies were 
forming designs against his life, preserved him and brought him up, and when he 
came to be a man, saw fit to take him for a son-in-law and in the event of my death 
was intending to leave him heir to all that I possessed.  But now that everything has 
happened to me contrary to my expectation and I myself am accused of wrongdoing, 
I shall lament my misfortune later one, but at present I will plead my just cause 
against him. I took upon myself, Tarquinius, the guardianship of your brother and 
yourself when you were left infants, not of my own will, but compelled by the 
circumstances, since those who aspired to the kingship had openly assassinated your 
grandfather and were said to be plotting secretly against you and the rest of his kin; 
and all your friends acknowledged that if those men once got the power into their 
hands they would not leave even a seed of the race of Tarquinius. And there was no 
one else to care for you and guard you but a woman, the mother of your father, and 
she, by reason of her great age, herself stood in need of others to care for her; but you 
children were left in my charge alone, to be guarded in your destitute condition — 
though you now call me a stranger and in no degree related to you.  Nevertheless, 
when I had been put in command of such a situation, I not only punished the 
assassins of your grandfather and reared you boys to manhood, but, as I had no male 
issue, I proposed to make you the owners of what I possessed. You have now, 
Tarquinius, the account of my guardianship, and you will not venture to say that a 
word of it is false. 

[4,34] (p383) "But concerning the kingship, since this is the point of your accusation, 
learn not only by what means I obtained it, but also for what reasons I am not 
resigning it either to you or to anyone else. When I took upon myself the oversight of 
the commonwealth, finding that there were certain plots forming against me, 
I desired to surrender the conduct of affairs to the people; and having called them all 
together in assembly, I offered to resign the power to them, exchanging this envied 
sovereignty, the source of more pains than pleasures, for a quiet life free from danger. 
 But the Romans would not permit me to follow this preference, nor did they see fit to 
make anyone else master of the state, but retained me and by their votes gave me the 
kingship — thing which belonged to them, Tarquinius, rather than to you or your 
brother —  in the same manner as they had entrusted the government to your 
grandfather, who was a foreigner and in no way related to the king who preceded 
him; and yet King Ancus Marcius had left sons in their prime of life, not children and 
infants, as you and your brother were left by Tarquinius. But if it were a general law 
that the heirs to the estate and possessions of deceased kings should also be heirs to 
their kingly office, Tarquinius, your grandfather would not have succeeded to the 
sovereignty upon the death of Ancus, but rah the elder of the king's sons.  But the 
Roman people did not call to power the heir of the father, but rather the person who 
was worthy to rule. For they held that, while property belongs to those who acquired 
it, the kingly office belongs to (p385) those who conferred it, and that the former, when 
anything happens to its owners, ought to descend to the natural heirs or the 
testamentary heirs, but that the latter, when the persons who received it die, should 
return to those who gave it. Unless, indeed, you have some claim to offer to the effect 
that your grandfather received the kingship upon certain express conditions, whereby 
he was not to be deprived of it himself and could also leave it to you, his grandsons, 
and that it was not in the power of the people to take it from you and confer it upon 
me.  If you have any such claim to allege, why do you not produce the contract? But 
you cannot do so. And if I did not obtain the office in the most justifiable manner, as 
you say, since I was neither chosen by the interreges nor entrusted with the 
government by the senate and the other legal requirements were not observed, then 
surely it is these men here that I am wronging and not you, and I deserve to be 
deprived of power by them, not by you.  But I am not wronging either these men nor 
anyone else. The length of my reign, which has now lasted forty years,  bears me 
witness that power was both then justly given to me and is now justly vested in me; 
for during this time none of the Romans ever thought I reigned unjustly, nor did 
either the people or the senate ever endeavour to drive me from power. 

[4,35] "But — to pass over all these matters and to come to grips with your charges — if 
I had been depriving you of a deposit that had been left in my hands by your 
grandfather in trust for you and, (p387) contrary to all the established rules of justice 
recognized by mankind, had been retaining the kingship which was yours, you ought 
to have gone to those who granted the power to me and to have vented your 
indignation and reproaches, both against me, for continuing to hold what did not 
belong to me, and against them, for having conferred on me what belonged to others; 
for you would easily have convinced them if you had been able to urge any just claim. 
 If, however, you had no confidence in this argument and yet thought that I had no 
right to rule the state and that you were a more suitable person to be entrusted with 
its oversight, you ought to have done as follows — to have made an investigation of 
my mistakes and enumerated your own services and then to have challenged me to a 
trial for the determination of our respective merits. Neither of these things did you 
do; but, after all this time, as if recovered from a long fit of drunkenness, you now 
come to accuse me, and even now not where you should have come.  For it is not here 
that you should present these charges — do not take any offence at this statement of 
mine, senators, for it is not with a view of taking the decision away from you that I say 
this, but from the desire to expose this man's calumnies — but you ought to have told 
me beforehand to call an assembly of the people and there to have accused me. 
However, since you have avoided doing so, I will do it for you, and having called the 
people together, I will appoint them judges of any crimes of which you may accuse 
me, and will again leave it to them to decide which of us two is the more suitable to 
hold the sovereignty; and whatever they shall unanimously decide I ought to do, I will 
do. (p389)  As for you, this is a sufficient answer, since it is all the same whether one 
urges many or few just claims against unreasonable adversaries; for mere words 
naturally cannot bring any argument which will persuade them to be honest. 

[4,36] "But I have been surprised, senators, that any of you wish to remove me from 
power and have conspired with this man against me. I should like to learn from them 
what injury provokes them to attack me and at what action of mine they are offended. 
Is it because they know that great numbers during my reign have been put to death 
without a trial, banished from their country, deprived of their possessions, or have 
met with any other misfortune which they have not merited? Or, though they can 
accuse most of none of these tyrannical misdeeds, are they acquainted with any 
outrages I have been guilty of toward married women, or insults to their maiden 
daughters, or any other wanton attempt upon a person of free condition? If I have 
been guilty of any such crime I should deserve to be deprived at the same time both of 
the kingship and of my life.  Well then, am I haughty, am I burdensome by my 
severity, and can no one bear the arrogance of my administration? And yet which of 
my predecessors constantly used his power with such moderation and kindliness, 
treating all the citizens as an indulgent father treats (p391) his own children? What, I did 
not even desire to retain all the power which you, following the traditions of your 
fathers, gave to me, but after establishing laws, which you all confirmed, relating to 
the most essential matters, I then granted to you the privilege of giving and receiving 
justice in accordance with these laws; and to these rules of justice which I prescribed 
for others I showed myself the first to yield obedience, like any private citizen. Nor 
did I make myself the judge of all sorts of crimes, but causes of a private nature 
I restored to your jurisdiction — a thing which none of the former kings ever did.  But 
it appears that it is no wrongdoing on my part that has drawn upon me the ill-will of 
certain persons, but it is rather the benefits I have conferred on the plebeians that 
grieve you unjustly — concerning which I have often given you my reasons. But there 
is no need for such explanations now. If you believe that Tarquinius here by taking 
over the government will administer affairs better than I, I shall not envy the 
commonwealth a better ruler; and after I have surrendered the sovereignty to the 
people, from whom I received it, and have become a private citizen, I shall endeavour 
to make it plain to all that I not only know how to rule well, but can also obey with 
equanimity." 

[4,37] After this speech, which covered the conspirators with shame, Tullius dismissed 
the meeting and then, summoning the heralds he ordered them to go through all the 
streets and call the people together to an assembly.  And when the whole 
populace of the city had flocked to the Forum, he came forward to the tribunal 
and made a long and moving harangue, enumerating all military achievements he 
had performed, both during the lifetime of Tarquinius and after his death, and 
recounting in addition one by one all his administrative measures from which the 
commonwealth appeared to have reaped many great advantages. And when 
everything he said met with great applause and all the people earnestly desired to 
know for what reasons he mentioned these things, at last he said that Tarquinius 
accused him of retaining the kingship unjustly, since it belonged to himself; for 
Tarquinius claimed that his grandfather at his death had left him the sovereignty 
together with his property, and that the people did not have it in their power to 
bestow on another what was not their own to give.  This raising a general clamour 
and indignation among the people, he ordered them to be silent and asked them to 
feel no displeasure or resentment at his words, but in case Tarquinius had any just 
claim to advance in support of his pretensions, to summon him and if, after learning 
what he had to say, they should find that he was being wronged and was the more 
suitable man to rule, to entrust him with the leadership of the commonwealth. As for 
himself, he said, he now resigned the sovereignty and restored it to those to whom it 
belonged and from whom he had received it.  After he had said this and was on the 
point of descending from the tribunal, there was a general outcry and many begged of 
him with groans not to surrender the sovereignty to anyone; and some of them even 
called out to stone Tarquinius. He, however, fearing (p395) summary punishment, since 
the crowds were already making a rush against him, fled, and his companions with 
him, while the entire populace with joy, applause, and many acclamations conducted 
Tullius as far as his house and saw him safely established there. 

[4,38] When Tarquinius failed in this attempt also, he was dismayed that from the 
senate, upon which he had chiefly relied, no assistance had come to him, and 
remaining at home for some time, he conversed only with his friends. Afterwards, 
when his wife advised him no longer to play the weakling or hesitate, but to have 
done with words and proceed to deeds, after he should first have obtain a 
reconciliation with Tullius by the intercession of friends — to the end that the king, 
trusting him as having become his friend, might be the less upon his guard against 
him — believing that her advice was most excellent, he began to pretend to repent of 
his past behaviour and through friends besought Tullius with many entreaties to 
forgive him.  And he very easily persuaded the man, who was not only by his nature 
inclined to reconciliation but was also averse to waging an implacable contest with his 
daughter and his son-in-law; then, as soon as he saw a favourable opportunity, when 
the people were dispersed about the country for the gathering of the harvest, he 
appeared in public with his friends, all having swords under their garments, and 
giving the axes to some of his servants, he himself assumed the royal apparel and all 
the other insignia of royalty. Then, going to the Forum, he took his stand before the 
(p397) senate-house and ordered the herald to summon the senators thither; indeed, 
many of the patricians who were privy to his design and were urging him on were by 
prearrangement ready in the Forum.  And so the senators assembled. In the 
meantime someone went and informed Tullius, who was at home, that Tarquinius 
had appeared in public in royal apparel and was calling a meeting of the senate. And 
he, astonished at the other's rashness, set out from his house with more haste than 
prudence, attended by but a few. And going into the senate-house and seeing 
Tarquinius seated on the throne with all the other insignia of royalty, he exclaim: 
 "Who, most wicked of men, gave you authority to assume this attire?" To which the 
other replied: "Your boldness and impudence, Tullius; for, though you were not even 
a free man, but a slave and the son of slave mother, whom my grandfather got from 
among the captives, you nevertheless have dared to proclaim yourself king of the 
Romans." When Tullius heard this, he was so exasperated at the reproach that, 
heedless of his own safety, he rushed at him with the intent of forcing him to quit the 
throne.  Tarquinius was pleased to see this, and leaping from his seat, seized and 
bore off the old man, who cried out and called upon his servants to assist him. When 
he got outside the senate-house, being a man of great vigour and in his prime, he 
raised him aloft and hurled him down the steps that lead from the senate-house to 
the comitium.  The old man got up from his fall with great difficulty, and seeing the 
whole (p399) neighbourhood crowded with the followers of Tarquinius and noting a 
great dearth of his own friends, he set out for home lamenting, only a few persons 
supporting and escorting him, and as he went he dripped much blood and his entire 
body was in a wretched plight from his fall. 

[4,39] What happened next, terrible to hear yet astonishing and incredible to have been 
done — the deeds of his impious daughter — have been handed down to us. She, 
having been informed that her father had one to the senate-house, and being in haste 
to know what would be the outcome of the affair, entered her carriage and rode to the 
Forum; and there, hearing what had passed and seeing Tarquinius standing upon the 
steps before the senate-house, she was the first person to salute him as king, which 
she did in a loud voice, and prayed to the gods that his seizing of the sovereignty 
might redound to the advantage of the Roman state.  And after all the rest who had 
assisted him in gaining the sovereignty had also saluted him as king, she took him 
aside and said to him: "The first steps, Tarquinius, you have taken in the manner that 
was fitting; but it is impossible for you to hold the kingship securely so long as Tullius 
survives. For by his harangues he will again stir up the populace against you if he 
remains alive but the least part of this day; and you know how attached the whole 
body of the plebeians is to him. But come, even before he gets home, send some men 
and put him out of the way."  Having said this, she again entered her carriage and 
departed. Tarquinius upon this (p401) occasion also approved of the advice of his most 
impious wife, and sent some of his servants against Tullius armed with swords; and 
they, swiftly covering the interval, overtook Tullius when he was already near his 
house and slew him. While his body lay freshly slain and quivering where it had been 
flung, his daughter arrived;  and, the street through which her carriage was obliged to 
pass being very narrow, the mules became fractious at the sight of the body, and the 
groom who was leading them, moved by the piteous spectacle, stopped short and 
looked at his mistress. Upon her asking what possessed him not to lead the team on, 
he said: "Do you not see your father lying dead, Tullia, and that there is no other way 
but over his body?"  This angered her to such a degree that she snatched up the stool 
from under her feet and hurled it at the groom, saying "Will you not lead on, accursed 
wretch, even over the body" Thereupon the groom, with lamentations caused more by 
the shocking deed than by the blow, led the mules forcibly over the body. This street, 
which before was called Orbian  Street, is, from this horrid and detestable incident, 
called by the Romans in their own language Impious Street, that is, vicus Sceleratus. 

[4,40] Such  was the death which fell to the lot of Tullius after he had reigned forty-
four years. The Romans say that this man was the first who altered ancestral customs 
and laws by receiving the sovereignty, not from the senate and the people (p403) jointly, 
like all the former kings, but from the people alone, the poorer sort of whom he had 
won over by bribery and many other ways of courting popular favour; and this is true. 
 For before this time, upon the death of a king it was the custom for the people to 
grant to the senate authority to establish such a form of government as they should 
think fit; and the senate created interreges, who appointed the best man king, 
whether he was a native Roman or a foreigner. And if the senate approved of the one 
so chosen and the people by their votes confirmed the choice, and if the auguries also 
gave their sanction to it, he assumed the sovereignty; but if any one of these 
formalities was lacking, they named a second, and then a third, if it so happened that 
the second was likewise not found unobjectionable by both men and gods.  Tullius, 
on the contrary, at first assumed the guise of royal guardian, as I said before,  after 
which he gained the affections of the people by certain ingratiating acts and was 
appointed king by them alone. But as he proved to be a man of mildness and 
moderation, by his subsequent actions he put an end to the complaints caused by his 
not having observed the laws in all respects, and gave occasion for many to believe 
that, if he had not been made away with too soon, he would have changed the form of 
government to a democracy.  And they say it was for this reason chiefly that some of 
the patricians joined in the conspiracy against him; that, being unable by any other 
means to overthrow (p405) his power, they took Tarquinius as an ally in their 
undertaking and aided him in gaining the sovereignty, it being their wish not only to 
weaken the power of the plebeians, which had received no small addition from the 
political measures of Tullius, but also to recover their own former dignity. 
 The death of Tullius having occasioned a great tumult and lamentation throughout 
the whole city, Tarquinius was afraid lest, if the body should be carried through the 
Forum, according to the custom of the Romans, adorned with the royal robes and the 
other marks of honour usual in royal funerals, some attack might be made against 
him by the populace before he had firmly established his authority; and accordingly 
he would not permit any of the usual ceremonies to be performed in his honour. But 
the wife of Tullius, who was daughter to Tarquinius, the former king, with a few of 
her friends carried the body out of the city at night as if it had been that of some 
ordinary person; and after uttering many lamentations over the fate both of herself 
and of her husband and heaping countless imprecations upon her son-in-law and her 
daughter, she buried the body in the ground.  Then, returning home from the 
sepulchre, she lived but one day after the burial, during the following night. The 
manner of her death was not generally known. Some said that in her grief she lost all 
desire to live and died by her own hand; others, that she was put to death by her son-
in-law and her daughter because of her compassion and affection for her husband. 
For the reasons (p407) mentioned, then, the body of Tullius could not be given a royal 
funeral and a stately monument; but his achievements have won lasting 
remembrance for all time.  And it was made clear by another prodigy that this man 
was dear to the gods; in consequence of which that fabulous and incredible opinion 
I have already mentioned68 concerning his birth also came to be regarded by many as 
true. For in the temple of Fortune which he himself had built there stood a gilded 
wooden statue of Tullius,  and when a conflagration occurred and everything else 
was destroyed, this statue alone remained uninjured by the flames. And even to this 
day, although the temple itself and all the objects in it, which were restored to their 
formed condition after the fire, are obviously the products of modern art, the statue, 
as aforetime, is of ancient workmanship; for it still remains an object of veneration by 
the Romans. Concerning Tullius these are all the facts that have been handed down to us. 

[4,41] He  was succeeded in the sovereignty over the Romans by Lucius Tarquinius, 
who obtained it, not in accordance with the laws, but by arms, in the fourth year of 
the sixty-first Olympiad  (the one in which Agatharchus of Corcyra won the foot-
race), Thericles being archon at Athens.  This man, despising not only the populace, 
but the patricians as well, by (p409) whom he had been brought to power, confounded 
and abolished the customs, the laws, and the whole native form of government, by 
which the former kings had ordered the commonwealth, and transformed his rule 
into an avowed tyranny.  And first he placed about his person a guard of very daring 
men, both natives and foreigners, armed with swords and spears, who camped round 
the palace at night and attended him in the daytime wherever he went, effectually 
securing him from the attempts of conspirators. Secondly, he did not appear in public 
often or at stated times, but only rarely and unexpectedly; and he transacted the 
public business at home, for the most part, and in the presence of none but his most 
intimate friends, and only occasionally in the Forum.  To none who sought an 
audience would he grant it unless he himself had sent for them; and even to those 
who did gain access to him he was not gracious or mild, but, as is the way with 
tyrants, harsh and irascible, and his aspect was terrifying rather than genial. his 
decisions in controversies relating to contracts he rendered, not with regard to justice 
and law, but according to his own moods. For these reasons the Romans gave him the 
surname of Superbus, which in our language means "the haughty"; and his 
grandfather they called Priscus, (p411) or, as we should say, "the elder," since both his 
names were the same as those of the younger man. 

[4,42] When he thought he was now in secure possession of the sovereignty, he 
suborned the basest of his friends to bring charges against many of the prominent 
men and place them on trial for their lives. He began with such as were hostile to him 
and resented his driving of Tullius from power; and next he accused all those whom 
he thought to be aggrieved by the change and those who had great riches.  When the 
accusers brought these men to trial, charging them with various fictitious crimes but 
chiefly with conspiring against the king, it was by Tarquinius himself, sitting as judge, 
that the charges were heard. Some of the accused he condemned to death and others 
to banishment, and seizing the property of both the slain and the exiled, he assigned 
some small part to the accusers but retained the largest part for himself.  The result 
was therefore bound to be that many influential men, knowing the motives 
underlying the plots against them, voluntarily, before they could be convicted of the 
charges brought against them, left the city to the tyrant, and the number of these was 
much greater than of the others. There were some who were even seized in their 
homes or in the country and secretly murdered by him, men of note, and not even 
their bodies were seen again.  After he had destroyed the best part of the senate by 
death or by exile for life, he constituted another senate himself by working his own 
followers into the honours of the (p413) men who had disappeared;  nevertheless, not 
even these men were permitted by him to do or say anything but what he himself 
commanded.  Consequently, when the senators who were left of those who had been 
enrolled in the senate under Tullius and who had hitherto been at odds with the 
plebeians and had expected the change in the form of government to turn out to their 
advantage (for Tarquinius had held out such promises to them with a view of 
deluding and tricking them) now found that they had no longer any share in the 
government, but that they too, as well as the plebeians, had been deprived of their 
freedom of speech, although they lamented their fate and suspected that things would 
be still more terrible in the future than they were at the moment, yet, having no 
power to prevent what was going on, they were forced to acquiesce in the existing 
state of affairs. 

[4,43] The plebeians, seeing this, looked upon them as justly punished and in their 
simplicity rejoiced at their discomfiture, imagining that the tyranny would be 
burdensome to the senators alone and would involve no danger to themselves. 
Nevertheless, to them also came even more hardships not long afterwards. For the 
laws drawn up by Tullius, by which they all received justice alike from each other and 
by which they were secured from being injured by the patricians, as before, in their 
contracts with them, were all abolished by Tarquinius, who did not leave even the 
tables on which the laws were written, but ordered these also to be removed (p415) from 
the Forum and destroyed.  After this he abolished the taxes based on the census and 
revived the original form of taxation; and whenever he required money, the poorest 
citizen contributed the same amount as the richest. This measure ruined a large part 
of the plebeians, since every man was obliged to pay ten drachmae as his individual 
share of the very first tax. He also forbade the holding in future of any of the 
assemblies to which hitherto the inhabitants of the villages, the members of the 
curiae, or the residents of a neighbourhood, both in the city and in the country, had 
resorted in order to perform religious ceremonies and sacrifices in common,  lest 
large numbers of people, meeting together, should form secret conspiracies to 
overthrow his power.  He had spies scattered about in many places who secretly 
inquired into everything that was said and done, while remaining undiscovered by 
most persons; and by insinuating themselves into the conversation of their 
neighbours and sometimes by reviling the tyrant themselves they sounded every 
man's sentiments. Afterwards they informed the tyrant of all who were dissatisfied 
with the existing state of affairs; and the punishments of those who were found guilty 
were severe and relentless. 

[4,44] Nor  was he satisfied merely with these illegal vexations of the plebeians, but, 
after selecting from among them such as were loyal to himself and fit for war, he 
compelled the rest to labour on the public works in the city; for he believed that 
monarchs are exposed to the greatest danger when the worst (p417) and the most needy 
of the citizens live in idleness, and at the same time he was eager to complete during 
his own reign the works his grandfather had left half finished, namely, to extend to 
the river the drainage canals  which the other had begun to dig and also to surround 
the Circus,  which had been carried up no higher than the foundations, with covered 
porticos.  At these undertakings all the poor laboured, receiving from him but a 
moderate allowance of grain. Some of them were employed in quarrying stone, others 
in hewing timber, some in driving the wagons that transported these materials, and 
others in carrying the burdens themselves upon their shoulders, still others in digging 
the subterranean drains and constructing the arches over them and in erecting the 
porticos and serving the various artisans who were thus employed; and smiths, 
carpenters and masons were taken from their private undertakings and kept at work 
in the service of the public.  Thus the people, being worn out by these works, had no 
rest; so that the patricians, seeing their hardships and servitude, rejoiced in their turn 
and forgot their own miseries. Yet neither of them attempted to put a stop to these 
proceedings. 

[4,45] Tarquinius,  considering that those rulers who have not got their power legally 
but have obtained it by arms require a body-guard, not of natives only, but also of 
foreigners, earnestly endeavoured (p419) to gain the friendship of the most illustrious 
and most powerful man of the whole Latin nation, by giving his daughter to him in 
marriage. this man was Octavius Mamilius, who traced his lineage back to Telegonus, 
the son of Ulysses and Circe; he lived in the city of Tusculum and was looked upon as 
a man of singular sagacity in political matters and a competent military commander. 
 When Tarquinius had gained the friendship of this man and through him had won 
over the chief men at the head of affairs in each city, he resolved then at last to try his 
strength in warfare in the open and to lead an expedition against the Sabines, who 
refused to obey his orders and looked upon themselves as released from the terms of 
their treaty upon the death of Tullius, with whom they had made it.  After he had 
taken this resolution he sent messengers to invite to the council at Ferentinum  those 
who were accustomed to meet together there on behalf of the Latin nation, and 
appointed a day, intimating that he wished to consult with them concerning some 
important matters of mutual interest.  The Latins, accordingly, appeared, but 
Tarquinius, who had summoned them, did not come at the time appointed. They 
waited for a long time and the majority of them regarded his behaviour as an insult. 
Among them was a certain man, named Turnus Herdonius, who lived in the city of 
Corilla and was powerful by reason of both of his riches and of his friends, valiant in 
war and not without ability in political debate; he was not only at variance with 
Mamilius, owing to their (p421) rivalry for power in the state, but also, on account of 
Mamilius, an enemy to Tarquinius, because the king had seen fit to take the other for 
his son-in-law in preference to himself. This man now inveighed at length against 
Tarquinius, enumerating all the other actions of the man which seemed to shown 
evidence of arrogance and presumption, and laying particular stress upon his not 
appearing at the assembly which he himself had summoned, when all the rest were 
present.  But Mamilius attempted to excuse Tarquinius, attributing his delay to some 
unavoidable cause, and asked that the assembly might be adjourned to the next day; 
and the presiding officers of the Latins were prevailed on to do so. 

[4,46] The next day Tarquinius appeared and, the assembly having been called 
together, he first excused his delay in a few words and at once entered upon a 
discussion of the supremacy, which he insisted belonged to him by right, since 
Tarquinius, his grandfather, had held it, having acquired it by war; and he offered in 
evidence the treaties made by the various cities with Tarquinius.  After saying a great 
deal in favour of his claim and concerning the treaties, and promising to confer great 
advantages on the cities in case they should continue in their friendship, he at last 
endeavoured to persuade them to join him in an expedition against the Sabines. 
3When he had ceased speaking, Turnus, the man who had censured him for his 
failure to appear in time, came forward and sought to dissuade the council from 
yielding to him the supremacy, both on the ground that it did not belong to him by 
right and also because it would not be in the interest of the Latins to yield it to him; 
and he dwelt long upon both these points. He said that the treaties they (p423) had 
made with the grandfather of Tarquinius, when they granted to him the supremacy, 
had been terminated after his death, no clause having been added to those treaties 
providing that the same grant should descend to his posterity; and he showed that the 
man who claimed the right to inherit the grants made to his grandfather was of all 
men the most lawless and most wicked, and he recounted the things he had done in 
order to possess himself of the sovereignty over the Romans.  After enumerating 
many terrible charges against him, he ended by informing them that Tarquinius did 
not hold even the kingship over the Romans in accordance with the laws by taking it 
with their consent, like the former kings, but had prevailed by arms and violence; and 
that, having established a tyranny, he was putting some of the citizens to death, 
banishing others, despoiling others of their estates, and taking from all of them their 
liberty both of speech and of action. He declared it would be an act of great folly and 
madness to hope for anything good and beneficent from a wicked and impious nature 
and to imagine that a man who had not spared such as were nearest to him both in 
blood and friendship would spare those who were strangers to him; and he advised 
them, as long as they had not yet accepted the yoke of slavery, to fight to the end 
against accepting it, judging from the misfortunes of others what it would be their 
own fate to suffer. 

[4,47] After Turnus had thus inveighed against Tarquinius and most of those present 
had been greatly moved by his words, Tarquinius asked that (p425) the following day 
might be set for his defence. His request was granted, and when the assembly had 
been dismissed, he summoned his most intimate friends and consulted with them 
how he ought to handle the situation. These began to suggest to him the arguments 
he should use in his defence and to run over the means by which he should endeavour 
to win back the favour of the majority; but Tarquinius himself declared that the 
situation did not call for any such measures, and gave it as his own opinion that he 
ought not to attempt to refute the accusations, but rather to destroy the accuser 
himself.  When all had praised this opinion, he arranged with them the details of the 
attack and then set about carrying out a plot that was least likely to be foreseen by 
any man and guarded against. Seeking out the most evil among the servants of 
Turnus who conducted his pack animals with the baggage and bribing them with 
money, he persuaded them to take from him a large number of swords at nightfall 
and put them away in the baggage-chests  where they would not be in sight.  The 
next day, when the assembly had convened, Tarquinius came forward and said that 
his defence against the accusations was a brief one, and he proposed that his accuser 
himself should be the judge of all the charges. "For, councillors," he said, "Turnus 
here, as a judge, himself acquitted me of everything of which he now accuses me, 
when he desired my daughter in marriage. (p427) But since he was thought unworthy of 
the marriage, as was but natural (for who in his senses would have refused Mamilius, 
the man of highest birth and greatest merit among the Latins, and consented to take 
for his son-in-law this man who cannot trace his family back even five generations?), 
in resentment for this slight he has now come to accuse me. Whereas, if he knew me 
to be such a man as he now charges, he ought not to have desired me then for a 
father-in-law; and if he thought me a good man when he asked me for my daughter in 
marriage, he ought not now to traduce me as a wicked man.  So much concerning 
myself. As for you, councillors, who are running the greatest of dangers, it is not for 
you to consider now whether I am a good or a bad man (for this you may inquire into 
afterwards) but to provide both for your own safety and for the liberty of your 
respective cities. For a plot is being formed by this fine demagogue against you who 
are the chief men of your cities and are at the head of affairs; and he is prepared, after 
he has put the most prominent of you to death, to attempt to seize the sovereignty 
over the Latins, and has come here for that purpose.  I do not say this from 
conjecture but from my certain knowledge, having last night received information of 
it from one of the accomplices in the conspiracy. And I will give you an incontestible 
proof of what I say, if you will go to his lodging, by showing you the arms that are 
concealed there." 

[4,48] After he had thus spoken they all cried out, and fearing for the men's safety, 
demanded that he prove the matter and not impose upon them. (p429) And Turnus, 
since he was unaware of the treachery, cheerfully offered to submit to the 
investigation and invited the presiding officers to search his lodging, saying that one 
of two things ought to come of it — either that he himself should be put to death, if he 
were found to have provided more arms than were necessary for his journey, or that 
the person who had accused him falsely should be punished.  This offer was accepted; 
and those who went to his lodging found the swords which had been hidden in the 
baggage-chests by the servants. After this they would not permit Turnus to say 
anything more in his defence, but cast him into a pit and promptly dispatched him by 
burying him alive.  As for Tarquinius, they praised him in the assembly as the 
common benefactor of all their cities for having saved the lives of their chief citizens, 
and they appointed him leader of their nation upon the same terms as they had 
appointed Tarquinius, his grandfather, and, after him, Tullius; and having engraved 
the treaty on pillars and confirmed it by oaths, they dismissed the assembly. 

[4,49] After Tarquinius had obtained the supremacy over the Latins, he sent 
ambassadors to the cities of the Hernicans and to those of the Volscians to invite 
them also to enter into a treaty of friendship and alliance with him. The Hernicans 
unanimously voted in favour of the alliance, but of the Volscians only two cities, 
Ecetra and Antium, accepted the invitation. And as a means of providing that the 
treaties made with those cities might endure forever, Tarquinius resolved to 
designate a temple for the joint use of the Romans, the Latins, the Hernicans and 
such of the Volscians as had entered into the (p431) alliance, in order that, coming 
together each year at the appointed place, they might celebrate a general festival, 
feast together and share in common sacrifices.  This proposal being cheerfully 
accepted by all of them, he appointed for their place of assembly a high mountain 
situated almost at the centre of these nations and commanding the city of the Albans; 
and he made a law that upon this mountain an annual festival should be celebrated, 
during which they should all abstain from acts of hostility against any of the others 
and should perform common sacrifices to Jupiter Latiaris, as he is called, and feast 
together, and he appointed the share each city was to contribute towards these 
sacrifices and the portion each of them was to receive. The cities that shared in this 
festival and sacrifice were forty-seven.  These festivals and sacrifices the Romans 
celebrate to this day, calling them the "Latin Festivals";  and some of the cities that 
take part in them bring lambs, some cheeses, others a certain measure of milk, and 
others something of like nature.  And one bull is sacrificed in common by all of them, 
each city receiving its appointed share of the meat. The sacrifices they offer are on 
behalf of all and the Romans have the superintendence of them. 

[4,50] When he had strengthened his power by (p433) these alliances also, he resolved to 
lead an army against the Sabines, choosing such of the Romans as he least suspected 
of being apt to assert their liberty if they became possessed of arms, and adding to 
them the auxiliary forces that had come from his allies, which were much more 
numerous than those of the Romans.  And having laid waste the enemy's country and 
defeated in battle those who came to close quarters with him, he led his forces against 
the people called the Pometini, who lived in the city of Suessa  and had the 
reputation of both more prosperous than any of their neighbours and, because of 
their great good fortune, of being troublesome and oppressive to them all. He accused 
them of certain acts of brigandage and robbery and of giving haughty answers when 
asked for satisfaction therefor. But they were expecting war and were ready and in 
arms.  Tarquinius engaged them in battle upon the frontiers, and after killing many 
of them and putting the rest to flight, he shut them up within their walls; and when 
they no longer ventured out of the city, he encamped near by, and surrounding it with 
a ditch and palisades, made continuous assaults upon the walls. The inhabitants 
defended themselves and withstood the hardships of the siege for a considerable 
time; but when their provisions began to fail and their strength was spent, since they 
neither received any assistance nor even obtained any respite, but the same men had 
to toil both night and day, they were taken by storm.  Tarquinius, being now master 
of the city, put to (p435) death all he found in arms and permitted the soldiers to carry 
off the women and children and such others as allowed themselves to be made 
prisoners, together with a multitude of slaves not easy to be numbered; and he also 
gave them leave to carry away all the plunder of the city that they found both inside 
the walls and in the country. As to the silver and gold that was found there, he 
ordered it all to be brought to one place, and having reserved a tenth part of it to 
build a temple, he distributed the rest among the soldiers.  The quantity of silver and 
gold taken upon this occasion was so considerable that every one of the soldiers 
received for his share five minae of silver, and the tenth part reserved for the gods 
amounted to no less than four hundred talents. 

[4,51] While he was still tarrying at Suessa a messenger brought the news that the 
flower of the Sabine youth had set out and made an irruption into the territory of the 
Romans in two large armies and were laying waste the country, one of them being 
encamped near Eretum and the other near Fidenae, and that unless a strong force 
should oppose them everything there would be lost.  When Tarquinius heard this he 
left a small part of his army at Suessa, ordering them to guard the spoils and the 
baggage, and leading the rest of his forces in light marching order against that body of 
the Sabines which was encamped near Eretum, he pitched camp upon an eminence 
within a short distance of the enemy. And (p437) the generals of the Sabines having 
resolved to send for the army that was at Fidenae and to give battle at daybreak, 
Tarquinius learned of their intention (for the bearer of the letter from these generals 
to the others had been captured) and availed himself of this fortunate incident by 
employing the following stratagem:  He divided his army into two bodies and sent 
one of them in the night without the enemy's knowledge to occupy the road that led 
from Fidenae; and drawing up the other division as soon as it was fully day, he 
marched out of his camp as if to give battle. The Sabines, seeing the small number of 
the enemy and believing that their other army from Fidenae would come up at any 
moment, boldly marched out against them. These armies, therefore, engaged and the 
battle was for a long time doubtful; then the troops which had been sent out in 
advance by Tarquinius during the night turned back in their march and prepared to 
attack the Sabines in the rear.  The Sabines, upon seeing them and recognizing them 
by their arms and their standards, were upset in their calculations, and throwing 
away their arms, sought to save themselves by flight. But escape was impossible for 
most of them, surrounded as they were by enemies, and the Roman horse, pressing 
upon them from all sides, hemmed them in; so that only a few were prompt enough 
to escape disaster, but the greater part were either cut down by the enemy or 
surrendered. Nor was there any resistance made even by those who were left in the 
camp, but this was taken at the first onset; and there, besides the Sabines' own 
effects, all the possessions that had been stolen from the Romans, together with many 
(p439) captives, were recovered still uninjured and were restored to those who had lost 
them. 

[4,52] After Tarquinius had succeeded in his first attempt he marched with his forces 
against the rest of the Sabines who were encamped near Fidenae and were not yet 
aware of the destruction of their companions. It happened that these also had set out 
from their camp and were already on the march when, coming near to the Roman 
army, they saw the heads of their commanders fixed upon pikes (for the Romans held 
them forward in order to strike the enemy with terror), and learning thus that their 
other army had been destroyed, they no longer performed any deed of bravery, but 
turning to supplications and entreaties, they surrendered.  The Sabines, having had 
both their armies snatched away in so shameful and disgraceful a manner, were 
reduced to slender hopes, and fearing that their cities would be taken by assault, they 
sent ambassadors to treat for peace, offering to surrender, become subjects of 
Tarquinius, and pay tribute for the future. He accordingly made peace with them and 
received the submission of their cities upon the same terms,  and then returned to 
Suessa. Thence he marched with the forces he had left there, the spoils he had taken, 
and the rest of his baggage, to Rome, bringing back his army loaded (p441) with riches. 
 After that he also made many incursions into the country of the Volscians, 
sometimes with his whole army and sometimes with part of it, and captured much 
booty. But when now most of his undertakings were succeeding according to his wish, 
a war broke out on the part of his neighbours which proved not only of long duration 
(for it lasted seven years without intermission) but also important because of the 
severe and unexpected misfortunes with which it was attended. I will relate briefly 
from what causes it sprang and how it ended, since it was brought to a conclusion by 
a clever ruse and a novel stratagem. 

[4,53] There was a city of the Latins, which had been founded by the Albans, distant 
one hundred stades from Rome and standing upon the road that leads to Praeneste. 
The name of this city was Gabii. To-day not all parts of it are still inhabited, but only 
those that lie next the highway and are given up to inns; but at that time it was as 
large and populous as any city. One may judge both of its extent and importance by 
observing the ruins of the buildings in many places and the circuit of the wall, most 
parts of which are still standing.  To this city had flocked some of the Pometini who 
had escaped from Suessa when Tarquinius took their town and many of the banished 
Romans. These, by begging and imploring the Gabini to avenge the injuries they had 
received and by promising great rewards if they should be restored to their own 
possessions, and also by showing the overthrow of the tyrant to be not only possible 
(p443) but easy, since the people in Rome too would aid them, prevailed upon them, 
with the encouragement of the Volscians (for these also had sent ambassadors to 
them and desired their alliance) to make war upon Tarquinius.  After this both the 
Gabini and the Romans made incursions into and laid waste one another's territories 
with large armies and, as was to be expected, engaged in battles, now with small 
numbers on each side and now with all their forces. In these actions the Gabini often 
put the Romans to flight and pursuing them up to their walls,89 slew many and 
ravaged their country with impunity; and often the Romans drove the Gabini back 
and shutting them up within their city, carried off their slaves together with much booty. 

[4,54] As these things happened continually, both of them were obliged to fortify the 
strongholds in their territories and to garrison them so that they might serve as 
places of refuge for the husbandmen; and sallying out from these strongholds in a 
body, they would fall upon and destroy bands of robbers and any small groups they 
might discover that had been detached from a large army and, as would naturally be 
expected in forages, were observing no order, through contempt of the enemy. And 
they both were obliged in their fear of the sudden assaults of the other to raise the 
walls and dig ditches around those parts of their cities that were vulnerable and could 
easily be taken by means of scaling-ladders.  Tarquinius was particularly active in 
taking these (p445) precautions and employed a large number of workmen in 
strengthening those parts of the city walls that looked toward Gabii by widening the 
ditch, raising the walls, and placing the towers at shorter intervals; for on this side the 
city seemed to be the weakest, the rest of the circuit being tolerably secure and 
difficult of approach.  But, as is apt to happen to all cities in the course of long wars, 
when the country is laid waste by the continual incursions of the enemy and no longer 
produces its fruits, both were bound to experience a dearth of all provisions and to 
feel terrible discouragement regarding the future; but the want of necessaries was felt 
more keenly by the Romans than by the Gabini and the poorest among them, who 
suffered most, thought a treaty ought to be made with the enemy and an end put to 
the war upon any terms they might grant. 

[4,55] While Tarquinius was dismayed at the situation and neither willing to end the 
war upon dishonourable terms nor able to headland out any longer, but was 
contriving all sorts of schemes and devising ruses of every kind, the eldest  of his 
sons, Sextus by name, privately communicated to him his own plan; and when 
Tarquinius, who thought the enterprise bold and full of danger, yet not impossible 
after all, had given him leave to act as he thought fit, he pretended to be at odds with 
his father about putting an end to the war.  Then, after being scourged with rods in 
the Forum by his father's order and receiving other indignities, so that the affair 
became noised abroad, (p447) he first sent some of his most intimate friends as 
deserters to inform the Gabini secretly that he had resolved to betake himself to them 
and make war against his father, provided he should receive pledges that they would 
protect him as well as the rest of the Roman fugitives and not deliver him up to his 
father in the hope of settling their private enmities to their own advantage.  When the 
Gabini listened to this proposal gladly and agreed not to do him any wrong, he went 
over to them as a deserter, taking with him many of his friends and clients, and also, 
in order to increase their belief in the genuineness of his revolt from his father, 
carrying along a great deal of silver and gold. And many flocked to him afterwards 
from Rome, pretending to flee from the tyranny of Tarquinius, so that he now had a 
strong body of men about him.  The Gabini looked upon the large numbers who came 
over to them as a great accession of strength and made no doubt of reducing Rome in 
a short time. Their delusion was further increased by the actions of this rebellious 
son, who continually made incursions into his father's territory and captured much 
booty; for his father, knowing beforehand what parts he would visit, took care that 
there should be plenty of plunder there and that the places should be unguarded, and 
he kept sending men to be destroyed by his son, selecting from among the citizens 
those whom he held in suspicion. In consequence of all this the Gabini, believing the 
man to be their loyal friend and an excellent general — and many of them had also 
been (p449) bribed by him — promoted him to the supreme command. 

[4,56] After Sextus had obtained so great power by deception and trickery, he sent one 
of his servants to his father, without the knowledge of the Gabini, both to inform him 
of the power he had gained and to inquire what he should now do.  Tarquinius, who 
did not wish even the servant to learn the instructions that he sent his son, led the 
messenger into the garden that lay beside the palace. It happened that in this garden 
there were poppies growing, already full of heads and ready to be gathered; and 
walking among these, he kept striking and knocking off the heads of all the tallest 
poppies with his staff.  Having done this, he sent the messenger away without giving 
any answer to his repeated inquiries. Herein, it seems to me, he imitated the thought 
of Thrasybulus the Milesian. For Thrasybulus returned no verbal answer to 
Periander, the tyrant of Corinth, by the messenger Periander once sent him to inquire 
how he might most securely establish his power; but, ordering the messenger to 
follow him into a field of wheat and breaking off the ears that stood above the rest, he 
threw them upon the ground, thereby intimating that Periander ought to lop off and 
destroy the most illustrious of the citizens.  When, therefore, Tarquinius did a like 
thing on this occasion, Sextus understood his father's meaning and knew that he was 
ordering him to put to death the most eminent of the Gabini. He accordingly called 
an assembly of (p451) the people, and after saying a great deal about himself he told 
them that, having fled to them with his friends upon the assurance they had given 
him, he was in danger of being seized by certain persons and delivered up to his 
father and that he was ready to resign his power and desired to quit their city before 
any mischief befell him; and while saying this he wept and lamented his fate as those 
do who are in very truth in terror of their lives. 

[4,57] When the people became incensed at this and were eagerly demanding to know 
who the men were who were intending to betray them, he named Antistius Petro, who 
not only had been the author of many excellent measures in time of peace but had 
also often commanded their armies and had thus become the most distinguished of 
all the citizens. And when this man endeavoured to clear himself and, from the 
consciousness of his innocence, offered to submit to any examination whatever, 
Sextus said he wished to send some others to search Petro's house, but that he 
himself would stay with him in the assembly till the persons sent should return. It 
seems that he had bribed some of the servants of Petro to take the letters prepared for 
Petro's destruction and sealed with the seal of Tarquinius and to hide them in their 
master's house. And when the men sent to make the search (for Petro made no 
objection but gave permission for his house to be searched), having discovered the 
letters in the place where they had been hidden, appeared in the assembly with many 
sealed letters, among them the one addressed to Antistius, (p453) Sextus declared he 
recognized his father's seal, and breaking open the letter, he gave it to the secretary 
and ordered him to read it.  The purport of the letter was that Antistius should, if 
possible, deliver up his son to him alive, but if he could not do this, that he should cut 
off his head and send it. In return for this Tarquinius said that, besides the rewards 
he had already promised, he would grant Roman citizenship both to him and those 
who had assisted him in the business, and would admit them all into the number of 
the patricians, and furthermore bestow on them houses, allotments of land and many 
other fine gifts.  Thereupon the Gabini became so incensed against Antistius, who 
was thunderstruck at this unexpected calamity and unable in his grief to utter a word, 
that they stoned him to death and appointed Sextus to inquire into and punish the 
crimes of his accomplices. Sextus committed the guarding of the gates to his own 
followers, lest any of the accused should escape him; and sending to the houses of the 
most prominent of the Gabini, he put many good men to death. 

[4,58] While these things were going on and a the city was in an uproar, as was natural 
in consequence of so great a calamity, Tarquinius, having been informed by letter of 
all that was passing, marched thither with his army, approached the city about the 
middle of the night, and then, when the gates had been opened by those appointed for 
the purpose, entered with his forces and made himself master of the city without any 
trouble. When this disaster became known, all the citizens bewailed the fate awaiting 
(p455) them; for they expected slaughter, enslavement and all the horrors that usually 
befall those captured by tyrants, and, as the best that could happen to them, had 
already condemned themselves to slavery, the loss of their property and like 
calamities. However, Tarquinius did none of the things that they were expecting and 
dreading even though he was harsh of temper and inexorable in punishing his 
enemies.  For he neither put any of the Gabini to death, nor banished any from the 
city, nor punished any of them with disfranchisement or the loss of their property; 
but calling an assembly of the people and changing to the part of a king from that of a 
tyrant, he told them that he not only restored their own city to them and allowed 
them to keep the property they possessed, but in addition granted to all of them the 
rights of Roman citizens. It was not, however, out of goodwill to the Gabini that he 
adopted this course, but in order to establish more securely his mastery over the 
Romans. For he believed that the strongest safeguard both for himself and for his 
family would be the loyalty of those who, contrary to their expectation, had been 
preserved and had recovered all their possessions.  And, in order that they might no 
longer have any fear regarding the future or any doubt of the permanence of his 
concessions, he ordered the terms upon which they were to be friends to be set down 
in writing, and then ratified the treaty immediately in the assembly and took an oath 
over the victims to observe it. There is a memorial of this treaty at Rome in the 
temple of Jupiter Fidius,  whom the Romans call Sancus; it is a wooden shield 
covered with (p457) the hide of the ox that was sacrificed at the time they confirmed the 
treaty by their oaths, and upon it are inscribed in ancient characters the terms of the 
treaty. After Tarquinius had thus settled matters and appointed his son Sextus king of 
the gabini, he led his army home. Such was the outcome of the war with the Gabini. 

[4,59] After this achievement Tarquinius gave the people a respite from military 
expeditions and wars, and being desirous of performing the vows made by his 
grandfather, devoted himself to the building of the sanctuaries. For the elder 
Tarquinius, while he was engaged in an action during his last war with the Sabines, 
had made a vow to build temples to Jupiter, Juno and Minerva if he should gain the 
victory; and he had finished off the peak on which he proposed to erect the temples to 
these gods by means of retaining walls and high banks of earth, as I mentioned in the 
preceding Book;  but he did not live long enough to complete the building of the 
temples. Tarquinius, therefore, proposing to erect this structure with the tenth part of 
the spoils taken at Suessa, set all the artisans at the work.  It was at this time, they 
say, that a wonderful prodigy appeared under ground; for when they were digging the 
foundations and the excavation had been carried down to a great depth, there was 
found the head of a man newly slain with the face like that of a living man and the 
blood which flowed from the severed head warm and fresh.  Tarquinius, seeing this 
prodigy, ordered the workmen to leave off digging, and assembling the (p459) native 
soothsayers, inquired of them what the prodigy meant. And when they could give no 
explanation but conceded to the Tyrrhenians the mastery of this science, he inquired 
of them who was the ablest soothsayer among the Tyrrhenians, and when he had 
found out, sent the most distinguished of the citizens to him as ambassadors. 

[4,60] When these men came to the house of the soothsayer they met by chance a youth 
who was just coming out, and informing him that they were ambassadors sent from 
Rome who wanted to speak with the soothsayer, they asked him to announce them to 
him. The youth replied: "The man you wish to speak with is my father. He is busy at 
present, but in a short time you may be admitted to him.  And while you are waiting 
for him, acquaint me with the reason of your coming. For if, through inexperience, 
you are in danger of committing an error in phrasing your question, when you have 
been informed by me you will be able to avoid any mistake; for the correct for of 
question is not the least important part of the art of divination." The ambassadors 
resolved to follow his advice and related the prodigy to him. And when the youth had 
heard it, after a short pause he said: "Hear me, Romans. My father will interpret this 
prodigy to you and will tell you no untruth, since it is not right for a soothsayer to 
speak falsely; but, in order that you may be guilty of no error or falsehood in what you 
say or in the answers you give to his questions (for it is of importance to you to know 
these things beforehand), be instructed by me.  After you have related the prodigy to 
him he will tell you that he does not fully understand what (p461) you say and will 
circumscribe with his staff some piece of ground or other; then he will say to you: 
'This is the Tarpeian Hill, and this is part of it that faces the east, this the part that 
faces the west, this point is north and the opposite is south.'  These parts he will point 
out to you with his staff and then ask you in which of these parts the head was found. 
What answer, therefore, do I advise you to make? Do not admit that the prodigy was 
found in any of these places he shall inquire about when he points them out with his 
staff, but say that it appeared among you at Rome on the Tarpeian Hill. If you stick to 
these answers and do not allow yourselves to be misled by him, he, well knowing that 
fate cannot be changed, will interpret to you without concealment what the prodigy means." 

[4,61] Having received these instructions, the ambassadors, as soon as the old man was 
at leisure and a servant came out to fetch them, went in and related the prodigy to the 
soothsayer. he, craftily endeavouring to mislead them, drew circular lines upon the 
ground and then other straight lines, and asked them with reference to each place in 
turn whether the head had been found there; but the ambassadors, not at all 
disturbed in mind, stuck to the one answer suggested to them by the soothsayer's son, 
always naming Rome and the Tarpeian Hill, and asked the interpreter not to 
appropriate the omen to himself, but to answer in the most sincere and just 
(p463) manner.  The soothsayer, accordingly, finding it impossible for him either to 
impose upon the men or to appropriate the omen, said to them: "Romans, tell your 
fellow citizens it is ordained by fate that the place in which you found the head shall 
be the head of all Italy." Since that time the place is called the Capitoline Hill from the 
head that was found there; for the Romans call heads capita.  Tarquinius, having 
heard these things from the ambassadors, set the artisans to work and built the 
greater part of the temple, though he was not able to complete the whole work, being 
driven from power too soon; but the Roman people brought it to completion in the 
third consulship. It stood upon a high base and was eight hundred feet in circuit, each 
side measuring close to two hundred feet; indeed, one would find the excess of the 
length over the width to be but slight, in fact not a full fifteen feet.  For the temple 
that was built in the time of our fathers after the burning of this one  was erected 
upon the same foundations, and differed from the ancient structure in nothing but 
the costliness of the materials, having three rows of columns on the front, facing the 
south, and a single row on each side. The temple consists of three parallel shrines, 
separated by party walls; the middle shrine is dedicated to Jupiter, while on one side 
stands that of Juno and on the other that of Minerva, all three being under one 
pediment and one roof. 

[4,62] (p465) It is said that during the reign of Tarquinius another very wonderful piece of 
good luck also came to the Roman state, conferred upon it by the favour of some god 
or other divinity; and this good fortune was not of short duration, but throughout the 
whole existence of the country it has often saved it from great calamities.  A certain 
woman who was not a native of the country came to the tyrant wishing to sell him 
nine books filled with Sibylline oracles; but when Tarquinius refused to purchase the 
books at the price she asked, she went away and burned three of them. And not long 
afterwards, bringing the remaining six books, she offered to sell them for the same 
price. But when they thought her a fool and mocked at her for asking the same price 
for the smaller number of books that she had been unable to get for even the larger 
number, she again went away and burned half of those that were left; then, bringing 
the remaining books, she asked the same amount of money for these.  Tarquinius, 
wondering at the woman's purpose, sent for the augurs and acquainting them with 
the matter, asked them what he should do. These, knowing by certain signs that he 
had rejected a god-sent blessing, and declaring it to be a great misfortune that he had 
not purchased all the books, directed him to pay the woman all the money she asked 
and to get the oracles that were left.  The woman, after delivering the books and 
bidding him take great care of them, disappeared from among men. Tarquinius chose 
two men of distinction from among the citizens and appointing two public slaves to 
assist them, entrusted (p467) to them the guarding of the books; and when one of these 
men, named Marcus Atilius, seemed to have been faithless to his trust  and was 
informed upon by one of the public slaves, he ordered him to be sewed up in a leather 
bag and thrown into the sea as a parricide.   Since the expulsion of the kings, the 
commonwealth, taking upon itself the guarding of these oracles, entrusts the care of 
them to persons of the greatest distinction, who hold this office for life, being exempt 
from military service and from all civil employments, and it assigns public slaves to 
assist them, in whose absence the others are not permitted to inspect the oracles. In 
short, there is no possession of the Romans, sacred or profane, which they guard so 
carefully as they do the Sibylline oracles. They consult them, by order of the senate, 
when the state is in the grip of party strife or some great misfortune has happened to 
them in war, or some important prodigies and apparitions have been seen which are 
difficult of interpretation, as has often happened. These oracles till the time of the 
Marsian War, as it was called,  were kept underground in the temple of Jupiter 
Capitolinus in a stone chest under the guard of ten men.   But when the temple was 
burned after the (p469) close of the one hundred and seventy-third Olympiad,100 either 
purposely, as some think, or by accident, these oracles together with all the offerings 
consecrated to the god were destroyed by the fire. Those which are now extant have 
been scraped together from many places, some from the cities of Italy, others from 
Erythrae in Asia (whither three envoys were sent by vote of the senate to copy them), 
and others were brought from other cities, transcribed by private persons. Some of 
these are found to be interpolations among the genuine Sibylline oracles, being 
recognized as such by means of the so-called acrostics.  In all this I am following the 
account given by Terentius Varro in his work on religion. 

[4,63] Besides these achievements of Tarquinius both in peace and in war, he founded 
two colonies.  One of them, called Signia, was not planned, but was due to chance, 
the soldiers having established their winter quarters in the place and built their camp 
in such a manner as not to differ in any respect from a city. But it was with deliberate 
purpose that he settled Circeii, because the place was advantageously situated in 
relation both to the Pomptine plain, which is the largest of all the plains in the Latin 
country, and to the sea that is contiguous to it. For it is a fairly high rock in the nature 
of a peninsula, situated on the Tyrrhenian Sea; and tradition has it that Circe, the 
daughter of the Sun, lived there. He assigned (p471) both these colonies to two of his 
sons as their founders, giving Circeii to Arruns and Signia to Titus; and being now no 
longer in any fear concerning his power, he was both driven from power and exiled 
because of the outrageous deed of Sextus, his eldest son, who ruined a married 
woman. Of this calamity that was to overtake his house, Heaven had forewarned him 
by numerous omens,  and particularly by this final one:  Two eagles, coming in the 
spring to the garden near the palace, made their aerie on the top of a tall palm tree. 
While these eagles had their young as yet unfledged, a flock of vultures, flying to the 
aerie, destroyed it and killed the young birds; and when the eagles returned from 
their feeding, the vultures, tearing them  and striking them with the flat of their 
wings, drove them from the palm tree.  Tarquinius, seeing these omens, took all 
possible precautions to avert his destiny but proved unable to conquer fate; for when 
the patricians set themselves against him and the people were of the same mind, he 
was driven from power. Who the authors of this insurrection were and by what means 
they came into control of affairs, I shall endeavour to relate briefly. 

[4,64] Tarquinius  was then laying siege to Ardea, alleging as his reason that it was 
receiving the Roman fugitives and assisting them in their endeavours to (p473) return 
home. The truth was, however, that he had designs against this city on account of its 
wealth, since it was the most flourishing of all the cities in Italy. But as the Ardeates 
bravely defended themselves and the siege was proving a lengthy one, both the 
Romans who were in the camp, being fatigued by the length of the war, and those at 
Rome, who had become exhausted by the war taxes, were ready to revolt if any 
occasion offered for making a beginning.  At this time Sextus, the eldest son of 
Tarquinius, being sent by his father to a city called Collatia to perform certain 
military services, lodged at the house of his kinsman, Lucius Tarquinius, surnamed 
Collatinus.  This man is said by Fabius to have been the son of Egerius, who, as I have 
shown earlier,  was the nephew of Tarquinius the first Roman king of that name, 
and having been appointed governor of Collatia, was not only himself called 
Collatinus from his living there, but also left the same surname to his posterity. But, 
for my part, I am persuaded that he too was a grandson of Egerius,  inasmuch as he 
was of the same age as the sons of Tarquinius, as Fabius and the other historians have 
recorded; for the chronology confirms me in this opinion.  Now it happened that 
Collatinus was then at the camp, but his wife, who was a Roman woman, the daughter 
of Lucretius, a man of distinction, entertained him, as a kinsman of her husband, 
with great cordiality and friendliness. This (p475) matron, who excelled all the Roman 
women in beauty as well as in virtue, Sextus tried to seduce; he had already long 
entertained this desire, whenever he visited his kinsman, and he thought he now had 
a favourable opportunity.  Going, therefore, to bed after supper, he waited a great 
part of the night, and then, when he thought all were asleep, he got up and came to 
the room where he knew Lucretia slept, and without being discovered by her slaves, 
who lay asleep at the door, he went into the room sword in hand. 

[4,65] When he paused at the woman's bedside and she, hearing the noise, awakened 
and asked who it was, he told her his name and bade her be silent and remain in the 
room, threatening to kill her if she attempted either to escape or to cry out. Having 
terrified the woman in this manner, he offered her two alternatives, bidding her 
choose whichever she herself preferred — death with dishonour or life with 
happiness.  "For," he said, "if you will consent to gratify me, I will make you my wife, 
and with me you shall reign, for the present, over the city my father has given me, 
and, after his death, over the Romans, the Latins, the Tyrrhenians, and all the other 
nations he rules; for I know that I shall succeed to my father's kingdom, as is right, 
since I am his eldest son. But why need I inform you of the many advantages which 
attend royalty, all of which you shall share with me, since you are well acquainted 
with them?  If, however, you endeavour to resist from a desire to (p477) preserve your 
virtue, I will kill you and then slay one of your slaves, and having laid both your 
bodies together, will state that I had caught you misbehaving with the slave and 
punished you to avenge the dishonour of my kinsman; so that your death will be 
attended with shame and reproach and your body will be deprived both of burial and 
every other customary rite."  And as he kept urgently repeating his threats and 
entreaties and swearing that he was speaking the truth as to each alternative, 
Lucretia, fearing the ignominy of the death he threatened, was forced to yield and to 
allow him to accomplish his desire. 

[4,66] When it was day, Sextus, having gratified his wicked and baneful passion, 
returned to the camp. But Lucretia, overwhelmed with shame at what had happened, 
got into her carriage in all haste, dressed in black raiment under which she had a 
dagger concealed, and set out for Rome, without saying a word to any person who 
saluted her when they met or making answer to those who wished to know what had 
befallen her, but continued thoughtful and downcast, with her eyes full of tears. 
 When she came to her father's house, where some of his relations happened to be 
present, she threw herself at his feet and embracing his knees, wept for some time 
without uttering a word. And when he raised her up and asked her what had befallen 
her, she said: "I come to you as a suppliant, father, having endured terrible and 
intolerable outrage, and I beg you to avenge me and not to overlook your daughter's 
having suffered worse things than death." When her father as well (p479) as all the 
others was struck with wonder at hearing this and he asked her to tell who had 
outraged her and in what manner, she said: "You will hear of my misfortunes very 
soon, father; but first grant me this favour I ask of you. Send for as many of your 
friends and kinsmen as you can, so that they may hear the report from me, the victim 
of terrible wrongs, rather than from others. And when you have learned to what 
shameful and dire straits I was reduced, consult with them in what manner you will 
avenge both me and yourself. But do not let the time between be long." 

[4,67] When, in response to his hasty and urgent summons, the most prominent men 
had come to his house as she desired, she began at the beginning and told them all 
that had happened. Then, after embracing her father and addressing many entreaties 
both to him and to all present and praying to the gods and other divinities to grant 
her a speedy departure from life, she drew the dagger she was keeping concealed 
under her robes, and plunging it into her breast, with a single stroke pierced her 
heart.  Upon this the women beat their breasts and filled the house with their shrieks 
and lamentations, but her father, enfolding her body in his arms, embraced incident, 
and calling her by name again and again, ministered to her, as though she might 
recover from her wound, until in his arms, gasping and breathing out her life, she 
expired. This dreadful scene struck the Romans who were present with so much 
horror and compassion that they all cried out with one voice that they would rather 
die a thousand deaths in defence of their (p481) liberty than suffer such outrages to be 
committed by the tyrants.  There was among them a certain man, named Publius 
Valerius, a descendant of one of those Sabines who came to Rome with Tatius, and a 
man of action and prudence. This man was sent by them to the camp both to acquaint 
the husband of Lucretia with what had happened and with his aid to bring about a 
revolt of the army from the tyrants.  He was no sooner outside the gates than he 
chance to meet Collatinus, who was coming to the city from the camp and knew 
nothing of the misfortunes that had befallen his household. And with him came 
Lucius Junius, surnamed Brutus, which, translated into the Greek language, would be 
κlithios or "dullard." Concerning this man, since the Romans says that he was the 
prime mover in the expulsion of the tyrants, I must say a few words before continuing 
my account, to explain who he was and of what descent and for what reason he got 
his surname, which did not at all describe him. 

[4,68] The  father of Brutus was Marcus Junius, a descendant of one of the colonists in 
the company of Aeneas, and a man who for his merits was ranked among the most 
illustrious of the Romans; his mother was Tarquinia, a daughter of the first King 
Tarquinius. He himself enjoyed the best upbringing and education that his country 
afforded and he had a nature not averse to any noble accomplishment.  Tarquinius, 
after he had caused Tullius to be slain, put Junius' father to death secretly, together 
with many other worthy men, not for any crime, but (p483) because he was in 
possession of the inheritance of an ancient family enriched by the good fortune of his 
ancestors, the spoils of which Tarquinius coveted; and together with the father he 
slew the elder son, who showed indications of a noble spirit unlikely to permit the 
death of his father to go unavenged. Thereupon Brutus, being still a youth and 
entirely destitute of all assistance from his family, undertook to follow the most 
prudent of all courses, which was to feign a stupidity which was not his; and he 
continued from that time to maintain this pretence of folly from which he acquired 
his surname, till he thought the proper time had come to throw it off. This saved him 
from suffering any harm at the hands of the tyrant at a time when many good men 
were perishing. 

[4,69] For Tarquinius, despising in him this stupidity, which was only apparent and not 
real, took all his inheritance from him, and allowing him maintenance for his daily 
support, kept him under his own authority, as an orphan who still stood in need of 
guardians, and permitted him to live with his own sons, not by way of honouring him 
as a kinsman, which was the pretence he made to his friends, but in order that 
Brutus, by saying many stupid things and by acting the part of a real fool, might 
amuse the lads.  And when he sent two of his sons, Arruns and Titus, to consult the 
Delphic oracle concerning the plague  (for some uncommon malady had in his reign 
descended upon both maids and boys, and many died of it, but it fell with the greatest 
severity and without hope of cure upon women with child, (p485) destroying the 
mothers in travail together with their infants), desiring to learn from the god both the 
cause of this distemper and the remedy for it, he sent Brutus along with the lads, at 
their request, so that they might have somebody to laugh at and abuse.  When the 
youths had come to the oracle and had received answers concerning the matter upon 
which they were sent, they made their offerings to the god and laughed much at 
Brutus for offering a wooden staff to Apollo; in reality he had secretly hollowed the 
whole length of it like a tube and inserted a rod of gold. After this they inquired of the 
god which of them was destined to succeed to the sovereignty of Rome; and the god 
answered, "the one who should first kiss his mother."  The youths, therefore, not 
knowing the meaning of the oracle, agreed together to kiss their mother at the same 
time, desiring to possess the kingship jointly; but Brutus, understanding what the god 
meant, as soon as he landed in Italy, stooped to the earth and kissed it, looking upon 
that as the common mother of all mankind. Such, then, were the earlier events in the 
life of this man. 

[4,70] On the occasion in question, when Brutus had heard Valerius relate all that had 
befallen Lucretia and describe her violent death, he lifted up his hands to Heaven and 
said: "O Jupiter and all ye gods who keep watch over the lives of men, has that time 
now come in expectation of which I have both keeping up this pretence in my manner 
of life? Has fate ordained that the Romans shall by me and through me be delivered 
from this intolerable tyranny?"  Having said this, he went in all haste (p487) to the 
house together with Collatinus and Valerius. When they came in Collatinus, seeing 
Lucretia lying in the midst and her father embracing her, uttered a loud cry and, 
throwing his arms about his wife's body, kept kissing her and calling her name and 
talking to her as if she had been alive; for he was out of his mind by reason of his 
calamity.  While he and her father were pouring forth their lamentations in turn and 
the whole house was filled with wailing and mourning, Brutus, looking at them, said: 
"You will have countless opportunities, Lucretius, Collatinus, and all of you who are 
kinsmen of this woman, to bewail her fate; but now let us consider how to avenge her, 
for that is what the present moment calls for."  His advice seemed good; and sitting 
down by themselves and ordering the slaves and attendants to withdraw, they 
consulted together what they ought to do. And first Brutus began to speak about 
himself, telling them that what was generally believed to be his stupidity was not real, 
but only assumed, and informing them of the reasons which had induced him to 
submit to this pretence; whereupon they regarded him as the wisest of all men. Next 
he endeavoured to persuade them all to be of one mind in expelling both Tarquinius 
and his sons from Rome; and he used many alluring arguments to this end. When he 
found they were all of the same mind, he told them that what was needed was neither 
words nor promises, but deeds, if any of the needful things were to be accomplished; 
and he declare days that he himself would take the lead in such deeds.  Having said 
this, he took the dagger with which Lucretia had (p489) slain herself, and going to the 
body (for it still lay in view, a most piteous spectacle), he swore by Mars and all the 
other gods that he would do everything in his power to overthrow the dominion of the 
Tarquinii and that he would neither be reconciled to the tyrants himself nor tolerate 
any who should be reconciled to them, but would look upon every man who thought 
otherwise as an enemy and till his death would pursue with unrelenting hatred both 
the tyranny and its abettors; and if he should violate his oath, he prayed that he and 
his children might meet with the same end as Lucretia. 

[4,71] Having said this, he called upon all the rest also to take the same oath; and they, 
no longer hesitating, rose up, and receiving the dagger from one another, swore. After 
they had taken the oath they at once considered in what manner they should go about 
their undertaking. And Brutus advised them as follows: "First, let us keep the gates 
under guard, so that Tarquinius may have no intelligence of what is being said and 
done in the city against the tyranny till everything on our side is in readiness.  After 
that, let us carry the body of this woman, stained as it is with blood, into the Forum, 
and exposing it to the public view, call an assembly of the people. When they are 
assembled and we see the Forum crowded, let Lucretius and Collatinus come forward 
and bewail their misfortunes, after first relating everything that has happened.  Next, 
let each of the others come forward, inveigh against the tyranny, and summon the 
citizens to liberty. It will be what (p491) all Romans have devoutly wished if they see us, 
the patricians, making the first move on behalf of liberty. For they have suffered 
many dreadful wrongs at the hands of the tyrant and need but slight encouragement. 
And when we find the people ager to overthrow the monarchy, let us give them an 
opportunity to vote that Tarquinius shall no longer rule over the Romans, and let us 
send their decree to this effect to the soldiers in the camp in all haste.  For when 
those who have arms in their hands hear that the whole city is alienated from the 
tyrant they will become zealous for the liberty of their country and will no longer, as 
hitherto, be restrained by bribes or able to bear the insolent acts of the sons and 
flatterers of Tarquinius."  After he had spoken thus, Valerius took up the discussion 
and said: "In other respects you seem to me to reason well, Junius; but concerning 
the assembly of the people, I wish to know further who is to summon it according to 
law and propose the vote to the curiae. For this is the business of a magistrate and 
none of us holds a magistracy."  To this Brutus answered: "I will, Valerius; for I am 
commander of the celeres and I have the power by law of calling an assembly of the 
people when I please. The tyrant gave me this most important magistracy in the 
belief that I was a fool and either would not be aware of the power attaching to it or, if 
I did recognize it, would not use it. And I myself will deliver the first speech against 
the tyrant." 

[4,72] Upon hearing this they all applauded him (p493) for beginning with an honourable 
and lawful principle, and they asked him to tell the rest of his plans. And he 
continued: "Since you have resolved to follow this course, let us further consider what 
magistracy shall govern the commonwealth after the expulsion of the kings, and by 
what man it shall be created, and, even before that, what form of government we shall 
establish as we get rid of the tyrant. For it is better to have considered everything 
before attempting so important an undertaking and to have left nothing unexamined 
or unconsidered. Let each one of you, accordingly, declare his opinion concerning 
these matters."  After this many speeches were made by many different men. Some 
were any other the opinion that they ought to establish a monarchical government 
again, and they recounted the great benefits the state had received from all the former 
kings. Others believed that they ought no longer to entrust the government to a single 
ruler, and they enumerated the tyrannical excesses which many other kings and 
Tarquinius, last of all, had committed against their own people; but they thought they 
ought to make the senate supreme in all matters, according to the practice of many 
Greek cities.  And still others liked neither of these forms of government, but advised 
them to establish a democracy like at Athens; they pointed to the insolence and 
avarice of the few and to the seditions usually stirred up by the lower classes against 
their superiors, and they declared that for a free commonwealth the equality of the 
citizens was of all forms of government the safest and the most becoming. 

[4,73] The choice appearing to all of them difficult and hard to decide upon by reason of 
the (p495) evils attendant upon each form of government, Brutus took up the discussion 
as the final speaker and said: "It is my opinion, Lucretius, Collatinus, and all of you 
here present, good men yourselves and descended from good men, that we ought not 
in the present situation to establish any new form of government. For the time to 
which we are limited by the circumstances is short, so that it is not easy to reform the 
constitution of the state, and the very attempt to change it, even though we should 
happen to be guided by the very best counsels, is precarious and not without danger. 
And besides, it will be possible later, when we are rid of the tyranny, to deliberate 
with greater freedom and at leisure and thus choose a better form of government in 
place of a poorer one — if, indeed, there is any constitution better than the one which 
Romulus, Pompilius and all the succeeding kings instituted and handed down to us, 
by means of which our commonwealth has continued to be great and prosperous and 
to rule over many subjects.  But as for the evils which generally attend monarchies 
and because of which they degenerate into a tyrannical cruelty and are abhorred by 
all mankind, I advise you to correct these now and at the same time to take 
precautions that they shall never again occur hereafter.  And what are these evils? In 
the first place, since most people look at the names of things and, influenced by them, 
either admit some that are hurtful or shrink from others that are useful, of which 
monarchy happens to be one, I advise you to change the name of the government and 
no longer to call those who shall have the supreme power either kings or monarchs, 
but to give them a (p497) more modest and humane title.  In the next place, I advise you 
not to make one man's judgment the supreme authority over all, but to entrust the 
royal power to two men, as I am informed the Lacedaemonians have been doing now 
for many generations, in consequence of which form of government they are said to 
be the best governed and the most prosperous people among the Greeks. For the 
rulers will be less arrogant and vexatious when the power is divided between two and 
each has the same authority; moreover, mutual respect, the ability of each to prevent 
the other from living as suits his pleasure, and a rivalry between them for the 
attainment of a reputation for virtue would be most likely to result from such equality 
of power and honour. 

[4,74] "And inasmuch as the insignia which have been granted to the kings are 
numerous, I believe that if any of these are grievous and invidious in the eyes of the 
multitude we ought to modify some of them and abolish others — I mean these 
sceptres and golden crowns, the purple and gold-embroidered robes — unless it be 
upon certain festal occasions and in triumphal processions, when the rulers will 
assume them in honour of the gods; for they will offend no one if they are seldom 
used. But I think we ought to leave to the men the ivory chair, in which they will sit in 
judgment, and also the white robe bordered with purple, together with the twelve 
axes to be carried before them when they appear in public.  There is one thing more 
which in my opinion will be of greater advantage than all that I have mentioned and 
the most effectual means of preventing those who shall receive this magistracy from 
committing many errors, and that is, not to permit (p499) the same persons to hold 
office for life (for a magistracy unlimited in time and not obliged to give any account 
of its actions is grievous to all and productive of tyranny), but to limit the power of 
the magistracy to a year, as the Athenians do.  For this principle, by which the same 
person both rules and is ruled in turn and surrenders his authority before his mind 
has been corrupted, restrains arrogant dispositions and does not permit men's 
natures to grow intoxicated with power. If we establish these regulations we should 
be able to enjoy all the benefits that flow from monarchy and at the same time to be 
rid of the evils that attend it.  But to the end that the name, too, of the kingly power, 
which is traditional with us and made its way into our commonwealth with 
favourable auguries that manifested the approbation of the gods, may be preserved 
for form's sake, let there always be appointed a king of sacred rites,  who shall enjoy 
the honour for life exempt from all military and civil duties and, like the "king" at 
Athens, exercising this single function, the superintendence of the sacrifices, and no 
other. 

[4,75] "In what manner each of these measures shall be effected I will now tell you. 
I will summon the assembly, as I said, since this power is accorded me by law, and 
will propose this resolution: That Tarquinius be banished with his wife and children, 
and that they and their posterity as well be forever debarred both from the city and 
from the Roman territory. After the citizens have passed this vote (p501) I will explain to 
them the form of government we propose to establish; next, I will choose an interrex 
to appoint the magistrates who are to take over the administration of public affairs, 
and I will then resign the command of the celeres.  Let the interrex appointed by me 
call together the centuriate assembly, and having nominated the persons who are to 
hold the annual magistracy, let him permit the citizens to vote upon them; and if the 
majority of the centuries are in favour of ratifying his choice of men and the auguries 
concerning them are favourable, let these men assume the axes and the other insignia 
of royalty and see to it that our country shall enjoy its liberty and that the Tarquinii 
shall nevermore return. For they will endeavour, be assured, by persuasion, violence, 
fraud and every other means to get back into power unless we are upon our guard 
against them. 
 "These are the most important and essential measures that I have to propose to you 
at present and to advise you to adopt. As for the details, which are many and not easy 
to examine with precision at the present time (for we are brought to an acute crisis), 
I think we leave them to the men themselves who are to take over the magistracy. 
 But I do say that these magistrates ought to consult with the senate in everything, as 
the kings formerly did, and to do nothing without your advice, and that they ought to 
lay before the people the decrees of the senate, according to the practice of our 
ancestors, depriving them of none of the privileges which they possessed in earlier 
times. For thus their magistracy will be most secure and most excellent." 

[4,76] (p503)  After Junius Brutus had delivered this opinion they all approved it, and 
straightway consulting about the persons who were to take over the magistracies, 
they decided that Spurius Lucretius, the father of the woman who had killed herself, 
will be appointed interrex, and that Lucius Junius Brutus and Lucius Tarquinius 
Collatinus should be nominated by him to exercise the power of the kings.  And they 
ordered that these magistrates should be called in their language consules; this, 
translated into the Greek language, may signify symbouloi ("counsellors") or probouloi 
("pre-counsellors"), for the Romans call our symboulai ("counsels") consilia. But in the 
course of time they came to be called by the Greeks hypatoi ("supreme") from the 
greatness of their power, because they command all the citizens and have the highest 
rank; for the ancients called that which was outstanding and superlative hypaton. 
 Having discussed and settled these matters, they besought the gods to assist them in 
the pursuit of their holy and just aims, and then went to the Forum.  They were 
followed by their slaves, who carried upon a bier spread with black cloth the body of 
Lucretia, unprepared for burial and stained with blood; and directing them to place it 
in a high and conspicuous position before the senate-house, they called an assembly 
of the people.  When a crowd had gathered, not only of those who were in the Forum 
at the time but also of those who came from all parts of the city (for the heralds had 
gone through all the streets to summon the people thither), Brutus ascended the 
tribunal (p505) from which it was the custom for those who assembled the people to 
address them, and having placed the patricians near them, spoke as follows: 

[4,77] "Citizens,  as I am going to speak to you upon urgent matters of general interest, 
I desire first to say a few words about myself. For by some, perhaps, or more 
accurately, as I know, by many of you, I shall be thought to be disordered in my 
intellect when I, a man of unsound mind, attempt to speak upon matters of the 
greatest importance — a man who, as being not mentally sound, has need of 
guardians.  Know, then, that the general opinion you all entertained of me as of a fool 
was false and contrived by me and by me alone. That which compelled me to live, not 
as my nature demanded or as beseemed me, but as was agreeable to Tarquinius and 
seemed likely to be to my own advantage, was the fear I felt for my life.  For my father 
was put to death by Tarquinius upon his accession to the sovereignty, in order that he 
might possess himself of his property, which was very considerable, and my elder 
brother, who would have avenged his father's death if he had not been put out of the 
way, was secretly murdered by the tyrant; nor was it clear that he would spare me, 
either, now left destitute of my nearest relations, if I had not pretended a folly that 
was not genuine.  This fiction, finding credit with the tyrant, saved me from the same 
treatment that they had experienced and has preserved me to this day; but since the 
time has come at last which I have prayed for and looked forward to, I am now laying 
it aside for the first time, after maintaining it for twenty-five years. So much 
concerning myself. 

[4,78] (p507) "The state of public affairs, because of which I have called you together, is 
this: Inasmuch as Tarquinius neither obtained the sovereignty in accordance with our 
ancestral customs and laws, nor, since he obtained it — in whatever manner he got it 
— has he been exercising it in an honourable or kingly manner, but has surpassed in 
insolence and lawlessness all the tyrants the world ever saw, we patricians met 
together and resolved to deprive him of his power, a thing we ought to have done long 
ago, but are doing now when a favourable opportunity has offered. And we have 
called you together, plebeians, in order to declare our own decision and then ask for 
your assistance in achieving liberty for our country, a blessing which we night have 
hitherto been able to enjoy since Tarquinius obtained the sovereignty, nor shall 
hereafter be able to enjoy if we show weakness now.  Had I as much time as I could 
wish, or were I about to speak to men unacquainted with the facts, I should have 
enumerated all the lawless deeds of the tyrant for which he deserves to die, not once, 
but many times, at the hands of all. But since the time permitted me by the 
circumstances is short, and in this brief time there is little that needs to be said but 
much to be done, and since I am speaking to those who are acquainted with the facts, 
I shall remind you merely of those of his deeds that are the most heinous and the 
most conspicuous and do not admit of any excuse. 

[4,79]  "This is that Tarquinius, citizens, who, before he took over the sovereignty, 
destroyed his own brother Arruns by poison because he would not consent to become 
wicked, in which abominable crime (p509) he was assisted by his brother's wife, the 
sister of his own wife, whom this enemy of the gods had even long before debauched. 
 This is the man who on the same days and with the same poisons killed his wedded 
wife, a virtuous woman who had also been the mother of children by him, and did not 
even deign to clear himself of the blame for both of these poisonings and make it 
appear that they were not his work, by assuming a mourning garb and some slight 
pretence of grief; nay, close upon the heels of his committing those monstrous deeds 
and before the funeral-pyre which had received those miserable bodies had died 
away, he gave a banquet to his friends, celebrated his nuptials, and led the murderess 
of her husband as a bride to the bed of her sister, thus fulfilling the abominable 
contract he had made with her and being the first and the only man who ever 
introduced into the city of Rome such impious and execrable crimes unknown to any 
nation in the world, either Greek or barbarian.  And how infamous and dreadful, 
plebeians, were the crimes he committed against both his parents-in-law when they 
were already in the sunset of their lives! Servius Tullius, the most excellent of your 
kings and your greatest benefactor, he openly murdered and would not permit his 
body to be honoured with either the funeral or the burial that were customary;  and 
Tarquinia, the wife of Tullius, whom, as she was the sister of his father and had 
always shown great kindness to him, it was fitting that he should honour as a mother, 
he destroyed, unhappy woman, by the noose, without allowing her time to mourn her 
husband under the sod and to perform the customary sacrifices for him. (p511) Thus he 
treated those by whom he had been preserved, by whom he had been reared, and 
whom after their death he was to have succeeded if he had waited but a short time till 
death came to them in the course of nature. 

[4,80] "But why do I censure these crimes committed against his relations and his kin 
by marriage when, apart from them, I have so many other unlawful acts of which to 
accuse him, which he has committed against his country and against us all — if, 
indeed, they ought to be called merely unlawful acts and not rather the subversion 
and extinction of all that is sanctioned by our laws and customs? Take, for instance, 
the sovereignty — to begin with that. How did he obtain it? Did he follow the example 
of the former kings? Far from it!  The others were all advanced to the sovereignty by 
you according to our ancestral customs and laws, first, by a decree of the senate, 
which body has been given the right to deliberate first concerning all public affairs; 
next, by the appointment of interreges, whom the senate entrusts with the selection 
of the most suitable man from among those who are worthy of the sovereignty; after 
that, by a vote of the people in the comitia, by which vote the law requires that all 
matters of the greatest moment shall be ratified; and, last of all, by the approbation of 
the auguries, sacrificial victims and other signs, without which human diligence and 
foresight would be of no avail.  Well, then, which of these things does any one of you 
know to have been done when Tarquinius was (p513) obtaining the sovereignty? What 
preliminary decree of the senate was there? What decision on the part of the 
interreges? What vote of the people? What favourable auguries? I do not ask whether 
all these formalities were observed, though it was necessary, if all was to be well, that 
nothing founded either in custom or in law should have been omitted; but if it can be 
shown that any one of them was observed, I am content not to quibble about those 
that were omitted. How, then, did he come to the sovereignty? By arms, by violence, 
and by the conspiracies of wicked men, according to the custom of tyrants, in spite of 
your disapproval and indignation.  Well, but after he had obtained the sovereignty — 
in whatever manner he got it — did he use it in a fashion becoming a king, in 
imitation of his predecessors, whose words and actions were invariably such that they 
handed down the city to their successors more prosperous and greater than they 
themselves had received it? When man in his senses could say so, when he sees to 
what a pitiable and wretched state we all have been brought by him? 

[4,81] "I shall say nothing of the calamities we who are patricians have suffered, of 
which no one even of our enemies could hear without tears, since we are left but few 
out of many, have been brought low from having been exalted, and have come to 
poverty and dire want after being stripped of many enviable possessions. Of all those 
illustrious men, those great and able leaders because of whom our city was once 
distinguished, some have been put to death and others banished.  But what is your 
condition, plebeians? Has not Tarquinius taken away your laws? Has he not 
abolished your assemblages for (p515) the performance of religious rites and sacrifices? 
Has he not put an end to your electing of magistrates, to your voting, and to your 
meeting in assembly to discuss public affairs? Does he not force you, like slaves 
purchased with money, to endure shameful hardships in quarrying stone, hewing 
timber, carrying burdens, and wasting your strength in deep pits and caverns, 
without allowing you the least respite from your miseries?  What, then, will be the 
limit of our calamities? And when shall we recover the liberty our fathers enjoyed? 
When Tarquinius dies? To be sure! And how shall we be in a better condition then? 
Why should it not be a worse? For we shall have three Tarquinii sprung from the one, 
all far more abominable than their sire.  For when one who from a private station has 
become a tyrant and has begun late to be wicked, is an expert in all tyrannical 
mischief, what kind of men may we expect those to be who are sprung from him, 
whose parentage has been depraved, whose nurture has been depraved, and who 
never had an opportunity of seeing or hearing of anything done with the moderation 
befitting free citizens? In order, therefore, that you may not merely guess at their 
accursed natures, but may know with certainty what kind of whelps the tyranny of 
Tarquinius is secretly rearing up for your destruction, behold the deed of one of them, 
the eldest of the three. 

[4,82] "This woman is the daughter of Spurius Lucretius, whom the tyrant, when he 
went to the war, appointed prefect of the city,  and the wife of Tarquinius Collatinus, 
a kinsman of the tyrant who has undergone many hardships for their sake. Yet this 
(p517) woman, who desired to preserve her virtue and loved her husband as becomes a 
good wife, could not, when Sextus was entertained last night at her house as a 
kinsman and Collatinus was absent at the time in camp, escape the unbridled 
insolence of tyranny, but like a captive constrained by necessity, had to submit to 
indignities that it is not right any woman of free condition should suffer.  Resenting 
this treatment and looking upon the outrage as intolerable, she related to her father 
and the rest of her kinsmen the straits to which she had been reduced, and after 
earnestly entreating and adjuring them to avenge the wrongs she had suffered, she 
drew out the dagger she had concealed under the folds of her dress and before her 
father's very eyes, plebeians, plunged the steel into her vitals.  O admirable woman 
and worthy of great praise for your noble resolution! You are gone, you are dead, 
being unable to hear the tyrant's insolence and despising all the pleasures of life in 
order to avoid suffering any such indignity again. After this example, Lucretia, when 
you, who were given a woman's nature, have shown the resolution of a brave man, 
shall we, who were born men, show ourselves inferior to women in courage? To you, 
because you had been deprived by force of your spotless chastity by submission to a 
tyrant during one night, death appeared sweeter and more blessed than life; and shall 
not the same feelings sway us, whom Tarquinius, by a tyranny, and of one day only, 
but of twenty-five years, has deprived of all the pleasures of life in depriving us of our 
liberty?  Life is intolerable to us, plebeians, while we wallow amid (p519) such 
wretchedness — to us who are the descendants of those men who thought themselves 
worthy to give laws to others and exposed themselves to many dangers for the sake of 
power and fame. Nay, but we must all choose one of two things — life with liberty or 
death with glory.  An opportunity has come such as we have been praying for. 
Tarquinius is absent from the city, the patricians are the leaders of the enterprise, and 
naught will be lacking to us if we enter upon the undertaking with zeal — neither 
men, money, arms, generals, nor any other equipment of warfare, for the city is full of 
all these; and it would be disgraceful if we, who aspire to rule the Volscians, the 
Sabines and countless other peoples, should ourselves submit to be slaves of others, 
and should undertake many wars to gratify the ambition of Tarquinius but not one to 
recover our own liberty. 

[4,83] "What resources, therefore, what assistance shall we have for our undertaking? 
For this remains to be discussed. First there are the hopes we place in the gods, 
whose rites, temples and altars Tarquinius pollutes with hands stained with blood 
and defiled with every kind of crime against his own people every time he begins the 
sacrifices and libations. Next, there are the hopes that we place in ourselves, who are 
neither few in number nor unskilled in war. Besides these advantages there are the 
forces of our allies, who, so long as they are not called upon by us, will not presume to 
busy themselves with our affairs, but if they see us acting the part of brave men, will 
gladly assist us in the war; for tyranny is odious to all who desire to be free. (p521)  But if 
any of you are afraid that the citizens who are in the camp with Tarquinius will assist 
him and make war upon us, their fears are groundless. For the tyranny is grievous to 
them also and the desire of liberty is implanted by Nature in the minds of all men, 
and every excuse for a change is sufficient for those who are compelled to bear 
hardships; and if you by your votes order them to come to the aid of their country, 
neither fear nor favour, nor any of the other motives that compel or persuade men to 
commit injustice, will keep them with the tyrants.  But if by reason of an evil nature 
or a bad upbringing the love of tyranny is, after all, rooted in some of them — though 
surely there are not many such — we will bring strong compulsion to bear upon these 
men too, so that they will become good citizens instead of bad. For we have, as 
hostages for them in the city, their children, wives and parents, who are dearer to 
every man than his own life. By promising to restore these to them if they will desert 
the tyrants, and by passing a vote of amnesty for the mistakes they have made, we 
shall easily prevail upon them to join us.  Advance to the struggle, therefore, 
plebeians, with confidence and with good hopes for the future; for this war which you 
are about to undertake is the most glorious of all the wars you have ever waged. Ye 
gods of our ancestors, kindly guardians of this land, and ye other divinities, to whom 
the care of our fathers was allotted, and thou City, dearest to the gods of all cities, the 
city in which we received our birth and nurture, we shall defend you with our 
counsels, our words, our hands and our lives, and we (p523) are ready to suffer 
everything that Heaven and Fate shall bring.  And I predict that our glorious 
endeavours will be crowned with success. May all here present, emboldened by the 
same confidence and united in the same sentiments, both preserve us and  be 
preserved by us!" 

[4,84] While Brutus was thus addressing the people everything he said was received by 
them with continual acclamations signifying both their approval and their 
encouragement. Most of them even wept with pleasure at hearing these wonderful 
and unexpected words, and various emotions, in no wise resembling one another, 
affected the mind of each of his hearers. For pain was mingled with pleasure, the 
former arising from the terrible experiences that were past and the latter from the 
blessings that were anticipated; and anger went hand in hand with fear, the former 
encouraging them to despise their own safety in order to injure the objects of their 
hatred, while the latter, occasioned by the thought of the difficulty of overthrowing 
the tyranny, inspired them with reluctance toward the enterprise.  But when he had 
done speaking, they all cried out, as from a single mouth, to lead them to arms. Then 
Brutus, pleased at this, said: "On this condition, that you first hear the resolution of 
the senate and confirm it. For we have resolved that the Tarquinii and all their 
posterity shall be banished both from the city of Rome and from all the territory ruled 
by the Romans; that no one shall be permitted to say or do anything about their 
restoration; and that if anyone shall be found to be working contrary to these 
decisions he shall be put to death.  If it is your pleasure that this resolution be 
confirmed, divide yourselves into (p525) your curiae and give your votes; and let the 
enjoyment of this right be the beginning of your liberty." This was done; and all the 
curiae having given their votes for the banishment of the tyrants, Brutus again came 
forward and said: "Now that our first measures have been confirmed in the manner 
required, hear also what we have further resolved concerning the form of our 
government.  It was our decision, upon considering what magistracy should be in 
control of affairs, not to establish the kingship again, but to appoint two annual 
magistrates to hold the royal power, these men to be whomever you yourselves shall 
choose in the comitia, voting by centuries. If, therefore, this also is your pleasure, give 
your votes to that effect." The people approved of this resolution likewise, not a single 
vote being given against it.  After that, Brutus, coming forward, appointed Spurius 
Lucretius as interrex to preside over the comitia for the election of magistrates, 
according to ancestral custom. And he, dismissing the assembly, ordered all the 
people to go promptly in arms to the field  where it was their custom to elect their 
magistrates. When they were come thither, he chose two men to perform the 
functions which had belonged to the kings — Brutus and Collatinus; and the people, 
being called by centuries, confirmed their appointment.  Such were the measures 
taken in the city at that time. 

[4,85] As soon as King Tarquinius heard by the first messengers who had found 
means to escape from the city before the gates were shut that Brutus was holding 
(p527) the assembled people enthralled, haranguing them and summoning the citizens 
to liberty, which was all the information they could give him, he took with him his 
sons and the most trustworthy of his friends, and without communicating his design 
to any others, rode at full gallop in hopes of forestalling the revolt. But finding the 
gates shut and the battlements full of armed men, he returned to the camp as speedily 
as possible, bewailing and complaining of his misfortune.  But his cause there also 
was now lost. For the consuls, foreseeing that he would quickly come to the city, had 
sent letters  by other roads to those in the camp, in which they exhorted them to 
revolt from the tyrant and acquainted them with the resolutions passed by those in 
the city.  Titus Herminius and Marcus Horatius, who had been left by the king to 
command in his absence, having received these letters, read them in an assembly of 
the soldiers; and asking them by their centuries what they thought should be done, 
when it was their unanimous opinion the regard the decisions reached by those in the 
city as valid, they no longer would admit Tarquinius when he returned.  After the 
king found himself disappointed of this hope also, he fled with a few companions to 
the city of Gabii, over which, as I said before, he had appointed Sextus, the eldest of 
his sons, to be king. He was now grown grey with age and had reigned twenty-five 
years. In the meantime Herminius and Horatius, having made a truce with the 
Ardeates for fifteen years, led their forces home.