Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities

§ 4.46.3 When 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 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.

§ 4.46.4 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.

§ 4.47.1 After Turnus had thus inveighed against Tarquinius and most of those present had been greatly moved by his words, Tarquinius asked that 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.

§ 4.47.2 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.

§ 4.47.3 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. 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. 5 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. 6 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.”

§ 4.48.1 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. 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.

§ 4.48.2 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.

§ 4.48.3 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.

§ 4.49.1 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 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.

§ 4.49.2 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.

§ 4.49.3 These festivals and sacrifices the Romans celebrate to this day, calling them the “ Latin Festival s”; 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.

§ 4.50.1 When he had strengthened his power by 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.

§ 4.50.2 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.

§ 4.50.3 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.

§ 4.50.4 Tarquinius, being now master of the city, put to 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.

§ 4.50.5 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.

§ 4.51.1 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.

§ 4.51.2 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 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:

§ 4.51.3 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.

§ 4.51.4 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 captives, were recovered still uninjured and were restored to those who had lost them.

§ 4.52.1 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.

§ 4.52.2 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 with riches.

§ 4.52.3 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.

§ 4.53.1 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.

§ 4.53.2 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 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.

§ 4.53.3 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, 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.

§ 4.54.1 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.

§ 4.54.2 Tarquinius was particularly active in taking these 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.

§ 4.54.3 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.

§ 4.55.1 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.

§ 4.55.2 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, 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.

§ 4.55.3 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.

§ 4.55.4 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 bribed by him — promoted him to the supreme command.

§ 4.56.1 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.

§ 4.56.2 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.

§ 4.56.3 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.

§ 4.56.4 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 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.

§ 4.57.1 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.

§ 4.57.2 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, 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.

§ 4.57.3 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.

§ 4.57.4 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.

§ 4.58.1 While these things were going on and all 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.

§ 4.58.2 When this disaster became known, all the citizens bewailed the fate awaiting 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.

§ 4.58.3 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.

§ 4.58.4 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 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.

§ 4.59.1 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.

§ 4.59.2 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.

§ 4.59.3 Tarquinius, seeing this prodigy, ordered the workmen to leave off digging, and assembling the 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.

§ 4.60.1 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.

§ 4.60.2 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.

§ 4.60.3 After you have related the prodigy to him he will tell you that he does not fully understand what 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.'

§ 4.60.4 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.”

§ 4.61.1 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 manner.

§ 4.61.2 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.

§ 4.61.3 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.

§ 4.61.4 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.

§ 4.62.1 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.

§ 4.62.2 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.

§ 4.62.3 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.

§ 4.62.4 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 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.

§ 4.62.5 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.

§ 4.62.6 But when the temple was burned after the close of the one hundred and seventy-third Olympiad, 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.

§ 4.63.1 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 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:

§ 4.63.2 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.

§ 4.63.3 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.

§ 4.64.1 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 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.

§ 4.64.2 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.

§ 4.64.3 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.

§ 4.64.4 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 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.

§ 4.64.5 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.

§ 4.65.1 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.

§ 4.65.2 “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?

§ 4.65.3 If, however, you endeavour to resist from a desire to 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.”

§ 4.65.4 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.

§ 4.66.1 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.

§ 4.66.2 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.”

§ 4.66.3 When her father as well 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.”

§ 4.67.1 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.

§ 4.67.2 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 it, 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 liberty than suffer such outrages to be committed by the tyrants.

§ 4.67.3 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.

§ 4.67.4 He was no sooner outside the gates than he chanced 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 êlithios or “dullard.” Concerning this man, since the Romans say 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.

§ 4.68.1 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.

§ 4.68.2 Tarquinius, after he had caused Tullius to be slain, put Junius' father also to death secretly, together with many other worthy men, not for any crime, but 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 that 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.

§ 4.69.1 For Tarquinius, despising in him this stupidity, which was only apparent and not real, took all his inheritance from him, and allowing him a small 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.

§ 4.69.2 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, 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.

§ 4.69.3 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.”

§ 4.69.4 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.

§ 4.70.1 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?”

§ 4.70.2 Having said this, he went in all haste 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.

§ 4.70.3 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.”

§ 4.70.4 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.

§ 4.70.5 Having said this, he took the dagger with which Lucretia had 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.

§ 4.71.1 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.

§ 4.71.2 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.

§ 4.71.3 Next, let each of the others come forward, inveigh against the tyranny, and summon the citizens to liberty. It will be what 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.

§ 4.71.4 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.”

§ 4.71.5 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.”

§ 4.71.6 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.”

§ 4.72.1 Upon hearing this they all applauded him 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.”

§ 4.72.2 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.