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Ab urbe condita 1.1
To begin with, it is generally admitted that after the capture of Troy,
whilst the rest of the Trojans were massacred, against two of
them-Aeneas and Antenor -the Achivi refused to exercise the rights of
war, partly owing to old ties of hospitality, and partly because these
men had always been in favour of making peace and surrendering Helen.
Their subsequent fortunes were different. Antenor sailed into the
furthest part of the Adriatic, accompanied by a number of Enetians who
had been driven from Paphlagonia by a revolution, and after losing
their king Pylaemenes before Troy were looking for a settlement and a
leader. The combined force of Enetians and Trojans defeated the
Euganei, who dwelt between the sea and the Alps and occupied their
land. The place where they disembarked was called Troy, and the name
was extended to the surrounding district; the whole nation were called
Veneti. Similar misfortunes led to Aeneas becoming a wanderer, but the
Fates were preparing a higher destiny for him. He first visited
Macedonia, then was carried down to Sicily in quest of a settlement;
from Sicily he directed his course to the Laurentian territory. Here,
too, the name of Troy is found, and here the Trojans disembarked, and
as their almost infinite wanderings had left them nothing but their
arms and their ships, they began to plunder the neighbourhood. The
Aborigines, who occupied the country, with their king Latinus at their
head, came hastily together from the city and the country districts to
repel the inroads of the strangers by force of arms.
From this point there is a twofold tradition. According to the one,
Latinus was defeated in battle, and made peace with Aeneas, and
subsequently a family alliance. According to the other, whilst the two
armies were standing ready to engage and waiting for the signal,
Latinus advanced in front of his lines and invited the leader of the
strangers to a conference. He inquired of him what manner of men they
were, whence they came, what had happened to make them leave their
homes, what were they in quest of when they landed in Latinus'
territory. When he heard that the men were Trojans, that their leader
was Aeneas, the son of Anchises and Venus, that their city had been
burnt, and that the homeless exiles were now looking for a place to
settle in and build a city, he was so struck with the noble bearing of
the men and their leader, and their readiness to accept alike either
peace or war, that he gave his right hand as a solemn pledge of
friendship for the future. A formal treaty was made between the leaders
and mutual greetings exchanged between the armies. Latinus received
Aeneas as a guest in his house, and there, in the presence of his
tutelary deities, completed the political alliance by a domestic one,
and gave his daughter in marriage to Aeneas. This incident confirmed
the Trojans in the hope that they had reached the term of their
wanderings and won a permanent home. They built a town, which Aeneas
called Lavinium after his wife. In a short time a boy was born of the
new marriage, to whom his parents gave the name of Ascanius.
Ab urbe condita 1.2
In a short time the Aborigines and Trojans became involved in war with
Turnus, the king of the Rutulians. Lavinia had been betrothed to him
before the arrival of Aeneas, and, furious at finding a stranger
preferred to him, he declared war against both Latinus and Aeneas.
Neither side could congratulate themselves on the result of the battle;
the Rutulians were defeated, but the victorious Aborigines and Trojans
lost their leader Latinus. Feeling their need of allies, Turnus and the
Rutulians had recourse to the celebrated power of the Etruscans and
Mezentius, their king, who was reigning at Caere, a wealthy city in
those days. From the first he had felt anything but pleasure at the
rise of the new city, and now he regarded the growth of the Trojan
state as much too rapid to be safe to its neighbours, so he welcomed
the proposal to join forces with the Rutulians. To keep the Aborigines
from abandoning him in the face of this strong coalition and to secure
their being not only under the same laws, but also the same
designation, Aeneas called both nations by the common name of Latins.
From that time the Aborigines were not behind the Trojans in their
loyal devotion to Aeneas. So great was the power of Etruria that the
renown of her people had filled not only the inland parts of Italy but
also the coastal districts along the whole length of the land from the
Alps to the Straits of Messina. Aeneas, however, trusting to the
loyalty of the two nations who were day by day growing into one, led
his forces into the field, instead of awaiting the enemy behind his
walls. The battle resulted in favour of the Latins, but it was the last
mortal act of Aeneas. His tomb-whatever it is lawful and right to call
him-is situated on the bank of the Numicius. He is addressed as
"Jupiter Indiges."
Ab urbe condita 1.3
His son, Ascanius, was not old enough to assume the government; but his
throne remained secure throughout his minority. During that
interval-such was Lavinia's force of character- though a woman was
regent, the Latin State, and the kingdom of his father and grandfather,
were preserved unimpaired for her son. I will not discuss the
question-for who could speak decisively about a matter of such extreme
antiquity?-whether the man whom the Julian house claim, under the name
of Iulus, as the founder of their name, was this Ascanius or an older
one than he, born of Creusa, whilst Ilium was still intact, and after
its fall a sharer in his father's fortunes. This Ascanius, where ever
born, or of whatever mother-it is generally agreed in any case that he
was the son of Aeneas-left to his mother (or his stepmother) the city
of Lavinium, which was for those days a prosperous and wealthy city,
with a superabundant population, and built a new city at the foot of
the Alban hills, which from its position, stretching along the side of
the hill, was called "Alba Longa." An interval of thirty years elapsed
between the foundation of Lavinium and the colonisation of Alba Longa.
Such had been the growth of the Latin power, mainly through the defeat
of the Etruscans, that neither at the death of Aeneas, nor during the
regency of Lavinia, nor during the immature years of the reign of
Ascanius, did either Mezentius and the Etruscans or any other of their
neighbours venture to attack them. When terms of peace were being
arranged, the river Albula, now called the Tiber, had been fixed as the
boundary between the Etruscans and the Latins.
Ascanius was succeeded by his son Silvius, who by some chance had been
born in the forest. He became the father of Aeneas Silvius, who in his
turn had a son, Latinus Silvius. He planted a number of colonies: the
colonists were called Prisci Latini. The cognomen of Silvius was common
to all the remaining kings of Alba, each of whom succeeded his father.
Their names are Alba, Atys, Capys, Capetus, Tiberinus, who was drowned
in crossing the Albula, and his name transferred to the river, which
became henceforth the famous Tiber. Then came his son Agrippa, after
him his son Romulus Silvius. He was struck by lightning and left the
crown to his son Aventinus, whose shrine was on the hill which bears
his name and is now a part of the city of Rome. He was succeeded by
Proca, who had two sons, Numitor and Amulius. To Numitor, the elder, he
bequeathed the ancient throne of the Silvian house. Violence, however,
proved stronger than either the father's will or the respect due to the
brother's seniority; for Amulius expelled his brother and seized the
crown. Adding crime to crime, he murdered his brother's sons and made
the daughter, Rea Silvia, a Vestal virgin; thus, under the presence of
honouring her, depriving her of all hopes of issue.
Ab urbe condita 1.4
But the Fates had, I believe, already decreed the origin of this great
city and the foundation of the mightiest empire under heaven. The
Vestal was forcibly violated and gave birth to twins. She named Mars as
their father, either because she really believed it, or because the
fault might appear less heinous if a deity were the cause of it. But
neither gods nor men sheltered her or her babes from the king's
cruelty; the priestess was thrown into prison, the boys were ordered to
be thrown into the river. By a heaven-sent chance it happened that the
Tiber was then overflowing its banks, and stretches of standing water
prevented any approach to the main channel. Those who were carrying the
children expected that this stagnant water would be sufficient to drown
them, so under the impression that they were carrying out the king's
orders they exposed the boys at the nearest point of the overflow,
where the Ficus Ruminalis (said to have been formerly called Romularis)
now stands. The locality was then a wild solitude. The tradition goes
on to say that after the floating cradle in which the boys had been
exposed had been left by the retreating water on dry land, a thirsty
she-wolf from the surrounding hills, attracted by the crying of the
children, came to them, gave them her teats to suck and was so gentle
towards them that the king's flock-master found her licking the boys
with her tongue. According to the story, his name was Faustulus. He
took the children to his hut and gave them to his wife Larentia to
bring up. Some writers think that Larentia, from her unchaste life, had
got the nickname of "She-wolf" amongst the shepherds, and that this was
the origin of the marvellous story.
As soon as the boys, thus born and
thus brought up, grew to be young men they did not neglect their
pastoral duties, but their special delight was roaming through the
woods on hunting expeditions. As their strength and courage were thus
developed, they used not only to lie in wait for fierce beasts of prey,
but they even attacked brigands when loaded with plunder. They
distributed what they took amongst the shepherds, with whom, surrounded
by a continually increasing body of young men, they associated
themselves in their serious undertakings and in their sports and
pastimes.
Ab urbe condita 1.5
It is said that the festival of the Lupercalia, which is still
observed, was even in those days celebrated on the Palatine hill. This
hill was originally called Pallantium from a city of the same name in
Arcadia; the name was afterwards changed to Palatium. Evander, an
Arcadian, had held that territory many ages before, and had introduced
an annual festival from Arcadia in which young men ran about naked for
sport and wantonness, in honour of the Lycaean Pan, whom the Romans
afterwards called Inuus. The existence of this festival was widely
recognised, and it was while the two brothers were engaged in it that
the brigands, enraged at losing their plunder, ambushed them. Romulus
successfully defended himself, but Remus was taken prisoner and brought
before Amulius, his captors impudently accusing him of their own
crimes. The principal charge brought against them was that of invading
Numitor's lands with a body of young men whom they had got together,
and carrying off plunder as though in regular warfare. Remus
accordingly was handed over to Numitor for punishment. Faustulus had
from the beginning suspected that it was royal offspring that he was
bringing up, for he was aware that the boys had been exposed at the
king's command and the time at which he had taken them away exactly
corresponded with that of their exposure. He had, however, refused to
divulge the matter prematurely, until either a fitting opportunity
occurred or necessity demanded its disclosure. The necessity came
first. Alarmed for the safety of Remus he revealed the state of the
case to Romulus. It so happened that Numitor also, who had Remus in his
custody, on hearing that he and his brother were twins and comparing
their ages and the character and bearing so unlike that of one in a
servile condition, began to recall the memory of his grandchildren, and
further inquiries brought him to the same conclusion as Faustulus;
nothing was wanting to the recognition of Remus. So the king Amulius
was being enmeshed on all sides by hostile purposes. Romulus shrunk
from a direct attack with his body of shepherds, for he was no match
for the king in open fight. They were instructed to approach the palace
by different routes and meet there at a given time, whilst from
Numitor's house Remus lent his assistance with a second band he had
collected. The attack succeeded and the king was killed.
Ab urbe condita 1.6
At the beginning of the fray, Numitor gave out that an enemy had
entered the City and was attacking the palace, in order to draw off the
Alban soldiery to the citadel, to defend it. When he saw the young men
coming to congratulate him after the assassination, he at once called a
council of his people and explained his brother's infamous conduct
towards him, the story of his grandsons, their parentage and bringing
up, and how he recognised them. Then he proceeded to inform them of the
tyrant's death and his responsibility for it. The young men marched in
order through the midst of the assembly and saluted their grandfather
as king; their action was approved by the whole population, who with
one voice ratified the title and sovereignty of the king. After the
government of Alba was thus transferred to Numitor, Romulus and Remus
were seized with the desire of building a city in the locality where
they had been exposed. There was the superfluous population of the
Alban and Latin towns, to these were added the shepherds: it was
natural to hope that with all these Alba would be small and Lavinium
small in comparison with the city which was to be founded. These
pleasant anticipations were disturbed by the ancestral curse
-ambition-which led to a deplorable quarrel over what was at first a
trivial matter. As they were twins and no claim to precedence could be
based on seniority, they decided to consult the tutelary deities of the
place by means of augury as to who was to give his name to the new
city, and who was to rule it after it had been founded. Romulus
accordingly selected the Palatine as his station for observation, Remus
the Aventine.
Ab urbe condita 1.7
Remus is said to have been the first to receive an omen: six vultures
appeared to him. The augury had just been announced to Romulus when
double the number appeared to him. Each was saluted as king by his own
party. The one side based their claim on the priority of the
appearance, the other on the number of the birds. Then followed an
angry altercation; heated passions led to bloodshed; in the tumult
Remus was killed. The more common report is that Remus contemptuously
jumped over the newly raised walls and was forthwith killed by the
enraged Romulus, who exclaimed, "So shall it be henceforth with every
one who leaps over my walls." Romulus thus became sole ruler, and the
city was called after him, its founder. His first work was to fortify
the Palatine hill where he had been brought up. The worship of the
other deities he conducted according to the use of Alba, but that of
Hercules in accordance with the Greek rites as they had been instituted
by Evander. It was into this neighbourhood, according to the tradition,
that Hercules, after he had killed Geryon, drove his oxen, which were
of marvellous beauty. He swam across the Tiber, driving the oxen before
him, and wearied with his journey, lay down in a grassy place near the
river to rest himself and the oxen, who enjoyed the rich pasture. When
sleep had overtaken him, as he was heavy with food and wine, a shepherd
living near, called Cacus, presuming on his strength, and captivated by
the beauty of the oxen, determined to secure them. If he drove them
before him into the cave, their hoof-marks would have led their owner
on his search for them in the same direction, so he dragged the finest
of them backwards by their tails into his cave. At the first streak of
dawn Hercules awoke, and on surveying his herd saw that some were
missing. He proceeded towards the nearest cave, to see if any tracks
pointed in that direction, but he found that every hoof-mark led from
the cave and none towards it. Perplexed and bewildered he began to
drive the herd away from so dangerous a neighbourhood. Some of the
cattle, missing those which were left behind, lowed as they often do,
and an answering low sounded from the cave. Hercules turned in that
direction, and as Cacus tried to prevent him by force from entering the
cave, he was killed by a blow from Hercules' club, after vainly
appealing for help to his comrades
The king of the country at that time was Evander, a refugee from
Peloponnesus, who ruled more by personal ascendancy than by the
exercise of power. He was looked up to with reverence for his knowledge
of letters-a new and marvellous thing for uncivilised men-but he was
still more revered because of his mother Carmenta, who was believed to
be a divine being and regarded with wonder by all as an interpreter of
Fate, in the days before the arrival of the Sibyl in Italy. This
Evander, alarmed by the crowd of excited shepherds standing round a
stranger whom they accused of open murder, ascertained from them the
nature of his act and what led to it. As he observed the bearing and
stature of the man to be more than human in greatness and august
dignity, he asked who he was. When he heard his name, and learnt his
father and his country he said, "Hercules, son of Jupiter, hail! My
mother, who speaks truth in the name of the gods, has prophesied that
thou shalt join the company of the gods, and that here a shrine shall
be dedicated to thee, which in ages to come the most powerful nation in
all the world shall call their Ara Maxima and honour with shine own
special worship." Hercules grasped Evander's right hand and said that
he took the omen to himself and would fulfil the prophecy by building
and consecrating the altar. Then a heifer of conspicuous beauty was
taken from the herd, and the first sacrifice was offered; the Potitii
and Pinarii, the two principal families in those parts, were invited by
Hercules to assist in the sacrifice and at the feast which followed. It
so happened that the Potitii were present at the appointed time, and
the entrails were placed before them; the Pinarii arrived after these
were consumed and came in for the rest of the banquet. It became a
permanent institution from that time, that as long as the family of the
Pinarii survived they should not eat of the entrails of the victims.
The Potitii, after being instructed by Evander, presided over that rite
for many ages, until they handed over this ministerial office to public
servants after which the whole race of the Potitii perished. This out
of all foreign rites, was the only one which Romulus adopted, as though
he felt that an immortality won through courage, of which this was the
memorial, would one day be his own reward.
Ab urbe condita 1.8
After the claims of religion had been duly acknowledged, Romulus called
his people to a council. As nothing could unite them into one political
body but the observance of common laws and customs, he gave them a body
of laws, which he thought would only be respected by a rude and
uncivilised race of men if he inspired them with awe by assuming the
outward symbols of power. He surrounded himself with greater state, and
in particular he called into his service twelve lictors. Some think
that he fixed upon this number from the number of the birds who
foretold his sovereignty; but I am inclined to agree with those who
think that as this class of public officers was borrowed from the same
people from whom the "sella curulis" and the "toga praetexta" were
adopted- their neighbours, the Etruscans-so the number itself also was
taken from them. Its use amongst the Etruscans is traced to the custom
of the twelve sovereign cities of Etruria, when jointly electing a
king, furnishing him each with one lictor. Meantime the City was
growing by the extension of its walls in various directions; an
increase due rather to the anticipation of its future population than
to any present overcrowding. His next care was to secure an addition to
the population that the size of the City might not be a source of
weakness. It had been the ancient policy of the founders of cities to
get together a multitude of people of obscure and low origin and then
to spread the fiction that they were the children of the soil. In
accordance with this policy, Romulus opened a place of refuge on the
spot where, as you go down from the Capitol, you find an enclosed space
between two groves. A promiscuous crowd of freemen and slaves, eager
for change, fled thither from the neighbouring states. This was the
first accession of strength to the nascent greatness of the city. When
he was satisfied as to its strength, his next step was to provide for
that strength being wisely directed. He created a hundred senators;
either because that number was adequate, or because there were only a
hundred heads of houses who could be created. In any case they were
called the "Patres" in virtue of their rank, and their descendants were
called "Patricians."
Ab urbe condita 1.9
The Roman State had now become so strong that it was a match for any of
its neighbours in war, but its greatness threatened to last for only
one generation, since through the absence of women there was no hope of
offspring, and there was no right of intermarriage with their
neighbours. Acting on the advice of the senate, Romulus sent envoys
amongst the surrounding nations to ask for alliance and the right of
intermarriage on behalf of his new community. It was represented that
cities, like everything else, sprung from the humblest beginnings, and
those who were helped on by their own courage and the favour of heaven
won for themselves great power and great renown. As to the origin of
Rome, it was well known that whilst it had received divine assistance,
courage and self-reliance were not wanting. There should, therefore, be
no reluctance for men to mingle their blood with their fellow-men.
Nowhere did the envoys meet with a favourable reception. Whilst their
proposals were treated with contumely, there was at the same time a
general feeling of alarm at the power so rapidly growing in their
midst. Usually they were dismissed with the question, "whether they had
opened an asylum for women, for nothing short of that would secure for
them intermarriage on equal terms." The Roman youth could ill brook
such insults, and matters began to look like an appeal to force. To
secure a favourable place and time for such an attempt, Romulus,
disguising his resentment, made elaborate preparations for the
celebration of games in honour of "Equestrian Neptune," which he called
"the Consualia." He ordered public notice of the spectacle to be given
amongst the adjoining cities, and his people supported him in making
the celebration as magnificent as their knowledge and resources
allowed, so that expectations were raised to the highest pitch. There
was a great gathering; people were eager to see the new City, all their
nearest neighbours-the people of Caenina, Antemnae, and
Crustumerium-were there, and the whole Sabine population came, with
their wives and families. They were invited to accept hospitality at
the different houses, and after examining the situation of the City,
its walls and the large number of dwelling-houses it included, they
were astonished at the rapidity with which the Roman State had grown.
When the hour for the games had come, and their eyes and minds were
alike riveted on the spectacle before them, the preconcerted signal was
given and the Roman youth dashed in all directions to carry off the
maidens who were present. The larger part were carried off
indiscriminately, but some particularly beautiful girls who had been
marked out for the leading patricians were carried to their houses by
plebeians told off for the task. One, conspicuous amongst them all for
grace and beauty, is reported to have been carried off by a group led
by a certain Talassius, and to the many inquiries as to whom she was
intended for, the invariable answer was given, "For Talassius." Hence
the use of this word in the marriage rites. Alarm and consternation
broke up the games, and the parents of the maidens fled, distracted
with grief, uttering bitter reproaches on the violators of the laws of
hospitality and appealing to the god to whose solemn games they had
come, only to be the victims of impious perfidy. The abducted maidens
were quite as despondent and indignant. Romulus, however, went round in
person, and pointed out to them that it was all owing to the pride of
their parents in denying right of intermarriage to their neighbours.
They would live in honourable wedlock, and share all their property and
civil rights, and- dearest of all to human nature-would be the mothers
of freemen. He begged them to lay aside their feelings of resentment
and give their affections to those whom fortune had made masters of
their persons. An injury had often led to reconciliation and love; they
would find their husbands all the more affectionate, because each would
do his utmost, so far as in him lay, to make up for the loss of parents
and country. These arguments were reinforced by the endearments of
their husbands, who excused their conduct by pleading the irresistible
force of their passion-a plea effective beyond all others in appealing
to a woman's nature.
Ab urbe condita 1.10 Ab urbe condita
The feelings of the abducted maidens were now pretty completely
appeased, but not so those of their parents. They went about in
mourning garb, and tried by their tearful complaints to rouse their
countrymen to action. Nor did they confine their remonstrances to their
own cities; they flocked from all sides to Titus Tatius, the king of
the Sabines, and sent formal deputations to him, for his was the most
influential name in those parts. The people of Caenina, Crustumerium,
and Antemnae were the greatest sufferers; they thought Tatius and his
Sabines were too slow in moving, so these three cities prepared to make
war conjointly. Such, however, were the impatience and anger of the
Caeninensians that even the Crustuminians and Antemnates did not
display enough energy for them, so the men of Caenina made an attack
upon Roman territory on their own account. Whilst they were scattered
far and wide, pillaging and destroying, Romulus came upon them with an
army, and after a brief encounter taught them that anger is futile
without strength. He put them to a hasty flight, and following them up,
killed their king and despoiled his body; then after slaying their
leader took their city at the first assault. He was no less anxious to
display his achievements than he had been great in performing them, so,
after leading his victorious army home, he mounted to the Capitol with
the spoils of his dead foe borne before him on a frame constructed for
the purpose. He hung them there on an oak, which the shepherds looked
upon as a sacred tree, and at the same time marked out the site for the
temple of Jupiter, and addressing the god by a new title, uttered the
following invocation: "Jupiter Feretrius! these arms taken from a king,
I, Romulus a king and conqueror, bring to thee, and on this domain,
whose bounds I have in will and purpose traced, I dedicate a temple to
receive the 'spolia opima' which posterity following my example shall
bear hither, taken from the kings and generals of our foes slain in
battle." Such was the origin of the first temple dedicated in Rome. And
the gods decreed that though its founder did not utter idle words in
declaring that posterity would thither bear their spoils, still the
splendour of that offering should not be dimmed by the number of those
who have rivalled his achievement. For after so many years have elapsed
and so many wars been waged, only twice have the "spolia opima" been
offered. So seldom has Fortune granted that glory to men.
Ab urbe condita 1.11
Whilst the Romans were thus occupied, the army of the Antemnates seized
the opportunity of their territory being unoccupied and made a raid
into it. Romulus hastily led his legion against this fresh foe and
surprised them as they were scattered over the fields. At the very
first battle-shout and charge the enemy were routed and their city
captured. Whilst Romulus was exulting over this double victory, his
wife, Hersilia, moved by the entreaties of the abducted maidens,
implored him to pardon their parents and receive them into citizenship,
for so the State would increase in unity and strength. He readily
granted her request. He then advanced against the Crustuminians, who
had commenced war, but their eagerness had been damped by the
successive defeats of their neighbours, and they offered but slight
resistance. Colonies were planted in both places; owing to the
fertility of the soil of the Crustumine district, the majority gave
their names for that colony. On the other hand there were numerous
migrations to Rome mostly of the parents and relatives of the abducted
maidens. The last of these wars was commenced by the Sabines and proved
the most serious of all, for nothing was done in passion or impatience;
they masked their designs till war had actually commenced. Strategy was
aided by craft and deceit, as the following incident shows. Spurius
Tarpeius was in command of the Roman citadel. Whilst his daughter had
gone outside the fortifications to fetch water for some religious
ceremonies, Tatius bribed her to admit his troops within the citadel.
Once admitted, they crushed her to death beneath their shields, either
that the citadel might appear to have been taken by assault, or that
her example might be left as a warning that no faith should be kept
with traitors. A further story runs that the Sabines were in the habit
of wearing heavy gold armlets on their left arms and richly jewelled
rings, and that the girl made them promise to give her "what they had
on their left arms," accordingly they piled their shields upon her
instead of golden gifts. Some say that in bargaining for what they had
in their left hands, she expressly asked for their shields, and being
suspected of wishing to betray them, fell a victim to her own bargain.
Ab urbe condita 1.12
However this may be, the Sabines were in possession of the citadel. And
they would not come down from it the next day, though the Roman army
was drawn up in battle array over the whole of the ground between the
Palatine and the Capitoline hill, until, exasperated at the loss of
their citadel and determined to recover it, the Romans mounted to the
attack. Advancing before the rest, Mettius Curtius, on the side of the
Sabines, and Hostius Hostilius, on the side of the Romans, engaged in
single combat. Hostius, fighting on disadvantageous ground, upheld the
fortunes of Rome by his intrepid bravery, but at last he fell; the
Roman line broke and fled to what was then the gate of the Palatine.
Even Romulus was being swept away by the crowd of fugitives, and
lifting up his hands to heaven he exclaimed: "Jupiter, it was thy omen
that I obeyed when I laid here on the Palatine the earliest foundations
of the City. Now the Sabines hold its citadel, having bought it by a
bribe, and coming thence have seized the valley and are pressing
hitherwards in battle. Do thou, Father of gods and men, drive hence our
foes, banish terror from Roman hearts, and stay our shameful flight!
Here do I vow a temple to thee, 'Jove the Stayer,' as a memorial for
the generations to come that it is through thy present help that the
City has been saved." Then, as though he had become aware that his
prayer had been heard, he cried, "Back, Romans! Jupiter Optimus Maximus
bids you stand and renew the battle." They stopped as though commanded
by a voice from heaven-Romulus dashed up to the foremost line, just as
Mettius Curtius had run down from the citadel in front of the Sabines
and driven the Romans in headlong flight over the whole of the ground
now occupied by the Forum. He was now not far from the gate of the
Palatine, and was shouting: "We have conquered our faithless hosts, our
cowardly foes; now they know that to carry off maidens is a very
different thing from fighting with men." In the midst of these vaunts
Romulus, with a compact body of valiant troops, charged down on him.
Mettius happened to be on horseback, so he was the more easily driven
back, the Romans followed in pursuit, and, inspired by the courage of
their king, the rest of the Roman army routed the Sabines. Mettius,
unable to control his horse, maddened by the noise of his pursuers,
plunged into a morass. The danger of their general drew off the
attention of the Sabines for a moment from the battle; they called out
and made signals to encourage him, so, animated to fresh efforts, he
succeeded in extricating himself. Thereupon the Romans and Sabines
renewed the fighting in the middle of the valley, but the fortune of
Rome was in the ascendant.
Ab urbe condita 13
Then it was that the Sabine women, whose wrongs had led to the war,
throwing off all womanish fears in their distress, went boldly into the
midst of the flying missiles with dishevelled hair and rent garments.
Running across the space between the two armies they tried to stop any
further fighting and calm the excited passions by appealing to their
fathers in the one army and their husbands in the other not to bring
upon themselves a curse by staining their hands with the blood of a
father-in-law or a son-in-law, nor upon their posterity the taint of
parricide. "If," they cried, "you are weary of these ties of kindred,
these marriage-bonds, then turn your anger upon us; it is we who are
the cause of the war, it is we who have wounded and slain our husbands
and fathers. Better for us to perish rather than live without one or
the other of you, as widows or as orphans." The armies and their
leaders were alike moved by this appeal. There was a sudden hush and
silence. Then the generals advanced to arrange the terms of a treaty.
It was not only peace that was made, the two nations were united into
one State, the royal power was shared between them, and the seat of
government for both nations was Rome. After thus doubling the City, a
concession was made to the Sabines in the new appellation of Quirites,
from their old capital of Cures. As a memorial of the battle, the place
where Curtius got his horse out of the deep marsh on to safer ground
was called the Curtian lake. The joyful peace, which put an abrupt
close to such a deplorable war, made the Sabine women still dearer to
their husbands and fathers, and most of all to Romulus himself.
Consequently when he effected the distribution of the people into the
thirty curiae, he affixed their names to the curiae. No doubt there
were many more than thirty women, and tradition is silent as to whether
those whose names were given to the curiae were selected on the ground
of age, or on that of personal distinction-either their own or their
husbands'-or merely by lot. The enrolment of the three centuries of
knights took place at the same time; the Ramnenses were called after
Romulus, the Titienses from T. Tatius. The origin of the Luceres and
why they were so called is uncertain. Thenceforward the two kings
exercised their joint sovereignty with perfect harmony.
Ab urbe condita 1.14
Some years subsequently the kinsmen of King Tatius ill-treated the
ambassadors of the Laurentines. They came to seek redress from him in
accordance with international law, but the influence and importunities
of his friends had more weight with Tatius than the remonstrances of
the Laurentines. The consequence was that he brought upon himself the
punishment due to them, for when he had gone to the annual sacrifice at
Lavinium, a tumult arose in which he was killed. Romulus is reported to
have been less distressed at this incident than his position demanded,
either because of the insincerity inherent in all joint sovereignty, or
because he thought he had deserved his fate. He refused, therefore, to
go to war, but that the wrong done to the ambassadors and the murder of
the king might be expiated, the treaty between Rome and Lavinium was
renewed. Whilst in this direction an unhoped-for peace was secured, war
broke out in a much nearer quarter, in fact almost at the very gates of
Rome. The people of Fidenae considered that a power was growing up too
close to them, so to prevent the anticipations of its future greatness
from being realised, they took the initiative in making war. Armed
bands invaded and devastated the country lying between the City and
Fidenae. Thence they turned to the left-the Tiber barred their advance
on the right-and plundered and destroyed, to the great alarm of the
country people. A sudden rush from the fields into the City was the
first intimation of what was happening. A war so close to their gates
admitted of no delay, and Romulus hurriedly led out his army and
encamped about a mile from Fidenae. Leaving a small detachment to guard
the camp, he went forward with his whole force, and whilst one part
were ordered to lie in ambush in a place overgrown with dense
brushwood, he advanced with the larger part and the whole of the
cavalry towards the city, and by riding up to the very gates in a
disorderly and provocative manner he succeeded in drawing the enemy.
The cavalry continued these tactics and so made the flight which they
were to feign seem less suspicious, and when their apparent hesitation
whether to fight or to flee was followed by the retirement of the
infantry, the enemy suddenly poured out of the crowded gates, broke the
Roman line and pressed on in eager pursuit till they were brought to
where the ambush was set. Then the Romans suddenly rose and attacked
the enemy in flank; their panic was increased by the troops in the camp
bearing down upon them. Terrified by the threatened attacks from all
sides, the Fidenates turned and fled almost before Romulus and his men
could wheel round from their simulated flight. They made for their town
much more quickly than they had just before pursued those who pretended
to flee, for their flight was a genuine one. They could not, however,
shake off the pursuit; the Romans were on their heels, and before the
gates could be closed against them, burst through pell-mell with the
enemy.
Ab urbe condita 1.15
The contagion of the war-spirit in Fidenae infected the Veientes. This
people were connected by ties of blood with the Fidenates, who were
also Etruscans, and an additional incentive was supplied by the mere
proximity of the place, should the arms of Rome be turned against all
her neighbours. They made an incursion into Roman territory, rather for
the sake of plunder than as an act of regular war. After securing their
booty they returned with it to Veii, without entrenching a camp or
waiting for the enemy. The Romans, on the other hand, not finding the
enemy on their soil, crossed the Tiber, prepared and determined to
fight a decisive battle. On hearing that they had formed an entrenched
camp and were preparing to advance on their city, the Veientes went out
against them, preferring a combat in the open to being shut up and
having to fight from houses and walls. Romulus gained the victory, not
through stratagem, but through the prowess of his veteran army. He
drove the routed enemy up to their walls, but in view of the strong
position and fortifications of the city, he abstained from assaulting
it. On his march homewards, he devastated their fields more out of
revenge than for the sake of plunder. The loss thus sustained, no less
than the previous defeat, broke the spirit of the Veientes, and they
sent envoys to Rome to sue for peace. On condition of a cession of
territory a truce was granted to them for a hundred years. These were
the principal events at home and in the field that marked the reign of
Romulus. Throughout- whether we consider the courage he showed in
recovering his ancestral throne, or the wisdom he displayed in founding
the City and adding to its strength through war and peace alike-we find
nothing incompatible with the belief in his divine origin and his
admission to divine immortality after death. It was, in fact, through
the strength given by him that the City was powerful enough to enjoy an
assured peace for forty years after his departure. He was, however,
more acceptable to the populace than to the patricians, but most of all
was he the idol of his soldiers. He kept a bodyguard of three hundred
men round him in peace as well as in war. These he called the "Celeres."
Ab urbe condita 1.16
After these immortal achievements, Romulus held a review of his army at
the "Caprae Palus" in the Campus Martius. A violent thunderstorm
suddenly arose and enveloped the king in so dense a cloud that he was
quite invisible to the assembly. From that hour Romulus was no longer
seen on earth. When the fears of the Roman youth were allayed by the
return of bright, calm sunshine after such fearful weather, they saw
that the royal seat was vacant. Whilst they fully believed the
assertion of the senators, who had been standing close to him, that he
had been snatched away to heaven by a whirlwind, still, like men
suddenly bereaved, fear and grief kept them for some time speechless.
At length, after a few had taken the initiative, the whole of those
present hailed Romulus as "a god, the son of a god, the King and Father
of the City of Rome." They put up supplications for his grace and
favour, and prayed that he would be propitious to his children and save
and protect them. I believe, however, that even then there were some
who secretly hinted that he had been torn limb from limb by the
senators-a tradition to this effect, though certainly a very dim one,
has filtered down to us. The other, which I follow, has been the
prevailing one, due, no doubt, to the admiration felt for the man and
the apprehensions excited by his disappearance. This generally accepted
belief was strengthened by one man's clever device. The tradition runs
that Proculus Julius, a man whose authority had weight in matters of
even the gravest importance, seeing how deeply the community felt the
loss of the king, and how incensed they were against the senators, came
forward into the assembly and said: "Quirites! at break of dawn,
to-day, the Father of this City suddenly descended from heaven and
appeared to me. Whilst, thrilled with awe, I stood rapt before him in
deepest reverence, praying that I might be pardoned for gazing upon
him, 'Go,' said he, 'tell the Romans that it is the will of heaven that
my Rome should be the head of all the world. Let them henceforth
cultivate the arts of war, and let them know assuredly, and hand down
the knowledge to posterity, that no human might can withstand the arms
of Rome.'" It is marvellous what credit was given to this man's story,
and how the grief of the people and the army was soothed by the belief
which had been created in the immortality of Romulus.
Ab urbe condita 1.17
Disputes arose among the senators about the vacant throne. It was not
the jealousies of individual citizens, for no one was sufficiently
prominent in so young a State, but the rivalries of parties in the
State that led to this strife. The Sabine families were apprehensive of
losing their fair share of the sovereign power, because after the death
of Tatius they had had no representative on the throne; they were
anxious, therefore, that the king should be elected from amongst them.
The ancient Romans could ill brook a foreign king; but amidst this
diversity of political views, all were for a monarchy; they had not yet
tasted the sweets of liberty. The senators began to grow apprehensive
of some aggressive act on the part of the surrounding states, now that
the City was without a central authority and the army without a
general. They decided that there must be some head of the State, but no
one could make up his mind to concede the dignity to any one else. The
matter was settled by the hundred senators dividing themselves into ten
"decuries," and one was chosen from each decury to exercise the supreme
power. Ten therefore were in office, but only one at a time had the
insignia of authority and the lictors. Their individual authority was
restricted to five days, and they exercised it in rotation. This break
in the monarchy lasted for a year, and it was called by the name it
still bears-that of "interregnum." After a time the plebs began to
murmur that their bondage was multiplied, for they had a hundred
masters instead of one. It was evident that they would insist upon a
king being elected and elected by them. When the senators became aware
of this growing determination, they thought it better to offer
spontaneously what they were bound to part with, so, as an act of
grace, they committed the supreme power into the hands of the people,
but in such a way that they did not give away more privilege than they
retained. For they passed a decree that when the people had chosen a
king, his election would only be valid after the senate had ratified it
by their authority. The same procedure exists to-day in the passing of
laws and the election of magistrates, but the power of rejection has
been withdrawn; the senate give their ratification before the people
proceed to vote, whilst the result of the election is still uncertain.
At that time the "interrex" convened the assembly and addressed it as
follows: "Quirites! elect your king, and may heaven's blessing rest on
your labours! If you elect one who shall be counted worthy to follow
Romulus, the senate will ratify your choice." So gratified were the
people at the proposal that, not to appear behindhand in generosity,
they passed a resolution that it should be left to the senate to decree
who should reign in Rome.
Ab urbe condita 1.18
There was living, in those days, at Cures, a Sabine city, a man of
renowned justice and piety-Numa Pompilius. He was as conversant as any
one in that age could be with all divine and human law. His master is
given as Pythagoras of Samos, as tradition speaks of no other. But this
is erroneous, for it is generally agreed that it was more than a
century later, in the reign of Servius Tullius, that Pythagoras
gathered round him crowds of eager students, in the most distant part
of Italy, in the neighbourhood of Metapontum, Heraclea, and Crotona.
Now, even if he had been contemporary with Numa, how could his
reputation have reached the Sabines? From what places, and in what
common language could he have induced any one to become his disciple?
Who could have guaranteed the safety of a solitary individual
travelling through so many nations differing in speech and character? I
believe rather that Numa's virtues were the result of his native
temperament and self-training, moulded not so much by foreign
influences as by the rigorous and austere discipline of the ancient
Sabines, which was the purest type of any that existed in the old days.
When Numa's name was mentioned, though the Roman senators saw that the
balance of power would be on the side of the Sabines if the king were
chosen from amongst them, still no one ventured to propose a partisan
of his own, or any senator, or citizen in preference to him.
Accordingly they all to a man decreed that the crown should be offered
to Numa Pompilius. He was invited to Rome, and following the precedent
set by Romulus, when he obtained his crown through the augury which
sanctioned the founding of the City, Numa ordered that in his case also
the gods should be consulted. He was solemnly conducted by an augur,
who was afterwards honoured by being made a State functionary for life,
to the Citadel, and took his seat on a stone facing south. The augur
seated himself on his left hand, with his head covered, and holding in
his right hand a curved staff without any knots, which they called a
"lituus." After surveying the prospect over the City and surrounding
country, he offered prayers and marked out the heavenly regions by an
imaginary line from east to west; the southern he defined as "the right
hand," the northern as "the left hand." He then fixed upon an object,
as far as he could see, as a corresponding mark, and then transferring
the lituus to his left hand, he laid his right upon Numa's head and
offered this prayer: "Father Jupiter, if it be heaven's will that this
Numa Pompilius, whose head I hold, should be king of Rome, do thou
signify it to us by sure signs within those boundaries which I have
traced." Then he described in the usual formula the augury which he
desired should be sent. They were sent, and Numa being by them
manifested to be king, came down from the "templum."
Ab urbe condita 1.19
Having in this way obtained the crown, Numa prepared to found, as it
were, anew, by laws and customs, that City which had so recently been
founded by force of arms. He saw that this was impossible whilst a
state of war lasted, for war brutalised men. Thinking that the ferocity
of his subjects might be mitigated by the disuse of arms, he built the
temple of Janus at the foot of the Aventine as an index of peace and
war, to signify when it was open that the State was under arms, and
when it was shut that all the surrounding nations were at peace. Twice
since Numa's reign has it been shut, once after the first Punic war in
the consulship of T. Manlius, the second time, which heaven has allowed
our generation to witness, after the battle of Actium, when peace on
land and sea was secured by the emperor Caesar Augustus. After forming
treaties of alliance with all his neighbours and closing the temple of
Janus, Numa turned his attention to domestic matters. The removal of
all danger from without would induce his subjects to luxuriate in
idleness, as they would be no longer restrained by the fear of an enemy
or by military discipline. To prevent this, he strove to inculcate in
their minds the fear of the gods, regarding this as the most powerful
influence which could act upon an uncivilised and, in those ages, a
barbarous people. But, as this would fail to make a deep impression
without some claim to supernatural wisdom, he pretended that he had
nocturnal interviews with the nymph Egeria: that it was on her advice
that he was instituting the ritual most acceptable to the gods and
appointing for each deity his own special priests. First
of all he divided the year into twelve months, corresponding to the moon's
revolutions. But as the moon does not complete thirty days in each
month, and so there are fewer days in the lunar year than in that
measured by the course of the sun, he interpolated intercalary months
and so arranged them that every twentieth year the days should coincide
with the same position of the sun as when they started, the whole
twenty years being thus complete. He also established a distinction
between the days on which legal business could be transacted and those
on which it could not, because it would sometimes be advisable that
there should be no business transacted with the people.
Ab urbe condita 20
Next he turned his attention to the appointment of priests. He himself,
however, conducted a great many religious services, especially those
which belong to the Flamen of Jupiter. But he thought that in a warlike
state there would be more kings of the type of Romulus than of Numa who
would take the field in person. To guard, therefore, against the
sacrificial rites which the king performed being interrupted, he
appointed a Flamen as perpetual priest to Jupiter, and ordered that he
should wear a distinctive dress and sit in the royal curule chair. He
appointed two additional Flamens, one for Mars, the other for Quirinus,
and also chose virgins as priestesses to Vesta. This order of
priestesses came into existence originally in Alba and was connected
with the race of the founder. He assigned them a public stipend that
they might give their whole time to the temple, and made their persons
sacred and inviolable by a vow of chastity and other religious
sanctions. Similarly he chose twelve "Salii" for Mars Gradivus, and
assigned to them the distinctive dress of an embroidered tunic and over
it a brazen cuirass. They were instructed to march in solemn procession
through the City, carrying the twelve shields called the "Ancilia," and
singing hymns accompanied by a solemn dance in triple time. The next
office to be filled was that of the Pontifex Maximus. Numa appointed
the son of Marcus, one of the senators- Numa Marcius-and all the
regulations bearing on religion, written out and sealed, were placed in
his charge. Here was laid down with what victims, on what days, and at
what temples the various sacrifices were to be offered, and from what
sources the expenses connected with them were to be defrayed. He placed
all other sacred functions, both public and private, under the
supervision of the Pontifex, in order that there might be an authority
for the people to consult, and so all trouble and confusion arising
through foreign rites being adopted and their ancestral ones neglected
might be avoided. Nor were his functions confined to directing the
worship of the celestial gods; he was to instruct the people how to
conduct funerals and appease the spirits of the departed, and what
prodigies sent by lightning or in any other way were to be attended to
and expiated. To elicit these signs of the divine will, he dedicated an
altar to Jupiter Elicius on the Aventine, and consulted the god through
auguries, as to which prodigies were to receive attention.
Ab urbe condita 1.21
The deliberations and arrangements which these matters involved
diverted the people from all thoughts of war and provided them with
ample occupation. The watchful care of the gods, manifesting itself in
the providential guidance of human affairs, had kindled in all hearts
such a feeling of piety that the sacredness of promises and the
sanctity of oaths were a controlling force for the community scarcely
less effective than the fear inspired by laws and penalties. And whilst
his subjects were moulding their characters upon the unique example of
their king, the neighbouring nations, who had hitherto believed that it
was a fortified camp and not a city that was placed amongst them to vex
the peace of all, were now induced to respect them so highly that they
thought it sinful to injure a State so entirely devoted to the service
of the gods. There was a grove through the midst of which a perennial
stream flowed, issuing from a dark cave. Here Numa frequently retired
unattended as if to meet the goddess, and he consecrated the grove to
the Camaenae, because it was there that their meetings with his wife
Egeria took place. He also instituted a yearly sacrifice to the goddess
Fides and ordered that the Flamens should ride to her temple in a
hooded chariot, and should perform the service with their hands covered
as far as the fingers, to signify that Faith must be sheltered and that
her seat is holy even when it is in men's right hands. There were many
other sacrifices appointed by him and places dedicated for their
performance which the pontiffs call the Argei. The greatest of all his
works was the preservation of peace and the security of his realm
throughout the whole of his reign. Thus by two successive kings the
greatness of the State was advanced; by each in a different way, by the
one through war, by the other through peace. Romulus reigned
thirty-seven years, Numa forty-three. The State was strong and
disciplined by the lessons of war and the arts of peace.
Ab urbe condita 1.22
The death of Numa was followed by a second interregnum. Then Tullus
Hostilius, a grandson of the Hostilius who had fought so brilliantly at
the foot of the Citadel against the Sabines, was chosen king by the
people, and their choice was confirmed by the senate. He was not only
unlike the last king, but he was a man of more warlike spirit even than
Romulus, and his ambition was kindled by his own youthful energy and by
the glorious achievements of his grandfather. Convinced that the vigour
of the State was becoming enfeebled through inaction, he looked all
round for a pretext for getting up a war. It so happened that Roman
peasants were at that time in the habit of carrying off plunder from
the Alban territory, and the Albans from Roman territory. Gaius
Cluilius was at the time ruling in Alba. Both parties sent envoys
almost simultaneously to seek redress. Tullus had told his ambassadors
to lose no time in carrying out their instructions; he was fully aware
that the Albans would refuse satisfaction, and so a just ground would
exist for proclaiming war. The Alban envoys proceeded in a more
leisurely fashion. Tullus received them with all courtesy and
entertained them sumptuously. Meantime the Romans had preferred their
demands, and on the Alban governor's refusal had declared that war
would begin in thirty days. When this was reported to Tullus, he
granted the Albans an audience in which they were to state the object
of their coming. Ignorant of all that had happened, they wasted time in
explaining that it was with great reluctance that they would say
anything which might displease Tullus, but they were bound by their
instructions; they were come to demand redress, and if that were
refused they were ordered to declare war. "Tell your king," replied
Tullus, "that the king of Rome calls the gods to witness that whichever
nation is the first to dismiss with ignominy the envoys who came to
seek redress, upon that nation they will visit all the sufferings of
this war."
Ab urbe condita 1.23
The Albans reported this at home. Both sides made extraordinary
preparations for a war, which closely resembled a civil war between
parents and children, for both were of Trojan descent, since Lavinium
was an offshoot of Troy, and Alba of Lavinium, and the Romans were
sprung from the stock of the kings of Alba. The outcome of the war,
however, made the conflict less deplorable, as there was no regular
engagement, and though one of the two cities was destroyed, the two
nations were blended into one. The Albans were the first to move, and
invaded the Roman territory with an immense army. They fixed their camp
only five miles from the City and surrounded it with a moat; this was
called for several centuries the "Cluilian Dyke" from the name of the
Alban general, till through lapse of time the name and the thing itself
disappeared. While they were encamped Cluilius, the Alban king, died,
and the Albans made Mettius Fufetius dictator. The king's death made
Tullus more sanguine than ever of success. He gave out that the wrath
of heaven which had fallen first of all on the head of the nation would
visit the whole race of Alba with condign punishment for this unholy
war. Passing the enemy's camp by a night march, he advanced upon Alban
territory. This drew Mettius from his entrenchments. He marched as
close to his enemy as he could, and then sent on an officer to inform
Tullus that before engaging it was necessary that they should have a
conference. If he granted one, then he was satisfied that the matters
he would lay before him were such as concerned Rome no less than Alba.
Tullus did not reject the proposal, but in case the conference should
prove illusory, he led out his men in order of battle. The Albans did
the same. After they had halted, confronting each other, the two
commanders, with a small escort of superior officers, advanced between
the lines. The Alban general, addressing Tullus, said: "I think I have
heard our king Cluilius say that acts of robbery and the
non-restitution of plundered property, in violation of the existing
treaty, were the cause of this war, and I have no doubt that you,
Tullus, allege the same pretext. But if we are to say what is true,
rather than what is plausible, we must admit that it is the lust of
empire which has made two kindred and neighbouring peoples take up
arms. Whether rightly or wrongly I do not judge; let him who began the
war settle that point; I am simply placed in command by the Albans to
conduct the war. But I want to give you a warning, Tullus. You know,
you especially who are nearer to them, the greatness of the Etruscan
State, which hems us both in; their immense strength by land, still
more by sea. Now remember, when once you have given the signal to
engage, our two armies will fight under their eyes, so that when we are
wearied and exhausted they may attack us both, victor and vanquished
alike. If then, not content with the secure freedom we now enjoy, we
are determined to enter into a game of chance, where the stakes are
either supremacy or slavery, let us, in heaven's name, choose some
method by which, without great suffering or bloodshed on either side,
it can be decided which nation is to be master of the other." Although,
from natural temperament, and the certainty he felt of victory, Tullus
was eager to fight, he did not disapprove of the proposal. After much
consideration on both sides a method was adopted, for which Fortune
herself provided the necessary means.
Ab urbe condita 1.24
There happened to be in each of the armies a triplet of brothers,
fairly matched in years and strength. It is generally agreed that they
were called Horatii and Curiatii. Few incidents in antiquity have been
more widely celebrated, yet in spite of its celebrity there is a
discrepancy in the accounts as to which nation each belonged. There are
authorities on both sides, but I find that the majority give the name
of Horatii to the Romans, and my sympathies lead me to follow them. The
kings suggested to them that they should each fight on behalf of their
country, and where victory rested, there should be the sovereignty.
They raised no objection; so the time and place were fixed. But before
they engaged a treaty was concluded between the Romans and the Albans,
providing that the nation whose representatives proved victorious
should receive the peaceable submission of the other. This is the
earliest treaty recorded, and as all treaties, however different the
conditions they contain, are concluded with the same forms, I will
describe the forms with which this one was concluded as handed down by
tradition. The Fetial put the formal question to Tullus: "Do you, King,
order me to make a treaty with the Pater Patratus of the Alban nation?"
On the king replying in the affirmative, the Fetial said: "I demand of
thee, King, some tufts of grass." The king replied: "Take those that
are pure." The Fetial brought pure grass from the Citadel. Then he
asked the king: "Do you constitute me the plenipotentiary of the People
of Rome, the Quirites, sanctioning also my vessels and comrades?" To
which the king replied: "So far as may be without hurt to myself and
the People of Rome, the Quirites, I do." The Fetial was M. Valerius. He
made Spurius Furius the Pater Patratus by touching his head and hair
with the grass. Then the Pater Patratus, who is constituted for the
purpose of giving the treaty the religious sanction of an oath, did so
by a long formula in verse, which it is not worth while to quote. After
reciting the conditions he said: "Hear, O Jupiter, hear! thou Pater
Patratus of the people of Alba! Hear ye, too, people of Alba! As these
conditions have been publicly rehearsed from first to last, from these
tablets, in perfect good faith, and inasmuch as they have here and now
been most clearly understood, so these conditions the People of Rome
will not be the first to go back from. If they shall, in their national
council, with false and malicious intent be the first to go back, then
do thou, Jupiter, on that day, so smite the People of Rome, even as I
here and now shall smite this swine, and smite them so much the more
heavily, as thou art greater in power and might." With these words he
struck the swine with a flint. In similar wise the Albans recited their
oath and formularies through their own dictator and their priests.
Ab urbe condita 1.25
On the conclusion of the treaty the six combatants armed themselves.
They were greeted with shouts of encouragement from their comrades, who
reminded them that their fathers' gods, their fatherland, their
fathers, every fellow-citizen, every fellow-soldier, were now watching
their weapons and the hands that wielded them. Eager for the contest
and inspired by the voices round them, they advanced into the open
space between the opposing lines. The two armies were sitting in front
of their respective camps, relieved from personal danger but not from
anxiety, since upon the fortunes and courage of this little group hung
the issue of dominion. Watchful and nervous, they gaze with feverish
intensity on a spectacle by no means entertaining. The signal was
given, and with uplifted swords the six youths charged like a
battle-line with the courage of a mighty host. Not one of them thought
of his own danger; their sole thought was for their country, whether it
would be supreme or subject, their one anxiety that they were deciding
its future fortunes. When, at the first encounter, the flashing swords
rang on their opponents' shields, a deep shudder ran through the
spectators; then a breathless silence followed, as neither side seemed
to be gaining any advantage. Soon, however, they saw something more
than the swift movements of limbs and the rapid play of sword and
shield: blood became visible flowing from open wounds. Two of the
Romans fell one on the other, breathing out their life, whilst all the
three Albans were wounded. The fall of the Romans was welcomed with a
burst of exultation from the Alban army; whilst the Roman legions, who
had lost all hope, but not all anxiety, trembled for their solitary
champion surrounded by the three Curiatii. It chanced that he was
untouched, and though not a match for the three together, he was
confident of victory against each separately. So, that he might
encounter each singly, he took to flight, assuming that they would
follow as well as their wounds would allow. He had run some distance
from the spot where the combat began, when, on looking back, he saw
them following at long intervals from each other, the foremost not far
from him. He turned and made a desperate attack upon him, and whilst
the Alban army were shouting to the other Curiatii to come to their
brother's assistance, Horatius had already slain his foe and, flushed
with victory, was awaiting the second encounter. Then the Romans
cheered their champion with a shout such as men raise when hope
succeeds to despair, and he hastened to bring the fight to a close.
Before the third, who was not far away, could come up, he despatched
the second Curiatius. The survivors were now equal in point of numbers,
but far from equal in either confidence or strength. The one, unscathed
after his double victory, was eager for the third contest; the other,
dragging himself wearily along, exhausted by his wounds and by his
running, vanquished already by the previous slaughter of his brothers,
was an easy conquest to his victorious foe. There was, in fact, no
fighting. The Roman cried exultingly: "Two have I sacrificed to appease
my brothers' shades; the third I will offer for the issue of this
fight, that the Roman may rule the Alban." He thrust his sword downward
into the neck of his opponent, who could no longer lift his shield, and
then despoiled him as he lay. Horatius was welcomed by the Romans with
shouts of triumph, all the more joyous for the fears they had felt.
Both sides turned their attention to burying their dead champions, but
with very different feelings, the one rejoicing in wider dominion, the
other deprived of their liberty and under alien rule. The tombs stand
on the spots where each fell; those of the Romans close together, in
the direction of Alba; the three Alban tombs, at intervals, in the
direction of Rome.
Ab urbe condita 1.26
Before the armies separated, Mettius inquired what commands he was to
receive in accordance with the terms of the treaty. Tullus ordered him
to keep the Alban soldiery under arms, as he would require their
services if there were war with the Veientines. Both armies then
withdrew to their homes. Horatius was marching at the head of the Roman
army, carrying in front of him his triple spoils. His sister, who had
been betrothed to one of the Curiatii, met him outside the Capene gate.
She recognised on her brother's shoulders the cloak of her betrothed,
which she had made with her own hands; and bursting into tears she tore
her hair and called her dead lover by name. The triumphant soldier was
so enraged by his sister's outburst of grief in the midst of his own
triumph and the public rejoicing that he drew his sword and stabbed the
girl. "Go," he cried, in bitter reproach, "go to your betrothed with
your ill-timed love, forgetful as you are of your dead brothers, of the
one who still lives, and of your country! So perish every Roman woman
who mourns for an enemy!" The deed horrified patricians and plebeians
alike; but his recent services were a set-off to it. He was brought
before the king for trial. To avoid responsibility for passing a harsh
sentence, which would be repugnant to the populace, and then carrying
it into execution, the king summoned an assembly of the people, and
said: "I appoint two duumvirs to judge the treason of Horatius
according to law." The dreadful language of the law was: "The duumvirs
shall judge cases of treason; if the accused appeal from the duumvirs,
the appeal shall be heard; if their sentence be confirmed, the lictor
shall hang him by a rope on the fatal tree, and shall scourge him
either within or without the pomoerium." The duumvirs appointed under
this law did not think that by its provisions they had the power to
acquit even an innocent person. Accordingly they condemned him; then
one of them said: "Publius Horatius, I pronounce you guilty of treason.
Lictor, bind his hands." The lictor had approached and was fastening
the cord, when Horatius, at the suggestion of Tullus, who placed a
merciful interpretation on the law, said, "I appeal." The appeal was
accordingly brought before the people.
Their decision was mainly influenced by Publius Horatius, the father,
who declared that his daughter had been justly slain; had it not been
so, he would have exerted his authority as a father in punishing his
son. Then he implored them not to bereave of all his children the man
whom they had so lately seen surrounded with such noble offspring.
Whilst saying this he embraced his son, and then, pointing to the
spoils of the Curiatii suspended on the spot now called the Pila
Horatia, he said: "Can you bear, Quirites, to see bound, scourged, and
tortured beneath the gallows the man whom you saw, lately, coming in
triumph adorned with his foemen's spoils? Why, the Albans themselves
could not bear the sight of such a hideous spectacle. Go, lictor, bind
those hands which when armed but a little time ago won dominion for the
Roman people. Go, cover the head of the liberator of this City! Hang
him on the fatal tree, scourge him within the pomoerium, if only it be
amongst the trophies of his foes, or without, if only it be amongst the
tombs of the Curiatii! To what place can you take this youth where the
monuments of his splendid exploits will not vindicate him from such a
shameful punishment?" The father's tears and the young soldier's
courage ready to meet every peril were too much for the people. They
acquitted him because they admired his bravery rather than because they
regarded his cause as a just one. But since a murder in broad daylight
demanded some expiation, the father was commanded to make an atonement
for his son at the cost of the State. After offering certain expiatory
sacrifices he erected a beam across the street and made the young man
pass under it, as under a yoke, with his head covered. This beam exists
to-day, having always been kept in repair by the State: it is called
"The Sister's Beam." A tomb of hewn stone was constructed for Horatia
on the spot where she was murdered.
Ab urbe condita 1.27
But the peace with Alba was not a lasting one. The Alban dictator had
incurred general odium through having entrusted the fortunes of the
State to three soldiers, and this had an evil effect upon his weak
character. As straightforward counsels had turned out so unfortunate,
he tried to recover the popular favour by resorting to crooked ones,
and as he had previously made peace his aim in war, so now he sought
the occasion of war in peace. He recognised that his State possessed
more courage than strength, he therefore incited other nations to
declare war openly and formally, whilst he kept for his own people an
opening for treachery under the mask of an alliance. The people of
Fidenae, where a Roman colony existed, were induced to go to war by a
compact on the part of the Albans to desert to them; the Veientines
were taken into the plot. When Fidenae had broken out into open revolt,
Tullus summoned Mettius and his army from Alba and marched against the
enemy. After crossing the Anio he encamped at the junction of that
river with the Tiber. The army of the Veientines had crossed the Tiber
at a spot between his camp and Fidenae. In the battle they formed the
right wing near the river, the Fidenates were on the left nearer the
mountains. Tullus formed his troops in front of the Veientines, and
stationed the Albans against the legion of the Fidenates. The Alban
general showed as little courage as fidelity; afraid either to keep his
ground or to openly desert, he drew away gradually towards the
mountains. When he thought he had retired far enough, he halted his
entire army, and still irresolute, he began to form his men for attack,
by way of gaining time, intending to throw his strength on the winning
side. Those Romans who had been stationed next to the Albans were
astounded to find that their allies had withdrawn and left their flank
exposed, when a horseman rode up at full speed and reported to the king
that the Albans were leaving the field. In this critical situation,
Tullus vowed to found a college of twelve Salii and to build temples to
Pallor and Pavor. Then, reprimanding the horseman loud enough for the
enemy to hear, he ordered him to rejoin the fighting line, adding that
there was no occasion for alarm, as it was by his orders that the Alban
army was making a circuit that they might fall on the unprotected rear
of the Fidenates. At the same time he ordered the cavalry to raise
their spears; this action hid the retreating Alban army from a large
part of the Roman infantry. Those who had seen them, thinking that what
the king had said was actually the case, fought all the more keenly. It
was now the enemies' turn to be alarmed; they had heard clearly the
words of the king, and, moreover, a large part of the Fidenates who had
formerly joined the Roman colonists understood Latin. Fearing to be cut
off from their town by a sudden charge of the Albans from the hills,
they retreated. Tullus pressed the attack, and after routing the
Fidenates, returned to attack the Veientines with greater confidence,
as they were already demoralised by the panic of their allies. They did
not wait for the charge, but their flight was checked by the river in
their rear. When they reached it, some, flinging away their arms,
rushed blindly into the water, others, hesitating whether to fight or
fly, were overtaken and slain. Never had the Romans fought in a
bloodier battle.
Ab urbe condita 1.28
Then the Alban army, who had been watching the fight, marched down into
the plain. Mettius congratulated Tullus on his victory, Tullus replied
in a friendly tone, and as a mark of goodwill, ordered the Albans to
form their camp contiguous to that of the Romans, and made preparations
for a "lustral sacrifice" on the morrow. As soon as it was light, and
all the preparations were made, he gave the customary order for both
armies to muster on parade. The heralds began at the furthest part of
the camp, where the Albans were, and summoned them first of all; they,
attracted by the novelty of hearing the Roman addressing his troops,
took up their position close round him. Secret instructions had been
given for the Roman legion to stand fully armed behind them, and the
centurions were in readiness to execute instantly the orders they
received. Tullus commenced as follows: "Romans! if in any war that you
have ever waged there has been reason for you to thank, first, the
immortal gods, and then your own personal courage, such was certainly
the case in yesterday's battle. For whilst you had to contend with an
open enemy, you had a still more serious and dangerous conflict to
maintain against the treachery and perfidy of your allies. For I must
undeceive you- it was by no command of mine that the Albans withdrew to
the mountains. What you heard was not a real order but a pretended one,
which I used as an artifice to prevent your knowing that you were
deserted, and so losing heart for the battle, and also to fill the
enemy with alarm and a desire to flee by making them think that they
were being surrounded. The guilt which I am denouncing does not involve
all the Albans; they only followed their general, just as you would
have done had I wanted to lead my army away from the field. It is
Mettius who is the leader of this march, Mettius who engineered this
war, Mettius who broke the treaty between Rome and Alba. Others may
venture on similar practices, if I do not make this man a signal lesson
to all the world." The armed centurions closed round Mettius, and the
king proceeded: "I shall take a course which will bring good fortune
and happiness to the Roman people and myself, and to you, Albans; it is
my intention to transfer the entire Alban population to Rome, to give
the rights of citizenship to the plebeians, and enrol the nobles in the
senate, and to make one City, one State. As formerly the Alban State
was broken up into two nations, so now let it once more become one."
The Alban soldiery listened to these words with conflicting feelings,
but unarmed as they were and hemmed in by armed men, a common fear kept
them silent. Then Tullus said: "Mettius Fufetius! if you could have
learnt to keep your word and respect treaties, I would have given you
that instruction in your lifetime, but now, since your character is
past cure, do at least teach mankind by your punishment to hold those
things as sacred which have been outraged by you. As yesterday your
interest was divided between the Fidenates and the Romans, so now you
shall give up your body to be divided and dismembered." Thereupon two
four-horse chariots were brought up, and Mettius was bound at full
length to each, the horses were driven in opposite directions, carrying
off parts of the body in each chariot, where the limbs had been secured
by the cords. All present averted their eyes from the horrible
spectacle. This is the first and last instance amongst the Romans of a
punishment so regardless of humanity. Amongst other things which are
the glory of Rome is this, that no nation has ever been contented with
milder punishments.
Ab urbe condita 1.29
Meanwhile the cavalry had been sent on in advance to conduct the
population to Rome; they were followed by the legions, who were marched
thither to destroy the city. When they entered the gates there was not
that noise and panic which are usually found in captured cities, where,
after the gates have been shattered or the walls levelled by the
battering-ram or the citadel stormed, the shouts of the enemy and the
rushing of the soldiers through the streets throw everything into
universal confusion with fire and sword. Here, on the contrary, gloomy
silence and a grief beyond words so petrified the minds of all, that,
forgetting in their terror what to leave behind, what to take with
them, incapable of thinking for themselves and asking one another's
advice, at one moment they would stand on their thresholds, at another
wander aimlessly through their houses, which they were seeing then for
the last time. But now they were roused by the shouts of the cavalry
ordering their instant departure, now by the crash of the houses
undergoing demolition, heard in the furthest corners of the city, and
the dust, rising in different places, which covered everything like a
cloud. Seizing hastily what they could carry, they went out of the
city, and left behind their hearths and household gods and the homes in
which they had been born and brought up. Soon an unbroken line of
emigrants filled the streets, and as they recognised one another the
sense of their common misery led to fresh outbursts of tears. Cries of
grief, especially from the women, began to make themselves heard, as
they walked past the venerable temples and saw them occupied by troops,
and felt that they were leaving their gods as prisoners in an enemy's
hands. When the Albans had left their city the Romans levelled to the
ground all the public and private edifices in every direction, and a
single hour gave over to destruction and ruin the work of those four
centuries during which Alba had stood. The temples of the gods,
however, were spared, in accordance with the king's proclamation.
Ab urbe condita 1.30
The fall of Alba led to the growth of Rome. The number of the citizens
was doubled, the Caelian hill was included in the city, and that it
might become more populated, Tullus chose it for the site of his
palace, and for the future lived there. He nominated Alban nobles to
the senate that this order of the State might also be augmented.
Amongst them were the Tullii, the Servilii, the Quinctii, the Geganii,
the Curiatii, and the Cloelii. To provide a consecrated building for
the increased number of senators he built the senate-house, which down
to the time of our fathers went by the name of the Curia Hostilia.
To
secure an accession of military strength of all ranks from the new
population, he formed ten troops of knights from the Albans; from the
same source he brought up the old legions to their full strength and
enrolled new ones. Impelled by the confidence in his strength which
these measures inspired, Tullus proclaimed war against the Sabines, a
nation at that time second only to the Etruscans in numbers and
military strength. Each side had inflicted injuries on the other and
refused all redress. Tullus complained that Roman traders had been
arrested in open market at the shrine of Feronia; the Sabines'
grievance was that some of their people had previously sought refuge in
the Asylum and been kept in Rome. These were the ostensible grounds of
the war. The Sabines were far from forgetting that a portion of their
strength had been transferred to Rome by Tatius, and that the Roman
State had lately been aggrandised by the inclusion of the population of
Alba; they, therefore, on their side began to look round for outside
help. Their nearest neighbour was Etruria, and, of the Etruscans, the
nearest to them were the Veientines. Their past defeats were still
rankling in their memories, and the Sabines, urging them to revolt,
attracted many volunteers; others of the poorest and homeless classes
were paid to join them. No assistance was given by the State. With the
Veientes-it is not so surprising that the other cities rendered no
assistance-the truce with Rome was still held to be binding. Whilst
preparations were being made on both sides with the utmost energy, and
it seemed as though success depended upon which side was the first to
take the offensive, Tullus opened the campaign by invading the Sabine
territory. A severe action was fought at the Silva Malitiosa. Whilst
the Romans were strong in their infantry, their main strength was in
their lately increased cavalry force. A sudden charge of horse threw
the Sabine ranks into confusion, they could neither offer a steady
resistance nor effect their flight without great slaughter.
Ab urbe condita 1.31
This victory threw great lustre upon the reign of Tullus, and upon the
whole State, and added considerably to its strength. At this time it
was reported to the king and the senate that there had been a shower of
stones on the Alban Mount. As the thing seemed hardly credible, men
were sent to inspect the prodigy, and whilst they were watching, a
heavy shower of stones fell from the sky, just like hailstones heaped
together by the wind. They fancied, too, that they heard a very loud
voice from the grove on the summit, bidding the Albans celebrate their
sacred rites after the manner of their fathers. These solemnities they
had consigned to oblivion, as though they had abandoned their gods when
they abandoned their country and had either adopted Roman rites, or, as
sometimes happens, embittered against Fortune, had given up the service
of the gods. In consequence of this prodigy, the Romans, too, kept up a
public religious observance for nine days, either-as tradition
asserts-owing to the voice from the Alban Mount, or because of the
warning of the soothsayers. In either case, however, it became
permanently established whenever the same prodigy was reported; a nine
days' solemnity was observed. Not long after a pestilence caused great
distress, and made men indisposed for the hardships of military
service. The warlike king, however, allowed no respite from arms; he
thought, too, that it was more healthy for the soldiery in the field
than at home. At last he himself was seized with a lingering illness,
and that fierce and restless spirit became so broken through bodily
weakness, that he who had once thought nothing less fitting for a king
than devotion to sacred things, now suddenly became a prey to every
sort of religious terror, and filled the City with religious
observances. There was a general desire to recall the condition of
things which existed under Numa, for men felt that the only help that
was left against sickness was to obtain the forgiveness of the gods and
be at peace with heaven. Tradition records that the king, whilst
examining the commentaries of Numa, found there a description of
certain secret sacrificial rites paid to Jupiter Elicius: he withdrew
into privacy whilst occupied with these rites, but their performance
was marred by omissions or mistakes. Not only was no sign from heaven
vouchsafed to him, but the anger of Jupiter was roused by the false
worship rendered to him, and he burnt up the king and his house by a
stroke of lightning. Tullus had achieved great renown in war, and
reigned for two-and-thirty years.
Ab urbe condita 1.32
On the death of Tullus, the government, in accordance with the original
constitution, again devolved on the senate. They appointed an interrex
to conduct the election. The people chose Ancus Martius as king, the
senate confirmed the choice. His mother was Numa's daughter. At the
outset of his reign-remembering what made his grandfather glorious, and
recognising that the late reign, so splendid in all other respects,
had, on one side, been most unfortunate through the neglect of religion
or the improper performance of its rites-he determined to go back to
the earliest source and conduct the state offices of religion as they
had been organised by Numa. He gave the Pontifex instructions to copy
them out from the king's commentaries and set them forth in some public
place. The neighbouring states and his own people, who were yearning
for peace, were led to hope that the king would follow his grandfather
in disposition and policy. In this state of affairs, the Latins, with
whom a treaty had been made in the reign of Tullus, recovered their
confidence, and made an incursion into Roman territory. On the Romans
seeking redress, they gave a haughty refusal, thinking that the king of
Rome was going to pass his reign amongst chapels and altars. In the
temperament of Ancus there was a touch of Romulus as well as Numa. He
realised that the great necessity of Numa's reign was peace, especially
amongst a young and aggressive nation, but he saw, too, that it would
be difficult for him to preserve the peace which had fallen to his lot
unimpaired. His patience was being put to the proof, and not only put
to the proof but despised; the times demanded a Tullus rather than a
Numa. Numa had instituted religious observances for times of peace, he
would hand down the ceremonies appropriate to a state of war. In order,
therefore, that wars might be not only conducted but also proclaimed
with some formality, he wrote down the law, as taken from the ancient
nation of the Aequicoli, under which the Fetials act down to this day
when seeking redress for injuries. The procedure is as follows:-
The ambassador binds his head in a woollen fillet. When he has reached
the frontiers of the nation from whom satisfaction is demanded, he
says, "Hear, O Jupiter! Hear, ye confines"-naming the particular nation
whose they are-"Hear, O Justice! I am the public herald of the Roman
People. Rightly and duly authorised do I come; let confidence be placed
in my words." Then he recites the terms of the demands, and calls
Jupiter to witness: "If I am demanding the surrender of those men or
those goods, contrary to justice and religion, suffer me nevermore to
enjoy my native land." He repeats these words as he crosses the
frontier, he repeats them to whoever happens to be the first person he
meets, he repeats them as he enters the gates and again on entering the
forum, with some slight changes in the wording of the formula. If what
he demands are not surrendered at the expiration of thirty-three days-
for that is the fixed period of grace-he declares war in the following
terms: "Hear, O Jupiter, and thou Janus Quirinus, and all ye heavenly
gods, and ye, gods of earth and of the lower world, hear me! I call you
to witness that this people"-mentioning it by name-"is unjust and does
not fulfil its sacred obligations. But about these matters we must
consult the elders in our own land in what way we may obtain our
rights."
With these words the ambassador returned to Rome for consultation. The
king forthwith consulted the senate in words to the following effect:
"Concerning the matters, suits, and causes, whereof the Pater Patratus
of the Roman People and Quirites hath complained to the Pater Patratus
of the Prisci Latini, and to the people of the Prisci Latini, which
matters they were bound severally to surrender, discharge, and make
good, whereas they have done none of these things-say, what is your
opinion?" He whose opinion was first asked, replied, "I am of opinion
that they ought to be recovered by a just and righteous war, wherefore
I give my consent and vote for it." Then the others were asked in
order, and when the majority of those present declared themselves of
the same opinion, war was agreed upon. It was customary for the Fetial
to carry to the enemies' frontiers a blood-smeared spear tipped with
iron or burnt at the end, and, in the presence of at least three
adults, to say, "Inasmuch as the peoples of the Prisci Latini have been
guilty of wrong against the People of Rome and the Quirites, and
inasmuch as the People of Rome and the Quirites have ordered that there
be war with the Prisci Latini, and the Senate of the People of Rome and
the Quirites have determined and decreed that there shall be war with
the Prisci Latini, therefore I and the People of Rome, declare and make
war upon the peoples of the Prisci Latini." With these words he hurled
his spear into their territory. This was the way in which at that time
satisfaction was demanded from the Latins and war declared, and
posterity adopted the custom.
Ab urbe condita 1.33
After handing over the care of the various sacrificial rites to the
Flamens and other priests, and calling up a fresh army, Ancus advanced
against Politorium a city belonging to the Latins. He took it by
assault, and following the custom of the earlier kings who had enlarged
the State by receiving its enemies into Roman citizenship, he
transferred the whole of the population to Rome. The Palatine had been
settled by the earliest Romans, the Sabines had occupied the Capitoline
hill with the Citadel, on one side of the Palatine, and the Albans the
Caelian hill, on the other, so the Aventine was assigned to the
new-comers. Not long afterwards there was a further addition to the
number of citizens through the capture of Tellenae and Ficana.
Politorium after its evacuation was seized by the Latins and was again
recovered; and this was the reason why the Romans razed the city, to
prevent its being a perpetual refuge for the enemy. At last the whole
war was concentrated round Medullia, and fighting went on for some time
there with doubtful result. The city was strongly fortified and its
strength was increased by the presence of a large garrison. The Latin
army was encamped in the open and had had several engagements with the
Romans. At last Ancus made a supreme effort with the whole of his force
and won a pitched battle, after which he returned with immense booty to
Rome, and many thousands of Latins were admitted into citizenship. In
order to connect the Aventine with the Palatine, the district round the
altar of Venus Murcia was assigned to them. The Janiculum also was
brought into the city boundaries, not because the space was wanted, but
to prevent such a strong position from being occupied by an enemy. It
was decided to connect this hill with the City, not only by carrying
the City wall round it, but also by a bridge, for the convenience of
traffic. This was the first bridge thrown over the Tiber, and was known
as the Pons Sublicius. The Fossa Quiritium also was the work of King
Ancus, and afforded no inconsiderable protection to the lower and
therefore more accessible parts of the City. Amidst this vast
population, now that the State had become so enormously increased, the
sense of right and wrong was obscured, and secret crimes were
committed. To overawe the growing lawlessness a prison was built in the
heart of the City, overlooking the Forum. The additions made by this
king were not confined to the City. The Mesian Forest was taken from
the Veientines, and the Roman dominion extended to the sea; at the
mouth of the Tiber the city of Ostia was built; salt-pits were
constructed on both sides of the river, and the temple of Jupiter
Feretrius was enlarged in consequence of the brilliant successes in the
war.
Ab urbe condita 1.34
During the reign of Ancus a wealthy and ambitious man named Lucumo
removed to Rome, mainly with the hope and desire of winning high
distinction, for which no opportunity had existed in Tarquinii, since
there also he was an alien. He was the son of Demaratus a Corinthian,
who had been driven from home by a revolution, and who happened to
settle in Tarquinii. There he married and had two sons, their names
were Lucumo and Arruns. Arruns died before his father, leaving his wife
with child; Lucumo survived his father and inherited all his property.
For Demaratus died shortly after Arruns, and being unaware of the
condition of his daughter-in-law, had made no provision in his will for
a grandchild. The boy, thus excluded from any share of his
grandfather's property, was called, in consequence of his poverty,
Egerius. Lucumo, on the other hand, heir to all the property, became
elated by his wealth, and his ambition was stimulated by his marriage
with Tanaquil. This woman was descended from one of the foremost
families in the State, and could not bear the thought of her position
by marriage being inferior to the one she claimed by birth. The
Etruscans looked down upon Lucumo as the son of a foreign refugee; she
could not brook this indignity, and forgetting all ties of patriotism
if only she could see her husband honoured, resolved to emigrate from
Tarquinii. Rome seemed the most suitable place for her purpose. She
felt that among a young nation where all nobility is a thing of recent
growth and won by personal merit, there would be room for a man of
courage and energy. She remembered that the Sabine Tatius had reigned
there, that Numa had been summoned from Cures to fill the throne, that
Ancus himself was sprung from a Sabine mother, and could not trace his
nobility beyond Numa. Her husband's ambition and the fact that
Tarquinii was his native country only on the mother's side, made him
give a ready ear to her proposals. They accordingly packed up their
goods and removed to Rome.
They had got as far as the Janiculum when a hovering eagle swooped
gently down and took off his cap as he was sitting by his wife's side
in the carriage, then circling round the vehicle with loud cries, as
though commissioned by heaven for this service, replaced it carefully
upon his head and soared away. It is said that Tanaquil, who, like most
Etruscans, was expert in interpreting celestial prodigies, was
delighted at the omen. She threw her arms round her husband and bade
him look for a high and majestic destiny, for such was the import of
the eagle's appearance, of the particular part of the sky where it
appeared, and of the deity who sent it. The omen was directed to the
crown and summit of his person, the bird had raised aloft an adornment
put on by human hands, to replace it as the gift of heaven. Full of
these hopes and surmises they entered the City, and after procuring a
domicile there, they announced his name as Lucius Tarquinius Priscus.
The fact of his being a stranger, and a wealthy one, brought him into
notice, and he increased the advantage which Fortune gave him by his
courteous demeanour, his lavish hospitality, and the many acts of
kindness by which he won all whom it was in his power to win, until his
reputation even reached the palace. Once introduced to the king's
notice, he soon succeeded by adroit complaisance in getting on to such
familiar terms that he was consulted in matters of state, as much as in
private matters, whether they referred to either peace or war. At last,
after passing every test of character and ability, he was actually
appointed by the king's will guardian to his children.
Ab urbe condita 1.35
Ancus reigned twenty-four years, unsurpassed by any of his predecessors
in ability and reputation, both in the field and at home. His sons had
now almost reached manhood. Tarquin was all the more anxious for the
election of the new king to be held as soon as possible. At the time
fixed for it he sent the boys out of the way on a hunting expedition.
He is said to have been the first who canvassed for the crown and
delivered a set speech to secure the interest of the plebs. In it he
asserted that he was not making an unheard-of request, he was not the
first foreigner who aspired to the Roman throne; were this so, any one
might feel surprise and indignation. But he was the third. Tatius was
not only a foreigner, but was made king after he had been their enemy;
Numa, an entire stranger to the City, had been called to the throne
without any seeking it on his part. As to himself, as soon as he was
his own master, he had removed to Rome with his wife and his whole
fortune; he had lived at Rome for a larger part of the period during
which men discharge the functions of citizenship than he had passed in
his old country; he had learnt the laws of Rome, the ceremonial rites
of Rome, both civil and military, under Ancus himself, a very
sufficient teacher; he had been second to none in duty and service
towards the king; he had not yielded to the king himself in generous
treatment of others. Whilst he was stating these facts, which were
certainly true, the Roman people with enthusiastic unanimity elected
him king. Though in all other respects an excellent man, his ambition,
which impelled him to seek the crown, followed him on to the throne;
with the design of strengthening himself quite as much as of increasing
the State, he made a hundred new senators. These were afterwards called
"the Lesser Houses" and formed a body of uncompromising supporters of
the king, through whose kindness they had entered the senate. The first
war he engaged in was with the Latins. He took the town of Apiolae by
storm, and carried off a greater amount of plunder than could have been
expected from the slight interest shown in the war. After this had been
brought in wagons to Rome, he celebrated the Games with greater
splendour and on a larger scale than his predecessors. Then for the
first time a space was marked for what is now the "Circus Maximus."
Spots were allotted to the patricians and knights where they could each
build for themselves stands-called "ford"-from which to view the Games.
These stands were raised on wooden props, branching out at the top,
twelve feet high. The contests were horse-racing and boxing, the horses
and boxers mostly brought from Etruria. They were at first celebrated
on occasions of especial solemnity; subsequently they became an annual
fixture, and were called indifferently the "Roman" or the "Great
Games." This king also divided the ground round the Forum into building
sites; arcades and shops were put up.
Ab urbe condita 1.36
He was also making preparations for surrounding the City with a stone
wall when his designs were interrupted by a war with the Sabines. So
sudden was the outbreak that the enemy were crossing the Anio before a
Roman army could meet and stop them. There was great alarm in Rome. The
first battle was indecisive, and there was great slaughter on both
sides. The enemies' return to their camp allowed time for the Romans to
make preparations for a fresh campaign. Tarquin thought his army was
weakest in cavalry and decided to double the centuries, which Romulus
had formed, of the Ramnes, Titienses, and Luceres, and to distinguish
them by his own name. Now as Romulus had acted under the sanction of
the auspices, Attus Navius, a celebrated augur at that time, insisted
that no change could be made, nothing new introduced, unless the birds
gave a favourable omen. The king's anger was roused, and in mockery of
the augur's skill he is reported to have said, "Come, you diviner, find
out by your augury whether what I am now contemplating can be done."
Attus, after consulting the omens, declared that it could. "Well," the
king replied, "I had it in my mind that you should cut a whetstone with
a razor. Take these, and perform the feat which your birds portend can
be done." It is said that without the slightest hesitation he cut it
through. There used to be a statue of Attus, representing him with his
head covered, in the Comitium, on the steps to the left of the
senate-house, where the incident occurred. The whetstone also, it is
recorded, was placed there to be a memorial of the marvel for future
generations. At all events, auguries and the college of augurs were
held in such honour that nothing was undertaken in peace or war without
their sanction; the assembly of the curies, the assembly of the
centuries, matters of the highest importance, were suspended or broken
up if the omen of the birds was unfavourable. Even on that occasion
Tarquin was deterred from making changes in the names or numbers of the
centuries of knights; he merely doubled the number of men in each, so
that the three centuries contained eighteen hundred men. Those who were
added to the centuries bore the same designation, only they were called
the "Second" knights, and the centuries being thus doubled are now
called the "Six Centuries."
Ab urbe condita 1.37
After this division of the forces was augmented there was a second
collision with the Sabines, in which the increased strength of the
Roman army was aided by an artifice. Men were secretly sent to set fire
to a vast quantity of logs lying on the banks of the Anio, and float
them down the river on rafts. The wind fanned the flames, and as the
logs drove against the piles and stuck there they set the bridge on
fire. This incident, occurring during the battle, created a panic among
the Sabines and led to their rout, and at the same time prevented their
flight; many after escaping from the enemy perished in the river. Their
shields floated down the Tiber as far as the City, and being
recognised, made it clear that there had been a victory almost before
it could be announced. In that battle the cavalry especially
distinguished themselves. They were posted on each wing, and when the
infantry in the centre were being forced back, it is said that they
made such a desperate charge from both sides that they not only
arrested the Sabine legions as they were pressing on the retreating
Romans, but immediately put them to flight. The Sabines, in wild
disorder, made for the hills, a few gained them, by far the greater
number, as was stated above, were driven by the cavalry into the river.
Tarquin determined to follow them up before they could recover from
their panic. He sent the prisoners and booty to Rome; the spoils of the
enemy had been devoted to Vulcan, they were accordingly collected into
an enormous pile and burnt; then he proceeded forthwith to lead his
army into the Sabine territory. In spite of their recent defeat and the
hopelessness of repairing it, the Sabines met him with a hastily raised
body of militia, as there was no time for concerting a plan of
operations. They were again defeated, and as they were now brought to
the verge of ruin, sought for peace.
Ab urbe condita 1.38
Collatia and all the territory on this side of it was taken from the
Sabines; Egerius, the king's nephew, was left to hold it. I understand
that the procedure on the surrender of Collatia was as follows: The
king asked, "Have you been sent as envoys and commissioners by the
people of Collatia to make the surrender of yourselves and the people
of Collatia?" "We have." "And is the people of Collatia an independent
people?" "It is." "Do you surrender into my power and that of the
People of Rome yourselves, and the people of Collatia, your city,
lands, water, boundaries, temples, sacred vessels, all things divine
and human?" "We do surrender them." "Then I accept them." After
bringing the Sabine war to a conclusion Tarquin returned in triumph to
Rome. Then he made war on the Prisci Latini. No general engagement took
place, he attacked each of their towns in succession and subjugated the
whole nation. The towns of Corniculum, Old Ficulea, Cameria,
Crustumerium, Ameriola, Medullia, Nomentum, were all taken from the
Prisci Latini or those who had gone over to them. Then peace was made.
Works of peace were now commenced with greater energy even than had
been displayed in war, so that the people enjoyed no more quiet at home
than they had had in the field. He made preparations for completing the
work, which had been interrupted by the Sabine war, of enclosing the
City in those parts where no fortification yet existed with a stone
wall. The low-lying parts of the City round the Forum, and the other
valleys between the hills, where the water could not escape, were
drained by conduits which emptied into the Tiber. He built up with
masonry a level space on the Capitol as a site for the temple of
Jupiter which he had vowed during the Sabine war, and the magnitude of
the work revealed his prophetic anticipation of the future greatness of
the place.
Ab urbe condita 1.39
At that time an incident took place as marvellous in the appearance as
it proved in the result. It is said that whilst a boy named Servius
Tullius was asleep, his head was enveloped in flames, before the eyes
of many who were present. The cry which broke out at such a marvellous
sight aroused the royal family, and when one of the domestics was
bringing water to quench the flames the queen stopped him, and after
calming the excitement forbade the boy to be disturbed until he awoke
of his own accord. Presently he did so, and the flames disappeared.
Then Tanaquil took her husband aside and said to him, "Do you see this
boy, whom we are bringing up in such a humble style? You may be certain
that he will one day be a light to us in trouble and perplexity, and a
protection to our tottering house. Let us henceforth bring up with all
care and indulgence one who will be the source of measureless glory to
the State and to ourselves." From this time the boy began to be treated
as their child and trained in those accomplishments by which characters
are stimulated to the pursuit of a great destiny. The task was an easy
one, for it was carrying out the will of the gods. The youth turned out
to be of a truly kingly disposition, and when search was made for a
son-in-law to Tarquinius, none of the Roman youths could be compared
with him in any respect, so the king betrothed his daughter to him. The
bestowal of this great honour upon him, whatever the reason for it,
forbids our believing that he was the son of a slave, and, in his
boyhood, a slave himself. I am more inclined to the opinion of those
who say that in the capture of Corniculum, Servius Tullius, the leading
man of that city, was killed, and his wife, who was about to become a
mother, was recognised amongst the other captive women, and in
consequence of her high rank was exempted from servitude by the Roman
queen, and gave birth to a son in the house of Priscus Tarquinius. This
kind treatment strengthened the intimacy between the women, and the
boy, brought up as he was from infancy in the royal household, was held
in affection and honour. It was the fate of his mother, who fell into
the hands of the enemy when her native city was taken, that made people
think he was the son of a slave.
Ab urbe condita 1.40
When Tarquin had been about thirty-eight years on the throne, Servius
Tullius was held in by far the highest esteem of any one, not only with
the king but also with the patricians and the commons. The two sons of
Ancus had always felt most keenly their being deprived of their
father's throne through the treachery of their guardian; its occupation
by a foreigner who was not even of Italian, much less Roman descent,
increased their indignation, when they saw that not even after the
death of Tarquin would the crown revert to them, but would suddenly
descend to a slave-that crown which Romulus, the offspring of a god,
and himself a god, had worn whilst he was on earth, now to be the
possession of a slave-born slave a hundred years later! They felt that
it would be a disgrace to the whole Roman nation, and especially to
their house, if, while the male issue of Ancus was still alive, the
sovereignty of Rome should be open not only to foreigners but even to
slaves. They determined, therefore, to repel that insult by the sword.
But it was on Tarquin rather than on Servius that they sought to avenge
their wrongs; if the king were left alive he would be able to deal more
summary vengeance than an ordinary citizen, and in the event of Servius
being killed, the king would certainly make any one else whom he chose
for a son-in-law heir to the crown. These considerations decided them
to form a plot against the king's life. Two shepherds, perfect
desperadoes, were selected for the deed. They appeared in the vestibule
of the palace, each with his usual implement, and by pretending to have
a violent and outrageous quarrel, they attracted the attention of all
the royal guards. Then, as they both began to appeal to the king, and
their clamour had penetrated within the palace, they were summoned
before the king. At first they tried, by shouting each against the
other, to see who could make the most noise, until, after being
repressed by the lictor and ordered to speak in turn, they became
quiet, and one of the two began to state his case. Whilst the king's
attention was absorbed in listening to him, the other swung aloft his
axe and drove it into the king's head, and leaving the weapon in the
wound both dashed out of the palace.
Ab urbe condita 1.41
Whilst the bystanders were supporting the dying Tarquin in their arms,
the lictors caught the fugitives. The shouting drew a crowd together,
wondering what had happened. In the midst of the confusion, Tanaquil
ordered the palace to be cleared and the doors closed; she then
carefully prepared medicaments for dressing the wound, should there be
hopes of life; at the same time she decided on other precautions,
should the case prove hopeless, and hastily summoned Servius. She
showed him her husband at the point of death, and taking his hand,
implored him not to leave his father-in-law's death unavenged, nor to
allow his mother-in-law to become the sport of her enemies. "The throne
is yours, Servius," she said, "if you are a man; it does not belong to
those who have, through the hands of others, wrought this worst of
crimes. Up! follow the guidance of the gods who presaged the exaltation
of that head round which divine fire once played! Let that heaven-sent
flame now inspire you. Rouse yourself in earnest! We, too, though
foreigners, have reigned. Bethink yourself not whence you sprang, but
who you are. If in this sudden emergency you are slow to resolve, then
follow my counsels." As the clamour and impatience of the populace
could hardly be restrained, Tanaquil went to a window in the upper part
of the palace looking out on the Via Nova-the king used to live by the
temple of Jupiter Stator-and addressed the people. She bade them hope
for the best; the king had been stunned by a sudden blow, but the
weapon had not penetrated to any depth, he had already recovered
consciousness, the blood had been washed off and the wound examined,
all the symptoms were favourable, she was sure they would soon see him
again, meantime it was his order that the people should recognise the
authority of Servius Tullius, who would administer justice and
discharge the other functions of royalty. Servius appeared in his
trabea attended by the lictors, and after taking his seat in the royal
chair decided some cases and adjourned others under presence of
consulting the king. So for several days after Tarquin's death Servius
continued to strengthen his position by giving out that he was
exercising a delegated authority. At length the sounds of mourning
arose in the palace and divulged the fact of the king's death.
Protected by a strong bodyguard Servius was the first who ascended the
throne without being elected by the people, though without opposition
from the senate. When the sons of Ancus heard that the instruments of
their crime had been arrested, that the king was still alive, and that
Servius was so powerful, they went into exile at Suessa Pometia.
Ab urbe condita 1.42
Servius consolidated his power quite as much by his private as by his
public measures. To guard against the children of Tarquin treating him
as those of Ancus had treated Tarquin, he married his two daughters to
the scions of the royal house, Lucius and Arruns Tarquin. Human
counsels could not arrest the inevitable course of destiny, nor could
Servius prevent the jealousy aroused by his ascending the throne from
making his family the scene of disloyalty and hatred. The truce with
the Veientines had now expired, and the resumption of war with them and
other Etruscan cities came most opportunely to help in maintaining
tranquillity at home. In this war the courage and good fortune of
Tullius were conspicuous, and he returned to Rome, after defeating an
immense force of the enemy, feeling quite secure on the throne, and
assured of the goodwill of both patricians and commons. Then he set
himself to by far the greatest of all works in times of peace. Just as
Numa had been the author of religious laws and institutions, so
posterity extols Servius as the founder of those divisions and classes
in the State by which a clear distinction is drawn between the various
grades of dignity and fortune. He instituted the census, a most
beneficial institution in what was to be a great empire, in order that
by its means the various duties of peace and war might be assigned, not
as heretofore, indiscriminately, but in proportion to the amount of
property each man possessed. From it he drew up the classes and
centuries and the following distribution of them, adapted for either
peace or war.
Ab urbe condita 1.43
Those whose property amounted to, or exceeded 100,000 lbs. weight of
copper were formed into eighty centuries, forty of juniors and forty of
seniors. These were called the First Class. The seniors were to defend
the City, the juniors to serve in the field. The armour which they were
to provide themselves with comprised helmet, round shield, greaves, and
coat of mail, all of brass; these were to protect the person. Their
offensive weapons were spear and sword. To this class were joined two
centuries of carpenters whose duty it was to work the engines of war;
they were without arms. The Second Class consisted of those whose
property amounted to between 75,000 and 100,000 lbs. weight of copper;
they were formed, seniors and juniors together, into twenty centuries.
Their regulation arms were the same as those of the First Class, except
that they had an oblong wooden shield instead of the round brazen one
and no coat of mail. The Third Class he formed of those whose property
fell as low as 50,000 lbs.; these also consisted of twenty centuries,
similarly divided into seniors and juniors. The only difference in the
armour was that they did not wear greaves. In the Fourth Class were
those whose property did not fall below 25,000 lbs. They also formed
twenty centuries; their only arms were a spear and a javelin. The Fifth
Class was larger it formed thirty centuries. They carried slings and
stones, and they included the supernumeraries, the horn-blowers, and
the trumpeters, who formed three centuries. This Fifth Class was
assessed at 11,000 lbs. The rest of the population whose property fell
below this were formed into one century and were exempt from military
service.
After thus regulating the equipment and distribution of the infantry,
he re-arranged the cavalry. He enrolled from amongst the principal men
of the State twelve centuries. In the same way he made six other
centuries (though only three had been formed by Romulus) under the same
names under which the first had been inaugurated. For the purchase of
the horse, 10,000 lbs. were assigned them from the public treasury;
whilst for its keep certain widows were assessed to pay 2000 lbs. each,
annually. The burden of all these expenses was shifted from the poor on
to the rich. Then additional privileges were conferred. The former
kings had maintained the constitution as handed down by Romulus, viz.,
manhood suffrage in which all alike possessed the same weight and
enjoyed the same rights. Servius introduced a graduation; so that
whilst no one was ostensibly deprived of his vote, all the voting power
was in the hands of the principal men of the State. The knights were
first summoned to record their vote, then the eighty centuries of the
infantry of the First Class; if their votes were divided, which seldom
happened, it was arranged for the Second Class to be summoned; very
seldom did the voting extend to the lowest Class. Nor need it occasion
any surprise, that the arrangement which now exists since the
completion of the thirty-five tribes, their number being doubled by the
centuries of juniors and seniors, does not agree with the total as
instituted by Servius Tullius. For, after dividing the City with its
districts and the hills which were inhabited into four parts, he called
these divisions "tribes," I think from the tribute they paid, for he
also introduced the practice of collecting it at an equal rate
according to the assessment. These tribes had nothing to do with the
distribution and number of the centuries.
Ab urbe condita 1.44
The work of the census was accelerated by an enactment in which Servius
denounced imprisonment and even capital punishment against those who
evaded assessment. On its completion he issued an order that all the
citizens of Rome, knights and infantry alike, should appear in the
Campus Martius, each in their centuries. After the whole army had been
drawn up there, he purified it by the triple sacrifice of a swine, a
sheep, and an ox. This was called "a closed lustrum," because with it
the census was completed
. Eighty thousand citizens are said to have
been included in that census. Fabius Pictor, the oldest of our
historians, states that this was the number of those who could bear
arms. To contain that population it was obvious that the City would
have to be enlarged. He added to it the two hills-the Quirinal and the
Viminal-and then made a further addition by including the Esquiline,
and to give it more importance he lived there himself. He surrounded
the City with a mound and moats and wall; in this way he extended the
"pomoerium." Looking only to the etymology of the word, they explain
"pomoerium" as "postmoerium"; but it is rather a "circamoerium." For
the space which the Etruscans of old, when founding their cities,
consecrated in accordance with auguries and marked off by boundary
stones at intervals on each side, as the part where the wall was to be
carried, was to be kept vacant so that no buildings might connect with
the wall on the inside (whilst now they generally touch), and on the
outside some ground might remain virgin soil untouched by cultivation.
This space, which it was forbidden either to build upon or to plough,
and which could not be said to be behind the wall any more than the
wall could be said to be behind it, the Romans called the "pomoerium."
As the City grew, these sacred boundary stones were always moved
forward as far as the walls were advanced.
Ab urbe condita 1.45
After the State was augmented by the expansion of the City and all
domestic arrangements adapted to the requirements of both peace and
war, Servius endeavoured to extend his dominion by state-craft, instead
of aggrandising it by arms, and at the same time made an addition to
the adornment of the City. The temple of the Ephesian Diana was famous
at that time, and it was reported to have been built by the
co-operation of the states of Asia. Servius had been careful to form
ties of hospitality and friendship with the chiefs of the Latin nation,
and he used to speak in the highest praise of that co-operation and the
common recognition of the same deity. By constantly dwelling on this
theme he at length induced the Latin tribes to join with the people of
Rome in building a temple to Diana in Rome. Their doing so was an
admission of the predominance of Rome; a question which had so often
been disputed by arms. Though the Latins, after their many unfortunate
experiences in war, had as a nation laid aside all thoughts of success,
there was amongst the Sabines one man who believed that an opportunity
presented itself of recovering the supremacy through his own individual
cunning. The story runs that a man of substance belonging to that
nation had a heifer of marvellous size and beauty. The marvel was
attested in after ages by the horns which were fastened up in the
vestibule of the temple of Diana. The creature was looked upon as-what
it really was-a prodigy, and the soothsayers predicted that, whoever
sacrificed it to Diana, the state of which he was a citizen should be
the seat of empire. This prophecy had reached the ears of the official
in charge of the temple of Diana. When the first day on which the
sacrifice could properly be offered arrived, the Sabine drove the
heifer to Rome, took it to the temple, and placed it in front of the
altar. The official in charge was a Roman, and, struck by the size of
the victim, which was well known by report, he recalled the prophecy
and addressing the Sabine, said, "Why, pray, are you, stranger,
preparing to offer a polluted sacrifice to Diana? Go and bathe yourself
first in running water. The Tiber is flowing down there at the bottom
of the valley." Filled with misgivings, and anxious for everything to
be done properly that the prediction might be fulfilled, the stranger
promptly went down to the Tiber. Meanwhile the Roman sacrificed the
heifer to Diana. This was a cause of intense gratification to the king
and to his people.
Ab urbe condita 1.46
Servius was now confirmed on the throne by long possession. It had,
however, come to his ears that the young Tarquin was giving out that he
was reigning without the assent of the people. He first secured the
goodwill of the plebs by assigning to each householder a slice of the
land which had been taken from the enemy. Then he was emboldened to put
to them the question whether it was their will and resolve that he
should reign. He was acclaimed as king by a unanimous vote such as no
king before him had obtained. This action in no degree damped Tarquin's
hopes of making his way to the throne, rather the reverse. He was a
bold and aspiring youth, and his wife Tullia stimulated his restless
ambition. He had seen that the granting of land to the commons was in
defiance of the opinion of the senate, and he seized the opportunity it
afforded him of traducing Servius and strengthening his own faction in
that assembly. So it came about that the Roman palace afforded an
instance of the crime which tragic poets have depicted, with the result
that the loathing felt for kings hastened the advent of liberty, and
the crown won by villainy was the last that was worn.
This Lucius Tarquinius-whether he was the son or the grandson of King
Priscus Tarquinius is not clear; if I should give him as the son I
should have the preponderance of authorities-had a brother, Arruns
Tarquinius, a youth of gentle character. The two Tullias, the king's
daughters, had, as I have already stated, married these two brothers;
and they themselves were of utterly unlike dispositions. It was, I
believe, the good fortune of Rome which intervened to prevent two
violent natures from being joined in marriage, in order that the reign
of Servius Tullius might last long enough to allow the State to settle
into its new constitution. The high-spirited one of the two Tullias was
annoyed that there was nothing in her husband for her to work on in the
direction of either greed or ambition. All her affections were
transferred to the other Tarquin; he was her admiration, he, she said,
was a man, he was really of royal blood. She despised her sister,
because having a man for her husband she was not animated by the spirit
of a woman. Likeness of character soon drew them together, as evil
usually consorts best with evil. But it was the woman who was the
originator of all the mischief. She constantly held clandestine
interviews with her sister's husband, to whom she unsparingly vilified
alike her husband and her sister, asserting that it would have been
better for her to have remained unmarried and he a bachelor, rather
than for them each to be thus unequally mated, and fret in idleness
through the poltroonery of others. Had heaven given her the husband she
deserved, she would soon have seen the sovereignty which her father
wielded established in her own house. She rapidly infected the young
man with her own recklessness. Lucius Tarquin and the younger Tullia,
by a double murder, cleared from their houses the obstacles to a fresh
marriage; their nuptials were solemnised with the tacit acquiescence
rather than the approbation of Servius.
Ab urbe condita 1.47
From that time the old age of Tullius became more embittered, his reign
more unhappy. The woman began to look forward from one crime to
another; she allowed her husband no rest day or night, for fear lest
the past murders should prove fruitless. What she wanted, she said, was
not a man who was only her husband in name, or with whom she was to
live in uncomplaining servitude; the man she needed was one who deemed
himself worthy of a throne, who remembered that he was the son of
Priscus Tarquinius, who preferred to wear a crown rather than live in
hopes of it. "If you are the man to whom I thought I was married, then
I call you my husband and my king; but if not, I have changed my
condition for the worse, since you are not only a coward but a criminal
to boot. Why do you not prepare yourself for action? You are not, like
your father, a native of Corinth or Tarquinii, nor is it a foreign
crown you have to win. Your father's household gods, your father's
image, the royal palace, the kingly throne within it, the very name of
Tarquin, all declare you king. If you have not courage enough for this,
why do you excite vain hopes in the State? Why do you allow yourself to
be looked up to as a youth of kingly stock? Make your way back to
Tarquinii or Corinth, sink back to the position whence you sprung; you
have your brother's nature rather than your father's." With taunts like
these she egged him on. She, too, was perpetually haunted by the
thought that whilst Tanaquil, a woman of alien descent, had shown such
spirit as to give the crown to her husband and her son-in-law in
succession, she herself, though of royal descent, had no power either
in giving it or taking it away. Infected by the woman's madness Tarquin
began to go about and interview the nobles, mainly those of the Lesser
Houses; he reminded them of the favour his father had shown them, and
asked them to prove their gratitude; he won over the younger men with
presents. By making magnificent promises as to what he would do, and by
bringing charges against the king, his cause became stronger amongst
all ranks.
At last, when he thought the time for action had arrived, he appeared
suddenly in the Forum with a body of armed men. A general panic ensued,
during which he seated himself in the royal chair in the senate-house
and ordered the Fathers to be summoned by the crier "into the presence
of King Tarquin." They hastily assembled, some already prepared for
what was coming; others, apprehensive lest their absence should arouse
suspicion, and dismayed by the extraordinary nature of the incident,
were convinced that the fate of Servius was sealed. Tarquin went back
to the king's birth, protested that he was a slave and the son of a
slave, and after his (the speaker's) father had been foully murdered,
seized the throne, as a woman's gift, without any interrex being
appointed as heretofore, without any assembly being convened, without
any vote of the people being taken or any confirmation of it by the
Fathers. Such was his origin, such was his right to the crown. His
sympathies were with the dregs of society from which he had sprung, and
through jealousy of the ranks to which he did not belong, he had taken
the land from the foremost men in the State and divided it amongst the
vilest; he had shifted on to them the whole of the burdens which had
formerly been borne in common by all; he had instituted the census that
the fortunes of the wealthy might be held up to envy, and be an easily
available source from which to shower doles, whenever he pleased, upon
the neediest.
Ab urbe condita 1.48
Servius had been summoned by a breathless messenger, and arrived on the
scene while Tarquin was speaking. As soon as he reached the vestibule,
he exclaimed in loud tones, "What is the meaning of this, Tarquin? How
dared you, with such insolence, convene the senate or sit in that chair
whilst I am alive?" Tarquin replied fiercely that he was occupying his
father's seat, that a king's son was a much more legitimate heir to the
throne than a slave, and that he, Servius, in playing his reckless
game, had insulted his masters long enough. Shouts arose from their
respective partisans, the people made a rush to the senate-house, and
it was evident that he who won the fight would reign. Then Tarquin,
forced by sheer necessity into proceeding to the last extremity, seized
Servius round the waist, and being a much younger and stronger man,
carried him out of the senate-house and flung him down the steps into
the Forum below. He then returned to call the senate to order. The
officers and attendants of the king fled. The king himself, half dead
from the violence, was put to death by those whom Tarquin had sent in
pursuit of him. It is the current belief that this was done at Tullia's
suggestion, for it is quite in keeping with the rest of her wickedness.
At all events, it is generally agreed that she drove down to the Forum
in a two-wheeled car, and, unabashed by the presence of the crowd,
called her husband out of the senate-house and was the first to salute
him as king. He told her to make her way out of the tumult, and when on
her return she had got as far as the top of the Cyprius Vicus, where
the temple of Diana lately stood, and was turning to the right on the
Urbius Clivus, to get to the Esquiline, the driver stopped
horror-struck and pulled up, and pointed out to his mistress the corpse
of the murdered Servius. Then, the tradition runs, a foul and unnatural
crime was committed, the memory of which the place still bears, for
they call it the Vicus Sceleratus. It is said that Tullia, goaded to
madness by the avenging spirits of her sister and her husband, drove
right over her father's body, and carried back some of her father's
blood with which the car and she herself were defiled to her own and
her husband's household gods, through whose anger a reign which began
in wickedness was soon brought to a close by a like cause. Servius
Tullius reigned forty-four years, and even a wise and good successor
would have found it difficult to fill the throne as he had done. The
glory of his reign was all the greater because with him perished all
just and lawful kingship in Rome. Gentle and moderate as his sway had
been, he had nevertheless, according to some authorities, formed the
intention of laying it down, because it was vested in a single person,
but this purpose of giving freedom to the State was cut short by that
domestic crime.
Ab urbe condita 1.49
Lucius Tarquinius now began his reign. His conduct procured for him the
nickname of "Superbus," for he deprived his father-in-law of burial, on
the plea that Romulus was not buried, and he slew the leading nobles
whom he suspected of being partisans of Servius. Conscious that the
precedent which he had set, of winning a throne by violence, might be
used against himself, he surrounded himself with a guard. For he had
nothing whatever by which to make good his claim to the crown except
actual violence; he was reigning without either being elected by the
people, or confirmed by the senate. As, moreover, he had no hope of
winning the affections of the citizens, he had to maintain his dominion
by fear. To make himself more dreaded, he conducted the trials in
capital cases without any assessors, and under this presence he was
able to put to death, banish, or fine not only those whom he suspected
or disliked, but also those from whom his only object was to extort
money. His main object was so to reduce the number of senators, by
refusing to fill up any vacancies, that the dignity of the order itself
might be lowered through the smallness of its numbers, and less
indignation felt at all public business being taken out of its hands.
He was the first of the kings to break through the traditional custom
of consulting the senate on all questions, the first to conduct the
government on the advice of his palace favourites. War, peace,
treaties, alliances were made or broken off by him, just as he thought
good, without any authority from either people or senate. He made a
special point of securing the Latin nation, that through his power and
influence abroad he might be safer amongst his subjects at home; he not
only formed ties of hospitality with their chief men, but established
family connections. He gave his daughter in marriage to Octavius
Mamilius of Tusculum, who was quite the foremost man of the Latin race,
descended, if we are to believe traditions, from Ulysses and the
goddess Circe; through that connection he gained many of his
son-in-law's relations and friends. he historian, and I have no
intention of establishing either their truth or their falsehood. This
much licence is conceded to the ancients, that by intermingling human
actions with divine they may confer a more august dignity on the
origins of states. Now, if any nation ought to be allowed to claim a
sacred origin and point back to a divine paternity that nation is Rome.
For such is her renown in war that when she chooses to represent Mars
as her own and her founder's father, the nation
Ab urbe condita 1.50
Tarquin had now gained considerable influence amongst the Latin
nobility, and he sent word for them to meet on a fixed date at the
Grove of Ferentina, as there were matters of mutual interest about
which he wished to consult them. They assembled in considerable numbers
at daybreak; Tarquin kept his appointment, it is true, but did not
arrive till shortly before sunset. The council spent the whole day in
discussing many topics. Turnus Herdonius, from Aricia, had made a
fierce attack on the absent Tarquin. It was no wonder, he said, that
the epithet "Tyrant" had been bestowed upon him at Rome-for this was
what people commonly called him, though only in whispers-could anything
show the tyrant more than his thus trifling with the whole Latin
nation? After summoning the chiefs from distant homes, the man who had
called the council was not present. He was in fact trying how far he
could go, so that if they submitted to the yoke he might crush them.
Who could not see that he was making his way to sovereignty over the
Latins? Even supposing that his own countrymen did well to entrust him
with supreme power, or rather that it was entrusted and not seized by
an act of parricide, the Latins ought not, even in that case, to place
it in the hands of an alien. But if his own people bitterly rue his
sway, seeing how they are being butchered, sent into exile, stripped of
all their property, what better fate can the Latins hope for? If they
followed the speaker's advice they would go home and take as little
notice of the day fixed for the council as he who had fixed it was
taking. Just while these and similar sentiments were being uttered by
the man who had gained his influence in Aricia by treasonable and
criminal practice, Tarquin appeared on the scene. That put a stop to
his speech, for all turned from the speaker to salute the king. When
silence was restored, Tarquin was advised by those near to explain why
he had come so late. He said that having been chosen as arbitrator
between a father and a son, he had been detained by his endeavours to
reconcile them, and as that matter had taken up the whole day, he would
bring forward the measures he had decided upon the next day. It is said
that even this explanation was not received by Turnus without his
commenting on it; no case, he argued, could take up less time than one
between a father and a son, it could be settled in a few words; if the
son did not comply with the father's wishes he would get into trouble.
Ab urbe condita 1.51
With these censures on the Roman king he left the council. Tarquin took
the matter more seriously than he appeared to do and at once began to
plan Turnus' death, in order that he might inspire the Latins with the
same terror through which he had crushed the spirits of his subjects at
home. As he had not the power to get him openly put to death, he
compassed his destruction by bringing a false charge against him.
Through the agency of some of the Aricians who were opposed to Turnus,
he bribed a slave of his to allow a large quantity of swords to be
carried secretly into his quarters. This plan was executed in one
night. Shortly before daybreak Tarquin summoned the Latin chiefs into
his presence, as though something had happened to give him great alarm.
He told them that his delay on the previous day had been brought about
by some divine providence, for it had proved the salvation both of them
and himself. He was informed that Turnus was planning his murder and
that of the leading men in the different cities, in order that he might
hold sole rule over the Latins. He would have attempted it the previous
day in the council; but the attempt was deferred owing to the absence
of the convener of the council, the chief object of attack. Hence the
abuse levelled against him in his absence, because his delay had
frustrated the hopes of success. If the reports which reached him were
true, he had no doubt that, on the assembling of the council at
daybreak, Turnus would come armed and with a strong body of
conspirators. It was asserted that a vast number of swords had been
conveyed to him. Whether this was an idle rumour or not could very soon
be ascertained, he asked them to go with him to Turnus. The restless,
ambitious character of Turnus, his speech of the previous day, and
Tarquin's delay, which easily accounted for the postponement of the
murder, all lent colour to their suspicions. They went, inclined to
accept Tarquin's statement, but quite prepared to regard the whole
story as baseless, if the swords were not discovered. When they
arrived, Turnus was roused from sleep and placed under guard, and the
slaves who from affection to their master were preparing to defend him
were seized. Then, when the concealed swords were produced from every
corner of his lodgings, the matter appeared only too certain and Turnus
was thrown into chains. Amidst great excitement a council of the Latins
was at once summoned. The sight of the swords, placed in the midst,
aroused such furious resentment that he was condemned, without being
heard in his defence, to an unprecedented mode of death. He was thrown
into the fountain of Ferentina and drowned by a hurdle weighted with
stones being placed over him.
Ab urbe condita 1.52
After the Latins had reassembled in council and had been commended by
Tarquin for having inflicted on Turnus a punishment befitting his
revolutionary and murderous designs, Tarquin addressed them as follows:
It was in his power to exercise a long-established right, since, as all
the Latins traced their origin to Alba, they were included in the
treaty made by Tullus under which the whole of the Alban State with its
colonies passed under the suzerainty of Rome. He thought, however, that
it would be more advantageous for all parties if that treaty were
renewed, so that the Latins could enjoy a share in the prosperity of
the Roman people, instead of always looking out for, or actually
suffering, the demolition of their towns and the devastation of their
fields, as happened in the reign of Ancus and afterwards whilst his own
father was on the throne. The Latins were persuaded without much
difficulty, although by that treaty Rome was the predominant State, for
they saw that the heads of the Latin League were giving their adhesion
to the king, and Turnus afforded a present example of the danger
incurred by any one who opposed the king's wishes. So the treaty was
renewed, and orders were issued for the "juniors" amongst the Latins to
muster under arms, in accordance with the treaty, on a given day, at
the Grove of Ferentina. In compliance with the order contingents
assembled from all the thirty towns, and with a view to depriving them
of their own general or a separate command, or distinctive standards,
he formed one Latin and one Roman century into a maniple, thereby
making one unit out of the two, whilst he doubled the strength of the
maniples, and placed a centurion over each half.
Ab urbe condita 1.53
However tyrannical the king was in his domestic administration he was
by no means a despicable general; in military skill he would have
rivalled any of his predecessors had not the degeneration of his
character in other directions prevented him from attaining distinction
here also. He was the first to stir up war with the Volscians-a war
which was to last for more than two hundred years after his time-and
took from them the city of Pomptine Suessa. The booty was sold and he
realised out of the proceeds forty talents of silver. He then sketched
out the design of a temple to Jupiter, which in its extent should be
worthy of the king of gods and men, worthy of the Roman empire, worthy
of the majesty of the City itself. He set apart the above-mentioned sum
for its construction. The next war occupied him longer than he
expected. Failing to capture the neighbouring city of Gabii by assault
and finding it useless to attempt an investment, after being defeated
under its walls, he employed methods against it which were anything but
Roman, namely, fraud and deceit. He pretended to have given up all
thoughts of war and to be devoting himself to laying the foundations of
his temple and other undertakings in the City. Meantime, it was
arranged that Sextus, the youngest of his three sons, should go as a
refugee to Gabii, complaining loudly of his father's insupportable
cruelty, and declaring that he had shifted his tyranny from others on
to his own family, and even regarded the presence of his children as a
burden and was preparing to devastate his own family as he had
devastated the senate, so that not a single descendant, not a single
heir to the crown might be left. He had, he said, himself escaped from
the murderous violence of his father, and felt that no place was safe
for him except amongst Lucius Tarquin's enemies. Let them not deceive
themselves, the war which apparently was abandoned was hanging over
them, and at the first chance he would attack them when they least
expected it. If amongst them there was no place for suppliants, he
would wander through Latium, he would petition the Volsci, the Aequi,
the Hernici, until he came to men who know how to protect children
against the cruel and unnatural persecutions of parents. Perhaps he
would find people with sufficient spirit to take up arms against a
remorseless tyrant backed by a warlike people. As it seemed probable
that if they paid no attention to him he would, in his angry mood, take
his departure, the people of Gabii gave him a kind reception. They told
him not to be surprised if his father treated his children as he had
treated his own subjects and his allies; failing others he would end by
murdering himself. They showed pleasure at his arrival and expressed
their belief that with his assistance the war would be transferred from
the gates of Gabii to the walls of Rome.
Ab urbe condita 1.54
He was admitted to the meetings of the national council. Whilst
expressing his agreement with the elders of Gabii on other subjects, on
which they were better informed, he was continually urging them to war,
and claimed to speak with special authority, because he was acquainted
with the strength of each nation, and knew that the king's tyranny,
which even his own children had found insupportable, was certainly
detested by his subjects. So after gradually working up the leaders of
the Gabinians to revolt, he went in person with some of the most eager
of the young men on foraging and plundering expeditions. By playing the
hypocrite both in speech and action, he gained their mistaken
confidence more and more; at last he was chosen as commander in the
war. Whilst the mass of the population were unaware of what was
intended, skirmishes took place between Rome and Gabii in which the
advantage generally rested with the latter, until the Gabinians from
the highest to the lowest firmly believed that Sextus Tarquin had been
sent by heaven to be their leader. As for the soldiers, he became so
endeared to them by sharing all their toils and dangers, and by a
lavish distribution of the plunder, that the elder Tarquin was not more
powerful in Rome than his son was in Gabii.
When he thought himself strong enough to succeed in anything that he
might attempt, he sent one of his friends to his father at Rome to ask
what he wished him to do now that the gods had given him sole and
absolute power in Gabii. To this messenger no verbal reply was given,
because, I believe, he mistrusted him. The king went into the
palace-garden, deep in thought, his son's messenger following him. As
he walked along in silence it is said that he struck off the tallest
poppy-heads with his stick. Tired of asking and waiting for an answer,
and feeling his mission to be a failure, the messenger returned to
Gabii, and reported what he had said and seen, adding that the king,
whether through temper or personal aversion or the arrogance which was
natural to him, had not uttered a single word. When it had become clear
to Sextus what his father meant him to understand by his mysterious
silent action, he proceeded to get rid of the foremost men of the State
by traducing some of them to the people, whilst others fell victims to
their own unpopularity. Many were publicly executed, some against whom
no plausible charges could be brought were secretly assassinated. Some
were allowed to seek safety in flight, or were driven into exile; the
property of these as well as of those who had been put to death was
distributed in grants and bribes. The gratification felt by each who
received a share blunted the sense of the public mischief that was
being wrought, until, deprived of all counsel and help, the State of
Gabii was surrendered to the Roman king without a single battle.
Ab urbe condita 1.55
After the acquisition of Gabii, Tarquin made peace with the Aequi and
renewed the treaty with the Etruscans. Then he turned his attention to
the business of the City. The first thing was the temple of Jupiter on
the Tarpeian Mount, which he was anxious to leave behind as a memorial
of his reign and name; both the Tarquins were concerned in it, the
father had vowed it, the son completed it. That the whole of the area
which the temple of Jupiter was to occupy might be wholly devoted to
that deity, he decided to deconsecrate the fanes and chapels, some of
which had been originally vowed by King Tatius at the crisis of his
battle with Romulus, and subsequently consecrated and inaugurated.
Tradition records that at the commencement of this work the gods sent a
divine intimation of the future vastness of the empire, for whilst the
omens were favourable for the deconsecration of all the other shrines,
they were unfavourable for that of the fane of Terminus. This was
interpreted to mean that as the abode of Terminus was not moved and he
alone of all the deities was not called forth from his consecrated
borders, so all would be firm and immovable in the future empire. This
augury of lasting dominion was followed by a prodigy which portended
the greatness of the empire. It is said that whilst they were digging
the foundations of the temple, a human head came to light with the face
perfect; this appearance unmistakably portended that the spot would be
the stronghold of empire and the head of all the world. This was the
interpretation given by the soothsayers in the City, as well as by
those who had been called into council from Etruria. The king's designs
were now much more extensive; so much so that his share of the spoils
of Pometia, which had been set apart to complete the work, now hardly
met the cost of the foundations. This makes me inclined to trust Fabius
-who, moreover is the older authority-when he says that the amount was
only forty talents, rather than Piso, who states that forty thousand
pounds of silver were set apart for that object. For not only is such a
sum more than could be expected from the spoils of any single city at
that time, but it would more than suffice for the foundations of the
most magnificent building of the present day.
Ab urbe condita 1.56
Determined to finish his temple, he sent for workmen from all parts of
Etruria, and not only used the public treasury to defray the cost, but
also compelled the plebeians to take their share of the work. This was
in addition to their military service, and was anything but a light
burden. Still they felt it less of a hardship to build the temples of
the gods with their own hands, than they did afterwards when they were
transferred to other tasks less imposing, but involving greater
toil-the construction of the "ford" in the Circus and that of the
Cloaca Maxima, a subterranean tunnel to receive all the sewage of the
City. The magnificence of these two works could hardly be equalled by
anything in the present day. When the plebeians were no longer required
for these works, he considered that such a multitude of unemployed
would prove a burden to the State, and as he wished the frontiers of
the empire to be more widely colonised, he sent colonists to Signia and
Circeii to serve as a protection to the City by land and sea. While he
was carrying out these undertakings a frightful portent appeared; a
snake gliding out of a wooden column created confusion and panic in the
palace. The king himself was not so much terrified as filled with
anxious forebodings. The Etruscan soothsayers were only employed to
interpret prodigies which affected the State; but this one concerned
him and his house personally, so he decided to send to the world-famed
oracle of Delphi. Fearing to entrust the oracular response to any one
else, he sent two of his sons to Greece, through lands at that time
unknown and over seas still less known. Titus and Arruns started on
their journey. They had as a travelling companion L. Junius Brutus, the
son of the king's sister, Tarquinia, a young man of a very different
character from that which he had assumed. When he heard of the massacre
of the chiefs of the State, amongst them his own brother, by his
uncle's orders, he determined that his intelligence should give the
king no cause for alarm nor his fortune any provocation to his avarice,
and that as the laws afforded no protection, he would seek safety in
obscurity and neglect. Accordingly he carefully kept up the appearance
and conduct of an idiot, leaving the king to do what he liked with his
person and property, and did not even protest against his nickname of
"Brutus"; for under the protection of that nickname the soul which was
one day to liberate Rome was awaiting its destined hour. The story runs
that when brought to Delphi by the Tarquins, more as a butt for their
sport than as a companion, he had with him a golden staff enclosed in a
hollow one of corner wood, which he offered to Apollo as a mystical
emblem of his own character. After executing their father's commission
the young men were desirous of ascertaining to which of them the
kingdom of Rome would come. A voice came from the lowest depths of the
cavern: "Whichever of you, young men, shall be the first to kiss his
mother, he shall hold supreme sway in Rome." Sextus had remained behind
in Rome, and to keep him in ignorance of this oracle and so deprive him
of any chance of coming to the throne, the two Tarquins insisted upon
absolute silence being kept on the subject. They drew lots to decide
which of them should be the first to kiss his mother on their return to
Rome. Brutus, thinking that the oracular utterance had another meaning,
pretended to stumble, and as he fell kissed the ground, for the earth
is of course the common mother of us all. Then they returned to Rome,
where preparations were being energetically pushed forward for a war
with the Rutulians.
Ab urbe condita 1.57
This people, who were at that time in possession of Ardea, were,
considering the nature of their country and the age in which they
lived, exceptionally wealthy. This circumstance really originated the
war, for the Roman king was anxious to repair his own fortune, which
had been exhausted by the magnificent scale of his public works, and
also to conciliate his subjects by a distribution of the spoils of war.
His tyranny had already produced disaffection, but what moved their
special resentment was the way they had been so long kept by the king
at manual and even servile labour. An attempt was made to take Ardea by
assault; when that failed recourse was had to a regular investment to
starve the enemy out. When troops are stationary, as is the case in a
protracted more than in an active campaign, furloughs are easily
granted, more so to the men of rank, however, than to the common
soldiers. The royal princes sometimes spent their leisure hours in
feasting and entertainments, and at a wine party given by Sextus
Tarquinius at which Collatinus, the son of Egerius, was present, the
conversation happened to turn upon their wives, and each began to speak
of his own in terms of extraordinarily high praise. As the dispute
became warm, Collatinus said that there was no need of words, it could
in a few hours be ascertained how far his Lucretia was superior to all
the rest. "Why do we not," he exclaimed, "if we have any youthful
vigour about us, mount our horses and pay our wives a visit and find
out their characters on the spot? What we see of the behaviour of each
on the unexpected arrival of her husband, let that be the surest test."
They were heated with wine, and all shouted: "Good! Come on!" Setting
spur to their horses they galloped off to Rome, where they arrived as
darkness was beginning to close in. Thence they proceeded to Collatia,
where they found Lucretia very differently employed from the king's
daughters-in-law, whom they had seen passing their time in feasting and
luxury with their acquaintances. She was sitting at her wool work in
the hall, late at night, with her maids busy round her. The palm in
this competition of wifely virtue was awarded to Lucretia. She welcomed
the arrival of her husband and the Tarquins, whilst her victorious
spouse courteously invited the royal princes to remain as his guests.
Sextus Tarquin, inflamed by the beauty and exemplary purity of
Lucretia, formed the vile project of effecting her dishonour. After
their youthful frolic they returned for the time to camp.
Ab urbe condita 1.58
A few days afterwards Sextus Tarquin went, unknown to Collatinus, with
one companion to Collatia. He was hospitably received by the household,
who suspected nothing, and after supper was conducted to the bedroom
set apart for guests. When all around seemed safe and everybody fast
asleep, he went in the frenzy of his passion with a naked sword to the
sleeping Lucretia, and placing his left hand on her breast, said,
"Silence, Lucretia! I am Sextus Tarquin, and I have a sword in my hand;
if you utter a word, you shall die." When the woman, terrified out of
her sleep, saw that no help was near, and instant death threatening
her, Tarquin began to confess his passion, pleaded, used threats as
well as entreaties, and employed every argument likely to influence a
female heart. When he saw that she was inflexible and not moved even by
the fear of death, he threatened to disgrace her, declaring that he
would lay the naked corpse of the slave by her dead body, so that it
might be said that she had been slain in foul adultery. By this awful
threat, his lust triumphed over her inflexible chastity, and Tarquin
went off exulting in having successfully attacked her honour. Lucretia,
overwhelmed with grief at such a frightful outrage, sent a messenger to
her father at Rome and to her husband at Ardea, asking them to come to
her, each accompanied by one faithful friend; it was necessary to act,
and to act promptly; a horrible thing had happened. Spurius Lucretius
came with Publius Valerius, the son of Volesus; Collatinus with Lucius
Junius Brutus, with whom he happened to be returning to Rome when he
was met by his wife's messenger. They found Lucretia sitting in her
room prostrate with grief. As they entered, she burst into tears, and
to her husband's inquiry whether all was well, replied, "No! what can
be well with a woman when her honour is lost? The marks of a stranger,
Collatinus, are in your bed. But it is only the body that has been
violated, the soul is pure; death shall bear witness to that. But
pledge me your solemn word that the adulterer shall not go unpunished.
It is Sextus Tarquin, who, coming as an enemy instead of a guest,
forced from me last night by brutal violence a pleasure fatal to me,
and, if you are men, fatal to him." They all successively pledged their
word, and tried to console the distracted woman by turning the guilt
from the victim of the outrage to the perpetrator, and urging that it
is the mind that sins, not the body, and where there has been no
consent there is no guilt. "It is for you," she said, "to see that he
gets his deserts; although I acquit myself of the sin, I do not free
myself from the penalty; no unchaste woman shall henceforth live and
plead Lucretia's example." She had a knife concealed in her dress which
she plunged into her heart, and fell dying on the floor. Her father and
husband raised the death-cry.
Ab urbe condita 1.59
Whilst they were absorbed in grief, Brutus drew the knife from
Lucretia's wound, and holding it, dripping with blood, in front of him,
said, "By this blood-most pure before the outrage wrought by the king's
son-I swear, and you, O gods, I call to witness that I will drive hence
Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, together with his cursed wife and his whole
brood, with fire and sword and every means in my power, and I will not
suffer them or any one else to reign in Rome." Then he handed the knife
to Collatinus and then to Lucretius and Valerius, who were all
astounded at the marvel of the thing, wondering whence Brutus had
acquired this new character. They swore as they were directed; all
their grief changed to wrath, and they followed the lead of Brutus, who
summoned them to abolish the monarchy forthwith. They carried the body
of Lucretia from her home down to the Forum, where, owing to the
unheard-of atrocity of the crime, they at once collected a crowd. Each
had his own complaint to make of the wickedness and violence of the
royal house. Whilst all were moved by the father's deep distress,
Brutus bade them stop their tears and idle laments, and urged them to
act as men and Romans and take up arms against their insolent foes. All
the high-spirited amongst the younger men came forward as armed
volunteers, the rest followed their example. A portion of this body was
left to hold Collatia, and guards were stationed at the gates to
prevent any news of the movement from reaching the king; the rest
marched in arms to Rome with Brutus in command. On their arrival, the
sight of so many men in arms spread panic and confusion wherever they
marched, but when again the people saw that the foremost men of the
State were leading the way, they realised that whatever the movement
was it was a serious one. The terrible occurrence created no less
excitement in Rome than it had done in Collatia; there was a rush from
all quarters of the City to the Forum. When they had gathered there,
the herald summoned them to attend the "Tribune of the Celeres"; this
was the office which Brutus happened at the time to be holding. He made
a speech quite out of keeping with the character and temper he had up
to that day assumed. He dwelt upon the brutality and licentiousness of
Sextus Tarquin, the infamous outrage on Lucretia and her pitiful death,
the bereavement sustained by her father, Tricipitinus, to whom the
cause of his daughter's death was more shameful and distressing than
the actual death itself. Then he dwelt on the tyranny of the king, the
toils and sufferings of the plebeians kept underground clearing out
ditches and sewers-Roman men, conquerors of all the surrounding
nations, turned from warriors into artisans and stonemasons! He
reminded them of the shameful murder of Servius Tullius and his
daughter driving in her accursed chariot over her father's body, and
solemnly invoked the gods as the avengers of murdered parents. By
enumerating these and, I believe, other still more atrocious incidents
which his keen sense of the present injustice suggested, but which it
is not easy to give in detail, he goaded on the incensed multitude to
strip the king of his sovereignty and pronounce a sentence of
banishment against Tarquin with his wife and children. With a picked
body of the "Juniors," who volunteered to follow him, he went off to
the camp at Ardea to incite the army against the king, leaving the
command in the City to Lucretius, who had previously been made Prefect
of the City by the king. During the commotion Tullia fled from the
palace amidst the execrations of all whom she met, men and women alike
invoking against her her father's avenging spirit.
Ab urbe condita 1.60 Ab urbe condita
When the news of these proceedings reached the camp, the king, alarmed
at the turn affairs were taking, hurried to Rome to quell the outbreak.
Brutus, who was on the same road had become aware of his approach, and
to avoid meeting him took another route, so that he reached Ardea and
Tarquin Rome almost at the same time, though by different ways. Tarquin
found the gates shut, and a decree of banishment passed against him;
the Liberator of the City received a joyous welcome in the camp, and
the king's sons were expelled from it. Two of them followed their
father into exile amongst the Etruscans in Caere. Sextus Tarquin
proceeded to Gabii, which he looked upon as his kingdom, but was killed
in revenge for the old feuds he had kindled by his rapine and murders.
Lucius Tarquinius Superbus reigned twenty-five years. The whole
duration of the regal government from the foundation of the City to its
liberation was two hundred and forty-four years. Two consuls were then
elected in the assembly of centuries by the prefect of the City, in
accordance with the regulations of Servius Tullius. They were Lucius
Junius Brutus and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus.
End of Book 1
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