Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/991

TARQUINIUS. of young men attended the funeral procession to Uonie. Brutus, who was Tribunus Celerum, sum- moned the people, and related the deed of shame. All classes were inflamed with the same indignation. A decree was passed deposing the king, and banish- ing him and his family from the , city. Brutus now set out for the army at Ardea. Tarquinius meantime had hastened to Rome, but found the gates closed against him. Brutus was received with joy at Ardea; and the army likewise re- nounced their allegiance to the tyrant. Tarquinius, with his two sons, Titus and Aruns, took refuge at Caere in Etruria. Sextus repaired to Gabii, his own principality, where, according to Livy, he was shortly after murdered by the friends of those whom he had put to death. Tarquinius reigned twenty-live years. His banishment was placed in the year of the city 244, or B. c. 510. (Liv. i. 49—60; Dionys. iv. 41 — 75 ; Cic. de Rep. ii. 24, 25.) The remainder of the story may be told with greater brevity. The history of the establish- ment of the republic and of the attempts of Tar- quinius to recover the sovereignty, has already been related in detail in other articles. L. Brutus and Tarquinius CoUatinus were the first consuls ; but the people so hated the very name and race of the dethroned king, that CoUatinus was obliged to resign his office, and retire from Rome. P. Vale- rius was elected consul in his place. [Collati- Nus.] Meantime ambassadors came to Rome from Tarquinii, to which city Tarquinius had removed from Caere, demanding the restitution of his pri- vate property. The demand seemed just to the senate and the people ; but while the ambassadors were making preparation for carrying away the property, they found means to organize a conspi- racy among the young Roman nobles for the restor- ation of the royal family. The plot was discovered by means of a slave, and the consul Brutus ordered the execution of his two sons, who were parties to the plot. The agreement to give up the property was made void by this attempt at treason. The royal goods were abandoned to the people to plun- der, and their landed estates were divided among the poor, with the exception of the plain between the city and the river, which was reserved for public uses. This plain was consecrated to Mars, and called the Campus Martius. Tarquinius now endeavoured to recover the throne by force ot" arms. The people of Tarquinii and Veil espoused his cause, and marched against Rome. The two consuls advanced to meet them. A bloody battle was fought, in which Brutus and Aruns, the son of Tarquinius, slew each other. Both parties claimed the victory, till a voice was heard in the dead of night, proclaiming that the Romans had conquered, as the Etrascans had lost one man more. Alarmed at this, the Etruscans fled, and Valerius, the surviving consul, entered Rome in triumph. Tarquinius next repaired to Lars Porsena, the powerful king of Clusium, who likewise espoused his cause, and marched against Rome at the head of a vast army. The history of this memorable expedition, vv'hich was long preserved in the Ro- man lays, is related under Porsena. After Porsena quitted Rome, Tarquinius took refuge with his son-in-law, Mamilius Octavius of Tusculura. Under the guidance of the latter, the Latin states espoused the cause of the exiled king, and eventually declared war against Rome. The TARQUINIUS. 979 contest was decided by the battle of the lake Re- gill us, which was long celebrated in song, and the description of which in Livy resembles one of the battles in the Iliad. The Romans were com- manded by the dictator, A. Postumius, and by his lieutenant, T. Aebutius, the master of the knights ; the Latins were headed by Tarquinius and Oc- tavius Mamilius. The struggle was fierce and bloody, but the Latins at length turned to flight. Almost all the chiefs on either side fell in the conflict, or were grievously wounded. Tarquinius himself was wounded, but escaped with his life ; his son Sextus is said to have fallen in this battle, though, according to another tradition, as we have already seen, he is said to have been slain by the inhabitants of Gabii. It was related in the old tradition, that the Romans gained this battle by the assistance of the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux), who were seen charging the Latins at the head of the Roman cavalry, and who after- wards carried to Rome the intelligence of the de- feat of the Latins. A temple was built in the forum on the spot where they appeared, and their festival was celebrated yearly on the Ides of Quin- tilis (the 15th of July), the day of the battle of Regillus, on which all the knights passed in solemn procession to their temple. According to Livy the battle of the lake Regillus was fought in B. c. 498, but he says that some of the annals placed it in B. c. 496, in which year it is given by Dionysius (vi. 3) and in the Fasti Capitolini. The Latins were completely humbled by this victory. Tarquinius Superbus had no other state to whom he could apply for assistance. Pie had already survived all his family ; and he now fled to Aristobulus at Cumae, where he died a wretched and childless old man. (Liv. ii. 1 — 21 ; Dionys. v. 1— vi. 21.) In the preceding account we have attempted to give the story of the Tarquins as nearly as possible in the words of the ancient writers. But it is hardly necessary to remark in the present day that this story cannot be received as a real history, or to point out the numerous inconsistencies and impossibilities in the narrative. It may suffice as a sample to remind the reader that the younger Tarquinius who was expelled from Rome in mature age, was the son of the king who ascended the throne 107 years previously in the vigour of life ; and that Servius TuUius, who married the daughter of Tarquinius Priscus, shortly before he ascended the throne, immediately after his accession is the father of two daughters whom he marries to the brothers of his own wife. It would be a fruitless task to endeavour to ascertain the real history of the later Roman monarchy ; for although the legend has doubtless preserved some facts, yet we have no criteria to determine the true from the false. The story of the Tarquins has evidently been drawn from the works of several popular poets, and there can be little doubt that one at least of the writers must have become acquainted with Greek literature from the Greek colonies in southern Italy. The stratagem by which Tarquinius obtained possession of Gabii is obviously taken from a tale in Herodotus (iii. 154), and similar cases might easily be multi- plied. Hence we may account for the Greek origin of the Tarquins. There is, however, one fact in the common tale which it is impossible to disbelieve, although it has been questioned by Niebuhr, we mean the Etruscan origin of the Tarquins. Niebuhr 3r 2