Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/989

TARQUINIUS. TARQUINIUS. 977 STEMMA TARQUINIORUM. Demaratus of Corinth. I I Lucumo, afterwards L. Tarquinius Priscus. I Tarquinia, m. Servius Tullius. I M. Brutus, pr.t to death by Tarquinius. I Tarquinia, I. M. Brutus. L. Brutus, the Consul. L. Tarquinius SUPERBUS. Aruns. Titus. Sextus. Aruns. I Aruns. Egerius, commander of Collatia. Tarquinius CoUatinus, m. Lucretia. but this war is not mentioned hy Dionysius, and is referred by Livy (i. 55) to Tarquinius Superbus. Although the wars of Tarquinius were of great celebrity, the important works which he executed in peace have made his name still more famous. Many of these works are ascribed in some stories to the second Tarquinius, but almost all traditions agree in assigning to the elder Tarquinius the erec- tion of the vast sewers by which the lower parts of the city were drained, and which still remain, with not a stone displaced, to bear witness to his power and wealth. (See Did. of Antiq art. Cloaca.) The quay by which the Tiber is banked, and through which the sewer opens into it, must clearly have been executed at the same time, and may therefore be safely ascribed to the elder Tarquinius. The same king is also said in some traditions to have laid out the Circus Maximus in the valley which had been redeemed from water by the sewers, and also to have instituted the Great or Roman Games, which were henceforth performed in the Circus. The Forum, with its porticoes and rows of shops, was also his work, and he likewise began to surround the city with a stone wall, a work which was finished by his successor Servius Tullius. The building of the Capitoline temple is moreover attributed to the elder Tarquinius, though most traditions ascribe this work to his son, and only the vow to the father. Tarquinius also made some changes in the consti- tution of the state. He added a hundred new members to the senate, who were called patres minorum gentium, to distinguish them from the old senators, who were now called patres majorum gentium. He wished to aod to the three centuries of equites established by Romulus three new cen- turies, and to call them after himself and two of his friends. His plan was opposed by the augur Attus Navius, who gave a convincing proof that the gods were opposed to his purpose. [Navius.] Accordingly he gave up his design of establishing new centuries, but to each of the former centuries he associated another under the same name, so that henceforth there were the first and second Ramnes, Titles, and Luceres. He increased the number of Vestal Virgins from four to six. VOL. III. Tarquinius had reigned thirty-eight years, when he was assassinated by the contrivance of the sons of Ancus Marcius. They had long wished to take vengeance upon him on account of their being de- prived of the throne, and now fearing lest he should secure the succession to his son-in-law Servius Tul- lius, they hired two countrymen, who, feigning to have a quarrel, came before the king to have their dispute decided ; and while he was listening to the complaint of one, the other gave him a deadly wound with his axe. But the sons of Marcius did not se- cure the reward of their crime, for Servius Tullius, with the assistance of Tanaquil, succeeded to the vacant throne. Tarquinius left two sons and two daughters. His two sons, L. Tarquinius and Aruns, were subsequently married to the two daughters of Servius Tullius. One of his daughters was mar- ried to Servius Tullius, and the other to M. Bnitus, by whom she became the mother of the celebrated L. Brutus, the first consul at Rome. The princi- pal authorities for the life of Tarquinius Priscus are Livy (i. 34—41), Dionysius (iii. 46—73, iv. 1), and Cicero {de Rep. iii. 20.). The life of Servius Tullius is given under Tul- lius. There it is related how he was murdered, after a reign of forty-four years, by his son-in law, L. Tarquinius, who hjfd been urged on by his wicked wife to commit the dreadful deed. The Roman writers represent the younger Tarquinius as a cruel and tyrannical monarch, and the fact of his being the last king of Rome has doubtless contributed not a little to blacken his character. The estimation in which he was held by the Romans is shown by his surname of Superbus. L. Tarquinius Superbus commenced his reign without any of the forms of election. He seized the kingdom as a recovered inheritance, and did not wait to be elected by the senate or the people, or to receive the imperiura from the curiae. One of the first acts of his reign was to abolish all the privileges which had been conferred upon the plebeians by Servius, since the patricians had assisted him in obtaining the kingdom. He forbade the meetings of the tribes, and repealed the laws which had conferred civil equality upon the plebeians, and which had abolished the right of 3 k