Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/992

980 TARQUITIA. attempts to establish the Latin origin ofTarquinius by several considerations. He remarks that we read of a Tarquinia gens ; that tlie surname Priscus of the elder Tarquinius was a regular Latin surname, which occurs in the family of the Servilii and many others ; and lastly, that the wife of the elder Tar- quinius was called in one tradition, not Tanaquil, but Caia Caecilia, a name which may be traced to Caeculus, the mythic founder of Praeneste. These arguments, however, have not much weight, and certainly are insufficient to refute the universally received belief of antiquity in the Etruscan origin of the Tarquins, which is, moreover, confirmed by the great architectural works undertaken in the time of the last Roman kings, works to which no Sabine or Latin town could lay claim, and which at that time could have been accomplished by the Etruscans alone. Moreover the tradition which connects Tarquinius with the Luceres, the third ancient Roman tribe, again points to Etruria ; for although Niebuhr looks upon the Luceres as Latins, most subsequent scholars have with far more pro- bability supposed the third tribe to have been of Etruscan origin. (Comp. Becker, Handhuch der Romisclien Alterthumer, vol. ii. pait i. p. 30.) The statement of Dionysius that Tarquinius Priscus conquered the whole of Etruria, and was acknow- ledged by the twelve Etruscan cities as their ruler, to whom they paid homage, must certainly be rejected, when we recollect the small extent of the Roman dominions under the preceding king, and the great power and extensive territory of the Etruscans at that time. It is far more probable that Rome was conquered by the Etruscans, and that the epoch of the Tarquins represents an Etruscan rule at Rome. This is the opinion of K. 0. Miiller. He supposes that the town of Tarqiiinii was at this time at the head of Etruria, and that the twelve Etruscan cities did homage to the ruler of Tarquinii. He further supposes that Rome as well as a part of Latium acknowledged the supremacy of Tarquinii ; and that as Rome was the most important of the possessions of Tar- quinii towards the south, it was fortified and enlarged, and thus became a great and flourishing city. Many Tarquinian nobles would naturally take up their abode at Rome, and one of them might have been entrusted by Tarquinii with the government of the city. Miiller however thinks that L. Tarquinius is not the real name of the Etruscan ruler, but that Lucius is the Latinized form of Lucumo, and that Tarquinius merely indicates his origin from Tarquinii. According to Miiller the banishment of the Tarquins was not an isolated event confined to Rome, but was connected with the fall of the city of Tarquinii, which lost at that time its supremacy over the other Etruscan cities. (Miiller. Etrusker, vol. i. p. 118, &c.) TARQUI'NIUS. 1. P. Tarquinius, tribune of the plebs with Livius Drusus, B.C. 91, sup- ported the latter in the laws which he proposed. (J. Obseq. c. 114.) 2. L. Tarquinius, one of Catiline's conspirators, turned informer, and accused M. Crassus of being privv to the conspiracy. (Sail. Cut. 48.) TARQUI'TIA GENS, was of patrician rank, and of great antiquity, but only one member of it is mentioned, namely L. Tarquitius Flaccus, who was magister equitum to the dictator Cincin- natns in B. c. 458 [Flaccus]. The other Tar- quitii whose names occur towards the end of the TATIANUS. republic, can scarcely be regarded as members of the patrician gens. TARQUI'TIUS. 1. A Roman writer, who translated from the Etruscan a work entitled Os- tentarium Tuscum. (Plin. H. N. in Catal. Auctor. lib. ii. ; Macrob. Sat. iii. 7 ; Serv. ad Virg. Ed. iv. 43 ; Festus, p. 274, ed. MUller ; MuUer, Etrusker^ vol. ii. p. 36.) 2. L. Tarquitius, mentioned by Cicero in B. c. 50. (Cic. ad Att. vi. 8. § 4.) 3. Q. Tarquitius, occurs only on coins, of which a specimen is annexed. The obverse repre- sents a woman's head with c. annivs, and the reverse Victory in a biga, with Q. tarquiti. A similar coin is figured in Vol. I. p. 180, with the name of L, Fabius on the obverse ; and Eckhel supposes that Q. Tarquitius and L, Fabius were the quaestors of C. Annius, who fought in Spain against Sertorius in B. c. 82. (Eckhel, vol. v. pp. 134, 322.) coin of q. tarquitius. TARQUI'TIUS PRISCUS. [Priscus.] TARRUNTE'NUS PATERNUS. [Pater- NUS.] TA'RTARUS (Taprapos), a son of Aether and Ge, and by his mother Ge the father of the Gi- gantes, Typhoeus and Echidna, (Hygin. Praef. p. 3, &c.. Fab. 152 ; Hes. Theog. 821 ; Apollod. ii. 1. § 2.) In the Iliad Tartarus is a place far below the earth, as far below Hades as Heaven is above the earth, and closed by iron gates. (Hom. II. viii. 13, &c,, 481 ; comp. Hes. TJieog. 807.) Later poets describe Tartarus as the place in the lower world in which the spirits of wicked men are punished for their crimes, and sometimes they use the name as synonymous with Hades or the lower world in general ; and pater Tartarus is used for Pluto. (Val. Flacc. iv. 258.) [L. S.] TARU'TIUS FIRMIA'NUS. [Firmianus.] TASGE'TIUS, was of a noble family among the Carnutes, and was made king of his people by Caesar, but was assassinated in the third year of his reign. (Caes, B. G. v. 25). TAblACES. [Sabaces.] TATIA'NUS (Tarmj/os), a Christian writer of the second century, was born, according to his own statement {Orat. ad Graecos., sub fin.) in Assyria, and was educated in the religion and philosopliy of the Greeks, (ibid.) Clement of Alexandria (^'^ro?n. lib. iii. c. xii. $ 81, ed Klotz. Lips. 1831), Epi- phanius, in the body of his work {Haeres. xlvi.), and Theodi^ret {Haeret. Fahul. Comfc.ndiim., lib. i. c. 20), call him " the Syrian," or " a Syrian by race;" but Epiphanius, in another place {adv. Haeres. Indicul. ad lib. i. vol. iii.), followed by Joannes Damascenus (Z)e Haeresib. apud Coteler. Eccles. Graec. Monum. vol. i. p. 292). says he was a Mesopotamian ; a statement which is adopted by Cave and some other moderns. Tatian's own au- thority would of course be decisive, were it not for the vagueness with which the names Assyria and