Lucius Tarquinius Superbus

“ His reign was characterized by bloodshed and violence; the outrage of his son Sextus upon Lucretia (q.v.) precipitated a revolt, which led to the expulsion of the entire family. All Tarquinius's efforts to force his way back to the throne were vain (see Poesena) , and he died in exile at Cumae.
In the story certain Greek elements, probably later additions, may easily be distinguished. Tarquinius appears as a Greek “tyrant” of the ordinary kind, who surrounds himself with a bodyguard and erects magnificent buildings to keep "the people employed ”

“ Having been outraged by Sextus Tarquinius, one of the sons of Tarquinius Superbus, she informed her father and her husband, and, having exacted an oath of vengeance from them, stabbed herself to death. Lucius Junius Brutus, her husband’s cousin, put himself at the head of the people, drove out the Tarquins, and established a republic. ”

“ They are represented as favouring new men at the expense of the old patrician families, and as reorganising the Roman army on a new footing, a policy natural enough in military princes of alien birth." H. F. Pelham, Outlines of Roman History, book 1, chapter 3. ALSO IN: F. W. Newman, Regal Rome. T. H. Dyer, History of the Kings of Rome. ROME: B. C. 510. Expulsion of Tarquin the Proud. The story from Livy. Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, or Tarquin the Proud, son of Tarquinius Priscus and son-in-law of Servius Tullius, brought about the assassination of the latter, and mounted the throne. ”

“ The republic of Rome was the outcome of a sudden revolution caused by the crimes of the House of Tarquin, an Etruscan family who had reached the highest power at Rome. The indignation raised by the rape of Lucretia by Sextus Tarquinius, and the suicide of the outraged lady at Collatia, moved her father, in conjunction with Lucius Junius Brutus and Publius Valerius, to start a rebellion. The people were assembled by curiæ, or wards, and voted that Tarquinius Superbus should be stripped of the kingly power, and that he and all his family should be banished from Rome. ”

“ A constitutional revolution, involving such far-reaching changes, is not likely to have been carried out in primitive times with so little disturbance by a simple resolution of the people, and it probably points to a rising of Romans and Sabines against the dominion of an Etruscan family (Tarquinii, Tarchna) at that time established at Rome. ”

“ OF THE ROYAL FAMILY, AND THE ABOLITION OF THE KINGLY DIGNITY.
arquinius had ascended the throne more by the force of his fists, than by the strength of his arms; for he had aimed a blow, not only at the crown, but at the face of the unhappy sovereign who had preceded him. Carrying his hostility beyond the grave, Tarquinius refused to bury his animosity, or to grant his victim a funeral. The upstart nature of the new king gained for him the nickname of Superbus, or the proud, though he had as little to be proud of as some of the most contemptible characters in history. ”

“ The immediate cause of the expulsion of the Tarquins was "the deed of shame," committed by Sextus against Lucretia, the wife of one of the Roman governors. After two unsuccessful attempts to regain the throne, Tarquinius Superbus sought the aid of the Etruscans and Latins, and under the leadership of Lars Porsena, the head of the Etruscan League, the combined forces marched upon Rome. It was then that the incident recorded in the story of Horatius is supposed to have taken place. ”

“ The next day before dawn the Dictator came into the market-place, and appointed one Lucius Tarquinius to be Master of the Horse. This Tarquinius was held by common consent to excel all other men in exercises of war; only, though, being a noble by birth, he should have been among the horsemen, he had served, for lack of means, as a foot soldier. This done he called an assembly of the people and commanded that all the shops in the city should be shut ”

“ His riches, courage, and wisdom brought him great favor in Rome, and on the death of their king Ancus the people chose Lucius Tarquinius—as they called him, from his native city—to reign over them in his stead. He proved a valiant and successful warrior, and in times of peace did noble work. He built great sewers to drain the city, constructed a large circus or race-course, and a forum or market-place, and built a wall of stone around the city in place of the old wooden wall. ”

“ The elder Tarquin had built up the side of the Tarpeian rock and levelled the summit, to be the foundation of a temple of Jupiter, but he had not completed the work. Tarquinius Superbus now removed all the temples and shrines of the old Sabine gods which had been there since the time of Titus Tatius; but the goddess of Youth and the god Terminus kept their place, whereby was signified that the Roman people should enjoy undecaying vigor, and that the boundaries of their empire should never be drawn in. ”

“ LUCIUS TARQUINIUS PRISCUS (616-578) went to Rome first during the reign of Ancus, and, becoming a favorite of his, was appointed guardian of his sons. After the death of Ancus, he wrested the government from them, and became king himself. He increased the Senators to two hundred, carried on many wars successfully, and thus enlarged the territory of the city. He built the CLOÁCA MAXIMA, or great sewer, which is used to-day. Tarquin also began the temple of JUPITER CAPITOLÍNUS, on the Capitoline Hill. ”

“ He institutes the census; closes the lustrum, in which eighty thousand citizens are said to have been enrolled; divides the people into classes and centuries; enlarges the Pomœrium, and adds the Quirinal, Viminal, and Esquiline hills to the city; after a reign of forty years, is murdered by L. Tarquin, afterwards surnamed Superbus. He usurps the crown. Tarquin makes war on the Volsci, and, with the plunder taken from them, builds a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus. By a stratagem of his son, Sextus Tarquin, he reduces the city of Gabii ”

“ Nevertheless the son of King Tarquin ceased not to cherish in his heart the hope of the kingdom; to which hope, indeed, he was the more stirred up by Tullia his wife. For now there sprang up in the palace of the kings of Rome a monstrous growth of wickedness, to the end, it may well be believed, that the people might, for hatred of kingship and its way, come the earlier to love liberty.
Now King Tarquin had two sons, this Lucius, of whom mention has been made, a haughty and violent man, and another, Aruns by name, that was of a quiet and gentle temper. ”

“ It was from this same ridge that his Etruscan successor, Tarquinius Priscus, coming from Tarquinii (Corneto) , had his first view of the city over which he came to reign, and here the eagle, henceforth to be the emblem of Roman power, replaced upon his head the cap which it had snatched away as he was riding in his chariot. Hence, also, Lars Porsena, king of Etruria, looked upon Rome, when he came to the assistance of Tarquinius Superbus, and retired in fear of his life after he had seen specimens of Roman endurance, in Horatius Cocles, who kept the falling bridge ”

“ The first to hold the highest office were Lucius Junius Brutus and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, husband of Lucretia.
Some time after Tarquin had fled to Cære, he found an asylum at Tarquinii, and from that city made an effort to stir up a conspiracy in his favor at Rome. He sent messengers ostensibly to plead for the restoration of his property, but really for the purpose of exciting treason. There were at Rome vicious persons who regretted that they were obliged to return to regular ways, and there were patricians who disliked to see the plebeians again enjoying their rights. ”

“ Thus Tarquin was deprived of his power, after B.C. 509 ruling twenty-five years; and the Romans turned to Brutus and chose him ruler. In order, however, that the rule of one man might not suggest the kingly power, they elected also, as joint-ruler with him, the husband of Lucretia, Tarquinius Collatinus. He was believed to be hostile to the tyrants because of the outrage done his wife. Now from Tarquin Every person comes to possess wishes and desires according to his fortunes, and whatever his circumstances be, of like nature are also the opinions he acquires. ”

“ Tanaquil having kept secret her husband's death, Servius Tullius continued for some time to carry on the business of government, just as if nothing had happened. When it was at length felt that the young favourite of fortune had got the reins fairly in his hands, the murder came out, and the barbarous assassination of Tarquinius was published to the multitude. Servius was the first instance of a king who mounted the throne without the aid of the customary pair of steps, consisting of an election by the Senate, and a confirmation by the Curiæ. ”

“ After the death of the kynge was disclosed, Seruius beinge garded with a strong garrison, toke vpon him to be king, not by the consente of the people, but by the will of the Fathers. The children of Ancus vnderstanding that the kyng was aliue, and that Seruius power and force was greate, conveyed themselues in exile to Suessa Pometia: and leaste the children of Tarquinius should attempte lyke enterpryse against him, as the children of Ancus did agaynst Tarquinius, hee maryed II. of his daughters to Lucius and Aruns the chyldren of Tarquinius. ”

“ His Corinthian descent, invented by the Greeks to establish a close connexion with Rome, is impossible for chronological reasons; further, according to the genuine Roman tradition, the Tarquinii were of Etruscan, not Greek, origin. There seems to have been originally only one Tarquinius; later, when a connected story of the legendary period was constructed, two (distinguished as the “Elder” and the “Proud”) were introduced, separated by the reign of Servius Tullius, and the name of both was connected with the same events. ”

“ Tarquin, therefore, to satisfy their wishes, proclaimed war against the Ru'tuli, upon a frivolous pretence of their having entertained some malefactors, whom he had banished; and invested their chief city, Ar'dea, which lay about sixteen miles from Rome. 14. While the army was encamped before this place, the king's son Sextus Tarquinius, Collati'nus a noble Roman, and some others, sitting in a tent drinking together, the discourse turned upon wives, each man preferring the beauty and virtue of his own. ”

“ The men who dishonour them have their necks inserted in a forked pole in the Forum, and then are scourged naked until they perish. However, an attack was made upon Tarquinius by the sons of Marcius because he would not yield the sovereignty to them, but instead placed a certain Tullius, born to him by a slave woman, at the head of them all. This more than anything else displeased the patricians. The young men interested some of these in their cause, and then they fonned a plot against the king. ”

“ Getting rather too near the edge of the throne, but holding each other firmly in their respective grasps, the two combatants rolled together down the steps of the throne—an incident not to be met with in the rolls of any other Parliament. Getting immediately on to their legs they again resumed their hostile footing, when Tarquinius being younger and fresher than his antagonist, seized up the old man, now as feeble as an infant in arms, and carried his brutality to such a pitch as to pitch him down the steps of the Senate House. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Little by little Servius Tullius was entrusted with the cares of State, while the Senate or elders of the people treated him as a prince.
Now the sons of Ancus, from whom Tarquinius had stolen the crown, were indignant when they saw the former slave treated with more honour than were they, and they grew afraid lest the king should appoint Servius to succeed him. That this might not be, they determined to kill Tarquinius.
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Hiring two men, they bade them go kill the king, and they should be well rewarded for their deed. ”

“ A number of young men attended the funeral procession to Rome. Brutus summoned the people, and related the deed of shame. All classes were inflamed with the same indignation. A decree was passed deposing the king, and banishing 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 renounced their allegiance to the tyrant. Tarquin, with his two sons, Titus and Aruns, took refuge at Cæré, in Etruria. ”

“ Carrying with them these hopes and thoughts, they entered the city, and having purchased a house there, they gave out the name of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus. His being a stranger and very rich, caused him to be taken notice of by the Romans. ”

“ Upon this the Etruscans fled, knowing that ultimate victory would not be theirs. This is not the way that a modern army would have acted. Valerius returned to Rome in triumph, and the matrons mourned Brutus as the avenger of Lucretia, an entire year.
This is the time of heroes and of highly ornamented lays, and we are not surprised to find truth covered up beneath a mass of fulsome bombast. It is related that Tarquinius now obtained the help of Prince or Lars Porsena of Clusium in Etruria, and with a large army proceeded undisturbed quite up to the Janiculum Hill on his march to Rome. ”