CHAPTER III. ~~ THE STORY OF THE ELDER TARQUIN.
Demaratus was lord of Corinth in the land of Greece. This Demaratus had a son who, having been driven from Corinth by strife among the citizens, came to Tarquinii that is in the land of Etruria, and dwelt there. And having married a wife, he had two sons born to him, Lucumo and Aruns. (It was the custom of the princes of the Etrurians to call the eldest son Lucumo and the younger Aruns.) This Lucumo, being very wealthy (for his father had left to him all his riches, his brother Aruns having died), took to wife a certain Tanaquil that was a noble lady in those parts. Now Tanaquil could not endure that any should be preferred before him, wherefore when the people of Tarquinii despised Lucumo, because he was the son of a stranger, Tanaquil could not endure it, and caring not for her country, if only she could see her husband held in honour, purposed to depart thence and dwell elsewhere. And of all places Rome seemed to her the best, being a new country wherein men were honoured for their deservings rather than for their birth, and he that should show himself brave and diligent would find occasion to win renown. So Numa, coming from Cures that is in the land of the Sabines, had been called to the kingdom. King Ancus also was born of a mother that was a Sabine, nor was noble at all save for his kinship to Numa. With these words she easily persuaded her husband, so that, gathering together all his possessions, he departed from Tarquinii to Rome. And when he came near to the city, at the hill that is called Janiculum, there happened to him this marvel. As he sat in the chariot with his wife, an eagle, having its wings stretched out, descended slowly upon him from the sky, and carried off the hat that was upon his head. Then for a while it flew over the chariot, making a great crying, and afterwards, as it had been inspired to do this office, set it back upon his head, and so vanished into the air. Now all the women of the Etrurians have great knowledge of augury (for so they call the signs and tokens of birds), and Tanaquil was of good courage when she saw what the eagle had done, and she embraced her husband, and bade him hope for great honours in Rome; for the bird, she said, had come from the sky, and the sign that it showed concerned the crown of a man, for it had taken from his head the glory that man's hand set upon it, that it might give it back to him from the gods. So Lucumo and Tanaquil his wife came to Rome, hoping to do great things; and the man dwelt there, giving out that his name was Tarquinius. And because he was a new comer and wealthy, men took the more note of him; also he would speak courteously to all men, and use much hospitality, and do such service as he could to them that had need of it And after a while King Ancus heard of him, and made acquaintance with him, which acquaintance grew into friendship, till at the last, having found him faithful and ready in all that was put into his charge, whether at home or abroad, he appointed him to be guardian to his children.
After this King Ancus died, having reigned twenty and four years, and left two sons, not yet old enough to reign, yet nearly grown to manhood. And some would have delayed the choosing of a king till these should be come to full age, but Tarquinius counselled that he should be chosen forthwith. And when the day for this choosing was appointed, having sent out the lads to hunt, he spake to the people after this manner. "This is no new thing that I seek the kingdom at your hands; for Tatius the Sabine became your king, having been before not a stranger only but also an enemy; and Numa also was called to this dignity, though he sought not for it. As for me, I came hither so soon as I was master of myself; and of the years of my manhood, I have lived in Rome more than in my own country; nor have I been ill taught the ways of a King, ministering to Ancus both at home and abroad."
With these words he persuaded the people that they chose him to be king. Being so chosen he did many things that pleased the people; for having waged war with the Latins, and taken one of their cities and with it much booty, he built the great circus, and fetched horses and boxers from the land of Etruria to make sport. This became a custom year by year; and they called these games the Great Games of Rome.
Afterwards he would have compassed the city with a wall of stone; but while he was busy with the building of it the Sabines came upon him. And this they did with such speed that they had crossed the Anio before ever the Romans were ready to meet them; and when they fought many were slain on both sides, but neither had the victory. Now when the King, the enemy having returned to their camp, had space to consider how he might best make his army the stronger, it seemed that it would profit him most if he should increase the number of his horsemen, of whom there were three companies only. But when he was minded to add others to them, and to call them after his own name, one Attus Navius, that was a famous soothsayer in those days, withstood him. "For," said he, "King Romulus made these companies in due form, and thou mayest not add to their number, unless the gods permit, signifying their will by the voices of birds." But the King was wroth to hear these words, and mocked the soothsayers art, saying, "Come now, thou wise man, divine unto me, can that which I think in my heart be done, or no?" Attus answered, having first made trial of his art, "Of a surety it can be done." Then said the King, "I thought this thing in my heart, that thou shouldest cut asunder this whetstone with a razor. Take it, therefore, and cut it asunder; for thy birds will have it that thou canst." And straightway Attus took the whetstone and cut it asunder. So they made a statue of him, standing with his head covered, in the place where the thing was done; even in the place of assembly, on the right hand of the steps by which a man goes up to the senate-house. And by his side they laid the stone to be a memorial of this miracle to them that should come after. Certainly there came such honour to the soothsayers that nothing thereafter was done at home or abroad except they first allowed it; and if an assembly of the people was called or the army gathered together, it must be dispersed again unless the birds should signify that it was according to the pleasure of the gods. King Tarquin, therefore, changed not the number or the name of the companies. Only he added to each as many more horsemen as it had at the first.
After this there was yet another battle with the Sabines; and these fled before the Romans, the horsemen especially doing good service against them. And the King sent them that were taken captive and the booty to Rome; but the arms of those that were slain he made into a great heap, and burned them with fire, for he had vowed thus to Vulcan, that is the god of fire. And the King took Collatia, that is a town of the Sabines, from them, and afterwards he subdued the whole nation of the Latins that it became obedient to Rome.
They tell this story also of King Tarquin. There came to him one day a woman bearing twelve books, which she said were books of prophecies, wherein were written all things that should come to pass thereafter concerning the city of Rome. These books she would have sold to him. But because he knew not who she was, nor what she brought, and also because the price of the books seemed great out of measure, he would have none of them. Then the woman departed, and having burned three of the books with fire, brought back the nine that remained, and would sell them. And the price that she had demanded for the twelve, this she asked without abatement for the nine. And when the King would not buy, she departed and burned three more; and so returning would sell the six; but the price was that which she demanded for the twelve. Then the King, being greatly astonished, asked counsel of the priests and the soothsayers, and so bought the books. These were kept with great care and honour at Rome; and when in time to come there arose great need or peril in the city, then there were appointed men of repute who should open the books and learn what had best be done.
In those days there happened, in the palace of the King, a great marvel. There was a certain slave boy whose name was Servius Tullius. The head of this boy, as he slept, was seen to burn with fire; and when the King and the Queen had been called to see this strange thing, and certain of the servants would have fetched water wherewith to quench the fire, Queen Tanaquil would not suffer them, but commanded that they should leave the child as he lay. And when he woke from his sleep, lo! the flame departed. Then said Queen Tanaquil to her husband, "Seest thou this boy whom we rear in this humble fashion? Know that he will be in time to come a light in our darkness, and a succour to our house in its great trouble. Let us, therefore, use all favour and kindness to him." Thereafter they dealt with the lad as though he were free-born and not a slave, and gave him such teaching as befits them that are born to high place. The lad also, on his part, showed such parts and temper as befitted the house of a king; and when Tarquin would choose a husband for his daughter there was not found one fitter for such honour than Servius. So the King betrothed to him his daughter. Yet is it scarce to be believed that he would have done this thing if Servius had been indeed born of a bond-woman. Some say, therefore, and the story seems worthy of belief, that he was the son of a great lady of Corniculum, which was a town of the Latins; that this town being taken by King Tarquin, Servius Tullius, that was its chief ruler, was slain, whose wife, being with child, was carried to Rome; and that because she was of noble birth she was not sold into slavery with the other women but taken into the King's palace, and there bare this child, of whom, because his mother had been taken captive in war, men said that he was the son of a slave.
Now the sons of Ancus, since they had been grown to manhood, had taken it ill that Tarquin had been preferred before them to the throne of their father, and now they were the more angry, seeing how he had chosen another than them to be king after him. "See, now," they said, "this fellow that is not a Roman, nay, nor an Italian, but a stranger from Greece, how being made tutor to us by the King our father, he filched the throne from us by craft, and now handeth it over to one that is the son of a bond-woman. Surely this is a shameful thing for this city and people. For the kingdom of Romulus, that is now a god in heaven, will pass within the space of a hundred years to one that is a slave."