[24.14] = tālem, as often.
[24.15] sc. esse.
[24.16] dīgressam (dīgredior) = postquam dīgressa est.
[24.17] Librī . . . appellātī: the Sibyllae were inspired maidens devoted to the worship of Apollo. The most famous, from whom Tarquin was believed to have received the Sibylline books, lived at Cumae, on the coast of Campania, in Italy. The books were placed in a vault beneath the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. When this temple was burned in 83 B.C., the senate sent envoys to Greece to make a new collection of oracular sayings. These also were deposited for a time in the temple of Jupiter after its restoration.
[Text-only version] [IX.] Iūnius Brūtus, Rōmānōrum cōnsul prīmus
Iūnius Brūtus, sorōre[1] Tarquiniī Superbī nātus, cum[2] eandem
fortūnam timēret, in quam frāter inciderat, quī ob dīvitiās et
prūdentiam ab avunculō erat occīsus, stultitiam finxit, unde
Brūtus dictus est. Profectus[3] Delphōs[4] cum Tarquiniī fīliīs,
[5] quōs pater ad Apollinem mūneribus honōrandum mīserat, baculō[5]
sambūceō aurum inclūsum dōnō[6] tulit deō. Perāctīs deinde
mandātīs patris, iuvenēs Apollinem cōnsulunt quisnam ex ipsīs
Rōmae[7] rēgnātūrus esset.[8] Respōnsum est eum Rōmae[7] summam
potestātem habitūrum, quī prīmus mātrem ōsculātus esset.[9] Tunc
[10] Brūtus, velut sī cāsū prōlāpsus[10] cecidisset, terram ōsculātus est,
scīlicet quod ea commūnis māter omnium mortālium esset.
Expulsīs rēgibus duo cōnsulēs[11] creātī sunt, Iūnius Brūtus et
Tarquinius Collātīnus[12] Lucrētiae marītus. At lībertās
modo parta[13] per dolum et prōditiōnem paene āmissa est.
[15] Erant in iuventūte Rōmānā adulēscentēs aliquot, sodālēs
adulēscentium Tarquiniōrum.[14] Hī cum lēgātīs, quōs rēx ad bona sua
repetenda Rōmam mīserat, dē restituendīs rēgibus conloquuntur,
ipsōs Brūtī cōnsulis fīliōs in societātem cōnsiliī adsūmunt. Sermōnem
eōrum ex servīs ūnus excēpit; rem ad cōnsulēs dētulit.
[20] Datae[15] ad Tarquinium lītterae manifēstum facinus fēcērunt.
Prōditōrēs in vincula coniectī sunt, deinde damnātī. Stābant ad
pālum dēligātī iuvenēs nōbilissimī; sed ā cēterīs līberī cōnsulis
omnium in sē oculōs āvertēbant. Cōnsulēs in sēdem prōcessēre[16]
suam, missīque līctōrēs nūdātōs[1] virgīs caedunt secūrīque feriunt.
[25] Suppliciī nōn spectātor modo, sed et[2] exāctor erat Brūtus,
quī tunc patrem exuit, ut cōnsulem ageret.[3]
Tarquinius deinde bellō apertō rēgnum reciperāre cōnātus[4] est.
Equitibus praeerat Ārūns, Tarquiniī fīlius: rēx ipse cum legiōnibus
sequēbātur. Obviam hostī[5] cōnsulēs
[30] eunt; Brūtus ad explōrandum cum equitātū
antecessit. Ārūns, ubi procul Brūtum
āgnōvit,[6] īnflammātus īrā “Ille est vir” inquit
“quī nōs patriā expulit; ipse[7] ēn ille nostrīs
decorātus īnsīgnibus māgnificē incēdit.” Tum
[35] concitat calcāribus equum atque in ipsum cōnsulem
dīrigit; Brūtus avidē sē certāminī offert. Adeō[8] īnfēstīs
animīs concurrērunt, ut ambō hastā trānsfīxī caderent; fugātus
tamen proeliō est Tarquinius. Alter[9] cōnsul Rōmam triumphāns
rediit. Brūtī conlēgae fūnus, quantō[10] potuit apparātū, fēcit.
[40] Brūtum mātrōnae, ut parentem, annum lūxērunt.[11]