Dio's Rome, Volume 1 / An Historical Narrative Originally Composed in Greek during the Reigns of Septimius Severus, Geta and Caracalla, Macrinus, Elagabalus and Alexander Severus: and Now Presented in English Form

by Cassius Dio Cocceianus

Frag. 6⁴now against the enemy tullus was thought to be very efficient, but he neglected religion. when, however, a pestilence was incurred and he himself fell sick, he turned aside to a godfearing course. He is said to have reached the end of his life by being consumed by lightning[5] or else as the result of a plot formed by Ancus Marcius, who happened to be (as has been stated) a son of Numa's daughter. He was king of the Romans thirty-two years.

VII, 7.—When Hostilius died, Marcius succeeded to the kingdom, receiving it as a voluntary gift from the Romans. And he was not perfect in his arm, for he was maimed at the joint (or bend), whence he got the title Ancus (bent arm). Though gentle he was compelled to Frag. 7change his habits and he turned his attention to campaigns. For the rest of the Latins, on account of the destruction of Alba and in fear that they themselves might suffer some similar disaster, were angry at the Romans. As long as Tullus survived, they humbled themselves, dreading his reputation for warfare: but thinking that Marcius was easy to attack because of his peaceful disposition, they assailed his territory and pillaged it. He, Frag. 7comprehending that peace could be caused by war, attacked the attackers, defended his position, and captured their cities, one of which he razed to the ground, and treated many of the men taken as slaves and transferred many others to Rome. As the Romans grew and land was added to their domain, the neighboring peoples were displeased and set themselves at odds with the Romans. Hence the latter had to overcome the Fidenates by siege, and they damaged the Sabines by falling upon them while scattered and seizing their camp, and by terrifying others they got them to embrace peace even contrary to inclination. After this the life-stint of Marcius was exhausted, when he had ruled for twenty-four years, being a man that paid strict attention to religion according to the manner of his grandfather Numa.

VII, 8.—The sovereignty was now appropriated by Lucius Tarquinius, who was the son of Demaratus a Corinthian, borne to the latter by a native woman after he had been exiled and had taken up his abode in Tarquinii, an Etruscan city; the boy had been named Lucumo. And though he inherited much wealth from his father, yet, because as an immigrant he was not deemed worthy of the highest offices by the people of Tarquinii, he removed to Rome, changing his appellation along with his city; and he changed his name to Lucius Tarquinius,—from the city in which he dwelt. It is said that as he was journeying to his new home an eagle swooped down and snatched the cap which he had on his head, and after soaring aloft and screaming for some time placed it again exactly upon his head: wherefore he was inspired to hope for no small advancement and eagerly took up his residence in Rome. Hence not long after he was numbered among the foremost men. Frag. 8for by using his wealth quite lavishly and by winning over the nobles through his intelligence and wit he was included among the patricians and in the senate by marcius, was appointed prætor, and was entrusted with the supervision of the king's children and of the kingdom. he showed himself an excellent man, sharing his money with those in need and bestowing his services readily if any one needed him to help. he neither did nor said anything mean to any one. if he received a kindness from persons he made much of the attention, whereas if any offence was offered him, he either disregarded the injury or minimized it and made light of it, and far from making reprisals upon the man that had done the injury, he would even benefit him. thus he came to dominate both marcius himself and his circle, and acquired the reputation of being a sensible and upright man.

But the aforesaid estimate of him did not continue permanently. For at the death of Marcius he behaved in a knavish way to the latter's two sons and made the kingdom his own. The senate and the people were intending to elect the children of Marcius, when Tarquinius made advances to the most influential of the senators;—he had first sent the fatherless boys to some distant point on a hunting expedition:—and by his talk and his efforts he got these men to vote him the kingdom on the understanding that he would restore it to the children when they had attained manhood. And after assuming control of affairs he so disposed the Romans that they should never wish to choose the children in preference to him: the lads he accustomed to indolence and ruined their souls and bodies by a kind of kindness. As he still felt afraid in spite of being so placed, he secured some extra strength for himself in the senate. Those of the populace who felt friendly towards him he enrolled (to the number of about two hundred) among the patricians and the senators, and thus he put both the senate and the people within his own control. He altered his raiment, likewise, to a more magnificent style. It consisted of toga and tunic, purple all over and shot with gold, of a crown of precious stones set in gold, and of ivory sceptre and chair, which were later used by various officials and especially by those that held sway as emperors. He also on the occasion of a triumph paraded with a four-horse chariot and kept twelve lictors for life.

He would certainly have introduced still other and more numerous innovations, had not Attus Navius prevented him, when he desired to rearrange the tribes: this man was an augur whose equal has never been seen. Tarquinius, angry at his opposition, took measures to abase him and to bring his art into contempt. So, putting into his bosom a whetstone and a razor, he went among the populace having in his mind that the whetstone should be cut by the razor,—a thing that is impossible. He said all that he wished, and when Attus vehemently opposed him, he said, still yielding not a particle: "If you are not opposing me out of quarrelsomeness, but are speaking the truth, answer me in the presence of all these witnesses whether what I have in mind to do shall be performed." Attus, having taken an augury on almost the very spot, replied immediately: "Verily, O King, what you intend shall be fulfilled." "Well, then," said the other, "take this whetstone and cut it through with this razor; this is what I have had in mind to come to pass." Attus at once took the stone and cut it through. Tarquinius, in admiration, heaped various honors upon him, accorded him the privilege of a bronze image, and did not again make any change in the established constitution, but employed Attus as a counselor on all matters.

He fought against the Latins who had revolted, and afterwards against the Sabines, who, aided by the Etruscans as allies, had invaded the Roman country; and he conquered them all. He discovered that one of the priestesses of Vesta, who are required by custom to remain virgins all their life, had been seduced by a man, whereupon he arranged a kind of underground chamber with a long passage, and after placing in it a bed, a light, and a table nearly full of foods, he brought thither the unchaste woman escorted by a procession and having introduced her alive into the room walled it up. From his institution this plan of punishing those of the priestesses that do not keep their virginity has continued to prevail. The men that outrage them have their necks inserted in cloven pillars in the Forum, and then are maltreated naked until they give up the ghost.

However, an attack was made upon Tarquinius by the children of Marcius because he would not yield the sovereignty to them, but instead placed a certain Tullius, borne 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 the latter class in their cause and formed a plot against the king. They arrayed two men like rustics, equipped with axes and scythes, and made them ready to attack him. So these two, when they did not find Tarquinius in the Forum, went to the royal court (pretending, of course, to have a dispute with each other) and asked for admission to his presence. Their request was granted and they began to make opposing arguments, and while Tarquinius was giving his attention to one of them pleading his cause, the other slew him.

VII, 9.—Such was the end that befell Tarquinius who had ruled for thirty-eight years. By the coöperation of Tanaquil, wife of Tarquinius, Tullius succeeded to the kingdom of Rome. He was the child of a certain woman named Ocrisia, the wife of Spurius Tullius, a Latin; she had been captured in the war and chosen by Tarquinius: she had either become pregnant at home or conceived after her capture; both stories are current. When Tullius had reached boyhood he went to sleep on a chair once in the daytime and a quantity of fire seemed to leap from his head. Tarquinius, seeing it, took an active interest in the child and on his arriving at maturity had him enrolled among the patricians and in the senate.

The murderers of Tarquinius were arrested and his wife and Tullius learned the plan of the plot; but instead of making Tarquinius's death known at once, they took him up and tended him (pretending that he was still alive), and meantime exchanged mutual pledges that Tullius should take the sovereignty but surrender it to Tanaquil's sons when they became men. And when the multitude ran together and raised an outcry, Tanaquil, leaning out of an upper story, said: "Be not afraid. My husband both lives and shall be seen by you shortly. But in order that he may regain health at leisure and that no hindrance to business may arise from his being incapacitated, he entrusts the management of the public weal for the present to Tullius." These were her words and the people not unwillingly accepted Tullius: for he was thought to be an upright man.