Tullia obeyed, heedless of his anger. She had room in her heart for only one thought. Lucius was king, and she, she was queen.
So full was her mind of the new honours that would now be hers, that her chariot had reached the street where the dead body of her father lay before she was aware. The driver drew up his horses sharply, seeing his murdered king lying across his path.
But Tullia angrily bade him drive on, and as he obeyed, her robe was stained with her father’s blood. The street was ever after called the Via Scelerata, or the Way of Crime.
Lucius showed no shame for the murder of the king, and haughtily refused to allow his body to be buried with the usual rites.
And because of his pride the new king was named Tarquinius Superbus or Tarquin the Proud.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE FATE OF THE TOWN OF GABII
Tarquin, having killed Servius, seized the throne, and began his reign by condemning to death the chief senators who had supported the old king. He also ordered the tablets, on which Servius had written many wise and good laws, to be destroyed. Refusing to summon the Senate, Tarquin then attempted to rule alone.
His cruelty was so great that he was soon hated both by rich and poor. Before many months had passed he was forced to surround himself with a bodyguard, lest he should be slain by those whom he had ruined. For, in order to grow rich, he imposed heavy fines on the wealthy, sometimes driving the nobles into exile that he might take possession of their goods. If they ventured to remonstrate, Tarquin did not hesitate to put them to death that he might seize their money.
As for the poor people, he forced them to work so hard that they were more like slaves than freemen. Often in despair they escaped from the king’s cruelty by killing themselves.