VI. such full light, the nature and power of their genius; CHAP. what they thought, what they hated, and what they loved. Yet although the legends of the early Roman story are neither historical, nor yet coeval with the subjects which they celebrate, still their fame is so great, and their beauty and interest so surpassing, that it would be unpardonable to sacrifice them altogether to the spirit of inquiry and of fact, and to exclude them from the place which they have so long held in Roman history. Nor shall I complain of my readers, if they pass over with indifference these attempts of mine to put together the meagre fragments of our knowledge, and to present them with an outline of the times of the kings, at once incomplete and without spirit; while they read with eager interest the immortal story of the fall of Tarquinius, and the wars with Porsenna and the Latins, as it has been handed down to us in the rich colouring of the old heroic lays of Rome. CHAPTER VII. THE STORY OF THE BANISHING OF KING TARQUINIUS "Vis et Tarquinios reges, animamque superbam VIRGIL, Æn. Vi. VII. How king affrighted by his sons with CHAP. WHILE king Tarquinius was at the height of his greatness, it chanced upon a time, that from the altar' in Tarquinius, the court of his palace there crawled out a snake, a prodigy in which devoured the offerings laid on the altar. So his palace, sent two of the king thought it not enough to consult the soothLucius Bru- sayers of the Etruscans whom he had with him, but he sent two of his own sons to Delphi, to ask counsel of the oracle of the Greeks; for the oracle of Delphi was famous in all lands. So his sons Titus and Aruns went to Delphi, and they took with them their cousin Lucius Junius, whom men called Brutus, that is, the Dullard; for he seemed to be wholly without wit, and he would eat wild figs with honey". This Lucius tus to consult the oracle of Delphi. 1 Ovid, Fasti, II. 711. were Tyrrhenians, or Pelasgians; Ecce, nefas visu, mediis altaribus and there was a sufficient mixture anguis of the same race in the Roman people, to give them a natural connexion with the religion of Greece. 3 A. Postumius Albinus, cotemporary with Cato the censor, quoted by Macrobius, Saturnalia, II. 16. Grossulos ex melle edebat. "Ex melle," dipping them into honey, and eating them when just taken out of it, i.e. with the honey clinging Exit, et extinctis ignibus exta rapit. 4 VII. was not really dull, but very subtle; and it was for СНАР. fear of his uncle's cruelty, that he made himself as one without sense; for he was very rich, and he feared lest king Tarquinius should kill him for the sake of his inheritance. So when he went to Delphi he carried with him a staff of horn, and the staff was hollow, and it was filled within with gold, and he gave the staff to the oracle as a likeness of himself; for though he seemed dull, and of no account to look upon, yet he had a golden wit within. When the three young men had performed the king's bidding, they asked the oracle for themselves, and they said, "O Lord Apollo, tell us, which of us shall be king in Rome?" Then there came a voice from the sanctuary and said, "Whichever of you shall first kiss his mother." So the sons of Tarquinius agreed to draw lots between themselves, which of them should first kiss their mother, when they should have returned to Rome; and they said they would keep the oracle secret from their brother Sextus, lest he should be king rather than they. But Lucius understood the mind of the oracle better; so as they all went down. from the temple, he stumbled as if by chance, and fell with his face to the earth, and kissed the earth; for he said, "The earth is the true mother of us all." the siege of Roman Now when they came back to Rome, king Tar- How at quinius was at war with the people of Ardea: and as Ardea the the city was strong, his army lay a long while before princes disit, till it should be forced to yield through famine. the worth of all about them. Compare Plautus, Merc. I. 2. 28. "Resinam ex melle devorato," where the sense of the preposition can hardly be distinguished from that of" cum.' "Grossi and grossuli are imperfect and unripe figs; either those of the wild fig which never come to perfection, or the young fruit of the cultivated fig, gathered before its time. 4 Per ambages effigiem ingenii sui. Livy, I. 56. 5 Livy, I. 57. This is one of the incongruities of the story. Ardea, in the first year of the Commonwealth, is mentioned as one of the dependent allies of Rome. See the famous treaty with Carthage, as given by Polybius, III. 22. puted about VII. their wives, and how Lucretia was worthiest. 6 CHAP. So the Romans had leisure for feasting and for diverting themselves: and once Titus and Aruns were supping with their brother Sextus, and their cousin judged the Tarquinius of Collatia was supping with them. And they disputed about their wives, whose wife of them all was the worthiest lady. Then said Tarquinius of Collatia, "Let us go, and see with our own eyes what our wives are doing, so shall we know which is the worthiest." Upon this they all mounted their horses, and rode first to Rome; and there they found the wives of Titus, and of Aruns, and of Sextus, feasting and making merry. They then rode on to Collatia, and it was late in the night, but they found Lucretia, the wife of Tarquinius of Collatia, neither feasting, nor yet sleeping, but she was sitting with all her handmaids around her, and all were working at the loom. So when they saw this, they all said, "Lucretia is the worthiest lady." And she entertained her husband and his kinsmen, and after that they rode back to the camp before Ardea. Of the wicked deed of Sextus Tarquinius against Lucretia. How Lucre tia, having told the wickedness to her husband and her father, slew herself. But a spirit of wicked passion' seized upon Sextus, and a few days afterwards he went alone to Collatia, and Lucretia received him hospitably, for he was her husband's kinsman. At midnight he arose and went to her chamber, and he said that if she yielded not to him, he would slay her and one of her slaves with her, and would say to her husband that he had slain her in her adultery. So when Sextus had accomplished his wicked purpose, he went back again to the camp. Then Lucretia sent in haste to Rome, to 8 pray that her father Spurius Lucretius would come to her: and she sent to Ardea to summon her husband. Her father brought along with him Publius Valerius, and VII. her husband brought with him Lucius Junius, whom CHAP. men call Brutus. When they arrived, they asked earnestly, "Is all well?" Then she told them of the wicked deed of Sextus, and she said, "If ye be men, avenge it." And they all swore to her, that they would avenge it. Then she said again, "I am not guilty; yet must I too share in the punishment of this deed, lest any should think that they may be false to their husbands and live." And she drew a knife from her bosom, and stabbed herself to the heart. 9 father and and Lucius cited the all people to be king Tar drive out quinius and At that sight her husband and her father cried How her aloud; but Lucius drew the knife from the wound, her husband and held it up, and said, "By this blood I swear, that Brutus exI will visit this deed upon king Tarquinius, and his accursed race; neither shall any man hereafter king in Rome, lest he do the like wickedness." And his house. he gave the knife to her husband, and to her father, and to Publius Valerius. They marvelled to hear such words from him whom men called dull; but they swore also, and they took up the body of Lucretia, and carried it down into the forum; and they said, "Behold the deeds of the wicked family of Tarquinius." All the people of Collatia were moved, and the men took up arms, and they set a guard at the gates, that none might go out to carry the tidings to Tarquinius, and they followed Lucius to Rome. There, too, all the people came together, and the crier summoned them to assemble before the tribune of the Celeres, for Lucius held that office. And Lucius 9 Livy, I. 59. 10 The tribune of the Celeres was to the king, what the master of the horse was afterwards to the dictator. It is hardly necessary to point out the extravagance of the story, in representing Brutus, though a reputed idiot, yet invested with such an important office. Festus says that Brutus, in old Latin, was synony mous with Gravis; this would show |