37
This part of his forces being augmented, a second battle is fought with the Sabines. But, besides that the Roman army was thus reinforced, a stratagem also is secretly resorted to, persons having been sent to throw into the river a great quantity of timber that lay on the banks of the Anio, it being first set on fire; and the wood being further kindled by favour of the wind, and the greater[49] part of it (being placed) on rafts, when it stuck firmly impacted against the piers, sets the bridge on fire. This accident struck terror into the Sabines during the battle, and, after they were routed, impeded their flight; so that many, who had escaped the enemy, perished in the river. Their arms floating down the Tiber, and being recognised at the city, made known the victory, almost before any account of it could be carried there. In that action the glory of the cavalry was prominent: they say that, being posted in the two wings, when the centre of their own infantry was being beaten, they charged so briskly in flank, that they not only checked the Sabine legions who pressed hard on those who retired, but quickly put them to flight. The Sabines made for the mountains with great precipitation, yet few reached them; for, as we said before, the greatest part were driven by the cavalry into the river. Tarquin, thinking it advisable to pursue the enemy closely while in this consternation, after sending the booty and the prisoners to Rome, piling up and burning the spoils which he had vowed to Vulcan, proceeds to lead his army onward into the Sabine territory. And though matters had turned out adversely, nor could they hope for better success; yet, because the occasion did not allow time for deliberation, the Sabines came out to meet him with a hastily raised army; and being again defeated there, and matters having now become desperate, they sued for peace.
38
Collatia and all the land about it was taken from the Sabines, and Egerius, son to the king's brother, was left there with a garrison. I understand that the people of Collatia were thus surrendered, and that the form of the surrender was as follows: the king asked them, "Are ye ambassadors and deputies sent by the people of Collatia to surrender yourselves and the people of Collatia?" "We are." "Are the people of Collatia their own masters?" "They are." "Do ye surrender yourselves and the people of Collatia, their city, lands, water, boundaries, temples, utensils, and every thing sacred or profane belonging to them, into my power, and that of the Roman people?" "We do." "Then I receive them." The Sabine war being ended, Tarquin returned in triumph to Rome. After that he made war upon the ancient Latins, where they came on no occasion to a general engagement; yet by carrying about his arms to the several towns, he subdued the whole Latin nation. Corniculum, old Ficulea, Cameria, Crustumerium, Ameriola, Medullia, and Nomentum, towns which either belonged to the ancient Latins, or which had revolted to them, were taken. Upon this a peace was concluded. The works of peace were then set about with greater spirit, even than the efforts with which he had conducted his wars; so that the people enjoyed no more ease and quiet at home, than they had done abroad: for he both set about surrounding the city with a stone wall, on the side where he had not fortified it, the beginning of which work had been interrupted by the Sabine war, and the lower parts of the city round the forum and the other valleys lying between the hills, because they did not easily carry off the water from the flat grounds, he drains by means of sewers drawn sloping downward into the Tiber. Moreover he levels an area for founding a temple to Jupiter in the Capitol, which he had vowed to him in the Sabine war; his mind even then presaging the future grandeur of the place.
39
At that time, a prodigy occurred in the palace, wonderful both in its appearance and in its result. They relate, that the head of a boy, called Servius Tullius, as he lay fast asleep, blazed with fire in the sight of many persons. That by the very great noise made at so miraculous a phenomenon, the royal family were awakened; and when one of the servants was bringing water to extinguish the flame, that he was kept back by the queen, and after the confusion was over, that she forbade the boy to be disturbed till he should awake of his own accord. As soon as he awoke the flame disappeared. Then Tanaquil, taking her husband into a private place, said, "Do you observe this boy whom we bring up in so mean a style? Be assured that hereafter he will be a light to us in our adversity, and a protector to our palace in distress. From henceforth let us, with all our care, train up this youth, who is capable of becoming a great ornament publicly and privately." From this time the boy began to be treated as their own son, and instructed in those arts by which men's minds are qualified to maintain high rank. The matter was easily accomplished, because it was agreeable to the gods. The young man turned out to be of a disposition truly royal. Nor, when they looked out for a son-in-law for Tarquin, could any of the Roman youth be compared to him in any accomplishment; therefore the king betrothed his own daughter to him. This high honour conferred upon him, from whatever cause, prevents us from believing that he was the son of a slave, and that he had himself been a slave when young. I am rather of the opinion of those who say that, on the taking of Corniculum, the wife of Servius Tullius, who had been the leading man in that city, being pregnant when her husband was slain, being known among the other female prisoners, and, in consequence of her high rank, exempted from servitude by the Roman queen, was delivered of a child at Rome, in the house of Tarquinius Priscus. Upon this, that both the intimacy between the ladies was improved by so great a kindness, and that the boy, having been brought up in the house from his infancy, was beloved and respected; that his mother's lot, in having fallen into the hands of the enemy, caused him to be considered the son of a slave.
40
About the thirty-eighth year of Tarquin's reign, Servius Tullius was in the highest esteem, not only with the king, but also with the senate and people. At this time the two sons of Ancus, though they had before that always considered it the highest indignity that they had been deprived of their father's crown by the treachery of their guardian, that a stranger should be king of Rome, who was not only not of a civic, but not even of an Italian family, yet now felt their indignation rise to a still higher pitch at the notion that the crown would not only not revert to them after Tarquin, but would descend even lower to a slave, so that in the same state about the hundredth year[50] after Romulus, descended from a deity, and a deity himself, occupied the throne as long as he lived, a slave, and one born of a slave, should now possess it. That it would be a disgrace both common to the Roman name, and more especially to their family, if, whilst there was male issue of king Ancus still living, the sovereignty of Rome should be accessible not only to strangers, but even to slaves. They determine therefore to prevent that disgrace by the sword. But both resentment for the injury done to them incensed them more against Tarquin himself, than against Servius; and (the consideration) that a king was likely to prove a more severe avenger of the murder, if he should survive, than a private person; and moreover, in case of Servius being put to death, whatever other person he might select as his son-in-law,[51] it seemed likely that he would adopt as his successor on the throne.[52] For these reasons the plot is laid against the king himself. Two of the most ferocious of the shepherds being selected for the daring deed, with the rustic implements to which each had been accustomed, by conducting themselves in as violent a manner as possible in the porch of the palace, under pretence of a quarrel, draw the attention of all the king's attendants to themselves; then, when both appealed to the king, and their clamour reached even the interior of the palace, they are called in and proceed before the king. At first both bawled aloud, and vied in interrupting each other by their clamour, until being restrained by the lictor, and commanded to speak in turns, they at length cease railing. According to concert, one begins to state the matter. When the king, attentive to him, had turned himself quite that way, the other, raising