Hearing of this event and his danger, Servius, accompanied by a few of his friends, hastened to the senate house, and, standing in the door-way, he addressed Lucius Tarquinius as a rebel, and bade him come down from his seat. The latter, whose guilt left no alternative, threw himself upon the old man, and hurled him down the door steps.

Bleeding and mangled, his faithful followers lifted him to convey him to his palace; but before they could put their king in safety, they were overtaken by the servants of Tarquin, and he was murdered.

Tullia, eager to greet her husband as king, hastened to the senate house, but he sternly bade her return home. On her way

Her

back, the lifeless body of her father lay in the road. charioteer backed his horse, but she, like one of the furies, ordered him to drive on, and her chariot and her garments were sprinkled with his blood; the street ever after bore the name of "Via Scelerata" (534). The people did not forget the founder of their liberties, and celebrated his birthday in every house. Servius had reigned forty-four years.

CHAPTER IV.

LUCIUS TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS, OR THE PROUD (B.Cc. 534-510). THE first act of Tarquinius, the tyrant, was to abolish all the privileges which had been conferred on the plebeians by Servius. Like his father, the elder Tarquin, Lucius loved pomp and magnificence; he brought clever Etruscan workmen to Rome, and, with the little pillage he gained in his wars against the Volscians, and other spoils, he finished the sewers, and commenced a magnificent temple on the Capitoline hill, dedicated to the three gods of the Latin and Etruscan religionsJupiter, Juno, and Minerva. When digging the foundations, a human head bleeding, as if freshly severed from the body, was turned up—a sign, said the augurs, that the spot would be the head of the world; hence the name of Capitolium was given to the temple. Beneath the Capitol the Sibylline books were deposited in a stone coffer or chamber. These books, nine in number, contained strange and obscure sayings, and had been brought to the king by a sybil, or prophetess, from Cumæ. On the king's refusing to buy them, she went away and burned three of them; again she came back, and asked as much money

for the six as she had done for the nine. On a second refusal, she did as before, when the astonished Tarquin brought the three that remained and placed them under the care of two patricians.

Tarquin gave his daughter in marriage to the most powerful of the Latins, Octavius Mamilius, dictator of Tusculum; by this connection he acquired great influence in Latium. Thus, whilst he gained much power amongst surrounding nations, both in conquest and alliances, at home he used his influences tyranically; he surrounded himself with a body-guard, and, thus secure, he not only oppressed the poor, obliging them to work upon his magnificent buildings for miserable pay, but he also put to death, or drove into exile, any one whose wealth he coveted, or whom he mistrusted or feared.

A troubled conscience at last induced Tarquin to send his two sons, Titus and Aruns, to consult the celebrated oracles at Delphi, the reputation of which had reached Italy; they were accompanied by their cousin, Junius Brutus. His mother, a sister of Tarquin, had been married to Brutus, a man of great wealth. On his death, leaving two sons under age, their uncle, coveting their fortune, murdered the elder, in order to obtain possession of it; whilst the younger escaped only by feigning idiotcy. On the arrival of the young men at Delphi, the oracle, on being asked who was to reign at Rome after Tarquin, replied, "He who first shall salute his mother!" and Brutus, who perceived the hidden meaning of the words, fell as if by chance, and kissed the earth, our common mother.

On their return they found Tarquin had laid siege to Ardea, capital of the Rutuli. The operations progressed but slowly, and the young princes sought to while away the time in fêtes and games. One day a dispute arose as to the respective merits of their wives, and, as nothing was being done in the field, they mounted their horses and rode homewards. They first went to Rome, where the king's daughters were surprised in the midst of a splendid banquet. They then accompanied their cousin, Tarquinius Collatinus, to his home, where his wife. Lucretia was found at her spinning-wheel, surrounded by her maidens. No doubt she was considered as the most meritorious of their wives; but not long after, unable to outlive an insult offered her by Sextus, Tarquin's second son, she stabbed herself in presence of her father, Lucretius, her husband, Collatinus, of Brutus, and Valerius, praying them to avenge her death. This they swore to do, and Brutus, throwing off his

All

assumed character, placed himself at their head. The corpse of Lucretia was carried to the market-place of Collatia; the people flocked around, and Brutus related the deed of shame. classes took up arms, and a decree was passed, banishing the whole family of the Tarquins. Brutus now hastened to the camp at Ardea, where he was received joyfully by the army. Tarquinius fled to Rome to find the gates closed against him, then sought refuge, with his sons, Titus and Aruns, in Coere, a town of Etruria; whilst Sextus, seeking safety in Gabii, a Latin city, which had fallen by stratagem into his father's power, was there murdered by the incensed citizens. This same year, 510, Athens was delivered from the tyranny of the Pisistratida.

When driven away from Rome, Tarquin had reigned twentytwo years, and the people so hated the very name of king, that it was resolved to place the kingly power in the hands of two men, who were to be elected by the Comitia Curiata, and to retain the office for one year only. At first they were named prætors; but later on were known as consuls. The first consuls were L. Brutus and Tarquinius Collatinus (B.c. 509); but the very name of Tarquin was so odious to the people, that he had to resign, and Valerius was chosen in his place.

Soon after, a conspiracy was formed among the young Roman nobles for restoring the exiled Tarquins. The plot was discovered, and amongst the conspirators were found the two sons of the consul Brutus. But he did not shrink from passing upon them the sentence of death, with the rest of the traitors.

As the plot failed, Tarquin marched against Rome with his allies, the people of Tarquinii and of Veii. Brutus and the king's son Aruns both fell in mortal combat. The battle was sanguinary, but both sides claimed the victory. A voice from out the forest of Arsia, at the dead of night, proclaimed the Romans as victors, and the Etruscans fled. Valerius was now without a colleague; suspected by the people of aiming at kingly power, because he began to build a house of massive stone, on a hill which overlooked the Forum, he had it demolished in a single night, and earned the surname "Publicola," or the people's friend.

Valerius called an assembly of the people, and Lucretius was elected as consul; but dying a short time after, Horatius was next chosen. It was this Horatius who had the honour of consecrating the Capitol, left unfinishsd when Tarquin fled to exile, and who, when during the ceremony the death of his son was announced, remained unmoved at a mere private affliction.

Tarquin, during the second year of the republic, having gained the powerful aid of Lars Porsenna, king of the Etruscan town of Clusium, marched on Rome at the head of a vast force. The Janiculum was taken, and Rome imperilled; but the brave consul, Horatius Cocles, noticed further on, held the Sublician Bridge, with two comrades, against the whole Etruscan army, until the Romans had destroyed the bridge behind him. Rome was now pressed by famine; but another hero devoted himself for his beloved city. This was a young Roman named C. Mucius, whose legend we give further on. Porsenna now hastened to make peace with Rome, having been told by Mucius that three hundred noble youths had sworn to take his life, of whom he was only the first. The conditions offered by Porsenna being accepted, he withdrew his army from the Janiculum, taking as hostages some of the Roman youths and maidens. One of these, Cloelia, escaped from the Etruscan camp, and, on being sent back, Porsenna gave her her liberty.

His second attempt to regain his throne being frustrated, Tarquin, for the third time, returned to the contest. Thirty of the Latin cities declared war against Rome; but the evil deeds of the Tarquins now met their reward, for the gods even fought against them. Castor and Pollux were seen charging the Latins at the head of the Roman cavalry. The battle was fierce and bloody; almost all the leaders on both sides were wounded or killed, and Tarquinius himself escaped, and fled to Cuma, where he died, 496 B.C., a miserable and childless old man. The battle of the Lake Regillus was therefore the third and last attempt to restore the Tarquins, and the history of Rome for the next 150 years, consists of a succession of struggles between the patricians and plebeians, the one to retain political power, the latter to have a share in it. Fortunately, Roman society was sufficiently vigorous at the same time to resist internal troubles and external attacks. Neither the invasion of Porsenna, nor the conspiracies of the neighbouring peoples, were able to compromise her existA state that could boast of such men as Valerius Publicola, Postumius Coriolanus, Spurius Cassius, Cincinnatus, and Camillus, could not be otherwise than great. Though, after the establishment of the consular republic, rich plebeian families began to mingle with the ancient patrician families, and to share even their ideas, their interests, and their prejudices, yet personal merit without birth and fortune experienced greater difficulty than ever in reaching preferment. At length the plebeians determined to found a new town on the Sacred Mount, and to

ence.

leave the patricians and their clients the sole possession of Rome. Alarmed at this secession of the working classes, the patricians sent a deputation to induce them to return, on condition that two officers, called tribunes, of the plebeians, should be annually elected from their number. The Agrarian Law was soon after passed by Spurius Cassius, one of the most distinguished patricians; but it was never brought into use; and Cassius being accused of aiming at the kingly power, by his own order was. condemned by them to be scourged and beheaded.

The war of Rome continued with the Etruscans, Volscians, Æqui, and other neighbouring tribes. The struggle was often dubious, and it is unnecessary to enter into all the details of the following hundred years or so; but there are three celebrated legends relating to this period, which will be read with interest by all.

LEGEND OF HORATIUS COCLES.

Tarquin attempted to recover his throne by the help of strangers. A powerful Etruscan king, Porsenna, promised to support him, and, after the Romans rejected his mediation, advanced with a large army to force the city to submit to its former master. He penetrated, without meeting with any resistance, as far as the Tiber, over which a narrow wooden bridge led into the city. The Romans had taken up a position there; but, though they fought with great bravery, they were obliged at length to yield to superior numbers, and retired over the bridge into the city. The enemy, hastening after them, would have entered Rome together with the fugitives, if the heroism of one citizen had not answered as a bulwark to the city.

Horatius Cocles is described as a descendant of the Horatius who had saved Rome by slaying the three Curiatii. He undertook single-handed to defend the bridge against a victorious army. Whilst he was fighting, he called on the fugitives to break down the bridge as speedily as possible, with fire and axes, or any means at hand. This was done; the beams that supported it were cut through, and the planks set on fire, and soon Horatius heard behind him the crash of the timber giving way, and the joyful shouts of the Romans who were saved. On hearing this, Cocles exclaimed: "Holy Rivergod, receive me with favouring wave!" jumped in fully armed, and swam, undeterred and uninjured by a shower of darts, to his comrades, who received him with loud congratulations and great exultation.