Roman History, Books I III - Titus Livius
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Ancus reigned twenty-four years, equal to any of the former kings both
in the arts of war and peace, and in renown. His sons were now nigh
the age of puberty; for which reason Tarquin was more urgent that
the assembly for the election of a king should be held as soon as
possible. The assembly having been proclaimed, he sent the boys out
of the way to hunt just before the time of the meeting. He is said to
have been the first who canvassed for the crown, and to have made a
speech expressly worded with the object of gaining the affections of
the people: saying that he did not aim at anything unprecedented, for
that he was not the first foreigner (a thing at which any one might
feel indignation or surprise), but the third who aspired to the
sovereignty of Rome. That Tatius who had not only been an alien, but
even an enemy, had been made king; that Numa, who knew nothing of
the city, and without solicitation on his part, had been voluntarily
invited by them to the throne. That he, from the time he was his own
master, had migrated to Rome with his wife and whole fortune, and
had spent a longer period of that time of life, during which men are
employed in civil offices, at Rome, than he had in his native country;
that he had both in peace and war become thoroughly acquainted with
the political and religious institutions of the Romans, under a master
by no means to be despised, King Ancus himself; that he had vied with
all in duty and loyalty to his king, and with the king himself in his
bounty to others. While he was recounting these undoubted facts, the
people with great unanimity elected him king. The same spirit of
ambition which had prompted Tarquin, in other respects an excellent
man, to aspire to the crown, attended him also on the throne. And
being no less mindful of strengthening his own power, than of
increasing the commonwealth, he elected a hundred new members into the
senate, who from that time were called minorum gentium, a party who
stanchly supported the king, by whose favour they had been admitted
into the senate. The first war he waged was with the Latins, in whose
territory he took the town of Apiolae by storm, and having brought
back thence more booty than might have been expected from the reported
importance of the war, he celebrated games with more magnificence and
display than former kings. The place for the circus, which is now
called Maximus, was then first marked out, and spaces were apportioned
to the senators and knights, where they might each erect seats for
themselves: these were called fori (benches). They viewed the games
from scaffolding which supported seats twelve feet in height from the
ground. The show consisted of horses and boxers that were summoned,
chiefly from Etruria. These solemn games, afterward celebrated
annually, continued an institution, being afterward variously called
the Roman and Great games. By the same king also spaces round the
forum were assigned to private individuals for building on; covered
walks and shops were erected.
He was also preparing to surround the city with a stone wall, when a
war with the Sabines interrupted his plans. The whole thing was so
sudden, that the enemy passed the Anio before the Roman army could
meet and prevent them: great alarm therefore was felt at Rome. At
first they fought with doubtful success, and with great slaughter on
both sides. After this, the enemy's forces were led back into camp,
and the Romans having thus gained time to make preparations for the
war afresh, Tarquin, thinking that the weak point of his army lay
specially in the want of cavalry, determined to add other centuries to
the Ramnenses, Titienses, and Luceres which Romulus had enrolled, and
to leave them distinguished by his own name. Because Romulus had done
this after inquiries by augury, Attus Navius, a celebrated soothsayer
of the day, insisted that no alteration or new appointment could be
made, unless the birds had approved of it. The king, enraged at this,
and, as they say, mocking at his art, said, "Come, thou diviner, tell
me, whether what I have in my mind can be done or not?" When Attus,
having tried the matter by divination, affirmed that it certainly
could, "Well, then," said he, "I was thinking that you should cut
asunder this whetstone with a razor. Take it, then, and perform what
thy birds portend can be done." Thereupon they say that he immediately
cut the whetstone in two. A statue of Attus, with his head veiled,
was erected in the comitium, close to the steps on the left of the
senate-house, on the spot where the event occurred. They say also that
the whetstone was deposited in the same place that it might remain as
a record of that miracle to posterity. Without doubt so much honour
accrued to auguries and the college of augurs, that nothing was
subsequently undertaken either in peace or war without taking the
auspices, and assemblies of the people, the summoning of armies, and
the most important affairs of state were put off, whenever the
birds did not prove propitious. Nor did Tarquin then make any other
alteration in the centuries of horse, except that he doubled the
number of men in each of these divisions, so that the three centuries
consisted of one thousand eight hundred knights; only, those that were
added were called "the younger," but by the same names as the
earlier, which, because they have been doubled, they now call the six
centuries.
This part of his forces being augmented, a second engagement took
place with the Sabines. But, besides that the strength of the Roman
army had been thus augmented, a stratagem also was secretly resorted
to, persons being sent to throw into the river a great quantity of
timber that lay on the banks of the Anio, after it had been first set
on fire; and the wood, being further kindled by the help of the wind,
and the greater part of it, that was placed on rafts, being driven
against and sticking in the piles, fired the bridge. This accident
also struck terror into the Sabines during the battle, and, after they
were routed, also impeded their flight. Many, after they had escaped
the enemy, perished in the river: their arms floating down the Tiber
to the city, and being recognised, made the victory known almost
before any announcement of it could be made. In that action the chief
credit rested with the cavalry: they say that, being posted on the
two wings, when the centre of their own infantry was now being driven
back, they charged so briskly in flank, that they not only checked
the Sabine legions who pressed hard on those who were retreating, but
suddenly put them to flight. The Sabines made for the mountains in
disordered flight, but only a few reached them; for, as has been
said before, most of them were driven by the cavalry into the river.
Tarquin, thinking it advisable to press the enemy hard while in a
state of panic, having sent the booty and the prisoners to Rome, and
piled in a large heap and burned the enemy's spoils, vowed as an
offering to Vulcan, proceeded to lead his army onward into the Sabine
territory. And though the operation had been unsuccessfully carried
out, and they could not hope for better success; yet, because the
state of affairs did not allow time for deliberation, the Sabines came
out to meet him with a hastily raised army. Being again routed there,
as the situation had now become almost desperate, they sued for peace.
Collatia and all the land round about was taken from the Sabines, and
Egerius, son of the king's brother, was left there in garrison. I
learn that the people of Collatia were 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 everything sacred or profane belonging to them,
into my power, and that of the Roman people?" "We do." "Then I receive
them." When the Sabine war was finished, Tarquin returned in triumph
to Rome. After that he made war upon the ancient Latins, wherein they
came on no occasion to a decisive engagement; yet, by shifting his
attack 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 from them. Upon this, peace was
concluded. Works of peace were then commenced with even greater spirit
than the efforts with which he had conducted his wars, so that the
people enjoyed no more repose at home than it had already enjoyed
abroad; for he set about surrounding the city with a stone wall, on
the side where he had not yet 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 could not easily carry off the water from the flat
grounds, he drained by means of sewers conducted down a slope into the
Tiber. He also levelled an open space for a temple of Jupiter in the
Capitol, which he had vowed to him in the Sabine war: as his mind even
then forecast the future grandeur of the place, he took possession of
the site by laying its foundations.
At that time a prodigy was seen in the palace, which was marvellous
in its result. It is related that the head of a boy, called Servius
Tullius, as he lay asleep, blazed with fire in the presence of several
spectators: that, on a great noise being made at so miraculous a
phenomenon, the king and queen were awakened: and when one of the
servants was bringing water to put out the flame, that he was kept
back by the queen, and after the disturbance was quieted, that she
forbade the boy to be disturbed till he should awaken of his own
accord. As soon as he awoke the flame disappeared. Then Tanaquil,
taking her husband apart, said: "Do you see this boy whom bringing up
in so mean a style? Be assured that some time hereafter he will be a
light to us in our adversity, and a protector of our royal house when
in distress. Henceforth let us, with all the tenderness we can, train
up this youth, who is destined to prove the source of great glory to
our family and state." From this time the boy began to be treated as
their own son, and instructed in those accomplishments by which men's
minds are roused to maintain high rank with dignity. This was easily
done, as it was agreeable to the gods. The young man turned out to be
of truly royal disposition: nor when a son-in-law was being sought
for Tarquin, could any of the Roman youth be compared to him in any
accomplishment: therefore the king betrothed his own daughter to
him. The fact of this high honour being conferred upon him from
whatever cause, forbids us to believe that he was the son of a slave,
or 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, since she was known among the
other female prisoners, and, in consequence of her distinguished 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 women was increased by so great a kindness,
and that the boy, as he had been brought up in the family from his
infancy, was beloved and respected; that his mother's lot, in having
fallen into the hands of the enemy after the capture of her native
city, caused him to be thought to be the son of a slave.
About the thirty-eighth year of Tarquin's reign, Servius Tullius
enjoyed the highest esteem, not only of the king, but also of 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 not only did not
belong to a neighbouring, but not even to an Italian family, now felt
their indignation roused to a still higher pitch at the idea that
the crown would not only not revert to them after Tarquin, but would
descend even lower to slaves, so that in the same state, about the
hundredth year after Romulus, descended from a deity, and a deity
himself, had occupied the throne as long as he lived, Servius, one
born of a slave, would possess it: that it would be the common
disgrace both of the Roman name, and more especially of their family,
if, while 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 determined therefore to prevent that disgrace by
the sword. But since 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,
even if Servius were put to death, it seemed likely that he would
adopt as his successor on the throne whomsoever else he might have
selected as his son-in-law. For these reasons the plot was laid
against the king himself. Two of the most brutal of the shepherds,
chosen for the deed, each carrying with him the iron tools of
husbandmen to the use of which he had been accustomed, by creating as
great a disturbance as they could in the porch of the palace, under
pretence of a quarrel, attracted the attention of all the king's
attendants to themselves; then, when both appealed to the king, and
their clamour had reached even the interior of the palace, they were
summoned and proceeded before him. At first both shouted aloud, and
vied in clamouring against each other, until, being restrained by
the lictor, and commanded to speak in turns, they at length ceased
railing: as agreed upon, one began to state his case. While the king's
attention, eagerly directed toward the speaker, was diverted from the
second shepherd, the latter, raising up his axe, brought it down upon
the king's head, and, leaving the weapon in the wound, both rushed out
of the palace.
When those around had raised up Tarquin in a dying state, the lictors
seized the shepherds, who were endeavouring to escape. Upon this an
uproar ensued and a concourse of people assembled, wondering what was
the matter. Tanaquil, amid the tumult, ordered the palace to be shut,
and thrust out all spectators: at the same time she carefully prepared
everything necessary for dressing the wound, as if a hope still
remained: at the same time, she provided other means of safety, in
case her hopes should prove false. Having hastily summoned Servius,
after she had shown him her husband almost at his last gasp, holding
his right hand, she entreated him not to suffer the death of his
father-in-law to pass unavenged, nor to allow his mother-in-law to be
an object of scorn to their enemies. "Servius," said she, "if you are
a man, the kingdom belongs to you, not to those, who, by the hands of
others, have perpetrated a most shameful deed. Rouse yourself, and
follow the guidance of the gods, who portended that this head of yours
would be illustrious by formerly shedding a divine blaze around it.
Now let that celestial flame arouse you. Now awake in earnest. We,
too, though foreigners, have reigned. Consider who you are, not whence
you are sprung. If your own plans are rendered useless by reason of
the suddenness of this event, then follow mine." When the uproar
and violence of the multitude could scarcely be endured, Tanaquil
addressed the populace from the upper part of the palace [37] through
the windows facing the New Street (for the royal residence was near
the Temple of Jupiter Stator). She bade them be of good courage; that
the king was merely stunned by the suddenness of the blow; that the
weapon had not sunk deep into his body; that he had already come to
his senses again; that the blood had been wiped off and the wound
examined; that all the symptoms were favourable; that she was
confident they would see him in person very soon; that, in the
meantime, he commanded the people to obey the orders of Servius
Tullius; that the latter would administer justice, and perform all
the other functions of the king. Servius came forth wearing the
trabea[38], and attended by lictors, and seating himself on the king's
throne, decided some cases, and with respect to others pretended that
he would consult the king. Therefore, though Tarquin had now expired,
his death was concealed for several days, and Servius, under pretence
of discharging the functions of another, strengthened his own
influence. Then at length the fact of his death was made public,
lamentations being raised in the palace. Servius, supported by a
strong body-guard, took possession of the kingdom by the consent
of the senate, being the first who did so without the order of the
people. The children of Ancus, the instruments of their villainy
having been by this time caught, as soon as it was announced that the
king still lived, and that the power of Servius was so great, had
already gone into exile to Suessa Pometia.
And now Servius began to strengthen his power, not more by public
than by private measures; and, that the children of Tarquin might not
entertain the same feelings toward himself as the children of Ancus
had entertained toward Tarquin, he united his two daughters in
marriage to the young princes, the Tarquinii, Lucius and Arruns. He
did not, however, break through the inevitable decrees of fate by
human counsels, so as to prevent jealousy of the sovereign power
creating general animosity and treachery even among the members of
his own family. Very opportunely for the immediate preservation of
tranquility, a war was undertaken against the Veientes (for the truce
had now expired) and the other Etruscans. In that war, both the valour
and good fortune of Tullius were conspicuous, and he returned to Rome,
after routing a large army of the enemy, undisputed king, whether he
tested the dispositions of the fathers or the people. He then set
about a work of peace of the utmost importance: that, as Numa had been
the author of religious institutions, so posterity might celebrate
Servius as the founder of all distinction in the state and of the
several orders by which any difference is perceptible between the
degrees of rank and fortune. For he instituted the census,[39] a most
salutary measure for an empire destined to become so great, according
to which the services of war and peace were to be performed, not by
every man, as formerly, but in proportion to his amount of property.
Then he divided the classes and centuries according to the census, and
introduced the following arrangement, eminently adapted either for
peace or war.
Of those who possessed property to the value of a hundred thousand
asses[40] and upward, he formed eighty centuries, forty of seniors[41]
and forty of juniors.[42] All these were called the first class, the
seniors to be in readiness to guard the city, the juniors to carry on
war abroad. The arms they were ordered to wear consisted of a helmet,
a round shield, greaves, and a coat of mail, all of brass; these were
for the defence of the body: their weapons of offence were a spear and
a sword. To this class were added two centuries of mechanics, who were
to serve without arms: the duty imposed upon them was that of making
military engines in time of war. The second class included all those
whose property varied between seventy-five and a hundred thousand
asses, and of these, seniors and juniors twenty centuries were
enrolled. The arms they were ordered to wear consisted of a buckler
instead of a shield, and, except a coat of mail, all the rest were the
same. He decided that the property of the third class should amount to
fifty thousand asses: the number of its centuries was the same, and
formed with the same distinction of age: nor was there any change in
their arms, only the greaves were dispensed with. In the fourth class,
the property was twenty-five thousand asses: the same number of
centuries was formed; their arms were changed, nothing being given
them but a spear and a short javelin. The fifth class was larger,
thirty centuries being formed: these carried slings and stones for
throwing. Among them the supernumeraries, the horn-blowers and the
trumpeters, were distributed into three centuries. This class was
rated at eleven thousand asses. Property lower than this embraced the
rest of the citizens, and of them one century was made up which was
exempted from military service. Having thus arranged and distributed
the infantry, he enrolled twelve centuries of knights from among
the chief men of the state. While Romulus had only appointed three
centuries, Servius formed six others under the same names as they had
received at their first institution. Ten thousand asses were given
them out of the public revenue, to buy horses, and a number of widows
assigned them, who were to contribute two thousand asses yearly for
the support of the horses. All these burdens were taken off the poor
and laid on the rich. Then an additional honour was conferred upon
them: for the suffrage was not now granted promiscuously to all--a
custom established by Romulus, and observed by his successors--to
every man with the same privilege and the same right, but gradations
were established, so that no one might seem excluded from the right of
voting, and yet the whole power might reside in the chief men of the
state. For the knights were first called to vote, and then the eighty
centuries of the first class, consisting of the first class of the
infantry: if there occurred a difference of opinion among them, which
was seldom the case, the practice was that those of the second class
should be called, and that they seldom descended so low as to come
down to the lowest class. Nor need we be surprised, that the present
order of things, which now exists, after the number of the tribes was
increased to thirty-five, their number being now double of what it
was, should not agree as to the number of centuries of juniors and
seniors with the collective number instituted by Servius Tullius. For
the city being divided into four districts, according to the regions
and hills which were then inhabited, he called these divisions,
tribes, as I think, from the tribute. For the method of levying taxes
ratably according to the value of property was also introduced by him:
nor had these tribes any relation to the number and distribution of
the centuries.
The census being now completed, which he had brought to a speedy close
by the terror of a law passed in reference to those who were
not rated, under threats of imprisonment and death, he issued a
proclamation that all the Roman citizens, horse and foot, should
attend at daybreak in the Campus Martius, each in his century. There
he reviewed the whole army drawn up in centuries, and purified it by
the rite called Suovetaurilia,[43] and that was called the closing
of the lustrum, because it was the conclusion of the census. Eighty
thousand citizens are said to have been rated in that survey. Fabius
Pictor, the most ancient of our historians, adds that that was the
number of those who were capable of bearing arms. To accommodate that
vast population the city also seemed to require enlargement. He took
in two hills, the Quirinal and Viminal; then next he enlarged the
Esquiline, and took up his own residence there, in order that dignity
might be conferred upon the place. He surrounded the city with a
rampart, a moat, and a wall:[44] thus he enlarged the pomerium. Those
who regard only the etymology of the word, will have the pomerium to
be a space of ground behind the walls: whereas it is rather a space
on each side of the wall, which the Etruscans, in building cities,
formerly consecrated by augury, within certain limits, both within and
without, in the direction they intended to raise the wall: so that
the houses might not be erected close to the walls on the inside, as
people commonly unite them now, and also that there might be some
space without left free from human occupation. This space, which was
forbidden to be tilled or inhabited, the Romans called pomerium, not
so much from its being behind the wall, as from the wall being behind
it: and in enlarging the boundaries of the city, these onsecrated
limits were always extended, as far as the walls were intended to be
advanced.
When the population had been increased in consequence of the
enlargement of the city, and everything had been organized at home to
meet the exigencies both of peace and war, that the acquisition of
power might not always depend on mere force of arms, he endeavoured to
extend his empire by policy and at the same time to add some ornament
to the city. The Temple of Diana at Ephesus was even then in high
renown; it was reported that it had been built by all the states of
Asia in common. When Servius, in the company of some Latin nobles with
whom he had purposely formed ties of hospitality and friendship,
both in public and private, extolled in high terms such harmony
and association of their gods, by frequently harping upon the same
subject, he at length prevailed so far that the Latin states agreed
to build a temple of Diana at Rome[45] in conjunction with the Roman
people. This was an acknowledgment that the headship of affairs,
concerning which they had so often disputed in arms, was centred in
Rome. An accidental opportunity of recovering power by a scheme of his
own seemed to present itself to one of the Sabines, though that object
appears to have been left out of consideration by all the Latins,
in consequence of the matter having been so often attempted
unsuccessfully by arms. A cow of surprising size and beauty is said to
have been calved to a certain Sabine, the head of a family: her horns,
which were hung up in the porch of the Temple of Diana, remained for
many ages, to bear record to this marvel. The thing was regarded in
the light of a prodigy, as indeed it was, and the soothsayers declared
that sovereignty should reside in that state, a citizen of which had
sacrificed this heifer to Diana. This prediction had also reached the
ears of the high priest of the Temple of Diana. The Sabine, as soon as
a suitable day for the sacrifice seemed to have arrived, drove the cow
to Rome, led her to the Temple of Diana, and set her before the
altar. There the Roman priest, struck with the size of the victim, so
celebrated by fame, mindful of the response of the soothsayers, thus
accosted the Sabine: "What dost thou intend to do, stranger?" said
he; "with impure hands to offer sacrifice to Diana? Why dost not thou
first wash thyself in running water? The Tiber runs past at the bottom
of the valley." The stranger, seized with religious awe, since he was
desirous of everything being done in due form, that the event might
correspond with the prediction, forthwith went down to the Tiber. In
the meantime the Roman priest sacrificed the cow to Diana, gave great
satisfaction to the king, and to the whole state.