their tardy vengeance, they resolved to destroy him; and at last found means to effect their purpose, by hiring two ruffians, who demanding to speak with the king, pretending that they came for justice, struck him dead in his palace with the blow of an axe. The lictors, however, who waited upon the person of the king, seized the murderers as they were attempting to escape, and put them to death: but the sons of Ancus, who were the instigators, found safety in flight1.

11. Thus fell Lu'cius Tarquin'ius, surnamed Pris'cus, to distinguish him from one of his successors of the same name. He was eighty years of age, and had reigned thirty-eight years 2.

Questions for Examination.

1. Who was Lucius Tarquinius Priscus ?

2. What occasioned his removal to Rome, and what circumstances attended it?

3. Was this presage fulfilled, and by what means?

4. In what manner did he govern?

5. Was Tarquin a warlike prince?

6. How did he improve his victories?

7. By what act did he ensure the obedience of his subjects?

8. What contributed to increase the reputation of the augurs?

9. What part of his conduct is supposed to have raised the envy of the late king's sons?

10. What was the consequence of this envy and resentment? 11. What was his age, and how long did he reign?

They had before attempted to render the king detestable in the eyes of his subjects, by imputing to him the murder of Nævius, who had suddenly disappeared. As this calumny failed of its intended effect, they were pardoned by Tarquin; but this clemency by no means lessened their inveterate hatred, nor rendered them less anxious to effect his destruction.

2 The history of the elder Tarquin presents insuperable difficulties. We are told that his original name was Lu'cumo, but that, as has been mentioned in the Introduction, was the Etrurian designation of a chief magistrate. One circumstance, however, is unquestionable, that with him began the greatness and the splendour of the Roman city. He commenced those vaulted sewers which still attract the admiration of posterity; he erected the first circus for the exhibition of public spectacles; he planned the Capitol; and commenced, if he did not complete, the first city wall. The tradition that he was a Tuscan prince appears to be well founded; but the Corinthian origin of his family is very improbable.

CHAPTER VII.

FROM THE DEATH OF TARQUINIUS PRISCUS TO THE DEATH OF SERVIUS TULLIUS, THE SIXTH KING of Rome.-u.c. 176.

Servius, the king, who laid the solid base

On which o'er earth the vast republic spread.-THOMSON.

2 Dissimula'tion, s. the act of putting on a false appearance, in order to conceal one's intention or endea

vour.

3. Sack'ing, part. the taking of a town by storm, and delivering it up to be plundered by the soldiers.

7. Lustrum, 8. a space of five years.

10. Sympathetic, a. having mutual sensation.

li. Illegal, a. unlawful.

1. THE report of the murder of Tarquin filled all his subjects with complaint and indignation; while the citizens ran from every quarter to the palace, to learn the truth of the account, or to take vengeance on the assassins. 2. In this tumult, Tan'aquil, widow of the late king, considering the danger she must incur in case the conspirators should succeed to the crown, and desirous of seeing her son-inlaw his successor, with great art dissembled her sorrow, as well as the king's death. She assured the people, from one of the windows of the palace, that he was not killed, but only stunned by the blow; that he would shortly recover; and that in the mean time he had deputed his power to Servius Tullius, his son-in-law. Servius accordingy, as it had been agreed upon between them, issued from the palace, adorned with the ensigns of royalty, and, preceded by his lictors, went to despatch some affairs that related to the public safety; still pretending that he took all his instructions from the king. This scene of dissimulation continued for some days, till he had made his party good among the nobles; when, the death of Tarquin being publicly ascertained, Ser'vius came to the crown, solely at the senate's appointment, and without attempting to gain the suffrages of the people '.

3. Servius was the son of a bondwoman, who had been taken at the sacking of a town' belonging to the Latins, and was born whilst his mother was a slave. Whilst yet an

1 Diony'sius Halicarnas'sus tells us that he assumed the sovereignty, without waiting for the suffrages either of the senate or people.

2 Cornic'ulum. (Dion. Hal.) His father is said to have been one Tullius, an officer of royal extraction, who was killed in the defence of his country. The name of his mother was Ocrisia. (Ibid.)

infant in his cradle a lambent flame' is said to have played round his head, which Tan'aquil converted into an omen of future greatness.

4. Upon being acknowledged king, he determined to make a great change in the Roman constitution, by admitting the plebeians to a participation in the civil government. The senate was too weak to resist the change when it was proposed, but it submitted with great reluctance. 5. Servius divided all the Romans into classes and centuries, according to their wealth and the amount of taxes paid to the state. The number of centuries in the first class nearly equalled that of all the others; a great advantage to the plebeians, for the lower classes being chiefly clients of the patricians, were always inclined to vote according to the prejudices or interests of their patrons. 6. The classification by centuries was also used for military purposes, the heavy-armed infantry being selected from the richer classes; the light troops, whose arms and armour could be obtained at less expense, were levied among the lower centuries.

7. In order to ascertain the increase or decay of his subjects, and their fortunes, he instituted another regulation, which he called a lustrum. By this, all the citizens were to assemble in the Cam'pus Mar'tius', in complete armour, and in their respective classes, once in five years, and there to give an exact account of their families and fortune.

The ceremonies concluded with a sacrifice called the Su-ove-taurilia, so called because a sow (sus), a sheep

1 A flame of fire gliding about without doing any harm.

A large plain at Rome, without the walls of the city, where the Koman youth performed their exercises. Cam'pus is the Latin word

(ovis), and a bull (taurus) were sacrificed to the Lares, or tutelary deities of social and domestic life.

8. Having enjoyed a long reign, spent in settling the domestic policy of the state, and also not inattentive to foreign concerns, he conceived reasonable hopes of concluding it with tranquillity and ease1. He even had thoughts of laying down his power; and, having formed the kingdom into a republic, to retire into obscurity; but so generous a design was frustrated ere it could be put into execution.

9. In the beginning of his reign, to secure the throne by every precaution, he had married his two daughters to the two grandsons of Tarquin; and as he knew that the women, as well as their intended husbands, were of opposite dispositions, he resolved to cross their tempers, by giving each to him of a contrary turn of mind; her that was meek and gentle, to him that was bold and furious; her that was ungovernable and proud, to him that was remarkable for a contrary character; by this he supposed that each would correct the failings of the other, and that the mixture would be productive of concord. 10. The event, however, proved otherwise. Lu'cius, the haughty son-in-law, soon grew displeased with the meekness of his consort, and placed his whole affections upon his brother's wife Tullia, who answered his passion with sympathetic ardour. As their wishes were ungovernable, they soon resolved to break through every restraint that prevented their union; they both undertook to murder their respective consorts; they succeeded, and were soon after married together. 11. A first crime ever produces a second; from the destruction of their consorts, they proceeded to conspiring that of the king. They began by raising factions against him, alleging his illegal title to the crown, and Lu'cius claiming it as his own, as heir to Tarquin. At length, when he found the senate ripe for seconding his views, he entered the senate-house, adorned with all the

for field; and this field or plain was called Mar'tius, because it was dedicated to Mars, the god of war.

1 Though no mention is made in the text of his military exploits, he performed some worthy of record. The Etrurians, encouraged by his pacific disposition, revolted; but Servius taking the field, quickly subdued them anew, and divided their lands among the Roman citizens. For this victory he enjoyed the honours of a splendid triumph. Still restless, the Etru'rians revolted a second and a third time, and a second and a third time Ser'vius triumphed ov heir reduction. (Dion. Hal.)

ensigns of royalty, and placing himself upon the throne, began to harangue them on the obscurity of the king's birth, and the injustice of his title. 12. While he was yet speaking, Servius entered, attended by a few followers, and seeing his throne thus rudely invaded, offered to push the usurper from his seat; but Tarquin being in the vigour of youth, threw the old king down the steps which led to the throne; some of his adherents, who were instructed for that purpose, followed him, as he was feebly attempting to get to the palace, despatched him by the way, and threw his body, all mangled and bleeding, as a public spectacle, into the street. 13. In the mean time, Tullia, burning with impatience for the event, was informed of what her husband had done, and resolving to be among the first who should salute him as monarch, ordered her chariot to the senatehouse. But as her charioteer approached the place where the body of the old king, her father, lay, exposed and bloody, the man, amazed at the inhuman spectacle, and not willing to trample upon it with the horses, offered to turn another way: this serving only to increase the fierceness of her anger, she threw the footstool at his head, and ordered him to drive over the body without hesitation '.

14. This was the end of Ser'vius Tullius, a prince of eminent justice and moderation, after an useful and prosperous reign of forty-four years 2.

The blood of the good old king is said to have dyed the chariot wheels, and even the clothes of the inhuman daughter; from that time the street where it happened was called vicus sceleratus, the wicked or accursed street.

2 Servius Tullius was universally regarded as the great patron of the commonalty, and as the first who gave equal rights to all the citizens. The patricians, indignant at being deprived of their monopoly of power, regarded him as an enemy of their order, and joined in a conspiracy with the younger Tarquin for his destruction. His memory was venerated by the plebeians; tradition declared that he had been born on the nones of some month, but the name of the particular month was forgotten; the people, therefore, commemorated their benefactor on the nones of every month. When the aristocracy, after the expulsion of the kings, succeeded in wresting political power from the people, they forbade markets to be held on the nones, lest the remembrance of the Servian constitution should lead the people to hazard an insurrection in order to restore the laws of the martyr.

Mention has been made in the Introduction of the very different account given of the origin of Servius Tullius by the emperor Claudius in a speech to the senate, which he declares that he had derived from Etruscan historians; his narrative is very curious, and we shall give our readers a brief abstract of it. He says that Servius was by birth an