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of him and his wife Tullia; and he said many things, reminding those present of his father's worth, and mocked Tullius greatly. But when that man, having learned these things, arrived in haste, and indeed uttered something, he seized him and lifting him up, threw him down the steps in front of the senate-house. And he, disturbed by Tarquinius's audacity and because no one came to his aid, neither said nor did anything more; but Tarquinius immediately received the kingship from the senate and, sending some men, had Tullius killed as he was being carried home. And his daughter, after kissing her husband in the senate-house and hailing him as king, and as she was departing for the palace, drove her chariot right over the corpse of her father. 2.112 Thus, then, Tullius ruled and thus he died, having reigned for forty-four years, and Tarquinius, having taken over the kingship, surrounded himself with bodyguards in the manner of Romulus, and used them night and day, both staying at home and going to the forum. For from what he himself had done to his father-in-law and his wife to her father, they also feared the rest. And when he had prepared himself to rule as a tyrant, he began to arrest and execute the most powerful of the senators and of the others, some he killed openly, bringing a charge against them, but others secretly; and some he even banished. For he destroyed not only those attached to Tullius, but also those who had helped him to the monarchy, and thus he consumed the best of the senate and of the equestrian order. And he believed he was hated by the entire populace; for this reason he did not replace at all any of those who were killed, but, attempting to dissolve the senate completely, he neither introduced anyone new into it nor communicated anything of worth to those who were there. For he would summon them, not, however, to co-administer any necessary matters, but so that their small number might become clear to all, and that they might consequently be held in contempt; and he conducted most business by himself or with his sons. He was difficult to approach and difficult to address, and he employed arrogance and cruelty equally towards all, and both he and his sons behaved more tyrannically towards everyone. For these reasons, holding even his bodyguards in suspicion, he hired a bodyguard from among the Latins, and into the Roman ranks 2.113 he mixed Latins, so that the Latins, having obtained equal status with the Romans, might owe him goodwill on that account, and the Romans might intimidate him less, being no longer by themselves, but serving as soldiers alongside the Latins. And he joined battle with the Gabinians, and though he fought badly, he overcame them by a trick. For he contrived for his son Sextus to desert to them; and so that a plausible pretext for the desertion might be available to him, the son openly reviled his father as a tyrant and a treaty-breaker, and the father had his son flogged and retaliated against him. Then, by arrangement, he feigned desertion to the Gabinians, having taken money and companions with him. And they, believing the pretense both because of Tarquinius's cruelty and because he was then saying many true things against his father and on that account seemed to have been made his enemy, both received him most gladly and made some raids against Roman territory with him and damaged it not moderately. For these reasons, at any rate, and because he both provided money to some privately and spent lavishly for the public good, he was chosen general by them and was entrusted with the administration of their civil affairs. Upon this, he secretly sent someone to inform his father of what had happened and asked his advice for the future. But he said nothing to the one who was sent, so that, if perhaps he were recognized, he might not reveal anything either willingly or unwillingly, but leading him into a garden in which there were poppies, he struck off their projecting heads with a stick and scattered them on the ground, and thus he sent the messenger away. And he reported to Sextus what had been done, not understanding the action, but the other understood the meaning of the suggestion, and of the most notable men of Gabii, 2.114 some he destroyed secretly with poisons, and others by means of some pretended

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αὐτῷ καὶ τῆς γυναικὸς Τουλλίας· καὶ πολλὰ μὲν ειπε τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς ἀξίας τοὺς παρόντας ἀναμιμνήσκων, πολλὰ δ' ἀπέσκωψε πρὸς τὸν Τούλλιον. ἐπεὶ δ' ἐκεῖνος ταῦτα μαθὼν ἐπέστη σπουδῇ, καί τι δὴ καὶ ἐφθέγξατο, συνήρπασεν αὐτὸν καὶ ἐξάρας ωσε κατὰ τῶν πρὸ τοῦ βουλευτηρίου ἀναβαθμῶν. καὶ ὁ μέν, ταραχθεὶς πρὸς τὴν τοῦ Ταρκυνίου τόλμαν καὶ οτι οὐδέ τις αὐτῷ ἐπεκούρησεν, ουτ' ειπεν ετι οὐδὲν ουτ' ἐποίησε· Ταρκύνιος δὲ τήν τε βασιλείαν εὐθὺς παρὰ τῆς βουλῆς ελαβε καὶ πέμψας τινὰς τὸν Τούλλιον κομιζόμενον οικαδε διεχρήσατο. ἡ δὲ θυγάτηρ ἐκείνου ἐν τῷ βουλευτηρίῳ τὸν ανδρα καταφιλήσασα καὶ βασιλέα προσαγορεύσασα καὶ ἀπιοῦσα πρὸς τὰ βασίλεια τὸ οχημα κατὰ τοῦ νεκροῦ τοῦ πατρὸς ὡς ειχεν ἐπήλασεν. 2.112 Ουτω μὲν ουν ὁ Τούλλιος ηρξε καὶ ουτως ἀπέθανε βασιλεύσας τέσσαρας ἐνιαυτοὺς ἐπὶ τεσσαράκοντα, ὁ Ταρκύνιος δὲ τὴν βασιλείαν παρειληφὼς δορυφόρους κατὰ ̔Ρωμύλον ἑαυτῷ περιέστησεν, καὶ νύκτωρ καὶ μεθ' ἡμέραν αὐτοῖς καὶ οἰκουρῶν καὶ ἀγοράζων ἐκέχρητο. ἐξ ων γὰρ αὐτὸς εἰς τὸν κηδεστὴν καὶ ἡ γυνὴ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ἐποίησαν, καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἐδεδίεσαν. ἐπεὶ δὲ ὡς τυραννήσων παρεσκευάσατο, τοὺς δυνατωτάτους τῶν βουλευτῶν καὶ τῶν αλλων συλλαμβάνων ἐκτίννυεν, οις μὲν αἰτίαν ειχεν ἐπενεγκεῖν φανερῶς ἀναιρῶν, ους δὲ λάθρᾳ· ἐνίους δέ γε καὶ ὑπερώριζεν. οὐ γὰρ τοὺς τῷ Τουλλίῳ προσκειμένους μόνους, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς πρὸς τὴν μοναρχίαν συναραμένους αὐτῷ προσαπώλλυε, καὶ ουτω τὸ κράτιστον τῆς βουλῆς καὶ τῆς ἱππάδος ἀνάλωσε. μισεῖσθαί τε ὑπὸ παντὸς τοῦ δήμου ἐπίστευε· διὸ οὐ δὲ ἀντικαθίστη τὸ παράπαν ἀντὶ τῶν ἀπολλυμένων τινάς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν γερουσίαν καταλῦσαι παντελῶς ἐπιχειρήσας ουτε ἀντεισῆγεν ἐς αὐτὴν οὐδένα ουτε τοῖς ουσιν ἐπεκοίνου τι λόγου αξιον. συνεκάλει μὲν γὰρ αὐτούς, οὐ μὴν ωστε τι τῶν ἀναγκαίων συνδιοικεῖν, ἀλλ' ινα δήλη αὐτῶν ἡ βραχύτης γίνοιτο απασι, κἀντεῦθεν καταφρονοῖντο· τὰ δὲ πλεῖστα καθ' ἑαυτὸν η καὶ μετὰ τῶν υἱέων επραττε. δυσπρόσιτός τε καὶ δυσπροσήγορος ην, καὶ τῇ ὑπεροψίᾳ καὶ τῇ ὠμότητι ὁμοίως ἐχρῆτο πρὸς απαντας, καὶ τυραννικώτερον αὐτός τε καὶ οἱ παῖδες αὐτοῦ προσεφέροντο απασι. διὰ ταῦτα δὲ καὶ τοὺς δορυφόρους ὑπόπτους εχων, ἐκ τῶν Λατίνων προσηταιρίσατο δορυφορικόν, καὶ ἐς τὰς τῶν ̔Ρωμαίων τάξεις 2.113 Λατίνους ἐνέμιξεν, ινα οἱ μὲν Λατῖνοι ἰσομοιρίας τοῖς ̔Ρωμαίοις τυχόντες ευνοιαν αὐτῷ ἐντεῦθεν ὀφείλωσι, καὶ οἱ ̔Ρωμαῖοι ηττον ἐκφοβῶσιν αὐτόν, μηκέτι κατὰ σφᾶς οντες, ἀλλὰ τοῖς Λατίνοις συνοπλιτεύοντες. Γαουίνοις δὲ μάχην συνῆψε, καὶ κακῶς μὲν ἠγωνίσατο, δόλῳ δὲ αὐτοὺς ἐχειρώσατο. αὐτομολῆσαι γὰρ αὐτοῖς Σέξτῳ ὑπέθετο τῷ υἱῷ· ινα δ' εὐπρόσωπος αὐτῷ τῆς αὐτομολίας πρόφασις γένηται, ἐκεῖνος μὲν τὸν πατέρα φανερῶς ὡς τύραννον καὶ παράσπονδον ἐλοιδόρησεν, ὁ δὲ τὸν υἱὸν ἐμαστίγωσέ τε καὶ ἀντημύνατο. ειτα κατὰ συνθήκας πρὸς Γαουίνους ἐψευδαυτομόλησε, χρήματά τε καὶ ἑταίρους παρειληφώς. οἱ δέ, πιστεύσαντες τῇ σκηνῇ διά τε τὴν τοῦ Ταρκυνίου ὠμότητα καὶ οτι καὶ τότε πολλὰ καὶ ἀληθῆ τὸν πατέρα ἐκακηγόρει κἀντεῦθεν ἐκπεπολεμῶσθαι αὐτῷ ἐδόκει, ἐδέξαντό τε αὐτὸν ἀσμενέστατα καί τινας ἐπελεύσεις κατὰ τῆς ̔Ρωμαϊκῆς χώρας σὺν αὐτῷ ἐποιήσαντο καὶ οὐ μετρίως αὐτῇ ἐλυμήναντο. διὰ ταῦτα γοῦν, καὶ οτι χρήματα ἰδίᾳ τέ τισι παρεῖχε καὶ ἐς τὸ κοινὸν ἀνήλισκε δαψιλῶς, ᾑρέθη παρ' αὐτῶν στρατηγὸς καὶ τὴν τῶν πολιτικῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς πραγμάτων ἐπετράπη διοίκησιν. ἐπὶ τούτοις λάθρᾳ πέμψας τινὰ τὰ συμβάντα τε ἐγνώρισε τῷ πατρὶ καὶ πρὸς τὸ μέλλον γνώμην ῃτησεν ἐξ αὐτοῦ. ὁ δὲ ειπε μὲν τῷ πεμφθέντι οὐδέν, ινα μὴ ισως γνωσθεὶς ἑκών τι η ακων ἐξείποι, εἰς δὲ κῆπον εἰσαγαγὼν αὐτόν, ἐν ῳ μήκωνες ησαν, τὰς κωδύας αὐτῶν τὰς ὑπερεχούσας ῥάβδῳ κατέκλασε καὶ εἰς γῆν κατεστόρεσε, καὶ ουτω τὸν ἀγγελιαφόρον ἀπέπεμψε. καὶ ὁ μὲν τὸ πραχθὲν τῷ Σέξτῳ ἀπήγγειλεν, ἀσυνέτως εχων τῆς πράξεως, ὁ δὲ τὸν νοῦν συνῆκε τῆς ὑποθέσεως, καὶ τοὺς ἀξιολογωτέρους τῶν Γαουίνων τοὺς 2.114 μὲν λάθρᾳ φαρμάκοις διέφθειρε, τοὺς δὲ διά τινων δῆθεν