A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

TARQUINIUTS. TARQUINIUS. 979
of young men attended the funeral procession to contest was decided by the battle of the lake ReRome. Brutus, who was Tribunus Celerum, sum- gillus, which was long celebrated in song, and the
tmoned the people, and related the deed of shame. description of which in Livy resembles one of the
All classes were inflamed with the same indignation. battles in the Iliad. The Romans were comA decree was passed deposing the king, and banish- manded by the dictator, A. Postumius, and by his
ing him and his family from the city. Brutus lieutenant, T. Aebutius, the master of the knights;
now set out for the army at Ardea. Tarquinius the Latins were headed by Tarquinius and Ocmeantime had hastened to Rome, but found the tavius Mamilius. The struggle was fierce and
gates closed against him. Brutus was received bloody, but the Latins at length turned to flight.
with joy at Ardea; and the army likewise re- Almost all the chiefs on either side fell in the
nounced their allegiance to the tyrant. Tarquinius, conflict, or were grievously wounded. Tarquinius
with his two sons, Titus and Aruns, took refuge at himself was wounded, but escaped with his life;
Caere in Etruria. Sextus repaired to Gabii, his own his son Sextus is said to have fallen in this
principality, where, according to Livy, he was battle, though, according to another tradition, as we
shortly after murdered by the friends of those whom have already seen, he is said to have been slain
he had put to death. Tarquinius reigned twenty-five by the inhabitants of Gabii. It was related in
years. His banishment was placed in the year of the old tradition, that the Romans gained this
the city 244, or B. c. 510. (Liv. i. 49-60; battle by the assistance of the Dioscuri (Castor
Dionys. iv. 41-75; Cic. de Rep. ii. 24, 25.) and Pollux), who were seen charging the Latins
The remainder of the story may be told with at the head of the Roman cavalry, and who aftergreater brevity. The history of the establish- wards carried to Rome the intelligence of the dement of the republic and of the attempts of Tar- feat of the Latins. A temple was built in the
quinius to recover the sovereignty, has already forum on the spot where they appeared, and their
been related in detail in other articles. L. Brutus festival was celebrated yearly on the Ides of Quinand Tarquinius Collatinus were the first consuls; tilis (the 15th of July), the day of the battle of
but the people so hated the very name and race of Regillus, on which all the knights passed in solemn
the dethroned king, that Collatinus was obliged to procession to their temple. According to Livy the
resign his office, and retire from Rome. P. Vale- battle of the lake Regillus was fought in B. c. 498,
rius was elected consul in his place. [COLLATI- but he says that some of the annals placed it in
NUS.] Meantime ambassadors came to Rome from B. c. 496, in which year it is given by Dionysius
Tarquinii, to which city Tarquinius had removed (vi. 3) and in the Fasti Capitolini.
from Caere, demanding the restitution of his pri- The Latins were completely humbled by this
vate property. The demand seemed just to the victory. Tarquinius Superbus had no other state
senate and the people; but while the ambassadors to whom he could apply for assistance. He had
were lmaking preparation for carrying away the already survived all his family; and he now fled
property, they found means to organize a conspi- to Aristobulus at Cumae, where he died a wretched
iacy among the young Roman nobles for the restor- and childless old man. (Liv. ii. 1-21; Dionys.
ation of the royal family. The plot was discovered v. 1 —vi. 21.)
by means of a slave, and the consul Brutus ordered In the preceding account we have attempted to
the execution of his two sons, who were parties to give the story of the Tarquins as nearly as possible
the plot. The agreement to give up the property in the words of the ancient writers. But it is
was made void by this attempt at treason. The hardly necessary to remark in the present day that
royal goods were abandoned to the people to plun- this story cannot be received as a real history, or
der, and their landed estates were divided among to point out the numerous inconsistencies and
the poor, with the exception of the plain between impossibilities in the narrative. It may suffice as
the city and the river, which was reserved for a sample to remind the reader that the younger
public uses. This plain was consecrated to Mars, Tarquinius who was expelled from Rome in mature
and called the Campus Martius. age, was the son of the king who ascended the
Tarquinius now endeavoured to recover the throne 107 years previously in the vigour of life;
throne by force of arms. The people of Tarquinii and that Servius Tullius, who married the daughter
and Veii espoused his cause, and marched against of Tarquinius Priscus, shortly before he ascended
Rome. The two consuls advanced to meet them. the throne, immediately after his accession is the
A bloody battle was fought, in which Brutus and father of two daughters whom he marries to the
Aruns, the son of Tarquinius, slew each other. brothers of his own wife. It would be a fruitless
Both parties claimed the victory, till a voice was task to endeavour to ascertain the real history of
heard in the dead of night, proclaiming that the the later Roman monarchy; for although the legend
Romans had conquered, as the Etruscans had lost has doubtless preserved some facts, yet we have no
one man more. Alarmed at this, the Etruscans criteria to determine the true from the false. The
fled, and Valerius, the surviving consul, entered story of the Tarquins has evidently been drawn
Rome in triumph. from the works of several popular poets, and there
Tarquinius next repaired to Lars Porsena, the can be little doubt that one at least of the writers
powerful king of Clusium, who likewise espoused must have become acquainted with Greek literature
his cause, and marched against Rome at the head from the Greek colonies in southern Italy. The
of a vast army. The history of this memorable stratagem by which Tarquinius obtained possession
expedition, which was long preserved in the Ro- of Gabii is obviously taken from a tale in Herodotua
man lays, is related under PORSENA. (iii. 154), and similar cases might easily be multiAfter Porsena quitted Rome, Tarquinius took plied. Hence we may account for the Greek origin
refuge with his son-in-law, Mamilius Octavius of of the Tarquins. There is, however, one fact in the
Tusculum. Under the guidance of the latter, the common tale which it is impossible to disbelieve,
Latin states espoused the cause of the exiled king, although it has been questioned by Niebuhr, we
and eventually declared war against Rome. The mean the Etruscan origin of the Tarquills. Niebuhr
3 R 2