The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08
placed on Turnus; and forthwith a meeting of the Latins was summoned
amid great confusion. There, on the swords being brought forward in the
midst, such violent hatred arose against him, that without being allowed
a defence, by a novel mode of death, being thrown into the reservoir of
the water of Ferentina, a hurdle[61] being placed over him, and stones
being thrown into that, he was drowned.
[Footnote 61: _Hurdle_, a mode of punishment in use among the
Carthaginians. See Tac. Germ. 12. Similar to the Greek, ?atap??t?sµ??.]
52. Tarquin, having recalled the Latins to the meeting, and applauded
those who had inflicted well-merited punishment on Turnus, as one
convicted of parricide, by his attempting a change of government, spoke
as follows: "That he could indeed proceed by a long-established right;
because, since all the Latins were sprung from Alba, they were included
in that treaty by which the entire Alban nation, with their colonies,
fell under the dominion of Rome, under Tullus. However, for the sake of
the interest of all parties, he thought rather, that that treaty should
be renewed; and that the Latins should, as participators, enjoy the
prosperity of the Roman people, rather than that they should be
constantly either apprehending or suffering the demolition of their town
and the devastations of their lands, which they suffered formerly in the
reign of Ancus, afterwards in the reign of his own father." The Latins
were persuaded without any difficulty, though in that treaty the
advantage lay on the side of Rome; but they both saw that the chiefs of
the Latin nation sided and concurred with the king, and Turnus was a
recent instance of his danger to each, if he should make any opposition.
Thus the treaty was renewed, and notice was given to the young men of
the Latins, that, according to the treaty, they should attend in
considerable numbers in arms, on a certain day, at the grove of
Ferentina. And when they assembled from all the states according to the
edict of the Roman king, in order that they should neither have a
general of their own, nor a separate command, or their own standards, he
compounded companies of Latins and Romans, so as to make one out of two,
and two out of one; the companies being thus doubled, he appointed
centurions over them.
53. Nor was Tarquin, though a tyrannical prince in peace, a despicable
general in war; nay, he would have equalled his predecessors in that
art, had not his [62]degeneracy in other respects likewise detracted
from his merit here. He began the war against the Volsci, which lasted
two hundred years after his time, and took from them Suessa Pometia by
storm; and when by the sale of the spoils he had amassed forty talents
of silver and of gold, he designed such magnificence for a temple to
Jupiter, as should be worthy of the king of gods and men, of the Roman
empire, and of the majesty of the place itself: for the building of this
temple he set apart the money arising from the spoils. Soon after a war
came upon him, more tedious than he expected, in which, having in vain
attempted to storm Gabii, a city in his neighbourhood, when being
repulsed from the walls all hopes of taking it by siege also was taken
from him, he assailed it by fraud and stratagem, arts by no means Roman.
For when, as if the war was laid aside, he pretended to be busily taken
up with laying the foundation of the temple, and with his other works in
the city, Sextus, the youngest of his three sons, according to concert,
fled to Gabii, complaining of the inhuman cruelty of his father, "that
he had turned his tyranny from others against his own family, and was
uneasy at the number of his own children, intending to make the same
desolations in his own house which he had made in the senate, in order
that he might leave behind him no issue, nor heir to his kingdom. That
for his own part, as he had escaped from amidst the swords and other
weapons of his father, he was persuaded he could find no safety any
where but among the enemies of L. Tarquin. And, that they might not be
led astray, that the war, which it is now pretended has been given up,
still lies in reserve, and that he would attack them when off their
guard on the occurrence of an opportunity. But if there be no refuge
for suppliants among them, that he would traverse all Latium, and would
apply to the Volscians, and Æquians, and Hernicians, until he should
come to those who knew how to protect children from the impious and
cruel persecution of parents. That perhaps he would find some ardour
also to take up arms and wage war against this proud king and his
haughty subjects." As he seemed a person likely to go further onward,
incensed with anger, if they paid him no regard, he is received by the
Gabians very kindly. They bid him not to be surprised, if he were at
last the same to his children as he had been to his subjects and
allies;--that he would ultimately vent his rage on himself if other
objects failed him;--that his coming was very acceptable to them, and
they thought that it would come to pass that by his aid the war would be
transferred from the gates of Gabii to the walls of Rome.
[Footnote 62: _His degeneracy--degeneratum_. This use of the passive
participle is of frequent occurrence in Livy.]
54. Upon this he was admitted into their public councils, where though,
with regard to other matters, he professed to submit to the judgment of
the old inhabitants of Gabii, to whom they were better known, yet he
every now and then advised them to renew the war; to that he pretended
to a superior knowledge, because he was well acquainted with the
strength of both nations, and knew that the king's pride was decidedly
become hateful to his subjects, which not even his own children could
now endure. As he thus by degrees stirred up the nobles of the Gabians
to renew the war, went himself with the most active of their youth on
plundering parties and expeditions, and ill-grounded credit was attached
to all his words and actions, framed as they were for deception, he is
at length chosen general-in-chief in the war. There when, the people
being still ignorant of what was really going on, several skirmishes
with the Romans took place, wherein the Gabians generally had the
advantage, then all the Gabians, from the highest to the lowest, were
firmly persuaded, that Sextus Tarquinius had been sent to them as their
general, by the special favour of the gods. By his exposing himself to
fatigues and dangers, and by his generosity in dividing the plunder, he
was so beloved by the soldiers, that Tarquin the father had not greater
power at Rome than the son at Gabii. When he saw he had got sufficient
strength collected to support him in any undertaking, he sent one of
his confidants to Rome to ask his father what he wished him to do,
seeing the gods had granted him the sole management of all affairs at
Gabii. To this courier no answer by word of mouth was given, because, I
suppose, he appeared of questionable fidelity. The king going into a
garden of the palace, as it were to consider of the matter, followed by
his son's messenger; walking there for some time in silence, he is said
to have struck off the heads of the tallest poppies with his staff. The
messenger, wearied with demanding and waiting for an answer, returned to
Gabii as if without having accomplished his object, and told what he had
said himself, and what he had observed, adding, "that Tarquin, either
through passion, aversion to him, or his innate pride, had not spoke a
word." As soon as it became evident to Sextus what his father wished,
and what conduct he recommended by those silent intimations, he put to
death the most eminent men of the city, accusing some of them to the
people, and others who were exposed by their own unpopularity. Many were
executed publicly, and some, against whom an impeachment was likely to
prove less specious, were secretly assassinated. Means of escape were to
some allowed, and others were banished, and their estates, as well as
the estates of those who were put to death, publicly distributed. By the
sweets of corruption, plunder, and private advantage resulting from
these distributions, the sense of the public calamities became
extinguished in them, till the state of Gabii, destitute of counsel and
assistance, was delivered without a struggle into the hands of the Roman
king.
55. Tarquin, thus put in possession of Gabii, made peace with the
Æquians, and renewed the treaty with the Etrurians. Then he turned his
thoughts to the business of the city. The chief whereof was that of
leaving behind him the temple of Jupiter on the Tarpeian mount, as a
monument of his name and reign; [since posterity would remember] that of
two Tarquinii, both kings, the father had vowed, the son completed it.
And that the area, excluding all other forms of worship, might be
entirely appropriated to Jupiter, and his temple, which was to be
erected upon it, he resolved to unhallow several small temples and
chapels, which had been vowed first by king Tatius, in the heat of the
battle against Romulus, and which he afterwards consecrated and
dedicated. In the very beginning of founding this work it is said that
the gods exerted their divinity to presage the future greatness of this
empire; for though the birds declared for the unhallowing of all the
other temples, they did not admit of it with respect to that of
Terminus. This omen and augury were taken to import that Terminus's not
changing his residence, and being the only one of the gods who was not
called out of the places devoted to their worship, presaged the duration
and stability of their empire. This being deemed an omen of the
perpetuity, there followed another portending the greatness of the
empire. It is reported that the head of a man, with the face entire,
appeared to the workmen when digging the foundation of the temple. The
sight of this phenomenon unequivocally presaged that this temple should
be the metropolis of the empire, and the head of the world; and so
declared the soothsayers, both those who were in the city, and those
whom they had sent for from Etruria, to consult on this subject. The
king was encouraged to enlarge the expense; so that the spoils of
Pometia, which had been destined to complete the work, scarcely sufficed
for laying the foundation. On this account I am more inclined to believe
Fabius Pictor, besides his being the more ancient historian, that there
were only forty talents, than Piso, who says that forty thousand pounds
weight of silver were set apart for that purpose; a sum of money neither
to be expected from the spoils of any one city in those times, and one
that would more than suffice for the foundation of any structure, even
though exhibiting the magnificence of modern structures.
56. Tarquin, intent upon finishing this temple, having sent for workmen
from all parts of Etruria, employed on it not only the public money, but
the manual labour of the people; and when this labour, by no means
inconsiderable in itself, was added to their military service, still the
people murmured less at their building the temples of the gods with
their own hands; they were afterwards transferred to other works, which,
whilst less in show, (required) still greater toil: such as the erecting
benches in the circus, and conducting under ground the principal
sewer,[63] the receptacle of all the filth of the city; to which two
works even modern splendour can scarcely produce any thing equal. The
people having been employed in these works, because he both considered
that such a multitude was a burden to the city when there was no
employment for them, and further, he was anxious that the frontiers of
the empire should be more extensively occupied by sending colonists, he