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was honored with a third triumph. The king, being thus disengaged from a troublesome war, put in execution that master-piece of policy which Rome made use of ever after, and which established a perpetual order and regularity in all the members of the state, with respect to wars, the public revenues, and the suffrages of the comitia. The public supplies had hitherto been raised upon the people at so much a head, without any distinction of rich and poor; whence it likewise followed that, when levies were made for the war, the rich and poor were equally obliged to take the field, according to the order of their tribe; and, as they all served at their own expense, the poorer sort could hardly bear the charges of a campaign. Besides, as the most indigent of the people saw themselves burdened with the same taxes as the rich, they pretended to an equal authority in the comitia; so that the election of kings and magistrates, the making of peace or war, and the judging of criminals, were given up into the hands of a populace who were easily corrupted, and had nothing to lose. Servius formed a projec. to remedy these evils, and put it in execution, by enacting a law, enjoining all the Roman citizens to bring in an account in writing of their own names and ages, and of those of their fathers, wives, and children. All heads of families were also commanded to deliver in, upon oath, a just estimate of their effects, and to add to it the places of their abode, whether in town or country. Whoever did not bring in an account of his effects was to be deprived of his estate, to be beaten with rods, and publicly sold for a slave. Servius, from these accounts, undertook to ease the poor by burdening the rich, and to please the latter by increasing their power. To this end he divided the Roman people into six classes; the first class consisted of those whose estates and effects amounted to the value of 10,000 drachmæ, or 100,000 asses of brass; the first way of computing being used by the Greeks, and the latter by the Latins. This class was subdivided into eighty centuries, or companies of foot. To these Servius joined eighteen centuries of Roman knights, who fought on horseback; and appointed this body of horsemen to be at the head of the first class, because the estates of these knights exceeded the sum necessary to be admitted into it. However, the public supplied them with horses; for which a tax was laid upon widows, who were exempt from all other tributes. This first class, including infantry and cavalry, consisted of ninety-eight centuries. The second class comprehended those whose estates were valued at 7500 drachmæ, or 75,000 asses of brass. It was subdivided into twenty centuries, all foot. To these were added two centuries of carpenters, smiths, and other artificers. In the third class were those who were esteemed worth 5000 drachmæ, or 50,000 asses. This class was subdivided into twenty centuries. The fourth class was those whose effects were rated at the value of 2500 drachmæ, or 26,000 asses, and was divided into twenty centuries; to which were added two other centuries of trumpeters and blowers of the horn, who supplied the whole army with this martial music.

The fifth class included those whose substance did not amount to more than 1250 drachmæ, or 12,500 asses; and this class was divided into thirty centuries. The sixth class comprehended all those who were not worth so much as those of the fifth class; they exceeded in number any other class, but nevertheless were reckoned but as one century. The king drew from these regulations all the advantages he had expected. Levies for the army were no longer raised by tribes, nor were taxes laid on at so much a head, but all was levied by centuries. When an army of 20,000 men, or a large supply of money, was wanted for the war, each century furnished its quota both of men and money; so that the first class, which contained more centuries, though fewer men, than all the others together, furnished more men and more money for the public service than the whole Roman state besides. And by these means the Roman armies consisted for the most part of the rich citizens of Rome; who, as they had lands and effects to defend, fought with more resolution, while their riches enabled them to bear the expense of the campaign. As it was but just the king should make the first class amends for the weight laid on it, he gave it almost the whole authority in public affairs, changing the comitia by curiæ, in which every man gave his vote, into comitia by centuries, in which the majority was not reckoned by single persons, but by centuries, how few soever there might be in a century. Hence the first class, which contained more centuries than the other five taken together, had every thing at its disposal. The votes of this class were first taken; and if the ninety-eight centuries happened to agree, or only ninety-seven of them, the affair was determined; because these made the majority of the 193 centuries which composed the six classes. If they disagreed, then the second, the third, and the other classes in their order were called to vote, though there was very seldom any occasion to go so low as the fourth class for a majority of votes; so that, by this good order, Servius brought the affairs of the state to be determined by the judgment of the most considerable citizens, who understood the public interest much better than the blind multitude, liable to be imposed upon and easily corrupted. And now the people being divided into several orders, according to the census or valuation of their estate, Servius resolved to solemnise this prudent regulation by some public act of religion, that it might be the more respected and the more lasting. Accordingly all the citizens were commanded to appear, on a day appointed, in the Campus Martius, a large plain lying between the city and the Tiber, formerly consecrated by Romulus to the god Mars. Here, the centuries being drawn up in battalia, a solemn lustration or expiatory sacrifice was performed in the name of all the people. The sacrifice consisted of a sow, a sheep, and a bull, whence it took the name of suovetaurilia. The whole ceremony was called lustrum, a luendo; that is, from praying, expiating, clearing, or perhaps from the goddess Lua, who presided over expiations, and to whom Servius bad dedicated a temple. The king, considering that in

the space of five years there might be such alterations in the fortunes of private persons as to entitle some to be raised to a higher class and reduce others to a lower, enjoined that the census should be renewed every five years.

As the census was usually closed by the lustrum, the Romans henceforth began to compute time by lustrums, each lustrum containing the space of five years. However, the lustrums were not always regularly observed, but often put off, though the census had been made in the fifth year. Some writers say that Servius at this time coined the first money that had appeared at Rome. The government of the city being thus established, Servius, touched with compassion for those whom an unsuccessful war had reduced to slavery, thought that such of them as had, by long and faithful services, deserved and obtained their freedom, were much more worthy of being made Roman citizens than foreigners who were admitted without distinction. He therefore gave the freed men their choice, either to return to their own country or continue at Rome. Those who chose to continue he divided into four tribes, and settled them within the city; and though they were distinguished from the plebeians by their old name of liberti, or freed men, yet they enjoyed all the privileges of free citizens. The senate took offence at the regard which the king showed to such low people, who had but lately shaken off their fetters; but Servius, by a most humane and judicious discourse, entirely appeased the fathers, who passed his institution into a law which subsisted ever after. This wise king, having thus established order among the people, undertook at last to reform the royal power itself; his equity, which was the main spring of all his resolutions, leading him to act contrary to his own interest, and to sacrifice one half of the royal authority to the public good. His predecessors reserved to themselves the cognizance of all causes, public and private; but Servius, finding the duties of his office too much for one man to discharge well, committed the cognizance of ordinary suits to the senate, and reserved that only of state crimes to himself. All things being now regulated, both in the city and country, Servius formed a scheme for attaching the Sabines and Latins to the Romans, by social ties, strengthened by religion. He summoned the Latin and Sabine cities to send their deputies to Rome, to consult about an affair of great importance. When they were come, he proposed to them the building of a temple in honor of Diana, where the Latins and Sabines should meet once a-year, and join with the Romans in offering sacrifices to that goddess; that this festival should be followed by a council in which all disputes between the cities should be amicably determined; that there proper measures should be taken to pursue their common interest; and lastly, in order to draw the common people thither, a fair should be kept, at which every one, might furnish himself with what he wanted. The king's design met with no opposition: the deputies only added to it that the temple should be an inviolable asylum for the united nations; and that all the cities should contribute toward the expense of building it. It being left to the

king to choose a proper place for it, he pitched upon the Aventine Hill, where the temple was built, and assemblies annually held in it. The laws which were to be observed in these general meetings were engraved on a pillar of brass, and were to be seen in Augustus's time in the Latin tongue, but in Greek characters. But now Servius was grown old; and the ambition of Tarquin his son-in-law increased in proportion as the king advanced in years. His wife used her utmost endeavours to check the rashness and fury of her husband, and to divert him from all criminal enterprises; while her younger sister was ever instigating Arunx, who placed all his happiness in a private life, to the most villanous attempts. She was continually lamenting her fate in being tied to such an indolent husband, and wishing she had either continued unmarried, or were a widow. Similitude of temper and manners formed by degrees a great intimacy between her and Tarquin. At length she proposed nothing less to him than the murdering of her father, sister, and husband, that they two might meet and ascend the throne together. Soon after they paved their way to an incestuous marriage, he by poisoning his wife, and she her husband; and then had the assurance to ask the king's and queen's consent to their marriage. Servius and Tarquinia, though they did not give it, were silent, through too much indulgence to a daughter in whom now was their only hope of posterity. But these criminal nuptials were only the first step towards a yet greater iniquity. The wicked ambition of the new married couple first showed itself against the king: for they publicly declared that the crown belonged to them; that Servius was a usurper, who, being appointed tutor to Tarquin's grandchildren, had deprived his pupils of their inheritance; that it was high time for an old man, who was but little able to support the weight of public affairs, to give place to a prince who was of a mature age, &c. The patricians, whom Servius had humbled during the whole of his reign, were easily gained over to Tarquin's party; and by the help of money, many of the poorer citizens were also brought over. The king, being informed of their treasonable practises, endeavoured to dissuade his daughter and son-in-law from such proceedings, which might end in their ruin; and exhorted them to wait for the kingdom till his death. But they, despising his counsels and paternal admonitions, resolved to lay their claim before the senate, which Servius was obliged to summon. Tarquin reproached his father-in law with having ascended the throne without a previous interregnum; and with having bought the votes of the people, and despised the suffrages of the senate. He then urged his own right of inheritance to the crown, and the injustice of Servius, who, being only his guardian, had kept possession of it, when he himself was of an age to govern. Servius answered that he had been lawfully elected by the people; and that, if there could be an hereditary right to the kingdom, the sons of Ancus had a much better one than the grandsons of the late king, who must himself have been a usurper. He then referred the whole to an assembly of the people; which being

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immediately proclaimed, all over the city, the forum was soon filled; and Servius harangued the multitude in such a manner as gained all their affections. They all cried out with one voice, Let Servius reign; let him continue to make the Romans happy.' Amidst their clamors, these words were likewise heard: 'Let Tarquin die; let him perish.' This language so frightened him, that he retired to his house in great haste; while the king was conducted back to his palace with the acclamations of the people. The ill success of this attempt cooled Tarquin's ardent desire of reigning, but his ambition made him act a new part. He undertook to regain the favor of his father-in-law by caresses, submissions, and protestations of a sincere regard and affection for him; insomuch that the king was sincerely reconciled to him, and tranquillity re-established in the royal family. But it was not long ere Tarquin, roused by the continual reproaches of his wife, began to renew his intrigues; and had no sooner gained a considerable party, than he clothed himself in the royal robes, and, causing the fasces to be carried before him by some of his domestics, crossed the forum, and, entering the temple where the senate used to meet, seated

himself on the throne. Such of the senators as were in the faction he found already in their places (for he had given them private notice to be there early); and the rest, being summoned to assemble in Tarquin's name, made what haste they could to the appointed place, thinking that Servius was dead, since Tarquin assumed the title and functions of king. When they were all assembled, Tarquin made a long speech, reviling his father-in-law, and repeating the invectives against him which he had so often uttered, calling him a slave, an usurper, a favorer of the populace, and an enemy to the senate and patricians. While he was speaking Servius arrived; and, rashly giving way to the motions of his courage, without considering his strength, drew near the throne to pull Tarquin down from it. This raised a tumult in the assembly, which drew the people into the temple; but nobody ventured to part the rivals. Tarquin, therefore, being more strong and vigorous, seized the old man by the waist, and, hurrying him through the temple, threw him down from the top of the steps into the forum. The king raised himself up with some difficulty: but all his friends had abandoned him; two or three of the people only, touched with compassion, lent him their arms to conduct him to the palace. As they were leading him on so slowly, the cruel Tullia appeared in the forum, whither she had hastened in her chariot on the first report of what had passed in the senate. She found her husband on the top of the steps of the temple; and was the first who saluted him king. The example was immediately followed by the senators of Tarquin's party. Nor was this enough for the unnatural daughter; she took aside her husband, and suggested to him that he would never be safe so long as the usurper of his crown was alive. Hereupon Tarquin instantly despatched some of his domestics to take away the unfortunate Servius's life. The orders for this parricide were sooner given than Tullia

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mounted her chariot again, with an air of triumph, to return home. In the way to her house, which was through a narrow street, called Vicus Cyprius, the assassins had left the king's body, which was still panting. At this sight the charioteer, struck with horror, checked his horses: but Tullia forced him to go on: and the blood of the father is said to have dyed the wheels of the chariot, and even the clothes of the inhuman daughter; whence the street was called ever after Vicus Sceleratus.

The new king proved a most despotic and cruel tyrant; and was surnamed the proud, on account of his haughty behaviour. All controversies whatever were decided by himself and his friends; and he banished, fined, and even executed, whom he pleased. The census and lustrum, the division of citizens into classes and centuries, were abolished; and all kinds of assemblies, even those for amusement and recreation, were prohibited. Nay, to such a height did Tarquin carry his insolence and tyranny, that the most virtuous of the senators went into voluntary banishment; while many of those who remained were cut off on various pretences, that the king might enjoy their estates. Tarquin, sensible of the danger in which he stood by thus losing the affections of his people, provided a sufficient number of soldiers, by way of guard, to prevent attempts upon his person; and gave his daughter to Octavius Mamilius, one of the most considerable men among the Latins, to strengthen his interest by a foreign alliance. Mamilius accordingly procured many friends to his father-in-law, but he had nearly lost them again by his haughty behaviour. He desired the Latins to call a national council at Ferentinum, where he would meet them on a day appointed by himself. The Latins accordingly met; but, after waiting for several hours, Tarquin did not appear. On this, one Turnus Herdonius, an enterprising and eloquent man, who hated Tarquin, and was jealous of Mamilius, made a speech, in which he inveighed against the haughty behaviour of Tarquin, set forth the contempt which he had put upon the Latins, and concluded with desiring the council to break up and return home without taking any further notice of him. Mamilius, however, prevailed upon them to return the day following; when Tarquin made his appearance, and told the assembly that his design in calling them together was to claim his right of commanding the Latin armies, which he said was derived from his grandfather, but which he desired to be confirmed to him by them. These words were scarcely out of his mouth, when Herdonius, rising up, entered into a detail of Tarquin's tyranny and arbitrary behaviour at Rome, which, he said, the Latins would soon feel in an equal degree, if they complied with Tarquin's demand. To this speech the king made no reply at that time, but promised to answer him next day. In the mean time, however, he bribed the domestics of Herdonius to admit among his baggage a large quantity of arms: and then, telling the Latins that Herdonius's opposition proceeded only from Tarquin's hav ing refused him his daughter in marriage, accused him of having laid a plot to cut off all the de

puties there present, and to usurp a jurisdiction over the Latin cities; as a proof of which he appealed to the arms hid among the baggage of Herdonius. The accused, conscious of his innocence, desired that his baggage should be searched; which being accordingly done, and the arms found, he was hurried away without being allowed to make any defence, and thrown into a basin at the head of the spring of Ferentinum, where he was drowned. In consequence of this treachery, Tarquin was looked upon by the Latins as their deliverer, and declared general of the Latin armies; soon after which the Hernici and two tribes of the Volsci entered into an alliance with him. To keep these confederates together, Tarquin, with their consent, erected a temple to Jupiter Latialis on a hill near the ruins of Alba, where he appointed certain feasts called Feriæ Latinæ to be held on the 27th of April, where the several nations were to sacrifice together, and on no account to cominit hostilities against each other during their continuance. The king then proceeded to make war on the rest of the Volsci who had refused to enter into an alliance with him. Some depredations which they had committed in the territories of the Latins served for a pretence to begin the war; but, as Tarquin had no confidence in the Romans, his army was composed only of a small body of them, who were incorporated among the Latin auxiliaries. However, he defeated the enemy, took one of their cities by storm, and gave the booty to his soldiers. He next turned his arms against the Sabines, whom he entirely defeated in two engagements, and made the whole nation tributary; for which exploits he decreed himself two triumphs, and on his return to Rome employed the populace in finishing the sewers and circus which had been begun by his grandfather Tarquin I. In the mean time, Tarquin's persecutions of his own subjects daily drove some of the most considerable into banishment. A great number of patricians took refuge in Gabii, a city of Latium, about thirteen miles from Rome; where the inhabitants, touched with compassion for their misfortunes, not only received them with kindness, but began a war with Tarquin on their

account.

The Gabini seem to have been the most formidable enemies whom the Romans had hitherto met with; since Tarquin was obliged to raise a prodigious bulwark to cover the city on the side of Gabii. The war lasted seven years; during which time, by the devastations committed by the two armies, a great scarcity of provisions took place in Rome. The people grew clamorous; and Tarquin, being unable either to quiet them or to reduce the Gabini, fell upon the following dishonorable and treacherous expedient:-His son Sextus pretended to be on very bad terms with his father, and openly inveighed against him; on which he was proclaimed a rebel, and publicly beaten in the forum. This being reported at Gabii, by persons sent thither on purpose, the inhabitants became very desirous of having Sextus among them; and accordingly he soon went thither, having previously obtained a solemn promise from the inhabitants never to deliver

him up to his father. Here he made frequent inroads into the Roman territories, and always came back laden with spoil, his father sending against him only such weak parties as must infallibly be worsted. By this means he soon came to have such a high degree of credit among the Gabini that he was chosen general of their army. Finding his authority sufficiently established, he despatched a slave to his father for instructions; but Tarquin, unwilling to return an explicit answer, took the messenger into the garden, where he struck off the heads of the tallest poppies. Sextus understood that by this hint the king desired him to put to death the leading men in the city of Gabii, which he immediately did; and, while the city was in confusion on account of this massacre, he opened the gates to his father, who took possession of it. The inhabitants dreaded every barbarity from the haughty tyranny of the Roman monarch: however on this occasion he consulted his policy rather than his revenge; granted them their life, liberty, and estates, and even entered into a treaty of alliance with them. The articles were written on the hide of an ox, which was extant in the time of Augustus, in the temple of Jupiter Fidius.

After this he made his son Sextus king of Gabii; sending off his two other sons, Titus and Arunx, the one to build a city at Signia, the other at Cicæum, a promontory of the Tyrrhene Sea, to keep the Volsci in awe; and for some time Tarquin enjoyed a profound peace; the Romans being accustomed to oppression, and the yoke of an imperious master, making no opposition to his will. During this interval Tarquin met with the celebrated adventure of the Sibyl, whose books were ever afterwards held in high estimation at Rome, and Tarquin appointed two persons of distinction to take care of them. These were called Duumviri: but their number was afterwards increased to ten, when they were called Decemviri; and then to fifteen, when they were termed Quindecemviri. At this time also the written civil law had its origin among the Romans, all the statutes enacted by the kings being collected into one body; which, from Papirius, the name of the collector was called the Papirian law. The temple of the capitol was also finished; for which purpose the most skilful architects and workmen were brought from Etruria, the populace being obliged to serve them in the most laborious parts. We now come to the important revolution which put an end to the regal power at Rome, and introduced a republican form of government, to which this city is allowed to owe the greatest part of her grandeur. Tarquin had left himself no friends among the rich citizens, by reason of his oppressions; and the populace were equally disaffected on account of their being obliged to labor in his public works. Among the many persons of distinction who had been sacrificed to the avarice or suspicions of Tarquin was M. Junius, who had married the daughter of Tarquin I This nobleman had a son named L. Junius, who escaped the cruelty of the tyrant by pretending to be an idiot, and hence received the agnomen of Brutus. Soon after the finishing of the works

above mentioned, a violent plague happening to break out at Rome, Tarquin sent his sons Titus and Arunx to consult the oracle of Delphi; and the princes took Brutus along with them, to divert themselves with his supposed folly. Brutus chose for his offering to the Delphic Apollo a stick of elder; which occasioned much laughter. However, he had the precaution to enclose a rod of gold within the stick; and to this probably it was owing that the priestess gave the princes the following riddle, that he who should first kiss his mother should succeed Tarquin in the government of Rome. This answer had been given to their enquiries concerning the succession; upon which the two brothers either drew lots which of them should kiss their mother at their return, or agreed to do it at once, that both might reign jointly: but Brutus, imagining the oracle had another meaning, fell down and kissed the earth, the common mother of all living. This the priestess had probably meant, and had given the answer on purpose to have another proof of Brutus's ingenuity. On the return of the princes to Rome, they found their father engaged in a war with the Rutuli. The treasury being exhausted by the sums which Tarquin had expended in his public works, he had marched to Ardea the capital of that nation, which lay about twenty miles from Rome, in hopes of taking it without opposition. Contrary to his expectation, however, he was obliged to besiege it in form; and this constrained him to lay a heavy tax upon his subjects. As the siege was carried on very slowly, the general officers frequently made entertainments for one another. One day, when Sextus Tarquinius was entertaining his brothers, the conversation happened to turn upon their wives: every one extolled the good qualities of his own; but Collatinus bestowed such extravagant praises on his Lucretia, that the dispute ended in a kind of quarrel. It was then resolved that they should mount their horses and surprise their wives by their unexpected return. The king's daughtersin-law were employed in feasting and diversion, and seemed much disconcerted by the appearance of their husbands; but Lucretia, though the night was far advanced, was found, with her maids about her, spinning and working in wool. She was not at all discomposed by the company whom her husband brought with him, and they were all pleased with the reception she gave them. As Lucretia was very beautiful, Sextus Tarquinius conceived a passion for her, which resolving to satisfy at all events, he soon returned to Collatia in the absence of Lucretia's husband, and was entertained by her with great civility and respect. In the night-time he entered Lucretia's apartment, and threatened her with immediate death if she did not yield to his desires. But finding her not to be intimidated, he told her that, if she still persisted in her refusal, he would kill one of her male slaves, and lay him naked by her when she was dead, and then declare to all the world that he had only revenged the injury of Collatinus. On this the virtuous Lucretia (who, it seems, dreaded violation less than infamy) submitted to the desires of Sextus; but resolved not to outlive his violence. She

dressed herself in mourning, and took a poniard under her robe, having previously written to her husband to meet her at her father Lucretia's house, where she refused to discover the cause of her grief, except in a full assembly of her friends and relations. Here, addressing herself to her husband Collatinus, she acquainted them with the whole affair; exhorted them to revenge the injury; and protested that she would not outlive the loss of her honor. Every one present gave her a solemn promise that they would revenge her quarrel; but, while they endeavoured to comfort her, she suddenly stabbed herself to the heart, with the dagger which she had concealed. This action inflamed, beyond measure, the minds of all present. Brutus, laying aside his pretended folly, drew the bloody dagger out of Lucretia's body; and, showing it to the assembly, swore by the blood upon it that he would pursue Tarquin and his family with fire and sword; nor would he ever suffer that or any other family to reign in Rome. The same oath was taken by all the company; who were so much surprised at the apparent transition of Brutus from folly to wisdom, that they did whatever he desired of them. By his advice the gates of the city were shut, that nobody might go out of it to inform Tarquin of what was going forward; which, as Lucretius had been left governor of the city by Tarquin, was put in execution without difficulty. The corpse of Lucretia was then exposed to public view; and Brutus having made a speech to the people, in which he explained the mystery of his conduct in counterfeiting folly for many years past, proceeded to tell them that the patricians were come to a resolution of deposing the tyrant, and exhorted them to concur in the same design. The people testified their approbation, and called out for arms; but Brutus did not think proper to trust them with arms till he had first obtained a decree of the senate. This was easily procured: the senate enacted that Tarquin had forfeited all the prerogatives belonging to the regal authority, condemned him and all his posterity to perpetual banishment, and devoted to the gods of hell every Roman who should hereafter, by word or deed, endeavour his restoration; and this decree was unanimously confirmed by the curiæ.

Tarquin being thus deposed, the form of the government became the next object. Lucretius was declared Interrex ; but Brutus, being again consulted, declared, that though it was by no means proper for the state to be without supreme magistrates, yet it was equally necessary that the power should not be centered in one man, and that it should not be perpetual. For this reason he proposed that two magistrates, called consuls, should be elected annually; that the state should thenceforth have the name of republic; that the ensigns of royalty should be abolished; and that the only ensigns of consular dignity should be an ivory chair, a white robe, and twelve lictors for their attendants. He also proposed that the title of rex, or king, should be given to him who superintended religious matters, who should thenceforth be called rex sacrorum, or king of sacred things. This scheme being approved of, Brutus and Collatinus were

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