Ancient Rome: An Introductory History Read Online Free PDF

Tullia killed her husband Arruns. Tarquin and Tullia then got married and were able to plot against the king in secrecy.
After securing the support of the leading families by offering bribes, Tarquin made his move. He sat down in the king's chair in the Senate House and ordered the senators to come to King Tarquin. They dared not stay away, fearing reprisals. Upon their arrival, Tarquin vilified the king and his rise to the throne. When Servius heard what was happening, he hurried to the Senate House.
"Tarquin," he cried, "what is this? What recklessness has caused you to dare to summon the senators and sit in my chaff while I, the king, am still alive?" (Livy I.47).
Tarquin then defiantly responded that he was simply keeping his father's chaff, and that it was much better for a king's son, rather than a slave, to inherit the kingdom; the time had come for an end to Servius' boundless mockery and insults to his masters.
With some people in the crowd shouting support for Tarquin, others for Servius, Tarquin seized the aged Servius and threw him down the steps into the street. Tarquin's assassins then killed the

 

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king. Tullia, Tarquin's wife and Servius' daughter, later drove up in a carriage and was the first to salute her husband as king; while driving away, she ran over her father's bloody, mutilated body, which was lying in the street. Servius Tullius had been king for forty-four years.
Tarquin the Proud
In this way Tarquinius Superbus (as he soon came to be called, for superbus means "proud, arrogant") began his rule, which left the Romans with a bitter hatred for monarchy. Breaking with tradition, he sought neither election to the throne by the people nor the Senate's approval of his power. He refused a burial for his father-in-law, and even made a joke of it, saying that Romulus had not been buried either. He executed the senators who had supported Servius and did not fill the vacant seats, thinking that the senators would be intimidated by their dwindling numbers. He did not consult the Senate, as previous kings had done, but ruled instead by his own power and authority, making whatever decisions he thought best. He employed a bodyguard, fearing that someone else might follow the precedent that he himself had set. He even seized the property of wealthy citizens.
Tarquin made great efforts to win the support of the Latins, Rome's neighbors to the south and southwest, in the event he should ever need outside help against his Roman subjects. Yet he treated some Latins as arrogantly as he treated the Romans. For example, Turnus, a Latin noble, recognized that Tarquin was aiming to take over Latium and told his Latin friends of Tarquin's plans. When Tarquin learned that Turnus was not well disposed toward him, he bribed Turnus' slaves to hide a large supply of weapons in Turnus' house; summoning the Latin nobles, Tarquin told them of Turnus' plot to assassinate him and to make himself king over them all. The king and the nobles entered Turnus' house and, of course, found there a large supply of weapons, which was "proof" of Turnus' plot. Turnus was then executed.
Tarquin did do a few good things for Rome. He may have built the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitol, although the credit may be due his father. He also built Rome's main sewer, the cloaca maxima .

 

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One day a snake was seen slithering down a wooden pillar in the palace. Tarquin was so alarmed about this that he sent his sons to Delphi, to consult the oracle of Apollo (usually the Romans sought oracles from the Etruscans). Accompanying Tarquin's sons to Delphi was Brutus, the son of the king's sister.
Brutus had seen the king's ruthlessness, and he understood the danger of his own situation. He had concluded that he could survive only by appearing to pose no threat to the king; he therefore pretended to be stupid (his name means "dull") and made no protest when Tarquin seized his property or executed leading citizens. He was sent to Delphi with