Ancient Rome: An Introductory History (7 page)

Page 26

4.5 meters thick and 8.5 meters high. On either side of the wall was a strip of land called the
pomerium
, originally a line made by a plow drawn by a bull and a cow to demarcate the religious boundaries of the city. An army could not cross the
pomerium
into the city except in triumph; consequently Roman soldiers mustered outside the city, on the Campus Martius, or Field of Mars.

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Chapter 5
Tarquin's Coup d'État and the End of the Monarchy

Lucius Tarquin, son of the first Tarquin, Tarquinius Priscus, wanted to be king himself, and not just King Servius' son-in-law. He began spreading malicious rumors about Servius, no doubt concerning Servius' lowly birth. Tullia, the king's daughter who had married Tarquin's brother Arruns, was as ambitious as her brother-in-law Tarquin; she thought her own husband, Arruns, was a wimp. To facilitate their evil plans, Tarquin killed his wife (Tullia's sister), and 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 the king's sons to serve as the butt of their jokes. Brutus brought his own offering to Apollo, a gift resembling the giver: a rod of gold hidden inside a tube of wood.

At Delphi, the oracle of Apollo answered the questions asked by Tarquin's sons, as well as one they asked on their own behalf: who would be the next king of Rome? The oracle responded that the first among them to kiss his mother would have supreme authority in Rome. Tarquin's sons therefore drew lots to decide who would first kiss their mother when they arrived at Rome. As they were leaving the temple, however, Brutus pretended to trip and, while lying on the ground, kissed the Earth, the mother of all living things.

The Rape of Lucretia

Immediately upon returning to Rome, the three young men had to hurry to Ardea, a town to which the Romans had laid siege. Soon the action in the war slowed down, and many officers were allowed to spend their time in leisure.

One night a party was held, and among those attending were Sextus Tarquinius (one of the king's sons) and a man named Collatinus. The topic of the conversation turned to their wives; each man praised his own, and they began to argue over whose wife was the most faithful. Finally, Collatinus proposed that they all return to Rome to see just what their wives were doingthat way they could decide whose wife was the most faithful. All agreed.

To one house after another they went, seeing their wives throwing parties with many guests and sumptuous food. The last wife they visited was Lucretia, the wife of Collatinus. When they

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came to Collatinus' house, they found Lucretia spinning wool, by lamplight, with her maidservants at her side. Without a doubt, Lucretia had won the "most faithful wife" contest. She invited the men inside for supper, and in the course of the evening Sextus Tarquinius fell madly in love with her. The men then returned to the war in Ardea.

A few days later, Sextus Tarquinius rode back to Rome (without Collatinus' knowledge) and appeared before Lucretia. She treated him as the honored guest that he was, and gave him the guest chamber to sleep in. During the night, when all was quiet, he stole into Lucretia's room.

"Lucretia," he said, "be quiet! I am Sextus Tarquinius. There is a sword in my hand. If you say anything at all, you will die." He then told her of his love, begging, pleading, and even threatening her, so she would submit to his desire. She refused. Seeing that she would not relent and that her fidelity was greater even than her fear of death, he threatened to kill her and then to cut the throat of a slave and lay his naked body next to hers, so that people would say that Lucretia had been justly killed after being caught in the most disgraceful adultery. Fearing for her good reputation, she submitted to his desires. After using her, he rode away.

Lucretia then wrote to her father and to her husband, urging them to return to Rome immediately, each with a trustworthy friend, for a terrible thing had happened. They came, bringing Publius Valerius and Brutus.

They found Lucretia sitting in her room, very sad. When they entered, she began to cry. Her husband asked, "Is everything all right?" She answered, "No. How can anything be all right for a woman who has lost her honor? Collatinus, another man has been in your bed; otherwise only my body has been violated, for my mind is innocent. My death will be my proof. But give your right hands in an oath that the adulterer will be avenged. Sextus Tarquinius is the one who last night, as an enemy armed for violence, but disguised as a guest, got his pleasure from me, but if you are real men, you will make him pay for that pleasure. You will see to it that he receives what he deserves. I recognize that although I am not guilty of wrongdoing, I am not free from punishment; no woman will ever live unchastely with Lucretia as her guide."

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With a knife, which she had hidden under her dress, Lucretia then stabbed herself in the chest, and fell forward, dead. (Livy I.58.7-12)

Lucretia's father and husband were overwhelmed with grief. While they stood weeping helplessly, Brutus drew the bloody knife from Lucretia's body and holding it before him cried: "I swear by this bloodmost chaste until the prince's crime-and gods, I call upon you as witness that I, with as much force as I can muster, will drive Lucius Tarquinius the Proud, with his wicked wife and the whole stock of his children, out of Rome, and I will not allow them or any other man to be king in Rome!" (Livy I.59.1-2).

Lucretia's father and husband, shocked by Brutus' sudden transformation into a man of action, swore the same oath and carried Lucretia's body into the Forum. The public's anger, stirred by the grief of the father and husband weeping before their eyes, the sight of the bloody and dead Lucretia, and Brutus' words reminding them of Tarquin's usurpation of power and tyrannical rule, inspired them to take up arms against the king and to drive monarchy from Rome. Tarquin, who was still besieging Ardea, found Rome's gates closed to him when he returned to the city. Tarquin had ruled for twenty-five years. Monarchy in Rome ended in 509
B.C.
, and the
res publica
, the Roman republic, was born.

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