Livy's History of Rome - Table of Contents

emove their very name. Your fellow-citizens will, on my authority, not only hand over your property, but if you need
anything, they will add to it with lavish generosity. Go, as our friend, relieve the commonwealth from a, perhaps
groundless, fear: men are persuaded that only with the family will the tyranny of the Tarquins depart." At first the consul
was struck dumb with astonishment at this extraordinary request; then, when he was beginning to speak, the foremost men
in the commonwealth gathered round him and repeatedly urged the same plea, but with little success. It was not till
Spurius Lucretius, his superior in age and rank, and also his father-in-law, began to use every method of entreaty and
persuasion that he yielded to the universal wish. The consul, fearing lest after his year of office had expired and he
returned to private life, the same demand should be made upon him, accompanied with loss of property and the ignominy
of banishment, formally laid down the consulship, and after transferring all his effects to Lanuvium, withdrew from the
State. A decree of the senate empowered Brutus to propose to the people a measure exiling all the members of the house of
Tarquin. He conducted the election of a new consul, and the centuries elected as his colleague Publius Valerius, who had
acted with him in the expulsion of the royal family.
[2.3]Though no one doubted that war with the Tarquins was imminent, it did not come as soon as was universally
expected. What was not expected, however, was that through intrigue and treachery the new-won liberty was almost lost.
There were some young men of high birth in Rome who during the late reign had done pretty much what they pleased, and
being boon companions of the young Tarquins were accustomed to live in royal fashion. Now that all were equal before
the law, they missed their former licence and complained that the liberty which others enjoyed had become slavery for
them; as long as there was a king, there was a person from whom they could get what they wanted, whether lawful or not,
there was room for personal influence and kindness, he could show severity or indulgence, could discriminate between his
friends and his enemies. But the law was a thing, deaf and inexorable, more favourable to the weak than to the powerful,
showing no indulgence or forgiveness to those who transgressed; human nature being what it was, it was a dangerous plan
to trust solely to one's innocence. When they had worked themselves into a state of disaffection, envoys from the royal
family arrived, bringing a demand for the restoration of their property without any allusion to their possible return. An
audience was granted them by the senate, and the matter was discussed for some days; fears were expressed that the nonsurrender
would be taken as a pretext for war, while if surrendered it might provide the means of war. The envoys,
meantime, were engaged on another task: whilst ostensibly seeking only the surrender of the property they were secretly
hatching schemes for regaining the crown. Whilst canvassing the young nobility in favour of their apparent object, they
sounded them as to their other proposals, and meeting with a favourable reception, they brought letters addressed to them
by the Tarquins and discussed plans for admitting them secretly at night into the City.
[2.4]The project was at first entrusted to the brothers Vitellii and Aquilii. The sister of the Vitellii was married to the
consul Brutus, and there were grown-up children from this marriage - Titus and Tiberius. Their uncles took them into the
conspiracy, there were others besides, whose names have been lost. In the meantime the opinion that the property ought to
be restored was adopted by the majority of the senate, and this enabled the envoys to prolong their stay, as the consuls
required time to provide vehicles for conveying the goods. They employed their time in consultations with the conspirators
and they insisted on getting a letter which they were to give to the Tarquins, for without such a guarantee, they argued,
how could they be sure that their envoys had not brought back empty promises in a matter of such vast importance? A
letter was accordingly given as a pledge of good faith, and this it was that led to the discovery of the plot. The day
previous to the departure of the envoys they happened to be dining at the house of the Vitellii. After all who were not in
the secret had left, the conspirators discussed many details respecting their projected treason, which were overheard by one
of the slaves who had previously suspected that something was afoot, but was waiting for the moment when the letter
should be given, as its seizure would be a complete proof of the plot. When he found that it had been given, he disclosed
the affair to the consuls. They at once proceeded to arrest the envoys and the conspirators, and crushed the whole plot
without exciting any alarm. Their first care was to secure the letter before it was destroyed. The traitors were forthwith
thrown into prison; there was some hesitation in dealing with the envoys, and although they had evidently been guilty of a
hostile act, the rights of international law were accorded them.
[2.5]The question of the restoration of the property was referred anew to the senate, who yielding to their feelings of
resentment prohibited its restoration, and forbade its being brought into the treasury; it was given as plunder to the plebs,
that their share in this spoliation might destroy for ever any prospect of peaceable relations with the Tarquins. The land of
the Tarquins, which lay between the City and the Tiber, was henceforth sacred to Mars and known as the Campus Martius.
There happened, it is said, to be a crop of corn there which was ripe for the harvest, and as it would have been sacrilege to
consume what was growing on the Campus, a large body of men were sent to cut it. They carried it, straw and all, in