e treaty, and which were still extant in the time of Augustus.]

46. Servius, though he had now acquired an indisputable right to the
kingdom by long possession, yet as he heard that expressions were
sometimes thrown out by young Tarquin, importing, "That he held the
crown without the consent of the people," having first secured their
good will by dividing among them, man by man, the lands taken from their
enemies, he ventured to propose the question to the people, whether they
"chose and ordered that he should be king," and was declared king with
such unanimity, as had not been observed in the election of any of his
predecessors. But this circumstance diminished not Tarquin's hope of
obtaining the throne; nay, because he had observed that the question of
the distribution of land to the people[57] was carried against the will
of the fathers, he felt so much the more satisfied that an opportunity
was now presented to him of arraigning Servius before the fathers, and
of increasing his own influence in the senate, he being himself
naturally of a fiery temper, and his wife, Tullia, at home stimulating
his restless temper. For the Roman palace also afforded an instance of
tragic guilt, so that through their disgust of kings, liberty might come
more matured, and the throne, which should be attained through crime,
might be the last. This L. Tarquinius (whether he was the son or
grandson of Tarquinius Priscus is not clear; with the greater number of
authorities, however, I would say, his son[58]) had a brother, Aruns
Tarquinius, a youth of a mild disposition. To these two, as has been
already stated, the two Tulliae, daughters of the king, had been married,
they also being of widely different tempers. It had so happened that the
two violent dispositions were not united in marriage, through the good
fortune, I suspect, of the Roman people, in order that the reign of
Servius might be more protracted, and the morals of the state be firmly
established. The haughty Tullia was chagrined, that there was no
material in her husband, either for ambition or bold daring. Directing
all her regard to the other Tarquinius, him she admired, him she called
a man, and one truly descended of royal blood; she expressed her
contempt of her sister, because, having got a man, she was deficient in
the spirit becoming a woman. Similarity of mind soon draws them
together, as wickedness is in general most congenial to wickedness. But
the commencement of p