§8.1ἐκ τούτου τὰ μὲν χρήματα τῶν βασιλέων διαρπάσαι τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις ἔδωκαν, τὴν δὲ οἰκίαν κατέσκαψαν καὶ τὴν ἔπαυλιν τοῦ δʼ Ἀρείου πεδίου τὸ ἥδιστον ἐκέκτητο Ταρκύνιος, καὶ τοῦτο τῷ θεῷ καθιέρωσαν, ἔτυχε δὲ τεθερισμένον ἄρτι, καὶ κειμένων ἔτι τῶν δραγμάτων οὐκ ᾤοντο δεῖν ἀλοᾶν οὐδὲ χρῆσθαι διὰ τὴν καθιέρωσιν, ἀλλὰ συνδραμόντες ἐφόρουν τὰς ἀμάλλας εἰς τὸν ποταμόν.
After this, they gave the property of the kings to the Romans to plunder, and razed their house and villa to the ground. Tarquin had owned the most pleasant part of the Campus Martius, and this they consecrated to the god; and it happened to have been freshly harvested, and while the sheaves were still lying there, they thought they ought not to thresh them or use them because of the consecration, but running together, they carried the sheaves into the river.
§8.2ὡς δʼ αὕτως καὶ τὰ δένδρα κόπτοντες ἐνέβαλλον, ἀργὸν παντάπασι τὸ χωρίον ἀνιέντες τῷ θεῷ καὶ ἄκαρπον.
In the same way, they also cut down the trees and threw them in, leaving the place completely uncultivated and barren for the god.
ὠθουμένων δὲ πολλῶν ἐπʼ ἀλλήλοις καὶ ἀθρόων ὑπήγαγεν ὁ ῥοῦς οὐ πολὺν τόπον, ἀλλʼ ὅπου τὰ πρῶτα συνενεχθέντα καὶ περιπεσόντα τοῖς στερεοῖς ὑπέστη, τῶν ἐπιφερομένων διέξοδον οὐκ ἐχόντων, ἀλλʼ ἐνισχομένων καὶ περιπλεκομένων, ἐλάμβανεν ἡ σύμπηξις ἰσχὺν καὶ ῥίζωσιν αὐξανομένην ὑπὸ τοῦ ῥεύματος.
And as many things were pushed against one another and in a crowd, the current carried them no great distance, but where the first things carried down met with obstacles and stopped, since those that followed had no passage, but were caught and entangled, the mass took on strength and grew to have roots by means of the current.
§8.3ἰλύν τε γὰρ ἐπήγαγε πολλήν, ἣ προσισταμένη τροφὴν παρεῖχεν ἅμα καὶ κόλλησιν, αἵ τε πληγαὶ σάλον οὐκ ἐποίουν, ἀλλὰ μαλακῶς πιέζουσαι συνήλαυνον εἰς ταὐτὸ πάντα καὶ συνέπλαττον.
For it brought down a great deal of mud, which, settling there, provided both nourishment and cement, and the impacts of the water did not cause any shaking, but pressing gently, drove everything together and compacted it.
ὑπὸ δὲ μεγέθους καὶ στάσεως ἕτερον αὐτὸ μέγεθος ἐκτᾶτο καὶ χώραν ἀναδεχομένην τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ ποταμοῦ καταφερομένων.
And by its size and position, it acquired another magnitude and a territory that received most of the things carried down by the river.
τοῦτο νῦν νῆσός ἐστιν ἱερὰ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν, ἔχει δὲ ναοὺς θεῶν καὶ περιπάτους, καλεῖται δὲ φωνῇ τῇ Λατίνων Μέση δυεῖν γεφυρῶν. §8.4ἔνιοι δὲ τοῦτο συμπεσεῖν ἱστοροῦσιν οὐχ ὅτε Ταρκυνίου καθιερώθη τὸ πεδίον, ἀλλὰ χρόνοις ὕστερον ἄλλο χωρίον ὁμοροῦν ἐκείνῳ Ταρκυνίας ἀνείσης.
This is now the Sacred Island near the city, and has temples of the gods and walks, and is called in the Latin tongue "Between Two Bridges." But some record that this happened not when the plain of Tarquin was consecrated, but in later times, when Tarquinia dedicated another field bordering on that one.
ἡ δὲ Ταρκυνία παρθένος ἦν ἱέρεια, μία τῶν Ἑστιάδων, ἔσχε δὲ τιμὰς ἀντὶ τούτου μεγάλας, ἐν αἷς ἦν καὶ τὸ μαρτυρίαν αὐτῆς δέχεσθαι μόνης γυναικῶν, τὸ δʼ ἐξεῖναι γαμεῖσθαι ψηφισαμένων οὐ προσεδέξατο.
This Tarquinia was a virgin priestess, one of the Vestals, and she received great honors in return for this, among which was that her testimony alone of all women should be accepted, and although they voted that she should have the right to marry, she did not accept it.
καὶ ταῦτα μὲν οὕτω γενέσθαι μυθολογοῦσι.
And these things are thus mythologized to have happened.