§4.7.1ἔχει δὲ καὶ ἄλλας τινὰς τὸ πρᾶγμα ἀτοπίας, ἃς ἅπαντες ἠγνόησαν οἱ τὰ Ῥωμαϊκὰ συνταξάμενοι πλὴν ἑνός, οὗ μετὰ μικρὸν ἐρῶ τοὔνομα.
Moreover, the matter has some other absurdities, which all those who compiled the Roman histories ignored except one, whose name I shall mention in a short while.
ὡμολόγηται γάρ, ὅτι μετὰ τὴν Ταρκυνίου τελευτὴν παραλαβὼν τὴν βασιλείαν Τύλλιος ἐπʼ ἔτη τετταράκοντα καὶ τέτταρα κατέσχεν, ὥστʼ εἰ κατʼ ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον ἑκτακαιεικοσαέτης ἦν, ὅτʼ ἀπεστερεῖτο τῆς ἀρχῆς ὁ πρεσβύτερος τῶν Ταρκυνίων, ὑπὲρ ἑβδομήκοντα ἔτη γεγονὼς ἄν ἦν, ὅτε τὸν Τύλλιον ἀπέκτεινεν.
For it is agreed that Tullius, having received the kingship after the death of Tarquinius, held it for forty-four years, so that if the elder of the Tarquinii was twenty-six years of age at that time when he was deprived of the rule, he would have been over seventy years old when he killed Tullius.
§4.7.2ἐν κρατίστῃ δέ γʼ αὐτὸν ἡλικίᾳ τότʼ ὄντα παραδεδώκασιν οἱ συγγραφεῖς καί φασιν, ὅτι Τύλλιον αὐτὸς ἀράμενος ἐκ τοῦ βουλευτηρίου καὶ φέρων ἔξω κατὰ τῶν κρηπίδων ἐξέχεεν.
Yet the historians have handed down that he was then in the prime of his age, and say that he himself lifted Tullius up out of the senate-house and carrying him outside, threw him down the steps.
ἥ τʼ ἐκ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἔκπτωσις αὐτοῦ γίνεται πέμπτῳ καὶ εἰκοστῷ μετὰ ταῦτʼ ἔτει, καὶ τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει στρατευόμενος ἐν τῷ πρὸς Ἀρδεάτας εἰσάγεται πολέμῳ καὶ πάντα τὰ ἔργα διʼ ἑαυτοῦ τελῶν· οὐκ εἶχε δὲ λόγον ἐν πολέμοις ἐξετάζεσθαι ἓξ καὶ ἐνενήκοντα βεβιωκὼς ἔτη.
And his expulsion from the rule occurred in the twenty-fifth year after this, and in this year he is introduced as campaigning in the war against the Ardeates and performing all the duties of a soldier by himself; but it was not reasonable for one who had lived ninety-six years to be active in wars.
§4.7.3ἐκπεσών τε τῆς ἀρχῆς ἔτι πολεμεῖν Ῥωμαίοις οὐκ ἐλάττω τεττάρων καὶ δέκα ἐτῶν, αὐτὸς ἐν τοῖς πράγμασιν ἐξεταζόμενος, ὥς φασι, παρὰ τὰς κοινὰς ἁπάντων ἐστὶ δόξας, καὶ ὁ τοῦ βίου χρόνος αὐτῷ πλείων ἀναφαίνεται τῶν ἑκατὸν καὶ δέκα γεγονὼς ἐτῶν· τοῦτο δὲ τὸ μῆκος τῶν βίων οὐ φέρουσιν οἱ καθʼ ἡμᾶς τόποι.
And that, after having been expelled from the rule, he still made war against the Romans for not less than fourteen years, being personally engaged in the operations, as they say, is contrary to the common beliefs of all men, and his span of life appears to have been more than one hundred and ten years; but our regions do not support such a length of life.
§4.7.4ταῦτα δὴ τὰ ἄτοπα συνειδότες τῶν Ῥωμαϊκῶν συγγραφέων τινὲς ἑτέραις αὐτὰ λύειν ἐπειράθησαν ἀτοπίαις, οὐ Τανακυλίδα ποιοῦντες μητέρα τῶν παιδίων, ἀλλὰ Γεγανίαν τινά, περὶ ἧς οὐδεμίαν παρειλήφαμεν ἱστορίαν·
Some of the Roman historians, being aware of these absurdities, attempted to solve them by other absurdities, making not Tanaquil the mother of the children, but a certain Gegania, about whom we have received no historical record.
ἄωρος δὴ γίνεται πάλιν ὁ γάμος τοῦ Ταρκυνίου μικρὸν ἀπολείποντος ἐτῶν ὀγδοήκοντα, καὶ ἡ τῶν τέκνων γένεσις τοῖς ταύτην ἔχουσι τὴν ἡλικίαν ἄπιστος· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἄπαις ἦν, ὥστʼ ἐκ παντὸς ἐπιθυμῆσαι τέκνων, ἀλλὰ θυγατέρες ἦσαν αὐτῷ δύο καὶ §4.7.5αὗταί γʼ ἤδη γεγαμημέναι.
In that case, the marriage of Tarquinius, when he was little short of eighty years of age, becomes again untimely, and the birth of children to those of this age is incredible; for he was not childless, so as to desire children at all costs, but he had two daughters, and these were already married.
τούτων δὴ τῶν ἀδυνάτων τε καὶ ἀτόπων ἕκαστα ἐπιλογιζόμενος οὐχ υἱοὺς εἶναι Ταρκυνίου γράφω τοὺς παῖδας, ἀλλʼ υἱωνούς, Λευκίῳ Πείσωνι τῷ Φρῦγι συγκαταθέμενος.
Considering each of these impossibilities and absurdities, I write that the children were not the sons of Tarquinius, but his grandsons, agreeing with Lucius Piso Frugi.
ἐκεῖνος γὰρ ἐν ταῖς ἐνιαυσίοις πραγματείαις ταῦθʼ ἱστόρηκε μόνος· εἰ μή γʼ ἄρα γόνῳ μὲν ἦσαν υἱωνοὶ τοῦ βασιλέως οἱ παῖδες, ποιήσει δʼ υἱοί, καὶ τοῦτʼ ἦν αἴτιον τῆς ἀπάτης τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασι τοῖς συγγράψασι τὰς Ῥωμαϊκὰς ἱστορίας.
For he alone has recorded these things in his annals; unless, indeed, the children were grandsons of the king by birth, but his sons by adoption, and this was the cause of the deception for all the others who wrote the Roman histories.
προειρημένων δὴ τούτων καιρὸς ἐπανάγειν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀπολειπομένην διήγησιν.
Now that these things have been said beforehand, it is time to return to the narrative that was left.