§5.3.1Ταρκύνιος ἐπειδὴ τῆς βασιλείας ἐξέπεσε, χρόνον μέν τινα οὐ πολὺν ἐν πόλει Γαβίοις διέτριβε τούς τε συνιόντας πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ὑποδεχόμενος, οἷς ἦν τυραννὶς ἀσπαστότερον χρῆμα ἐλευθερίας, καὶ ταῖς Λατίνων ἐλπίσιν ἐπέχων ὡς διʼ ἐκείνων καταχθησόμενος ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρχήν.
Tarquin, when he fell from his kingship, spent some short time in the city of Gabii, receiving those who came to him from the city, to whom tyranny was a more welcome thing than freedom, and clinging to the hopes of the Latins, expecting that he would be restored to power by them.
ὡς δʼ οὐ προσεῖχον αὐτῷ τὸν νοῦν αἱ πόλεις οὐδʼ ἐβούλοντο πόλεμον ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν Ῥωμαίων πόλιν ἐκφέρειν, ἀπογνοὺς τὰς παρὰ τούτων ἐπικουρίας, εἰς Τυρρηνικὴν καταφεύγει πόλιν Ταρκυνίους, ἐξ ἧς τὸ πρὸς μητρὸς αὐτῷ γένος ἦν. §5.3.2πείσας δὲ τὰ τέλη τῶν Ταρκυνιητῶν δωρεαῖς καὶ διʼ ἐκείνων ἐπὶ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν παραχθεὶς τήν τε συγγένειαν ἀνενεώσατο τὴν ὑπάρχουσαν αὐτῷ πρὸς τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὰς εὐεργεσίας διεξῆλθεν, ἃς ὁ πάππος αὐτοῦ πάσαις ἐχαρίσατο ταῖς ἐν Τυρρηνίᾳ πόλεσι, καὶ τὰς συνθήκας ὑπεμίμνησκεν, ἃς ἦσαν πεποιημένοι πρὸς αὐτόν· ἐπὶ δὲ τούτοις ἅπασι τῆς κατειληφυίας αὐτὸν ὠδύρετο τύχας, ὡς ἐκ μεγάλης ἐκπεσὼν εὐδαιμονίας ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ πλάνης καὶ τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἐνδεὴς σὺν υἱοῖς τρισὶν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐφʼ ἑαυτῷ ποτε γενομένους ἠναγκάσθη καταφυγεῖν. §5.3.3διεξελθὼν δʼ ὧδε ταῦτα μετὰ πολλῶν οἴκτων τε καὶ δακρύων ἔπεισε τὸν δῆμον πρέσβεις ἀποστεῖλαι πρῶτον εἰς Ῥώμην συμβατηρίους φέροντας ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ λόγους, ὡς δὴ συμπραττόντων αὐτῷ τῶν δυνατῶν ἐκεῖθεν καὶ συλληψομένων τῆς καθόδου.
But when the cities paid no attention to him and were unwilling to wage war on his behalf against the city of Rome, giving up hope of assistance from them, he fled for refuge to the Etruscan city of Tarquinii, from which his family on his mother's side was derived. And having persuaded the magistrates of the Tarquinienses with gifts and having been introduced by them to the assembly, he renewed the kinship existing between himself and the city, and went through the benefactions which his grandfather had bestowed upon all the cities of Etruria, and reminded them of the treaties they had made with him; and in addition to all this, he lamented the fortune that had overtaken him, how having fallen from great prosperity in a single day, he had been forced, as a wanderer in want of the necessities of life, together with his three sons, to flee for refuge to those who had once been under his power. And having gone through these matters in this way with many laments and tears, he persuaded the people to send envoys first to Rome, bearing conciliatory proposals on his behalf, on the ground, forsooth, that the powerful men there were cooperating with him and would assist in his restoration.
ἀποδειχθέντων δὲ πρεσβευτῶν, οὓς αὐτὸς προείλετο, διδάξας τοὺς ἄνδρας ἃ χρὴ λέγειν τε καὶ πράττειν, καὶ παρὰ τῶν σὺν αὐτῷ φυγάδων γράμματα δοὺς δεήσεις ἔχοντα πρὸς τοὺς οἰκείους αὐτῶν καὶ φίλους, ἀπέστειλε φέροντάς τι καὶ χρυσίον.
And when the envoys whom he himself had selected were appointed, having instructed the men what they must say and do, and having given them letters from the exiles who were with him, containing entreaties to their relations and friends, he sent them off, carrying also some gold.