§1.36.1muro quoque lapideo circumdare urbem parabat, cum Sabinum bellum coeptis intervenit.
He was also preparing to surround the city with a stone wall, when a Sabine war interrupted his undertakings.
adeoque ea subita res fuit, ut prius Anienem transirent hostes, quam obviam ire ac prohibere exercitus Romanus posset.
And so sudden was this event that the enemy crossed the Anio before the Roman army could go to meet and prevent them.
§1.36.2itaque trepidatum Romae est, et primo dubia victoria magna utrimque caede pugnatum est.
Therefore, there was a panic at Rome, and at first they fought with a doubtful victory and great slaughter on both sides.
reductis deinde in castra hostium copiis datoque spatio Romanis ad conparandum de integro bellum Tarquinius, equitem maxime suis deesse viribus ratus ad Ramnes, Titienses, Luceres, quas centurias Romulus scripserat, addere alias constituit suoque insignes relinquere nomine.
Then, when the enemy's forces had been led back to their camp and time had been given to the Romans to prepare the war anew, Tarquin, thinking that cavalry was especially lacking to his forces, decided to add other centuries to the Ramnes, Titienses, and Luceres, which were the centuries Romulus had enrolled, and to leave them distinguished by his own name.
§1.36.3id quia inaugurate Romulus fecerat, negare Attus Navius, inclitus ea tempestate augur, neque mutari neque novum constitui, nisi aves addixissent, posse.
Because Romulus had done this with augury, Attus Navius, an augur famous at that time, declared that nothing could be changed or newly established unless the birds had given their consent.
§1.36.4ex eo ira regi mota, eludensque artem, ut ferunt, “agedum” inquit, “divine tu, inaugura, fierine possit, quod nunc ego mente concipio. ” cum ille augurio rem expertus profecto futuram dixisset, “atqui hoc animo agitavi” inquit, “te novacula cotem discissurum; cape haec et perage, quod aves tuae fieri posse portendunt. ” tum illum haud cunctanter discidisse cotem ferunt.
From this, anger was stirred in the king, and mocking the art, as they say, he said, "Come then, you prophet, divine whether that which I am now conceiving in my mind can be done." When the other, having tested the matter by augury, said that it would certainly happen, the king said, "And yet, this is what I was thinking of, that you would cut a whetstone with a razor; take these and perform what your birds portend can be done." Then they say that he, without any hesitation, cut the whetstone.
§1.36.5statua Atti capite velato, quo in loco res acta est, in comitio in gradibus ipsis ad laevam curiae fuit; cotem quoque eodem loco sitam fuisse memorant, ut esset ad posteros miraculi eius monumentum.
A statue of Attus with his head veiled stood in the comitium, on the very steps to the left of the senate-house, in the place where the thing was done; they record that the whetstone also was deposited in the same place, so that there might be a monument of that miracle to posterity.
§1.36.6auguriis certe sacerdotioque augurum tantus honos accessit, ut nihil belli domique postea nisi auspicato gereretur, concilia populi, exercitus vocati, summa rerum, ubi aves non admisissent, dirimerentur.
Certainly, so great an honor was added to auguries and the priesthood of the augurs that thereafter nothing was done in war or at home without taking auspices, and the assemblies of the people, the summoning of armies, and the highest affairs of state were broken off whenever the birds did not give their approval.
§1.36.7neque tum Tarquinius de equitum centuriis quicquam mutavit; numero alterum tantum adiecit, ut mille et octingenti equites in tribus centuriis essent — §1.36.8posteriores modo sub iisdem nominibus, qui additi erant, appellati sunt, quas nunc, quia geminatae sunt, sex vocant centurias.
Nor did Tarquin at that time make any change in the centuries of the knights; he added just as many again in number, so that there were eighteen hundred knights in the three centuries— only those who had been added were called "the posterior" under the same names, which centuries they now call "the six," because they have been doubled.