§1.46.1Servius quamquam iam usu haud dubie regnum possederat, tamen, quia interdum iactari voces a iuvene Tarquinio audiebat se iniussu populi regnare, conciliata prius voluntate plebis agro capto ex hostibus viritim diviso ausus est ferre ad populum, vellent iuberentne se regnare; tantoque consensu, quanto haud quisquam alius ante, rex est declaratus.
Although Servius had already possessed the royal power beyond doubt by long usage, yet, because he occasionally heard words being bandied about by the young Tarquin that he was reigning without the order of the people, having first conciliated the goodwill of the plebeians by dividing among them individually the land taken from the enemies, he dared to propose to the people whether they wished and ordered him to reign; and with such great consensus as no one else before, he was declared king.
§1.46.2neque ea res Tarquinio spem adfectandi regni minuit; immo eo inpensius, quia de agro plebis adversa patrum voluntate senserat agi, criminandi Servi apud patres crescendique in curia sibi occasionem datam ratus est, et ipse iuvenis ardentis animi et domi uxore Tullia inquietum animum stimulante.
Nor did that matter diminish Tarquin's hope of aiming at the kingdom; on the contrary, he acted even more vigorously because he had perceived that the business of the plebeians' land was being conducted against the will of the patricians, thinking that an opportunity had been given to him of accusing Servius before the patricians and of growing in influence in the senate-house, both because he himself was a young man of an ardent spirit and because at home his wife Tullia was stimulating his restless mind.
§1.46.3tulit enim et Romana regia sceleris tragici exemplum, ut taedio regum maturior veniret libertas ultimumque regnum esset, quod scelere partum foret.
For the Roman palace also produced an example of tragic crime, so that through weariness of kings liberty might come the sooner, and the last reign might be that which should be acquired by crime.
hic L. Tarquinius — §1.46.4Prisci Tarquini regis filius neposne fuerit, parum liquet; pluribus tamen auctoribus filium ediderim — fratrem habuerat Arruntem Tarquinium, mitis ingenii iuvenem.
This Lucius Tarquinius— whether he was the son or the grandson of King Tarquinius Priscus is not very clear; yet, following the majority of authors, I should set him down as his son—had had a brother, Arruns Tarquinius, a young man of a mild disposition.
§1.46.5his duobus, ut ante dictum est, duae Tulliae, regis filiae, nupserant, et ipsae longe dispares moribus.
To these two, as has been said before, the two Tullias, daughters of the king, had been married, and they themselves were very different in character.
forte ita inciderat, ne duo violenta ingenia matrimonio iungerentur, fortuna, credo, populi Romani, quo diuturnius Servi regnum esset constituique civitatis mores possent.
It had happened by chance that two violent dispositions were not joined in marriage, by the fortune, I believe, of the Roman people, so that the reign of Servius might be of longer duration and the character of the state might be established.
§1.46.6angebatur ferox Tullia nihil materiae in viro neque ad cupiditatem neque ad audaciam esse; tota in alterum aversa Tarquinium eum mirari, eum virum dicere ac regio sanguine ortum; spernere sororem, quod virum nacta muliebri cessaret audacia.
The fierce Tullia was vexed that there was no material in her husband either for ambition or for boldness; turned entirely toward the other Tarquin, she admired him, called him a man and one sprung from royal blood; she despised her sister, because having obtained a husband she was inactive with a woman's lack of boldness.
§1.46.7contrahit celeriter similitudo eos, ut fere fit: malum malo aptissimum; sed initium turbandi omnia a femina ortum est.
As usually happens, similarity quickly drew them together: evil is most fit for evil; but the beginning of throwing everything into confusion arose from the woman.
ea secretis viri alieni adsuefacta sermonibus nullis verborum contumeliis parcere de viro ad fratrem, de sorore ad virum; et se rectius viduam et illum caelibem futurum fuisse contendere, quam cum inpari iungi, ut elanguescendum aliena ignavia esset.
She, having become accustomed to secret conversations with another's husband, spared no insults in her words about her husband to his brother, and about her sister to her husband; and she contended that she would have been more rightly a widow and he a bachelor, than to be joined with an unequal partner, so that she had to languish through another's cowardice.
§1.46.8si sibi eum, quo digna esset, dii dedissent virum, domi se prope diem visuram regnum fuisse, quod apud patrem videat.
If the gods had given her that man whom she was worthy of, she would have seen the royal power at home before long, which she now saw at her father's.
celeriter adulescentem suae temeritatis implet.
She quickly filled the young man with her own rashness.
§1.46.9Lucius Tarquinius et Tullia minor, prope continuatis funeribus cum domos vacuas novo matrimonio fecissent, iunguntur nuptiis magis non prohibente Servio quam adprobante.
Lucius Tarquinius and the younger Tullia, when they had made their houses vacant for a new marriage by deaths that followed almost immediately upon one another, were joined in marriage, Servius rather not forbidding it than approving.