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140 IX Tarquin According to Roman tradition, Tarquin the Proud was the final king of Rome from 534 to 510 BC. The crime of his son, Sextus Tarquin, who raped the wife of a Roman nobleman, was enough to cause Romans not only to depose the bad king, sending him and his worse son into exile, but to abolish kingship in Rome, after which Rome became a republic (509–27 BC). The taint left by the Tarquins on kingship made it a virtual act of treason for any man to attempt to become king during the republic. Real and imagined attempts to become a king cost Julius Caesar his life and made Augustus very careful to use a title other than rex (king) to denote his own authority. The story of Tarquin and Lucretia was passed down by the Roman poet Ovid and the Roman historian Titus Livy, among others. Shakespeare’s poem, “The Rape of Lucretia” and Benjamin Britten’s opera of the same name carry the tale into modern times. As we have seen, the great majority of imperial biographies in the Book of Emperors feature real emperors, however fancifully their stories may depart from historic fact, but several times the author includes some fast-moving action stories by making non-emperors—elsewhere a few outright fictional characters such as Faustinian—into emperors for the purpose of illustrating models of good and bad rulership. Here and elsewhere we also find him simplifying the cast of characters in a story. He fuses King Tarquin the Proud and his son Sextus into one person. The particularly illustrative flaw of the composite Tarquin as ruler is his willingness to abuse a woman who is his subject , because of excessive pride, although our author innovates in making his queen—whose pride is more out of control than his—put him up to the crime. It is probably a bit more pointed to have the king, rather than merely his son, embody the highlighted villainy. Tarquin 141 the Book tells us that Tarquin then held the Empire. He was the proudest man that a mother ever bore into this world. In those days there was a prince in Trier who became a dear friend of Tarquin the king, to the subsequent undoing of both of them. His name was Collatinus , and he was a brave, high-spirited knight. In retribution for great harm done him by the nobles of Trier, this worthy hero killed a prince of Trier, after which he was forced to leave his home and soon made his way to the city of Rome. The Romans cordially receive this nobleman with great honors. Soon, wherever their military expeditions headed, this bold hero served them well enough to carve out with his sword such military fame for himself that they held him in the greatest esteem, and their eager knights chose him as one of their equals. In the Senate, the lords would always solve their problems by enlisting the aid of this nobleman for any undertaking they felt required great ability . Finally it came about that the Senate proposed that he take a Roman wife of fitting nobility. He asked for one lady—how quickly she was given to him! Her name was Lucretia, and her story is recorded in Ovid. He came to value this woman just as dearly as his own life. The lady loved him, too, and showed him every manner of devotion. She gave the bold hero her love with charm, kindness, and all humility. Great happiness was theirs to enjoy. Quite often the lord would be told wonderful tales about how in Viterbo there were good knights aplenty, many festive tourneys, and many charming ladies of the court. What shining excellence he could find there if he wanted to, in company worthy of his own nobility! And finally riding to Viterbo became a frequent pursuit for him, one that he became greatly attached to. The lords of Trier, where he had come from, found out about this and paid a large sum to have him killed. How narrowly he escaped! He had to flee from the city disguised in woman’s clothes provided by his female admirers. When the bold hero had fled to Rome, he complained to the senators about what had happened to him. They rang their bells, and the eager knights assembled there. Hearing of what had happened, they all asked how the Viterbonians ever dared do it, saying that it was...

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