A depiction of Lucretia’s rape – Public Domain The most ambitious was the levelling of the Tarpeian Rock on the south side of the Capitoline Hill in order to make way for a Temple in dedication to Jupiter Optimus Maximus.Īround 509-510 BC, Tarquinius went to war with the Rutuli and sent his son, Sextus Tarquinius, on a military errand to the home of Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, governor of Collatia. Tarquinius used the spoils of these campaigns to fund a series of expensive construction projects and public works in Rome. Tarquinius began his reign by purging senators who could still hold loyalty to Servius’s memory, and judged capital crimes without counsel, thus removing the threat of opposition through the fear of a now corrupt legal system.Īfter persuading the Latin chiefs of neighbouring tribes to renew their treaty with Rome, Tarquinius then set about waging war with the Volsci, an Italic Osco-Umbrian tribe, and the Latin Gabi that had rejected the terms of his treaty. When Servius came to the Senate to defend his position, he was thrown down the steps of the senate-house by Tarquinius and murdered on the streets by assassins (the place of which became known as Vicus Sceleratus, the Street of Crime). The Comic History of Rome by Gilbert Abbott A Beckett (1850s) – Tarquinius Superbus makes himself King – Public Domain In 535 BC, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus usurped King Servius Tullius by claiming Servius’s illegitimate to rule through his alleged servile origins, and claims that Servius’s ascension without election had strayed from traditional and legal practice via the Curiate Assembly and interregnum. Publius Valerius Poplicola was appointed consul suffectus in the place of Collatinus, and the elderly Spurius Lucretius in place of Brutus but he died soon after, and Marcus Horatius Pulvillus became consul in his place, the fifth and final consul of the first year of the Republic.When the king died, Rome entered a period of interregnum (a period of time between the reign of one monarch and the next), for which control of the kingdom was devolved to the Senate to find candidate kings for election. Fearing what might become of him should he refuse the popular demand, Collatinus laid down the consulship and went into exile at Lanuvium.īrutus, who as the king's nephew was even closer to the royal house, was spared the same indignity, as a part of the Junia gens but he fell in battle the same year against the king's forces. Collatinus was dumbstruck when Brutus, his colleague and cousin, called upon him to resign, but resisted until his father-in-law, Lucretius, added his voice to the chorus. Brutus and Collatinus were the first consuls, and set about the defense of the city.Ĭollatinus' ascendency was short-lived although he himself had suffered at the hands of the king, and ushered in the Republic, he soon became the object of revulsion from those who would not abide any of the Tarquins in power at Rome. While the king was away on a campaign, the conspirators barred the gates of Rome and established a republican government, headed by two consuls, so that one man should not be master of Rome. They were supported by Brutus, the king's nephew, and others who had suffered various cruelties at the hands of the king and his sons. Main article: Overthrow of the Roman monarchyĮnraged by his cousin's deed, Collatinus and his father-in-law brought news of the crime before the people. Despite their entreaties and protests of her innocence, Lucretia then plunged a dagger into her breast in expiation of her shame. After his departure, Lucretia sent for her husband and father, and recounted the events to them. Forcing himself upon Lucretia, Sextus threatened to kill her, together with a slave, and tell her husband that he had caught her in the act of adultery with the slave, unless she should accede to his desire. According to legend, while Collatinus was away from home, his cousin, Sextus Tarquinius, son of the king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, came to his house by night. The surname Collatinus was derived from this town.Ĭollatinus married Lucretia, daughter of Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus. Through an accident, Arruns had been born into poverty, but when his uncle subdued the Latin town of Collatia, he was placed in command of the Roman garrison there. According to Roman tradition, Collatinus was the son of Arruns Tarquinius, better known as Egerius, a nephew of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth King of Rome.
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