[4,0] ΔΙΟΝΥΣΙΟΥ ΑΛΙΚΑΡΝΑΣΕΩΣ ΡΩΜΑΙΚΗΣ ΑΡΧΑΙΟΛΟΓΙΑΣ ΛΟΓΟΣ ΤΕΤΑΡΤΟΣ.

[4,0] BOOK IV.

[4,1] Βασιλεὺς μὲν δὴ Ταρκύνιος οὐ μικρῶν οὐδ´ ὀλίγων Ῥωμαίοις ἀγαθῶν αἴτιος γενόμενος, ὀκτὼ καὶ τριάκοντα ἔτη τὴν ἀρχὴν κατασχὼν οὕτω τελευτᾷ υἱωνούς τε δύο καταλιπὼν νηπίους καὶ δύο θυγατέρας ἀνδράσιν ἤδη συνοικούσας. διάδοχος δὲ τῆς ἡγεμονίας ὁ γαμβρὸς αὐτοῦ γίνεται Τύλλιος ἐνιαυτῷ τετάρτῳ τῆς πεντηκοστῆς ὀλυμπιάδος, ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Ἐπιτελίδης Λάκων ἄρχοντος Ἀθήνησιν Ἀρχεστρατίδου· περὶ οὗ καιρὸς ἤδη λέγειν, ἃ κατ´ ἀρχὰς παρελίπομεν, ἐξ ὧν τε γονέων ἔφυ καὶ τίνας ἀπεδείξατο πράξεις ἰδιώτης ὢν ἔτι καὶ πρὶν ἐπὶ τὴν δυναστείαν παρελθεῖν. τὰ μὲν οὖν περὶ τοῦ γένους αὐτοῦ λεγόμενα, οἷς μάλιστ´ ἔγωγε συγκατατίθεμαι, τοιαῦτ´ ἐστίν. ἐν Κορνικόλῳ πόλει τοῦ Λατίνων ἔθνους ἀνήρ τις ἐκ τοῦ βασιλείου γένους Τύλλιος ὄνομα γυναικὶ συνῆν Ὀκρισίᾳ καλλίστῃ τε καὶ σωφρονεστάτῃ τῶν ἐν Κορνικόλῳ γυναικῶν. αὐτὸς μὲν οὖν ὁ Τύλλιος, ὅθ´ ἡ πόλις ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων κατελαμβάνετο, μαχόμενος ἀποθνήσκει, τὴν δ´ Ὀκρισίαν ἐγκύμονα οὖσαν ἐξαίρετον ἐκ τῶν λαφύρων λαμβάνει Ταρκύνιος ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ δίδωσι δωρεὰν τῇ ἑαυτοῦ γυναικί. μαθοῦσα δ´ ἐκείνη πάντα τὰ περὶ τὴν ἄνθρωπον οὐ πολλοῖς χρόνοις ὕστερον ἐλευθέραν αὐτὴν ἀφίησι καὶ πασῶν μάλιστα γυναικῶν ἀσπαζομένη τε καὶ τιμῶσα διετέλεσεν. ἐκ ταύτης γίνεται τῆς Ὀκρισίας ἔτι δουλευούσης παιδίον, ᾧ τίθεται τραφέντι ἡ μήτηρ τὸ μὲν ἴδιόν τε καὶ συγγενικὸν ὄνομα Τύλλιον ἐπὶ τοῦ πατρός, τὸ δὲ κοινὸν καὶ προσηγορικὸν Σερούιον ἐπὶ τῆς ἰδίας τύχης, ὅτι δουλεύουσα ἔτεκεν αὐτόν. εἴη δ´ ἂν ὁ Σερούιος εἰς τὴν Ἑλληνικὴν διάλεκτον μεταβιβαζόμενος Δούλιος.

[4,1] King Tarquinius, accordingly, who had conferred not a few important benefits upon the Romans, died in the manner I have mentioned, after holding the sovereignty for thirty-eight years, leaving two grandsons who were infants and two daughters already married. His son-in-law Tullius succeeded him in the sovereignty in the fourth year of the fiftieth Olympiad (the one in which Epitelides, a Lacedaemonian, won the short-distance foot-race), Archestratides being archon at Athens. It is now the proper time to mention those particulars relating to Tullius which we at first omitted, namely, who his parents were and what deeds he performed while he was yet a private citizen, before his accession to the sovereignty. Concerning his family, then, the account with which I can best agree is this: There lived at Corniculum, a city of the Latin nation, a man of the royal family named Tullius, who was (p267) married to Ocrisia, a woman far excelling all the other women in Corniculum in beauty and modesty. When this city was taken by the Romans, Tullius himself was slain while fighting, and Ocrisia, then with child, was selected from the spoils and taken by King Tarquinius, who gave her to his wife. She, having been informed of everything that related to this woman, freed her soon afterwards and continued to treat her with kindness and honour above all other women. While Ocrisia was yet a slave she bore a son, to whom, when he had left the nursery, she gave the name of Tullius, from his father, as his proper and family name, and also that of Servius as his common and first name, from her own condition, since she had been a slave when she had given birth to him. Servius, if translated into the Greek tongue, would be doulios or "servile."