[4,28] Ἦσαν τῷ Τυλλίῳ δύο θυγατέρες ἐκ γυναικὸς γενόμεναι Ταρκυνίας, ἣν ἐνεγγύησεν αὐτῷ βασιλεὺς Ταρκύνιος. ταύτας τὰς κόρας ἐπιγάμους γενομένας ἐκδίδοται τοῖς ἀδελφιδοῖς τῆς μητρὸς αὐτῶν, υἱωνοῖς δὲ Ταρκυνίου, τῷ τε πρεσβυτέρῳ τὴν πρεσβυτέραν ἁρμόσας καὶ τῷ νεωτέρῳ τὴν νεωτέραν· οὕτως οἰόμενος αὐτὰς μάλιστα συνοίσεσθαι τοῖς λαβοῦσιν. ἔτυχε δὲ τῶν γαμβρῶν ἑκάτερος ἐναντίᾳ συναφθεὶς τύχῃ κατὰ τὴν οὐχ ὁμοτροπίαν· Λευκίῳ μὲν γὰρ τῷ πρεσβυτέρῳ τολμηρῷ καὶ αὐθάδει καὶ τυραννικῷ τὴν φύσιν ὄντι χρηστὴ καὶ σώφρων καὶ φιλοπάτωρ συνῆλθε γυνή, Ἀρροῦντι δὲ τῷ νεωτέρῳ πολὺ τὸ πρᾷον ἔχοντι καὶ εὐλόγιστον ἀνοσία καὶ μισοπάτωρ καὶ πάντολμος ἦν ἡ γαμετή. συνέβαινε δὴ τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἑκατέρῳ φέρεσθαι μὲν ἐπὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ φύσιν, μετάγεσθαι δ´ ὑπὸ τῆς γυναικὸς ἐπὶ τἀναντία· ὁ μέν γε πονηρὸς ἐκβαλεῖν τῆς βασιλείας τὸν κηδεστὴν προθυμούμενος καὶ πάντα μηχανώμενος εἰς τοῦτο ὑπὸ τῆς γυναικὸς μετεπείθετο ἀντιβολούσης τε καὶ ὀδυρομένης· ὁ δ´ ἐπιεικὴς οὐδὲν οἰόμενος δεῖν ἐξαμαρτάνειν εἰς τὸν πενθερόν, ἀλλὰ περιμένειν, ἕως ἡ φύσις αὐτὸν ἐκ τοῦ ζῆν ἐξαγάγῃ, καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν οὐκ ἐῶν πράττειν τὰ μὴ δίκαια, ὑπὸ τῆς ἀνοσίας γυναικὸς ἐπὶ τἀναντία μετήγετο νουθετούσης τε καὶ λοιδορουμένης καὶ τὴν ἀνανδρίαν κακιζούσης· ὡς δ´ οὐδὲν ἐπέραινον οὔτε αἱ τῆς σώφρονος λιτανεῖαι τὰ κράτιστα τὸν οὐ δίκαιον ἄνδρα πειθούσης, οὔτε αἱ τῆς μιαρᾶς παραινέσεις ἐπὶ τὰς ἀνοσίους πράξεις τὸν οὐ πονηρὸν εἶναι πεφυκότα παρακαλούσης, ἀλλ´ ἑκάτερος ἐπὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ φύσιν ἐφέρετο καὶ λυπηρὰν ἡγεῖτο τὴν μὴ τὰ ὅμοια βουλομένην, τῇ μὲν ὀδύρεσθαί τε καὶ φέρειν τὸν ἑαυτῆς δαίμονα περιῆν· τῇ δὲ παντόλμῳ χαλεπαίνειν καὶ ἀπαλλαγῆναι ζητεῖν ἀπὸ τοῦ συνοικοῦντος. ἔπειτα δ´ ἡ κακὴ τὴν φύσιν ἀπονοηθεῖσα καὶ νομίσασα τοῖς ἑαυτῆς τρόποις ἁρμόττειν μάλιστα τὸν τῆς ἀδελφῆς ἄνδρα μεταπέμπεταί τ´ αὐτὸν ὡς ὑπὲρ ἀναγκαίου πράγματος διαλεξομένη,

[4,28] Tullius had two daughters by his wife Tarquinia, whom King Tarquinius had given to him in marriage. When these maidens were of marriageable age, he gave them to the nephews of their mother, who were also the grandsons of Tarquinius, joining the elder daughter to the elder nephew and the younger to the younger, since he thought they would thus live most harmoniously with their husbands. But it happened that each of his sons-in-law was joined by an adverse fate in the matter of dissimilarity of character. For the wife of Lucius, the elder of the two brothers, who was of a bold, arrogant and tyrannical nature, was a good woman, modest and fond of her father; on the other hand, the wife of Arruns, the younger brother, a man of great mildness and prudence, was a wicked woman who hated her father and was capable of any rash (p365) action. Thus it chanced that each of the husbands tried to follow his own bent, but was drawn in the opposite direction by his wife. For when the wicked husband desired to drive his father-in-law from the throne and was devising every means to accomplish this, his wife by her prayers and tears endeavoured to prevail on him to desist. And when the good husband thought himself obliged to abstain from all attempts against the life of his father-in-law and to wait till he should end his days by the course of nature, and tried to prevent his brother from doing what was wrong, his wicked wife, by her remonstrances and reproaches and by reviling him with a want of spirit, sought to draw him in the opposite direction. But when nothing was accomplished by either the entreaties of the virtuous wife as she urged upon her unjust husband the best course, or by the exhortations of the wicked wife when she strove to incite to impious deeds the husband who was not by nature evil, but each husband followed his natural bent and thought his wife troublesome because her wishes differed from his own, nothing remained but for the first wife to lament and submit to her fate and for her audacious sister to rage and endeavour to rid herself of her husband. At last this wicked woman, grown desperate and believing her sister's husband to be most suitable to her own character, sent for him, as if she wanted to talk with him concerning a matter of urgent importance.