[4,34] Περὶ δὲ τῆς βασιλείας, ἐπειδὴ τοῦτ´ ἐστιν, ὃ κατηγορεῖς μου, ἄκουσον, ὅπως τ´ αὐτῆς ἔτυχον, καὶ δι´ ἃς αἰτίας οὔθ´ ὑμῖν οὔτ´ ἄλλῳ τινὶ μεθίεμαι. ὅτε τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν τῆς πόλεως παρέλαβον, αἰσθόμενος ἐπιβουλάς τινας κατ´ ἐμαυτοῦ γινομένας, παραδοῦναι τῷ δήμῳ τὰ πράγματ´ ἐβουλήθην· καὶ συναγαγὼν ἅπαντας εἰς ἐκκλησίαν ἀπεδίδουν αὐτοῖς τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀντὶ τῆς ἐπιφθόνου ταύτης καὶ πλείω τὰ λυπηρὰ τῶν ἡδέων ἐχούσης ἡγεμονίας τὴν ἀκίνδυνον ἀντικαταλλασσόμενος ἡσυχίαν. οὐκ ἠνέσχοντο Ῥωμαῖοι ταῦτά μου πράττειν βουλομένου οὐδ´ ἠξίωσαν ἕτερόν τινα τῶν κοινῶν ἀποδεῖξαι κύριον, ἀλλ´ ἐμὲ κατέσχον καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν ἔδωκάν μοι ψῆφον ἐπενέγκαντες, τὴν ἑαυτῶν, Ταρκύνιε, κτῆσιν, οὐ τὴν ὑμετέραν· ὥσπερ γε καὶ τὸν πάππον ὑμῶν παρήγαγον ἐπὶ τὰ πράγματα ξένον ὄντα καὶ οὐδὲν προσήκοντα τῷ πρότερον βασιλεῖ· καίτοι παῖδάς γ´ Ἄγκος Μάρκιος ὁ βασιλεὺς κατέλιπεν ἀκμάζοντας, οὐχ υἱωνοὺς καὶ νηπίους, ὥσπερ ὑμᾶς Ταρκύνιος. εἰ δὲ κοινὸς ἁπάντων νόμος ἦν τοὺς διαδεχομένους τήν τε φανερὰν οὐσίαν καὶ τὰ χρήματα τῶν ἐκλειπόντων βασιλέων σὺν τούτοις καὶ τὰς βασιλείας αὐτῶν παραλαμβάνειν, οὐκ ἂν Ταρκύνιος ὁ πάππος ὑμῶν τὴν ἡγεμονίαν παρέλαβεν Ἄγκου τελευτήσαντος, ἀλλ´ ὁ πρεσβύτερος τῶν ἐκείνου παίδων. ἀλλ´ ὁ δῆμος ὁ Ῥωμαίων οὐ τὸν διάδοχον τοῦ πατρός, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἄξιον τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐπὶ τὰ πράγματ´ ἐκάλει· ἡγεῖτο γὰρ τὰ μὲν χρήματα τῶν κτησαμένων εἶναι, τὴν δὲ βασιλείαν τῶν δεδωκότων· καὶ τὰ μὲν ὅταν τι πάθωσιν οἱ κύριοι τοὺς κατὰ γένος ἢ κατὰ διαθήκας διαδόχους προσήκειν παραλαμβάνειν, τὴν δ´ ὅταν ἐκλίπωσιν οἱ λαβόντες τοὺς δεδωκότας ἔχειν· εἰ μή τι τοιοῦτον ἔχεις δικαίωμα φέρειν, ὅτι τὴν βασιλείαν ὁ πάππος ὑμῶν ἐπὶ ῥητοῖς τισι παρέλαβεν, ὥστε καὶ αὐτὸς ἔχειν ἀναφαίρετον καὶ ὑμῖν τοῖς ἐγγόνοις καταλιπεῖν, καὶ ὁ δῆμος οὐ κύριος ἦν ἀφελόμενος αὐτὴν ὑμῶν ἐμοὶ δοῦναι. εἰ γάρ τι τοιοῦτον εἰπεῖν ἔχεις, τί οὐ φέρεις τὰς συνθήκας εἰς μέσον; ἀλλ´ οὐκ ἂν ἔχοις. εἰ δ´ οὐ κατὰ τὸν βέλτιστον αὐτῆς ἔτυχον ἐγὼ τρόπον, ὡς λέγεις, μήθ´ ὑπὸ τῶν μεσοβασιλέων αἱρεθεὶς μήτε τῆς βουλῆς μοι παραδούσης τὰ πράγματα μήτε τῶν ἄλλων γενομένων τῶν κατὰ νόμον, τούτους ἀδικῶ δήπου καὶ οὐχὶ σέ, καὶ ὑπὸ τούτων παυσθῆναι δίκαιός εἰμι τῆς ἀρχῆς, οὐχ ὑπὸ σοῦ. ἀλλ´ οὔτε τούτους οὔτ´ ἄλλον οὐδένα ἀδικῶ. μάρτυς δὲ τῆς ἐκ τοῦ δικαίου μοι καὶ τότε δοθείσης καὶ νῦν ὑπαρχούσης ἐξουσίας ὁ χρόνος, ἐν ᾧ τετταρακονταετεῖ γεγονότι Ῥωμαίων οὐδεὶς ἡγήσατό με πώποτ´ ἀδικεῖν, οὐδ´ ἐκβαλεῖν με τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐπεχείρησεν οὔθ´ ὁ δῆμος οὔθ´ ἡ βουλή.

[4,34] (p383) "But concerning the kingship, since this is the point of your accusation, learn not only by what means I obtained it, but also for what reasons I am not resigning it either to you or to anyone else. When I took upon myself the oversight of the commonwealth, finding that there were certain plots forming against me, I desired to surrender the conduct of affairs to the people; and having called them all together in assembly, I offered to resign the power to them, exchanging this envied sovereignty, the source of more pains than pleasures, for a quiet life free from danger. But the Romans would not permit me to follow this preference, nor did they see fit to make anyone else master of the state, but retained me and by their votes gave me the kingship — thing which belonged to them, Tarquinius, rather than to you or your brother — in the same manner as they had entrusted the government to your grandfather, who was a foreigner and in no way related to the king who preceded him; and yet King Ancus Marcius had left sons in their prime of life, not children and infants, as you and your brother were left by Tarquinius. But if it were a general law that the heirs to the estate and possessions of deceased kings should also be heirs to their kingly office, Tarquinius, your grandfather would not have succeeded to the sovereignty upon the death of Ancus, but rah the elder of the king's sons. But the Roman people did not call to power the heir of the father, but rather the person who was worthy to rule. For they held that, while property belongs to those who acquired it, the kingly office belongs to (p385) those who conferred it, and that the former, when anything happens to its owners, ought to descend to the natural heirs or the testamentary heirs, but that the latter, when the persons who received it die, should return to those who gave it. Unless, indeed, you have some claim to offer to the effect that your grandfather received the kingship upon certain express conditions, whereby he was not to be deprived of it himself and could also leave it to you, his grandsons, and that it was not in the power of the people to take it from you and confer it upon me. If you have any such claim to allege, why do you not produce the contract? But you cannot do so. And if I did not obtain the office in the most justifiable manner, as you say, since I was neither chosen by the interreges nor entrusted with the government by the senate and the other legal requirements were not observed, then surely it is these men here that I am wronging and not you, and I deserve to be deprived of power by them, not by you. But I am not wronging either these men nor anyone else. The length of my reign, which has now lasted forty years, bears me witness that power was both then justly given to me and is now justly vested in me; for during this time none of the Romans ever thought I reigned unjustly, nor did either the people or the senate ever endeavour to drive me from power.