[4,41] Μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον παραλαμβάνει Λεύκιος Ταρκύνιος τὴν Ῥωμαίων δυναστείαν οὐ κατὰ νόμους, ἀλλὰ διὰ τῶν ὅπλων κατασχών, κατὰ τὸν τέταρτον ἐνιαυτὸν τῆς ἑξηκοστῆς καὶ πρώτης ὀλυμπιάδος, ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Ἀγάθαρχος Κερκυραῖος ἄρχοντος Ἀθήνησι Θηρικλέους. οὗτος ὑπεριδὼν μὲν τοῦ δημοτικοῦ πλήθους, ὑπεριδὼν δὲ τῶν πατρικίων, ὑφ´ ὧν ἐπὶ τὴν δυναστείαν παρήχθη, ἔθη τε καὶ νόμους καὶ πάντα τὸν ἐπιχώριον κόσμον, ᾧ τὴν πόλιν ἐκόσμησαν οἱ πρότεροι βασιλεῖς, συγχέας καὶ διαφθείρας εἰς ὁμολογουμένην τυραννίδα μετέστησε τὴν ἀρχήν. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν φυλακὴν κατεστήσατο περὶ ἑαυτὸν ἀνθρώπων θρασυτάτων ξίφη καὶ λόγχας φερόντων ἐπιχωρίων τε καὶ ἀλλοδαπῶν, οἳ νυκτός τε περὶ τὴν βασίλειον αὐλιζόμενοι αὐλὴν καὶ μεθ´ ἡμέραν ἐξιόντι παρακολουθοῦντες, ὅπῃ πορεύοιτο, πολλὴν τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐπιβουλευσόντων ἀσφάλειαν παρείχοντο. ἔπειτα τὰς ἐξόδους οὔτε συνεχεῖς οὔτε τεταγμένας, ἀλλὰ σπανίους καὶ ἀπροσδοκήτους ἐποιεῖτο ἐχρηματίζετό τε περὶ τῶν κοινῶν κατ´ οἶκον μὲν τὰ πολλὰ καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν ἀναγκαιοτάτων συμπαρόντων, ὀλίγα δ´ ἐν ἀγορᾷ. προσελθεῖν δ´ οὐδενὶ τῶν βουλομένων ἐπέτρεπεν, εἰ μή τινα καλέσειεν αὐτός· οὔτε τοῖς προσιοῦσιν εὐμενὴς οὐδὲ πρᾷος ἦν, ἀλλ´ οἷα δὴ τύραννος, βαρύς τε καὶ χαλεπὸς ὀργὴν καὶ φοβερὸς μᾶλλον ἢ φαιδρὸς ὀφθῆναι· καὶ τὰς περὶ τῶν ἀμφισβητήτων συμβολαίων κρίσεις οὐκ ἐπὶ τὰ δίκαια καὶ τοὺς νόμους, ἀλλ´ ἐπὶ τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ τρόπους ἀναφέρων ἐποιεῖτο. διὰ ταῦτ´ ἐπωνυμίαν τίθενται αὐτῷ Ῥωμαῖοι τὸν Σούπερβον, τοῦτο δὲ δηλοῦν βούλεται κατὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν γλῶτταν τὸν ὑπερήφανον. τὸν δὲ πάππον αὐτοῦ Πρίσκον ἐκάλουν· ὡς δ´ ἡμεῖς ἂν εἴποιμεν, προγενέστερον· ὁμώνυμος γὰρ ἦν τῷ νεωτέρῳ κατ´ ἄμφω τὰ ὀνόματα.

[4,41] He was succeeded in the sovereignty over the Romans by Lucius Tarquinius, who obtained it, not in accordance with the laws, but by arms, in the fourth year of the sixty-first Olympiad (the one in which Agatharchus of Corcyra won the foot- race), Thericles being archon at Athens. This man, despising not only the populace, but the patricians as well, by (p409) whom he had been brought to power, confounded and abolished the customs, the laws, and the whole native form of government, by which the former kings had ordered the commonwealth, and transformed his rule into an avowed tyranny. And first he placed about his person a guard of very daring men, both natives and foreigners, armed with swords and spears, who camped round the palace at night and attended him in the daytime wherever he went, effectually securing him from the attempts of conspirators. Secondly, he did not appear in public often or at stated times, but only rarely and unexpectedly; and he transacted the public business at home, for the most part, and in the presence of none but his most intimate friends, and only occasionally in the Forum. To none who sought an audience would he grant it unless he himself had sent for them; and even to those who did gain access to him he was not gracious or mild, but, as is the way with tyrants, harsh and irascible, and his aspect was terrifying rather than genial. his decisions in controversies relating to contracts he rendered, not with regard to justice and law, but according to his own moods. For these reasons the Romans gave him the surname of Superbus, which in our language means "the haughty"; and his grandfather they called Priscus, (p411) or, as we should say, "the elder," since both his names were the same as those of the younger man.