[4,47] Τοιαύτῃ καταδρομῇ τοῦ Τύρνου χρησαμένου καὶ τῶν πολλῶν σφόδρα κινηθέντων ἐπὶ τοῖς λόγοις αἰτησάμενος εἰς ἀπολογίαν ὁ Ταρκύνιος τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν ἡμέραν καὶ λαβών, ὡς ὁ σύλλογος διελύθη, παρακαλέσας τοὺς ἀναγκαιοτάτους ἐσκόπει μετ´ ἐκείνων, τίνα χρηστέον τοῖς πράγμασι τρόπον. οἱ μὲν οὖν ἄλλοι τοὺς λόγους, οὓς ἦν αὐτῷ λεκτέον ἐπὶ τῆς ἀπολογίας, ὑπετίθεντο καὶ τοὺς τρόπους, οἷς ἔδει τὸ πλῆθος ἀποθεραπεύειν, ἀπελογίζοντο. αὐτὸς δ´ ὁ Ταρκύνιος τούτων μὲν οὐδενὸς ἔφη δεῖν τοῖς πράγμασιν, ἰδίαν δὲ γνώμην ἀπεδείκνυτο μὴ τὰ κατηγορηθέντα λύειν, ἀλλ´ αὐτὸν τὸν κατηγορήσαντα ἀναιρεῖν. ἐπαινεσάντων δὲ τὴν γνώμην ἁπάντων συνταξάμενος μετ´ αὐτῶν τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἐπίθεσιν πράγματι ἐπεχείρησεν ἥκιστα δυναμένῳ πεσεῖν εἰς πρόνοιαν ἀνθρωπίνην καὶ φυλακήν. τῶν γὰρ παρακομιζόντων τά θ´ ὑποζύγια καὶ τὴν ἀποσκευὴν τοῦ Τύρνου θεραπόντων τοὺς πονηροτάτους ἐξευρὼν καὶ διαφθείρας χρήμασιν ἔπειθεν ὑπὸ νύκτα ξίφη πολλὰ παρ´ αὐτοῦ λαβόντας εἰσενεγκεῖν εἰς τὴν κατάλυσιν τοῦ δεσπότου καὶ ἀποθέσθαι κρύψαντας ἐν τοῖς σκευοφόροις. τῇ δ´ ἑξῆς ἡμέρᾳ συναχθείσης τῆς ἐκκλησίας παρελθὼν ὑπὲρ μὲν τῶν κατηγορηθέντων βραχεῖαν ἔλεγεν εἶναι τὴν ἀπολογίαν καὶ δικαστὴν ἁπάντων ἐποιεῖτο τῶν ἐγκλημάτων αὐτὸν τὸν κατήγορον. Οὑτοσὶ γάρ, ἔφη, Τύρνος, ὦ σύνεδροι, τούτων ὧν νυνί μου κατηγορεῖ πάντων δικαστὴς γενόμενος αὐτὸς ἀπέλυσέ με, ὅτε τὴν θυγατέρα τὴν ἐμὴν ἐβούλετο λαβεῖν γυναῖκα. ἐπεὶ δ´ ἀπηξιώθη τῶν γάμων κατὰ τὸ εἰκός· τίς γὰρ ἂν τῶν νοῦν ἐχόντων Μαμίλιον τὸν εὐγενέστατόν τε καὶ κράτιστον Λατίνων ἀπεώσατο, τοῦτον δὲ κηδεστὴν ἠξίωσε λαβεῖν, ὃς οὐδ´ εἰς τρίτον πάππον ἀνενεγκεῖν ἔχει τὸ γένος; ἀγανακτῶν ἐπὶ τούτῳ νῦν ἥκει μου κατηγορῶν. ἔδει δ´ αὐτόν, εἰ μὲν ᾔδει με τοιοῦτον ὄντα, οἷον νῦν αἰτιᾶται, μὴ προθυμεῖσθαι λαβεῖν τότε πενθερόν· εἰ δὲ χρηστὸν ἐνόμιζεν, ὅτε τὴν θυγατέρα με ᾐτεῖτο, μηδὲ νῦν ὡς πονηροῦ κατηγορεῖν. καὶ περὶ μὲν ἐμαυτοῦ τοσαῦτα λέγω· ὑμῖν δ´, ὦ σύνεδροι, κινδύνων τὸν μέγιστον τρέχουσιν οὐ περὶ ἐμοῦ σκεπτέον ἐστὶ νυνί, πότερα χρηστὸς ἢ πονηρός εἰμι· τουτὶ γὰρ ἐξέσται καὶ μετὰ ταῦθ´ ὑμῖν σκοπεῖν· ἀλλὰ περὶ τῆς ὑμῶν αὐτῶν ἀσφαλείας καὶ περὶ τῆς τῶν πατρίδων ἐλευθερίας. ἐπιβουλεύεσθε γὰρ οἱ κορυφαιότατοι τῶν ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι καὶ τὰ κοινὰ πράττοντες ὑπὸ τοῦ καλοῦ τούτου δημαγωγοῦ, ὃς παρεσκεύασταί τε τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους ὑμῶν ἀποκτείνας ἐπιθέσθαι τῇ Λατίνων ἀρχῇ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦθ´ ἥκει. ταῦτα δ´ οὐκ εἰκάζων, ἀλλ´ ἀκριβῶς ἐπιστάμενος λέγω μηνύσεώς μοι γενομένης ἐν τῇ παρελθούσῃ νυκτὶ ὑπό τινος τῶν μετεσχηκότων τῆς συνωμοσίας. τεκμήριον δ´ ὑμῖν παρέξομαι τῶν λόγων ἔργον ἀναμφίλεκτον, ἐὰν ἐθελήσητε ἐλθεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν κατάλυσιν αὐτοῦ, τὰ κεκρυμμένα ἐν αὐτῇ δείξας ὅπλα.

[4,47] After Turnus had thus inveighed against Tarquinius and most of those present had been greatly moved by his words, Tarquinius asked that (p425) the following day might be set for his defence. His request was granted, and when the assembly had been dismissed, he summoned his most intimate friends and consulted with them how he ought to handle the situation. These began to suggest to him the arguments he should use in his defence and to run over the means by which he should endeavour to win back the favour of the majority; but Tarquinius himself declared that the situation did not call for any such measures, and gave it as his own opinion that he ought not to attempt to refute the accusations, but rather to destroy the accuser himself. When all had praised this opinion, he arranged with them the details of the attack and then set about carrying out a plot that was least likely to be foreseen by any man and guarded against. Seeking out the most evil among the servants of Turnus who conducted his pack animals with the baggage and bribing them with money, he persuaded them to take from him a large number of swords at nightfall and put them away in the baggage-chests where they would not be in sight. The next day, when the assembly had convened, Tarquinius came forward and said that his defence against the accusations was a brief one, and he proposed that his accuser himself should be the judge of all the charges. "For, councillors," he said, "Turnus here, as a judge, himself acquitted me of everything of which he now accuses me, when he desired my daughter in marriage. (p427) But since he was thought unworthy of the marriage, as was but natural (for who in his senses would have refused Mamilius, the man of highest birth and greatest merit among the Latins, and consented to take for his son-in-law this man who cannot trace his family back even five generations?), in resentment for this slight he has now come to accuse me. Whereas, if he knew me to be such a man as he now charges, he ought not to have desired me then for a father-in-law; and if he thought me a good man when he asked me for my daughter in marriage, he ought not now to traduce me as a wicked man. So much concerning myself. As for you, councillors, who are running the greatest of dangers, it is not for you to consider now whether I am a good or a bad man (for this you may inquire into afterwards) but to provide both for your own safety and for the liberty of your respective cities. For a plot is being formed by this fine demagogue against you who are the chief men of your cities and are at the head of affairs; and he is prepared, after he has put the most prominent of you to death, to attempt to seize the sovereignty over the Latins, and has come here for that purpose. I do not say this from conjecture but from my certain knowledge, having last night received information of it from one of the accomplices in the conspiracy. And I will give you an incontestible proof of what I say, if you will go to his lodging, by showing you the arms that are concealed there."