[4,56] Τοσαύτης δὴ γενόμενος ἐξουσίας ὁ Σέξτος κύριος δι´ ἀπάτης καὶ φενακισμοῦ τῶν θεραπόντων τινὰ λαθὼν τοὺς Γαβίους πέμπει πρὸς τὸν πατέρα τήν τ´ ἐξουσίαν, ἣν εἰληφὼς ἦν, δηλώσοντα καὶ πευσόμενον, τί χρὴ ποιεῖν. ὁ δὲ Ταρκύνιος οὐδὲ τὸν θεράποντα γινώσκειν βουλόμενος, ἃ τὸν υἱὸν ἐκέλευσε ποιεῖν, ἄγων τὸν ἄγγελον προῆλθεν εἰς τὸν παρακείμενον τοῖς βασιλείοις κῆπον· ἔτυχον δὲ μήκωνες ἐν αὐτῷ πεφυκυῖαι πλήρεις ἤδη τοῦ καρποῦ καὶ συγκομιδῆς ὥραν ἔχουσαι· διεξιὼν δὴ διὰ τούτων τῆς ὑπερεχούσης ἀεὶ μήκωνος τῷ σκήπωνι παίων τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀπήραττε. ταῦτα ποιήσας ἀπέστειλε τὸν ἄγγελον οὐδὲν ἀποκρινάμενος τῷ πολλάκις ἐπερωτῶντι, τὴν Θρασυβούλου τοῦ Μιλησίου διάνοιαν ὡς ἔμοιγε δοκεῖ μιμησάμενος· καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος Περιάνδρῳ ποτὲ τῷ Κορινθίων τυράννῳ πυνθανομένῳ διὰ τοῦ πεμφθέντος ἀγγέλου, πῶς ἂν ἐγκρατέστατα τὴν ἀρχὴν κατάσχοι, λόγον μὲν οὐδένα ἀπέστειλεν, ἀκολουθεῖν δὲ τὸν ἥκοντα παρ´ αὐτοῦ κελεύσας, ἦγε δι´ ἀρούρας σιτοσπόρου καὶ τοὺς ὑπερέχοντας τῶν σταχύων ἀποθραύων ἐρρίπτει χαμαὶ διδάσκων, ὅτι δεῖ τῶν ἀστῶν τοὺς δοκιμωτάτους κολούειν τε καὶ διαφθείρειν. τὸ παραπλήσιον δὴ καὶ τοῦ Ταρκυνίου τότε ποιήσαντος συνεὶς τὴν διάνοιαν τοῦ πατρὸς ὁ Σέξτος, ὅτι κελεύει τοὺς ὑπερέχοντας τῶν Γαβίων ἀναιρεῖν, συνεκάλεσεν εἰς ἐκκλησίαν τὸ πλῆθος καὶ πολὺν ὑπὲρ αὑτοῦ λόγον διαθέμενος, ὅτι καταπεφευγὼς εἰς τὴν ἐκείνων πίστιν ἅμα τοῖς ἑταίροις κινδυνεύει συλληφθεὶς ὑπό τινων τῷ πατρὶ παραδοθῆναι, τήν τ´ ἀρχὴν ἕτοιμος ἦν ἀποθέσθαι, καὶ πρὶν ἢ παθεῖν τι δεινὸν ἀπαίρειν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐβούλετο δακρύων ἅμα καὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ τύχην κατολοφυρόμενος, ὥσπερ οἱ κατ´ ἀλήθειαν ὑπὲρ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀγωνιῶντες.

[4,56] After Sextus had obtained so great power by deception and trickery, he sent one of his servants to his father, without the knowledge of the Gabini, both to inform him of the power he had gained and to inquire what he should now do. Tarquinius, who did not wish even the servant to learn the instructions that he sent his son, led the messenger into the garden that lay beside the palace. It happened that in this garden there were poppies growing, already full of heads and ready to be gathered; and walking among these, he kept striking and knocking off the heads of all the tallest poppies with his staff. Having done this, he sent the messenger away without giving any answer to his repeated inquiries. Herein, it seems to me, he imitated the thought of Thrasybulus the Milesian. For Thrasybulus returned no verbal answer to Periander, the tyrant of Corinth, by the messenger Periander once sent him to inquire how he might most securely establish his power; but, ordering the messenger to follow him into a field of wheat and breaking off the ears that stood above the rest, he threw them upon the ground, thereby intimating that Periander ought to lop off and destroy the most illustrious of the citizens. When, therefore, Tarquinius did a like thing on this occasion, Sextus understood his father's meaning and knew that he was ordering him to put to death the most eminent of the Gabini. He accordingly called an assembly of (p451) the people, and after saying a great deal about himself he told them that, having fled to them with his friends upon the assurance they had given him, he was in danger of being seized by certain persons and delivered up to his father and that he was ready to resign his power and desired to quit their city before any mischief befell him; and while saying this he wept and lamented his fate as those do who are in very truth in terror of their lives.