[4,7] Ἔχει δὲ καὶ ἄλλας τινὰς τὸ πρᾶγμα ἀτοπίας, ἃς ἅπαντες ἠγνόησαν οἱ τὰ Ῥωμαϊκὰ συνταξάμενοι πλὴν ἑνός, οὗ μετὰ μικρὸν ἐρῶ τοὔνομα. ὡμολόγηται γάρ, ὅτι μετὰ τὴν Ταρκυνίου τελευτὴν παραλαβὼν τὴν βασιλείαν Τύλλιος ἐπ´ ἔτη τετταράκοντα καὶ τέτταρα κατέσχεν, ὥστ´ εἰ κατ´ ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον ἑκτακαιεικοσαέτης ἦν, ὅτ´ ἀπεστερεῖτο τῆς ἀρχῆς ὁ πρεσβύτερος τῶν Ταρκυνίων, ὑπὲρ ἑβδομήκοντα ἔτη γεγονὼς ἂν ἦν, ὅτε τὸν Τύλλιον ἀπέκτεινεν. ἐν κρατίστῃ δέ γ´ αὐτὸν ἡλικίᾳ τότ´ ὄντα παραδεδώκασιν οἱ συγγραφεῖς καί φασιν, ὅτι Τύλλιον αὐτὸς ἀράμενος ἐκ τοῦ βουλευτηρίου καὶ φέρων ἔξω κατὰ τῶν κρηπίδων ἐξέχεεν. ἥ τ´ ἐκ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἔκπτωσις αὐτοῦ γίνεται πέμπτῳ καὶ εἰκοστῷ μετὰ ταῦτ´ ἔτει, καὶ τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει στρατευόμενος ἐν τῷ πρὸς Ἀρδεάτας εἰσάγεται πολέμῳ καὶ πάντα τὰ ἔργα δι´ ἑαυτοῦ τελῶν· οὐκ εἶχε δὲ λόγον ἐν πολέμοις ἐξετάζεσθαι ἓξ καὶ ἐνενήκοντα βεβιωκὼς ἔτη. ἐκπεσών τε τῆς ἀρχῆς ἔτι πολεμεῖν Ῥωμαίοις οὐκ ἐλάττω τεττάρων καὶ δέκα ἐτῶν, αὐτὸς ἐν τοῖς πράγμασιν ἐξεταζόμενος, ὥς φασι, παρὰ τὰς κοινὰς ἁπάντων ἐστὶ δόξας, καὶ ὁ τοῦ βίου χρόνος αὐτῷ πλείων ἀναφαίνεται τῶν ἑκατὸν καὶ δέκα γεγονὼς ἐτῶν· τοῦτο δὲ τὸ μῆκος τῶν βίων οὐ φέρουσιν οἱ καθ´ ἡμᾶς τόποι. ταῦτα δὴ τὰ ἄτοπα συνειδότες τῶν Ῥωμαϊκῶν συγγραφέων τινὲς ἑτέραις αὐτὰ λύειν ἐπειράθησαν ἀτοπίαις, οὐ Τανακυλίδα ποιοῦντες μητέρα τῶν παιδίων, ἀλλὰ Γεγανίαν τινά, περὶ ἧς οὐδεμίαν παρειλήφαμεν ἱστορίαν· ἄωρος δὴ γίνεται πάλιν ὁ γάμος τοῦ Ταρκυνίου μικρὸν ἀπολείποντος ἐτῶν ὀγδοήκοντα, καὶ ἡ τῶν τέκνων γένεσις τοῖς ταύτην ἔχουσι τὴν ἡλικίαν ἄπιστος· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἄπαις ἦν, ὥστ´ ἐκ παντὸς ἐπιθυμῆσαι τέκνων, ἀλλὰ θυγατέρες ἦσαν αὐτῷ δύο καὶ αὗταί γ´ ἤδη γεγαμημέναι. τούτων δὴ τῶν ἀδυνάτων τε καὶ ἀτόπων ἕκαστα ἐπιλογιζόμενος οὐχ υἱοὺς εἶναι Ταρκυνίου γράφω τοὺς παῖδας, ἀλλ´ υἱωνούς, Λευκίῳ Πείσωνι τῷ Φρῦγι συγκαταθέμενος. ἐκεῖνος γὰρ ἐν ταῖς ἐνιαυσίοις πραγματείαις ταῦθ´ ἱστόρηκε μόνος· εἰ μή γ´ ἄρα γόνῳ μὲν ἦσαν υἱωνοὶ τοῦ βασιλέως οἱ παῖδες, ποιήσει δ´ υἱοί, καὶ τοῦτ´ ἦν αἴτιον τῆς ἀπάτης τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασι τοῖς συγγράψασι τὰς Ῥωμαϊκὰς ἱστορίας. προειρημένων δὴ τούτων καιρὸς ἐπανάγειν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀπολειπομένην διήγησιν.

[4,7] This view involves some other absurdities, too, of which all the Roman historians have been ignorant, with the exception of one whom I shall name presently. For it has been agreed that Tullius, having succeeded to the kingdom after the death of Tarquinius, held it for forty-four years; so that, if the eldest of the Tarquinii was twenty-seven years old when he was deprived of the sovereignty, he must have been above seventy when he killed Tullius. But he was then in the prime of life, according to the tradition handed down by the historians, and they state that he himself lifted up Tullius, and carrying him out of the senate-house, hurled him down the steps. His expulsion from the kingship happened in the twenty-fifth year after this, and in that same year he is represented as making war against the people of Ardea and performing all the duties himself; but it is not reasonable to suppose that a man ninety-six years old should be taking part in wars.a And after his expulsion he still makes war against the Romans (p289) for no less than fourteen years, being present himself, they say, at all the engagements — which is contrary to all common sense. Thus, according to them, he must have lived above one hundred and ten years; but this length of life is not produced by our climes. Some of the Roman historians, being sensible of these absurdities, have endeavoured to solve them by means of other absurdities, alleging that not Tanaquil but one Gegania, of whom no other account has come down to us, was the mother of the children. But here again, the marriage of Tarquinius is unseasonable, he being then very near fourscore years old, and the begetting of children by men of that age is incredible; nor was he a childless man, who would wish by all means for children, for he had two daughters and these already married. In the light, therefore, of these various impossibilities and absurdities, I state that the children were not the sons, but the grandsons, of Tarquinius, agreeing therein with Lucius Piso Frugi11 (for he in his Annals is the only historian who has given this account); unless, indeed, the children were the king's grandsons by birth and his sons by adoption and this circumstance misled all the (p291) other Roman historians. Now that these explanations have been made by way of preface, it is time to resume my narrative where it was broken off.