[4,79] Οὗτός ἐστιν, ἄνδρες πολῖται, ὁ Ταρκύνιος ὁ πρὸ τοῦ παραλαβεῖν τὴν ἀρχὴν Ἄρροντα τὸν γνήσιον ἀδελφόν, ὅτι πονηρὸς οὐκ ἐβούλετο γενέσθαι, φαρμάκοις διαχρησάμενος, συνεργὸν εἰς τοῦτο τὸ μῦσος λαβὼν τὴν ἐκείνου γυναῖκα, τῆς δ´ αὐτῷ συνοικούσης ἀδελφήν, ἣν ἐμοίχευεν ὁ θεοῖς ἐχθρὸς ἔτι καὶ πάλαι· οὗτος ὁ τὴν γαμετὴν γυναῖκα, σώφρονα καὶ τέκνων κοινωνὸν γεγονυῖαν, ἐν ταῖς αὐταῖς ἡμέραις καὶ διὰ τῶν αὐτῶν φαρμάκων ἀποκτείνας οὐδ´ ἀφοσιώσασθαι τῶν φαρμακειῶν ἀμφοτέρων τὰς διαβολάς, ὡς οὐχ ὑφ´ ἑαυτοῦ γενομένων, ἠξίωσεν ἐλεεινῷ χρησάμενος σχήματι καὶ μικρᾷ προσποιήσει πένθους, ἀλλ´ εὐθὺς ἅμα τῷ αὐτὰ διαπράξασθαι τὰ θαυμαστὰ ἔργα, πρὶν ἢ μαρανθῆναι τὰς ὑποδεξαμένας τὰ δύστηνα σώματα πυράς, φίλους εἱστία καὶ γάμους ἐπετέλει καὶ τὴν ἀνδροφόνον νύμφην ἐπὶ τὸν τῆς ἀδελφῆς θάλαμον ἤγετο τὰς ἀπορρήτους ἐμπεδῶν πρὸς αὐτὴν ὁμολογίας· ἀνόσια καὶ ἐξάγιστα καὶ οὔθ´ Ἑλλάδος οὔτε βαρβάρου γῆς οὐδαμόθι γενόμενα πρῶτος εἰς τὴν Ῥωμαίων πόλιν εἰσαγαγὼν καὶ μόνος. οἷα δ´ ἐξειργάσατο, ὦ δημόται, τὰ περιβόητα καὶ δεινὰ περὶ τοὺς κηδεστὰς ἀμφοτέρους ἐπιχειρήματα ἐπὶ ταῖς δυσμαῖς ὄντας ἤδη τοῦ βίου; Σερούιον μὲν Τύλλιον τὸν ἐπιεικέστατον τῶν βασιλέων καὶ πλεῖστα ὑμᾶς εὖ ποιήσαντα φανερῶς ἀποσφάξας καὶ οὔτ´ ἐκκομιδῆς οὔτε ταφῆς ἐάσας νομίμου τὸ σῶμα τυχεῖν· Ταρκυνίαν δὲ τὴν ἐκείνου γυναῖκα, ἣν προσῆκεν αὐτῷ τιμᾶν ὥσπερ μητέρα, πατρὸς ἀδελφὴν οὖσαν καὶ σπουδαίαν περὶ αὐτὸν γενομένην, πρὶν ἢ πενθῆσαι καὶ τὰ νομιζόμενα τῷ κατὰ γῆς ἀνδρὶ ποιῆσαι τὴν ἀθλίαν ἀγχόνῃ διαχρησάμενος, ὑφ´ ὧν ἐσώθη καὶ παρ´ οἷς ἐτράφη καὶ οὓς διαδέξεσθαι μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν ἔμελλεν ὀλίγον ἀναμείνας, ἕως ὁ κατὰ φύσιν αὐτοῖς παραγένηται θάνατος.

[4,79] "This is that Tarquinius, citizens, who, before he took over the sovereignty, destroyed his own brother Arruns by poison because he would not consent to become wicked, in which abominable crime (p509) he was assisted by his brother's wife, the sister of his own wife, whom this enemy of the gods had even long before debauched. This is the man who on the same days and with the same poisons killed his wedded wife, a virtuous woman who had also been the mother of children by him, and did not even deign to clear himself of the blame for both of these poisonings and make it appear that they were not his work, by assuming a mourning garb and some slight pretence of grief; nay, close upon the heels of his committing those monstrous deeds and before the funeral-pyre which had received those miserable bodies had died away, he gave a banquet to his friends, celebrated his nuptials, and led the murderess of her husband as a bride to the bed of her sister, thus fulfilling the abominable contract he had made with her and being the first and the only man who ever introduced into the city of Rome such impious and execrable crimes unknown to any nation in the world, either Greek or barbarian. And how infamous and dreadful, plebeians, were the crimes he committed against both his parents-in-law when they were already in the sunset of their lives! Servius Tullius, the most excellent of your kings and your greatest benefactor, he openly murdered and would not permit his body to be honoured with either the funeral or the burial that were customary; and Tarquinia, the wife of Tullius, whom, as she was the sister of his father and had always shown great kindness to him, it was fitting that he should honour as a mother, he destroyed, unhappy woman, by the noose, without allowing her time to mourn her husband under the sod and to perform the customary sacrifices for him. (p511) Thus he treated those by whom he had been preserved, by whom he had been reared, and whom after their death he was to have succeeded if he had waited but a short time till death came to them in the course of nature.