[4,80] Ἀλλὰ τί τούτοις ἐπιτιμῶ τοσαύτας ἔχων αὐτοῦ παρανομίας κατηγορεῖν ἔξω τῶν εἰς τοὺς συγγενεῖς καὶ κηδεστὰς γενομένων, τὰς εἰς τὴν πατρίδα καὶ πάντας ἡμᾶς ἐπιτελεσθείσας, εἰ δὴ καὶ παρανομίας δεῖ καλεῖν αὐτάς, ἀλλ´ οὐκ ἀνατροπὰς καὶ ἀφανισμοὺς ἁπάντων τῶν τε νομίμων καὶ τῶν ἐθῶν; αὐτίκα τὴν ἡγεμονίαν, ἵν´ ἀπὸ ταύτης ἄρξωμαι, πῶς παρέλαβεν; ἆρά γ´ ὡς οἱ πρὸ αὐτοῦ γενόμενοι βασιλεῖς; πόθεν; πολλοῦ γε καὶ δεῖ. ἐκεῖνοι μέντοι πάντες ὑφ´ ὑμῶν ἐπὶ τὰς δυναστείας παρήγοντο κατὰ τοὺς πατρίους ἐθισμοὺς καὶ νόμους· πρῶτον μὲν ψηφίσματος ὑπὸ τῆς βουλῆς γραφέντος, ᾗ περὶ πάντων ἀποδέδοται τῶν κοινῶν προβουλεύειν· ἔπειτα μεσοβασιλέων αἱρεθέντων, οἷς ἐπιτρέπει τὸ συνέδριον ἐκ τῶν ἀξίων τῆς ἀρχῆς διαγνῶναι τὸν ἐπιτηδειότατον· μετὰ ταῦτα ψῆφον ἐπενέγκαντος ἐν ἀρχαιρεσίαις τοῦ δήμου, μέθ´ ἧς ἅπαντα ἐπικυροῦσθαι βούλεται τὰ μέγιστα ὁ νόμος· ἐφ´ ἅπασι δὲ τούτοις οἰωνῶν καὶ σφαγίων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων σημείων καλῶν γενομένων, ὧν χωρὶς οὐδὲν ἂν γένοιτο τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης σπουδῆς καὶ προνοίας ὄφελος. φέρε δὴ τί τούτων οἶδέ τις ὑμῶν γενόμενον, ὅτε τὴν ἀρχὴν Ταρκύνιος ἐλάμβανε; ποῖον προβούλευμα συνεδρίου; τίνα μεσοβασιλέων διάγνωσιν; ποίαν δήμου ψηφοφορίαν; ποίους οἰωνοὺς αἰσίους; οὐ λέγω ταῦτα πάντα, καίτοι δέον, εἰ γοῦν ἔμελλεν ἕξειν καλῶς, μηδὲν τῶν ἐν ἔθει κατὰ τοὺς νόμους παραλελεῖφθαι, ἀλλ´ ἐάν τις ἓν μόνον ἔχῃ τούτων ἐπιδεῖξαι γεγονός, οὐκ ἀξιῶ τὰ παραλειφθέντα συκοφαντεῖν. πῶς οὖν παρῆλθεν ἐπὶ τὴν δυναστείαν; ὅπλοις καὶ βίᾳ καὶ πονηρῶν ἀνθρώπων συνωμοσίαις, ὡς τυράννοις ἔθος, ἀκόντων ὑμῶν καὶ δυσχεραινόντων. φέρε, ἀλλ´ ἐπειδὴ κατέσχε τὴν δυναστείαν ὁπωσδήποτε λαβών, ἆρα βασιλικῶς αὐτῇ κέχρηται ζηλῶν τοὺς προτέρους ἡγεμόνας, οἳ λέγοντές τε καὶ πράττοντες τοιαῦτα διετέλουν, ἐξ ὧν εὐδαιμονεστέραν τε καὶ μείζω τὴν πόλιν τοῖς ἐπιγινομένοις παρέδοσαν, ἧς αὐτοὶ παρέλαβον; καὶ τίς ἂν ὑγιαίνων ταῦτα φήσειεν, ὁρῶν ὡς οἰκτρῶς καὶ κακῶς ἅπαντες ὑπ´ αὐτοῦ διατεθείμεθα;

[4,80] "But why do I censure these crimes committed against his relations and his kin by marriage when, apart from them, I have so many other unlawful acts of which to accuse him, which he has committed against his country and against us all — if, indeed, they ought to be called merely unlawful acts and not rather the subversion and extinction of all that is sanctioned by our laws and customs? Take, for instance, the sovereignty — to begin with that. How did he obtain it? Did he follow the example of the former kings? Far from it! The others were all advanced to the sovereignty by you according to our ancestral customs and laws, first, by a decree of the senate, which body has been given the right to deliberate first concerning all public affairs; next, by the appointment of interreges, whom the senate entrusts with the selection of the most suitable man from among those who are worthy of the sovereignty; after that, by a vote of the people in the comitia, by which vote the law requires that all matters of the greatest moment shall be ratified; and, last of all, by the approbation of the auguries, sacrificial victims and other signs, without which human diligence and foresight would be of no avail. Well, then, which of these things does any one of you know to have been done when Tarquinius was (p513) obtaining the sovereignty? What preliminary decree of the senate was there? What decision on the part of the interreges? What vote of the people? What favourable auguries? I do not ask whether all these formalities were observed, though it was necessary, if all was to be well, that nothing founded either in custom or in law should have been omitted; but if it can be shown that any one of them was observed, I am content not to quibble about those that were omitted. How, then, did he come to the sovereignty? By arms, by violence, and by the conspiracies of wicked men, according to the custom of tyrants, in spite of your disapproval and indignation. Well, but after he had obtained the sovereignty — in whatever manner he got it — did he use it in a fashion becoming a king, in imitation of his predecessors, whose words and actions were invariably such that they handed down the city to their successors more prosperous and greater than they themselves had received it? When man in his senses could say so, when he sees to what a pitiable and wretched state we all have been brought by him?