Notes pt 2 (tarquin)

...Tarquin’s grandfather (the fifth king) dies… his widow names Servius Tullias king, since she liked him more than her own sons… S.T.’s daughters marry two brothers (one is Tarquin)… one of the daughters (Tullia) kills her husband and her own sister… this leaves her free to marry Tarquin

but wait, there’s more...

Tullia persuades Tarquin to seize the throne from her father… he sits on the throne and declares himself king… S.T. objects, and Tarquin throws him down the steps and into the street, then has him assassinated… Tullia hails Tarquin as the new king, but he sends her home for safety… on her way home she sees the body of her father in the street, seizes the reins, and drives her chariot over his corpse...Tarquin refuses to bury his body, and assassinates senators who object

years later, Tarquin’s son Sextus and his friends are drinking when Sextus tries to force himself on a matron, Lucretia… she refuses, and he threatens to kill her and says he will say he found her in the arms of a slave… she gives in to the blackmail, then confesses the ordeal to her family, and commits suicide… Tarquin tried to sweep it all under the rug, but the people rose up against the son, the father, and had the whole family expelled from Rome

the people’s shock at this horrible family and their terrible behavior made them NEVER want to be subject to the rule of kings EVER again - this was an attitude that lasted for centuries

Rule of kings is replaced by rule of two consuls (“gotta be better than one”)

consuls are elected officials

term of office: one year

always aristocrats (patricians)

patricians traced their descent from a famous ancestor, or pater (“father”)

duties: dealing justice, making law, commanding the army

one consul could veto the other (reducing the power of the individual)

fifth century BCE - patrician dominance of the government was challenged by the plebs (“people”)

plebs were 98% of the population