Tarquinius arrived by different routes, the one at Ardea, the other at
Rome. The gates were shut against Tarquin, and sentence of banishment
declared against him; the camp welcomed with great joy the deliverer
of the city, and the king's sons were expelled. Two of them followed
their father, and went into exile to Caere, a city of Etruria. Sextus
Tarquinius, who had gone to Gabii, as if to his own kingdom, was slain
by the avengers of the old feuds, which he had stirred up against
himself by his rapines and murders. Lucius Tarquinius Superbus reigned
twenty-five years: the regal form of government lasted, from the
building of the city to its deliverance, two hundred and forty-four
years. Two consuls, Lucius Junius Brutus and Lucius Tarquinius
Collatinus, were elected by the prefect of at the comitia of
centuries, according to the commentaries of Servius Tullius.


[Footnote 1: Books I-III are based upon the translation by John Henry
Freese, but in many places have been revised or retranslated by
Duffield Osborne.]

[Footnote 2: The king was originally the high priest, his office more
sacerdotal than military: as such he would have the selection and
appointment of the Vestal Virgins, the priestesses of Vesta, the
hearth-goddess. Their chief duty was to keep the sacred fire burning
("the fire that burns for aye"), and to guard the relics in the Temple
of Vesta. If convicted of unchastity they were buried alive.]

[Footnote 3: Surely there is no lack of "historical criticism" here
and on a subject where a Roman writer might be pardoned for some
credulity.--D.O.]