little protection in justice. Therefore, having designedly fashioned
himself to the semblance of foolishness, and allowing himself and his
whole estate to become the prey of the king, he did not refuse to take
even the surname of Brutus,[55] that, under the cloak of this surname,
the genius that was to be the future liberator of the Roman people,
lying concealed, might bide its opportunity. He, in reality being
brought to Delphi by the Tarquinii rather as an object of ridicule
than as a companion, is said to have borne with him as an offering to
Apollo a golden rod, inclosed in a staff of cornel-wood hollowed out
for the purpose, a mystical emblem of his own mind. When they arrived
there, and had executed their father's commission, the young men's
minds were seized with the desire of inquiring to which of them the
sovereignty of Rome should fall. They say that the reply was uttered
from the inmost recesses of the cave, "Young men, whichever of you
shall first kiss his mother shall enjoy the sovereign power at Rome."
The Tarquinii ordered the matter to be kept secret with the utmost
care, that Sextus, who had been left behind at Rome, might be ignorant
of the response of the oracle, and have no share in the kingdom; they
then cast lots among themselves, to decide which of them should first
kiss his mother, after they had returned to Rome. Brutus, thinking
that the Pythian response had another meaning, as if he had stumbled
and fallen, touched the ground with his lips, she being, forsooth, the
common mother of all mankind. After this they returned to Rome, where
preparations were being made with the greatest vigour for a war
against the Rutulians.

The Rutulians, a very wealthy nation, considering the country and age
in which they lived, were at that time in possession of Ardea.[56]
Their wealth was itself the actual occasion of the war: for the Roman
king, whose resources had been drained by the magnificence of his