ome very popular,
managed to get an audience with and kill the king.

The murderers gained nothing by their deed of blood. Queen Tanaquil
shrewdly told the people that Lucius was only stunned by the blow, and
that he wished them to obey the orders of Servius. To the young man she
said, "The kingdom is yours; if you have no plans of your own, then
follow mine." For several days Servius acted as king, and then, the
people and senate having grown used to seeing him on the throne, the
death of Lucius was declared and Servius proclaimed king. He had the
consent of the senate, but had not asked that of the people, being the
first king of Rome who reigned without the votes of the assembly of the
Roman people.

Servius Tullius reigned long and won victories, but his greatest
triumphs were those of peace. He formed a league with the thirty cities
of Latium, and is said to have taken a census of the people of the city,
which was found to have eighty-three thousand inhabitants. To strengthen
his power he married his two daughters to two sons of Lucius Tarquinius,
a well-intended act which led to a tragic and dreadful deed.

The daughters of Servius were very unlike in nature, and the same may be
said of their husbands, and they became unequally mated. Lucius
Tarquinius was proud and full of evil, while his wife, the elder Tullia,
was good and gentle. Aruns Tarquinius was of a mild and kindly nature,
while his wife, the younger Tullia, was cruel and ambitious. They were
thus sadly mismated. But the evil pair saw in each other kindred
spirits, and in the end Lucius secretly killed his wife, and the younger
Tullia her husband. The wicked pair then married, and proceeded to carry
out the purposes of their base hearts.

Servius, being himself of humble birth, had favored the people at the
expense of the nobles. He even made a law that no king should rule after
him, but that two men chosen by the people should govern them year by
year. Thus it was that the commons came to love him and the nobles to
hate him, and when he asked for a vote of the people on his king-ship
there was not a voice raised against him.

Lucius, whom his wicked wife steadily goaded to ambitious aims,
conspired with the nobles against the king. There were brotherhoods of
the young nobles, pledged to support each other in deeds of oppression.
These he joined, and gained their aid. Then he waited till the harvest
season, when the commons were in the fields, gathe