f us shall be king of Rome." From the depth of the
sanctuary there came a voice in reply, "The one among you who shall
first kiss his mother."

This was one of those enigmas in which the Delphian oracle usually
spoke, saying things with a double meaning, and which men were apt to
take amiss. It was so now. The two princes drew lots which of them
should first kiss their mother on his return; and they agreed to keep
the oracle secret from their brother Sextus, lest he should be king
rather than they. But Brutus was wiser than them both. As they left the
temple together, he pretended to stumble and fell with his face to the
ground. He then kissed the earth, saying, "The earth is the true mother
of us all."

On their return to Rome the princes found that their father was at war.
He was besieging the city of Ardea, which lay south of Rome; and as this
city was strong and well defended the king and his army were kept a long
while before it, waiting until famine, their ally, should force the
inhabitants to surrender. While the army was thus waiting in idleness
its officers had leisure for feasts and diversions, and one of the
king's sons found time to indulge in fatal mischief. This arose from a
supper in the tent of Prince Sextus, at which his brothers Titus and
Aruns, and his cousin Tarquin of Collatia, were present.

While they feasted a dispute arose between them, as to which had the
worthiest wife. It ended in a proposition of Tarquin, "Let us go and see
with our own eyes what our wives are doing, and we can then best decide
which is the worthiest." This proposition hit with their humor, and,
mounting their horses, they rode to Rome. Here they found the wives of
the three princes merrily engaged at a banquet. They then rode on to
Collatia. It was now late at night, but they found Lucretia, the wife of
their cousin, neither sleeping nor feasting, but working at the loom,
with her handmaids busily engaged around her.

On seeing this, they all cried, "Lucretia is the worthiest lady." She
ceased her work to entertain them, after which they took to their horses
again, and rode back to the camp before Ardea.

But Sextus was seized with a vile passion for his cousin's wife, and a
few days afterwards went alone to Collatia, where Lucretia received him
with much hospitality, as her husband's kinsman. He treated her
shamefully in return, forcing her, with wicked threats, to accept him as
her lover and husband, in defiance of t