r
hand, the heir of all his father's property, being filled with high
aspirations by reason of his wealth, had these ambitions greatly
advanced by his marriage with Tanaquil, who was descended from a very
high family, and was a woman who would not readily brook that the
condition into which she had married should be inferior to that in
which she had been born. As the Etruscans despised Lucumo, as being
sprung from a foreign exile, she could not put up with the affront,
and, regardless of the natural love of her native country, provided
only she could see her husband advanced to honour, she formed the
design of leaving Tarquinii. Rome seemed particularly suited for that
purpose. In a state, lately founded, where all nobility is rapidly
gained and as the reward of merit, there would be room (she thought)
for a man of courage and activity. Tatius, a Sabine, had been king
of Rome: Numa had been sent for from Cures to reign there: Ancus was
sprung from a Sabine mother, and rested his title to nobility on the
single statue of Numa.[36] Without difficulty she persuaded him,
being, as he was, ambitious of honours, and one to whom Tarquinii was
his country only on his mother's side. Accordingly, removing their
effects, they set out for Rome. They happened to have reached the
Janiculum: there, as he sat in the chariot with his wife, an eagle,
gently swooping down on floating wings, took off his cap, and hovering
above the chariot with loud screams, as if it had been sent from
heaven for that very purpose, carefully replaced it on his head,
and then flew aloft out of sight. Tanaquil is said to have joyfully
welcomed this omen, being a woman well skilled, as the Etruscans
generally are, in celestial prodigies, and, embracing her husband,
bade him hope for a high and lofty destiny: that such a bird had come
from such a quarter of the heavens, and the messenger of such a god:
that it had declared the omen around the highest part of man: that it
had lifted the ornament placed on the head of man, to restore it to
him again, by direction of the gods. Bearing with them such hopes and
thoughts, they entered the city, and having secured a dwelling there,
they gave out his name as Lucius Tarquinius Priscus. The fact that he
was a stranger and his wealth rendered him an object of attention
to the Romans. He himself also promoted his own good fortune by his
affable address, by the courteousness of his invitations, and by
gaining over to his s