lus: they diminish the number of years designedly, to make
the matter appear still worse.]

[Footnote 51: _Son-in-law_. Why not one of his two sons, Lucius and
Aruns? Dio. iv. 1. If these were not his grandchildren rather, they must
have been infants at the time. Dio. iv. 4, 6.--At this time infants
could not succeed to the throne.--_Ruperti._]

[Footnote 52: This sentence has given some trouble to the
commentators.--Some will have it that three distinct reasons are given
for assassinating Tarquinius rather than Servius Tullius, and that these
are severally marked and distinguished by _et_--_et_--_tum_, the second
only having _quia_.--Stroth will have it that only two reasons are
assigned, one, why the king should be killed, and the other, why Servius
Tullius should not be killed, arising from the danger and uselessness of
the act--the former has not a _quia_, because it was a fact, (_et
injuriae dolor_, &c.,) while the latter has it in the first part (the
danger, _et quia gravior_, &c, _quia_ being understood also before the
other, the uselessness, _tum_, _Servio occiso_, &c.) because it
contained the reasoning of the youths. Doering says there were only two
powerful reasons, revenge and fear, and a ratio probabilis introduced by
_tum_; which has the force of insuper. According to Dr. Hunter, there
are two formal assertions, one, that resentment stimulated the sons of
Ancus against the king himself; the other, that the plot is laid for the
king himself upon two considerations, of reason and policy.]

41. When those who were around had raised up the king in a dying state,
the lictors seize on the men who were endeavouring to escape. Upon this
followed an uproar and concourse of people, wondering what the matter
was. Tanaquil, during the tumult, orders the palace to be shut, thrusts
out all who were present: at the same time she sedulously prepares every
thing necessary for dressing the wound, as if a hope still remained; at
the same time, in case her hopes should disappoint her, she projects
other means of safety. Sending immediately for Servius, after she had
showed to him her husband almost expiring, holding his right hand, she
entreats him not to suffer the death of his father-in-law to pass
unavenged, nor his mother-in-law to be an object of insult to their
enemies. "Servius," she said, "if you are a man, the kingdom is yours,
not theirs, who, by the hands of others, have perpetrated the worst of
crimes. Exert you