ing six as
she had asked for the nine. But the king laughed, whereupon she again
burnt three and then demanded the same sum as before for the remaining
three. Wondering at this strange conduct, the king purchased the books.
They were placed under the care of two patricians, and were consulted
when the state was in danger.

Tarquin next attacked Gabii, one of the Latin cities, which refused to
enter into the league. Unable to take the city by force, he had recourse
to stratagem. His son, Sextus, pretending to be ill, treated by his
father, and covered with the bloody marks of stripes, fled to Gabii. The
infatuated inhabitants intrusted him with the command of their troops;
and when he had obtained the unlimited confidence of the citizens, he
sent a messenger to his father to inquire how he should deliver the city
into his hands. The king, who was walking in his garden when the
messenger arrived, made no reply, but kept striking off the heads of the
tallest poppies with his stick. Sextus took the hint. He put to death or
banished, on false charges, all the leading men of the place, and then
had no difficulty in compelling it to submit to his father.

In the midst of his prosperity Tarquin was troubled by a strange
portent. A serpent crawled out from the altar in the royal palace, and
seized on the entrails of the victim. The king, in fear, sent his two
sons, Titus and Aruns, to consult the oracle at Delphi. They were
accompanied by their cousin L. Junius Brutus. One of the sisters of
Tarquin had been married to M. Brutus, a man of great wealth, who died,
leaving two sons under age.[10] Of these the elder was killed by
Tarquin, who coveted their possessions; the younger escaped his
brother's fate only by feigning idiotcy. On arriving at Delphi, Brutus
propitiated the priestess with the gift of a golden stick inclosed in a
hollow staff. After executing the king's commission, Titus and Aruns
asked the priestess who was to reign at Rome after their father. The
priestess replied, whichsoever should first kiss his mother. The princes
agreed to keep the matter secret from Sextus, who was at Rome, and to
cast lots between themselves. Brutus, who better understood the meaning
of the oracle, fell, as if by chance, when they quitted the temple, and
kissed the earth, the mother of them all.

Soon afterward Tarquin laid siege to Ardea, a city of the Rutulians. The
place could not be taken by force, and the Roman army lay encamped
b