1.35
Ancus reigned twenty-four
years, unsurpassed by any of his predecessors in
ability and reputation, both in the field and at
home. His sons had now almost reached manhood.
Tarquin was all the more anxious for the election of
the new king to be held as soon as possible. At the
time fixed for it he sent the boys out of the way on
a hunting expedition. He is said to have been the
first who canvassed for the crown and delivered a
set speech to secure the interest of the plebs. In
it he asserted that he was not making an unheard-of
request, he was not the first foreigner who aspired
to the Roman throne; were this so, any one might
feel surprise and indignation. But he was the third.
Tatius was not only a foreigner, but was made king
after he had been their enemy; Numa, an entire
stranger to the City, had been called to the throne
without any seeking it on his part. As to himself,
as soon as he was his own master, he had removed to
Rome with his wife and his whole fortune; he had
lived at Rome for a larger part of the period during
which men discharge the functions of citizenship
than he had passed in his old country; he had learnt
the laws of Rome, the ceremonial rites of Rome, both
civil and military, under Ancus himself, a very
sufficient teacher; he had been second to none in
duty and service towards the king; he had not
yielded to the king himself in generous treatment of
others. Whilst he was stating these facts, which
were certainly true, the Roman people with
enthusiastic unanimity elected him king. Though in
all other respects an excellent man, his ambition,
which impelled him to seek the crown, followed him
on to the throne; with the design of strengthening
himself quite as much as of increasing the State, he
made a hundred new senators. These were afterwards
called "the Lesser Houses" and formed a body of
uncompromising supporters of the king, through whose
kindness they had entered the senate. The first war
he engaged in was with the Latins. He took the town
of Apiolae by storm, and carried off a greater
amount of plunder than could have been expected from
the slight interest shown in the war. After this had
been brought in wagons to Rome, he celebrated the
Games with greater splendour and on a larger scale
than his predecessors. Then for the first time a
space was marked for what is now the "Circus
Maximus." Spots were allotted to the patricians and
knights where they could each build for themselves
stands -called "ford" -from which to view the
Games. These stands were raised on wooden props,
branching out at the top, twelve feet high. The
contests were horse-racing and boxing, the horses
and boxers mostly brought from Etruria. They were at
first celebrated on occasions of especial solemnity;
subsequently they became an annual fixture, and were
called indifferently the "Roman" or the "Great
Games." This king also divided the ground round the
Forum into building sites; arcades and shops were
put up.