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From 42 a mean Stock the Pious Decii came;
Small their Estates, and Vulgar was their Name;
Yet fuch their Virtues, that their Lofs alone
For Rome and all our Legions did Attone;

Their Country's Doom, they by their own retriev'd,
Themselves more worth than all the Host they fav'd.
The 43 last good King whom willing Rome obey'd,
Was the poor Offspring of a Captive Maid;
Yet he those Robes of Empire justly bore
Which Romulus, our facred Founder, wore:

Nicely

killed, and the Roman Army gain'd the Battel. His Son Died in the fame manner in the Wars against the Gauls, and the Romans likewise ob

42 Among the Romans there was a Superftition, that if their General would confent to be Devoted, or Sacrificed to Jupiter, Mars, the Earth, and the Infernal Gods, all the Misfor-tain'd the Victory. tunes which otherwife might 43 Servius Tullius was Sonhave happened to his Party, to Oriculana, whom Juvenal would by his Death be tranf calls a Serving-Maid, but Livy ferred on their Enemies. This fuppofes her to have been Opinion was confirmed by fe- Wife to a Prince of Cornicuveral fuccessful Inftances, par- lum, who was kill'd at the ticularly two, in the Perfons taking of the Town, and his of the Decii, the Father and Wife was carried away Cap Son here mentioned. The firft tive by Tarquinus Prifcus, and being Conful with Manlius in prefented as a Slave to his the Wars against the Latins, Wife Tanaquil, in whofe Serand perceiving the Left Wing,vice he was delivered of this which he Commanded, give Tullius. The Family had a back, he called out to Vale- great Refpect for the Child, rins the High Priest to perform because of a Lambent Fire on him the Ceremony of Con-they obferved to play about fecration, (which we find de- his Head while he slept, which ferib'd by Livy in his 8th Book) was interpreted as an Omen and immediately fpurr'd his of his future Greatness; thereHorfe into the thickeft of his fore Care was taken of his Enemies Forces, where he was Education, and at last he was G 4

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Nicely he gain'd, and well poffeft the Throne,
Not for his Father's Merit, but his own,
And reign'd, himself a Family alone.

When 44 Tarquin, his proud Succeffor, was quell'd,
And with him Luft and Tyranny expell'd;

The Conful's 45 Sons (who for their Country's Good,
And to inhaunce the Honour of their Blood,
Shou'd have afferted what their 46 Father won;
And, to confirm that Liberty, have done

Actions which 47 Cocles might have wish'd his own;
What might to 48 Mutius wonderful appear;
And what bold 49 Clelia might with Envy hear)
Open'd the Gates, endeavouring to refore
Their banifh'd King, and arbitrary Power.
Whilst a poor 5° Slave, with fcarce a Name, betray'd
The horrid Ills these well-born Rogues had laid;
Who therefore for their Treafon justly bore
The Rods and Ax, ne'er us'd in Rome before.
If you have Strength Achilles' Arms to bear,
And Courage to fuftain a Ten Years War;
Tho' foul Thersites got thee, thou shalt be
More lov'd by all, and more efteem'd by me,
Than if by Chance you from fome Hero came,
In nothing like your Father but his Name.

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Boaft then your Blood, and your long Lineage ftretch
As high as Rome, and its great Founders reach;
You'll find, in thefe Hereditary Tales,.

Your Ancestors the 52 Scum of broken Jayles:
And 53 Romulus, your Honour's ancient Source,
But a poor Shepherd's Boy, or fomething worse,

Contracted to the King's fearing his Matriage might Daughter: Whereupon Ancushinder their Succeffion, hired Martius his two Sons (who were two Shepherds to affaffinate the true Heirs of the Crown) | Tarquinius, which they under

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to fecure their Liberty, Brutu adminiftred an Oath by which the Romans obliged themselves

took, but could not execute by Confuls: and the bette fo dexterously as was expect ed; for the King lived fome Days after the Blow was given, during which Time Tanaquil.never to fuffer any more Kings, caus'd the Gates of the Palace to be kept fhut, and amus'd the People (who were eager on a new Election) with Affurances that the Wound was not Mortal; That the King was in a fair way of Recovery, and till he could appear abroad, required them to pay Obedience to Servius Tullius; who by this Means first got Poffeffion of the Government inthe King's mame, and after his Death ufurped it 44 Years in his own. At laft he was forced out of the Senate by Lucius Tarquinius, thrown down Stairs, and murdered by his Orders. Livy adds this Commendation, That with him Justa ac ligitima regna occiderunt; which agrees with Juvenal's calling him The last good King. For (44) Tarquin, who reigned as Years after him, was hated for his Pride and Cruelty, and for the barbarous Rape which his Son Sextus committed on Lucretia, Wife to Collatinus; who by the Help of (46) L. Junius Brutas reveng'd this Injury, by driving Targain and his whole Race out of Rome, which from that Time began to be governed

and made a Decree (which proved fatal to his Family) whereby it was declared a Capital Crime in any Perfou who should endeavour by any means to bring back the Tarquins. However, they gave not over their Pretenfiops,, but fent Ambaffadors under Pretence of folliciting that their Eftates at least might be reftored to them, but underhand to infinuate themfelves among the loose young Noblemen (who grew weary of a Commonwealth, because the Rigour of their new Laws did not tolerate that licentious way of Living, which they enjoy'd under the Government of their Kings) and to concert with them the best Methods towards their Reftoration. This Defign was first proposed to the Aquilii and Vitellii: The last of these were Brothers to Brutus's Wife, and by that Alliance eafily engag ed (45) Titus and Tiberius (two Sons he had by her) in the Confpiracy, the Sum of which was, That the Gates of the City fhould be left open for the Tarquins to enter in the Night-time; and that the Amballadors might be affur'd

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of

of their Sincerity, each Member of the Cabal delivered them, the Night before they were to return, Letters under their own Hands for the Tarquins, with Promifes to this Effe&t.

my, and befieged Rome: But was foon furpriz'd with three fuch Inftances of the Roman Bravery, in the Perfons of Cocles, Mutius, and Clelia, that he withdrew his Army, and courted their Friendship.

47 Horatius Cocles being pofted to guard a Bridge, which he perceived the Enemy would foon be Master of, he ftood refolutely and oppofed Part of their Army, while the Party he commanded repafs'd the Bridge, and broke it down after them; and then threw himself, armed as he was, into the Tyber,

so Vindicius, a Slave who waited at Table, by Chance over heard Part of their Difcourfe; and comparing thefe Circumftances with fome o thers he had obferv'd in their former Conferences, he went ftraight to the Confuls, and gold what he had difcovered. Orders were immediately if fued out for fearching the Ambaffadors, the Letters aand efcaped to the City. bove mentioned were inter- 48 Mutius Scavola went into cepted the Criminals feiz'd, the Enemies Camp with a and the Proof being evident Refolution to kill their King against them, they fuffered Profenna, but inftead of ftrikthe Punishment (which was ing him, ftabb'd one of his newly introduced) of being Guards; and being brought tied Naked to a Stake, where before the King, and finding they were firft Whipt by the his Error, in indignation he Lictors, then Beheaded: And burned off his Right Hand as Brutus, by Vertue of his of a Penalty for his Miftake. fice, was unhappily obliged to fee this rigorous Sentence on his own Children.

49 Clelia, a Roman Virgin, who was given to Porfenna as an Hoftage, made her Escape from the Guards, and fwam over the Tber.

51 The ugly Buffoon of the Grecian Army.

To pursue the Story; the Tarquins finding their Plot had mifcarried, and fearing nothing could be done by Treachery, ftruck up an Al- 52 Romulus finding the City, liance with Parfenna, King of call'd by his Name, not fufTufcany, who pretending to ficiently Peopled, established reftore them by open Force, an Asylum, or Sanctuary, march'd with a numerous Ar-where all Out-Laws, Va

gabonds,

gabonds, and Criminals of Silvia a Vestal Virgin, of whose

what Nature foever, who could make their Efcape thither, might live in all Freedom and Security.

53 The Author either means the Bastard of Mars, and Rhea

Rape we have a Relation in the Beginning of Ovid's Third Book de Faftis, or a Parricide, for Killing his Brother Re

mus.

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