After the conspiracy and death of Servius Tulio, Tarquinius settled in the palace. Ambitious, cruel and ruthless, he used all his power to get rid of all his opponents, executing them.
He appropriated the heritage of all those he envied and very soon he was nicknamed Tarquinius, the proud.
With his wife Tulia, he had three children. The youngest, named Sixth, had the same warlike temperament. Next to him. Tarquinius defeated and humiliated many cities, but they could not deal with Gabies, as its inhabitants bravely fought the Romans. Sixth, then, he set them up: He appeared before them saying that he had fought with his father and asked them for help in defeating him.
The Gabies, they trusted their words and put Sexto at the helm of their army.
Sixth, who was arranged with his father, sent him a secret message and waited for the answer.
Tarquino went up to the top of his palace and cut off all the flowers and plants thereof. That was the expected signal. Sixth had to kill all the chiefs and important and influential people in the city.
In this way the Gabies had no choice but to surrender to Roman might.
After so much battle, Tarquinius finally managed to achieve peace. Then he wanted to change his bellicose image and ordered to finish the temple dedicated to the god Jupiter on the Capitol, which his father had begun. To that end, he hired the best Etruscan architects, builders and craftsmen. The poor people were enthusiastic about this initiative and helped to contribute their work. There, once again, Tarquinius showed his true face. Taking advantage of the situation, he led the poor to build roads, bridges, walls and aqueducts. The enthusiasm of the poor faded and joy turned into sadness and hatred, as they were subjected to slavery.
Meanwhile, something very peculiar happened: Legend has it that one day a very respected old woman appeared in the palace and offered Tarquinius nine mysterious books, which she said were very useful to know the future of her lineage.
Tarquinius, who was very perceptive, said to him, “I want to see them, show them to me.”
The old woman said, “If you pay them, you will see them.” And he asked for an exorbitant sum for them.
Tarquinius quickly replied, “You can leave because I will not pay that sum.
The old woman left, but returned the next day and then offered six books for the same sum, saying that she had burned three.
Tarquinius threw the old woman out again.
Tarquinius began to investigate about the old woman and his advisors told her she was an ancient Sibyl. A woman chosen by the gods to interpret and transmit their messages.
The next day, the old woman returned offering only three books and asking for the same sum.
Tarquinius, finally bought the three books paying the stipulated price.
Those books were known as the Sibilinos books. They were kept in a secret place in the temple of Jupiter called the Holy Santorum and would only be consulted if Rome was in danger.
While this matter managed to upset Tarquinius, much more concerned and surprised he was when a serpent appeared in the throne room of the palace. He sought his fortune tellers to explain to him the meaning of such a visit, but none knew what to say.
Since he received no answer and convinced that he had any connection with the future of the throne, he sent two of his sons and his nephew Junio Brutus to consult the famous Pythonisa of Delphi with the following question: What will be the next king of Rome? The Pythoniess replied, “The first of the three who kisses his mother will be the next king of Rome.
The two brothers ran out to be the first to kiss their mother. June Brutus, who was quieter, trying to reach them, stumbled and fell sharply to the ground touching him with his lips.
She instantly understood that the true mother is the earth and that her destiny was to be the next king. All this kept him silent so as not to be subjected to vengeance.
Despite Brutus's calm, a series of events accelerated the process, because Sexto, fell madly in love with the brute woman named Lucrecia. He wanted to obtain it by force, but she bravely defended himself from his advances.
Sixth was very wicked and soon set up an evil plan: Taking advantage of Brutus being far from the city, he threatened Lucrecia in this way: “You will be mine today. If you don't, I'll kill a slave and put him in your bed. Then I'll say I killed him to avenge my cousin's honor. In this way, Sexto was able to bend the resistance of Lucrecia.
When Brutus returned, Lucrecia, disconsoled by being forced to betray her husband, and in the presence of her own father, told what happened and then without being able to stop her, stabbed a dagger in her heart, dying instantly.
Brutus took his dead wife in his arms, ripped off his dagger and full of anger exclaimed: - It's over. No more pretending and disguising. From now on I will not rest until the king and his wife and all his family leave the throne. I will use every weapon I can to achieve this purpose.
The Roman people gathered when they learned of what happened to poor Lucrecia, Brutus encouraged them with his words, and the people who were already very tired of the tyranny of Tarquinius expelled him from Rome with the rest of his family.
Brutus was hailed as a deliverer, but he did not want to be king.
The city was then a Republic governed by two Magistrates called Consuls, elected each year. One of those consuls was Brutus.