ch. 12.1 [Note] It is of a Rome henceforth free that
I am to write the history—her civil administration and the
conduct of her wars, her annually elected magistrates, the
authority of her laws supreme over all her citizens. The
tyranny of the last king made this liberty all the more
welcome, for such had been the rule of the former kings that
they might not undeservedly be counted as founders of parts,
at all events, of the city; for the additions they made were
required as abodes for the increased population which they
themselves had augmented. There is no question that the
Brutus who won such glory through the expulsion of Superbus
would have inflicted the gravest injury on the State had he
wrested the sovereignty from any of the former kings, through
desire of a liberty for which the people were not ripe. What
would have been the result if that horde of shepherds and
immigrants, fugitives from their own cities, who had secured
liberty, or at all events impunity, in the shelter of an
inviolable sanctuary [Note]—if, I say, they had been freed from
the restraining power of kings and, agitated by tribunician
storms, had begun to foment quarrels with the patricians in a
City where they were aliens before sufficient time had
elapsed for either family ties or a growing love for the
very soil to effect a union of hearts? The infant State would
have been torn to pieces by internal dissension. As it was,
however, the moderate and tranquilizing authority of the
kings had so fostered it that it was at last able to bring
forth the fair fruits of liberty, in the maturity of its
strength. But the origin of liberty may be referred to this
time rather because the consular authority was limited to one
year than because there was any weakening of the authority
which the kings had possessed. The first consuls retained all
the old jurisdiction and insignia of office; one only,
however, had the fasces, to prevent the fear which might
have been inspired by the sight of both with those dread
symbols. Through the concession of his colleague, Brutus
had them first, and he was not less zealous in guarding the
public liberty than he had been in achieving it. His first
act was to secure the people, who were now jealous of their
newly-recovered liberty, from being influenced by any
entreaties or bribes from the king. He therefore made them
take an oath that they would not suffer any man to reign in
Rome. The senate had been thinned by the murderous cruelty of
Tarquin, and Brutus' next care was to strengthen its
influence by selecting some of the leading men of equestrian
rank to fill the vacancies; by this means he brought it up to
the old number of three hundred. The new members were known
as conscripti, the old ones retained their designation of
patres. This measure had a wonderful effect in promoting
harmony in the State and bringing the patricians and
plebeians together.
