see him in person very soon; that, in the meantime, he commanded the people to obey the orders of Servius Tullius; that the latter would administer justice, and perform all the other functions of the king.  Servius came forth wearing the trabea[38], and attended by lictors, and seating himself on the king’s throne, decided some cases, and with respect to others pretended that he would consult the king.  Therefore, though Tarquin had now expired, his death was concealed for several days, and Servius, under pretence of discharging the functions of another, strengthened his own influence.  Then at length the fact of his death was made public, lamentations being raised in the palace.  Servius, supported by a strong body-guard, took possession of the kingdom by the consent of the senate, being the first who did so without the order of the people.  The children of Ancus, the instruments of their villainy having been by this time caught, as soon as it was announced that the king still lived, and that the power of Servius was so great, had already gone into exile to Suessa Pometia.

And now Servius began to strengthen his power, not more by public than by private measures; and, that the children of Tarquin might not entertain the same feelings toward himself as the children of Ancus had entertained toward Tarquin, he united his two daughters in marriage to the young princes, the Tarquinii, Lucius and Arruns.  He did not, however, break through the inevitable decrees of fate by human counsels, so as to prevent jealousy of the sovereign power creating general animosity and treachery even among the members of his own family.  Very opportunely for the immediate preservation of tranquility, a war was undertaken against the Veientes (for the truce had now expired) and the other Etruscans.  In that war, both the valour and good fortune of Tullius were conspicuous, and he returned to Rome, after routing a large army of the enemy, undisputed king, whether he tested the dispositions of the fathers or the people.  He then set about a work of peace of the utmost importance:  that, as Numa had been the author of religious institutions, so posterity might celebrate Servius as the founder of all distinction in the state and of the several orders by which any difference is perceptible between the degrees of rank and fortune.  For he instituted the census,[39] a most salutary measure for an empire destined to become so great, according to which the services of war and peace were to be performed, not by every man, as formerly, but in proportion to his amount of property.  Then he divided the classes and centuries according to the census, and introduced the following arrangement, eminently adapted either for peace or war.