The matter was first intrusted to the brothers Vitellii and Aquilii.  A sister of the Vitellii was married to Brutus the consul, and the issue of that marriage was the grown-up sons, Titus and Tiberius; they also were admitted by their uncles to share the plot; several young nobles also were taken into their confidence, recollection of whose names has been lost from lapse of time.  In the meantime, as that opinion had prevailed in the Senate, which was in favour of the property being restored, the ambassadors made use of this as a pretext for lingering in the city, and the time which they had obtained from the consuls to procure conveyances, in which to remove the effects of the royal family, they spent entirely in consultations with the conspirators, and by persistent entreaties succeeded in getting letters given to them for the Tarquins.  Otherwise how could they feel sure that the representations made by the ambassadors on matters of such importance were not false?  The letters, given as an intended pledge of their sincerity, caused the plot to be discovered:  for when, the day before the ambassadors set out to the Tarquins, they had supped by chance at the house of the Vitellii, and the conspirators had there discoursed much together in private, as was natural, concerning their revolutionary design, one of the slaves, who had already observed what was on foot, overheard their conversation; he waited, however, for the opportunity when the letters should be given to the ambassadors, the detection of which would put the matter beyond a doubt.  When he found that they had been given, he laid the whole affair before the consuls.  The consuls left their home to seize the ambassadors and conspirators, and quashed the whole affair without any disturbance, particular care being taken of the letters, to prevent their being lost or stolen.  The traitors were immediately thrown into prison:  some doubt was entertained concerning the treatment of the ambassadors, and though their conduct seemed to justify their being considered as enemies, the law of nations nevertheless prevailed.

The consideration of the restoration of the king’s effects, for which the senate had formerly voted, was laid anew before them.  The fathers, overcome by indignation, expressly forbade either their restoration or confiscation.  They were given to the people to be rifled, that, having been polluted as it were by participation in the royal plunder, they might lose forever all hopes of reconciliation with the Tarquins.  A field belonging to the latter, which lay between the city and the Tiber, having been consecrated to Mars, was afterward called the Campus Martius.  It is said that there was by chance, at that time, a crop of corn upon it ripe for harvest; this produce of the field, as they thought it unlawful to use it, after it had been reaped, a large number of men, sent into the field together, carried in baskets corn and straw together, and threw it into the Tiber, which