Livy I 56, p. 65
(Tarquinio) haec agenti portentum terribile est visum:
anguis ex columna lignea elapsus, cum terrorem fugamque in regiam fecisset,
ipsius regis non tam subito pavore perculit pectus quam anxiis implevit curis.
A terrible omen was seen by Tarquinius who
was accomplishing these things: a snake sliding down from a wooden column, after
it had caused (the people) in the palace to flee in terror, it struck the heart
of the king himself not so much with sudden fear as it filled it with anxious
concerns.
Itaque cum ad publica prodigia Etrusci tantum vates adhiberentur,
rex hoc velut domestico exterritus visu Delphos, ad maxime inclitum in terris
oraculum, legatos mittere statuit.
Thus, while only Etruscan prophets were
consulted for public omens, the king terrified by this vision as if it were
concerning his household decided to send legates to Delphi, the most famous
oracle in the world.
Neque responsa sortium ulli alii committere ausus,
duos filios per ignotas ea tempestate terras, ignotiora maria in Graeciam misit.
Titus et Arruns sunt profecti;
And since he did not dare to entrust the
response of the oracle to anyone else, he sent his two sons through lands
unknown at that time, and even more unknown seas in Greece. Titus and Arruns
set out;
comes iis additus (est) L. Iunius Brutus, Tarquinia,
sorore regis, natus, iuvenis longe alius ingenii quam cuius simulationem
induerat.
L. Junius Brutus was given to them as a
companion, the son of Tarquinia the sister of the king, a young man of a
character way different than the pretense of the one he had put on.
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