At the time of the birth of Herodotus, which took place about the year 484 B.C., Polycrates, Peisistratus, and Croesus had been dead less than fifty years: in Corinth and Sicyon it was not more than a century since the tyranny had been suppressed. The historian had probably met people who remembered the tyrants of Samos and Athens: he may possibly have talked with old men from the cities of the Isthmus whose fathers had told them of personal experiences under Cleisthenes, or Periander. The case with the Tarquins, the tyrant kings of Rome, is very different. There is nothing even approximating to contemporary literary evidence for their history, or even for their existence. In recent times their whole claim to be regarded as historical has been disputed. It may therefore seem something like begging the question to proceed at once to collect evidence for the narrative before clearing the ground by discussing its authenticity. There are however two reasons for following that course. The first is that the question of authenticity can be more easily discussed after the narrative has been called to mind. The other is that the value of the story for this enquiry does not altogether depend on the Tarquins’ historicity[1112]. According to the extant narratives[1113] king Tarquinius Priscus was the son of a Corinthian named Demaratus who had settled in the Etruscan city of Tarquinii, the modern Corneto, some fifty miles north of Rome. [Sidenote: Tarquinius Priscus, son of a rich Corinthian trader named Demaratus, settles at Rome and by means of his wealth secures the throne.] The fullest of these narratives, that of Dionysius, makes Demaratus sail to Italy “intending to trade, in a private merchant vessel, and with a cargo of his own: having disposed of his cargo in the cities of the Etruscans ... and acquired great gains, ... he continued to ply the same sea, conveying Greek cargoes to the Etruscans and bringing Etruscan goods to Greece, and became the possessor of very great wealth ... and when the tyranny of Cypselus was being established ... he quitted Corinth and set up a house in Tarquinii, which was then a great and prosperous city.” All this property was left by Demaratus to his son Lucumo, the future Lucius Tarquinius, “who, receiving his father’s great wealth, resolved to engage in politics and take a part in public life and to be one of the foremost men of his city[1114].” He is described as migrating to Rome for the specific reason that there seemed more prospect there of his wealth leading to high political power, and as finding there the opportunity he was looking for. “At Rome,” says Livy[1115], “his wealth brought him into prominence.” So Dionysius[1116]: “He very soon became friends with the king (Ancus Martius), making him presents and supplying him with funds for his military requirements ... he also secured many of the patricians by his benevolences, and won the favour of the common people by his