1By now the Tarquins had fled for refuge to Lars Porsenna, king of Clusium. 1There, mingling advice with entreaties, they now begged him not to let them, who were descended from the Etruscans and of the same blood and name, live in exile and want, now warned him besides not to let the newly arising custom of driving out kings go unpunished. 3Liberty itself, they said, had sweetness enough. 3Unless kings defended their thrones with as much force as states sought liberty, the highest would be brought level with the lowest; 3there would be nothing lofty, nothing standing out above the rest, in states; 4the end of monarchy was at hand, the finest thing among gods and men.
4Porsenna, thinking it a fine thing for the Etruscans both that there should be a king at Rome and that he should be of the Etruscan race, came against Rome with a hostile army. 5Never before had such great terror seized the senate; 5so powerful was the state of Clusium then, and so great the name of Porsenna. 5Nor did they fear only the enemy, but their own citizens too, lest the Roman commons, struck with fear, should admit the kings into the city and accept peace even at the price of slavery. 6Many concessions, therefore, were made to the commons by the senate at that time. 6Care was taken above all for the grain supply, and men were sent to buy grain, some to the Volsci, others to Cumae.
6The right to sell salt, too, because it was sold at a high price, was taken from private persons, the state taking on the whole cost; 6and the commons were freed from harbour dues and tax, so that the rich, who were able to bear the burden, should contribute: the poor paid tribute enough if they reared children. 7And so this indulgence of the senators kept the state so united later in hard times, in siege and famine, that the highest shuddered at the name of king no more than the lowest, and no single man was ever afterwards so popular by evil arts as the whole senate was then by governing well.