# Tarquin — Discourses on Livy character guide

> Tarquin in Discourses on Livy by Niccolò Machiavelli.

**Role:** minor

**Also known as:** the younger Tarquin, Tarquin the Proud

**First appearance:** 0004-i

## Who they are

Last king of Rome whose tyranny led to the establishment of the Republic.

## Relationships

### [Pope Alexander VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/characters/pope_alexander_vi)

_psychological_

Machiavelli compares Pope Alexander VI's deceit and cruelty to that of Tarquin the Proud, the last Roman king, as archetypes of tyranny.

## In the story

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/iii)

The Tarquins' presence kept the nobles in check; after their expulsion, the nobles' true nature emerged.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/iv)

The extinction of the Tarquins marks the starting point for the period of dissensions discussed.

### [XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/xvi)

The Tarquins were expelled from Rome, leading to the establishment of a free republic; their removal is a key example of a people becoming free.

### [Chapter XVII: That a corrupt people obtaining freedom can hardly preserve it](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/xvii)

The Tarquins were expelled while Rome was still uncorrupted, allowing freedom to be preserved.

### [Chapter XXVIII: Whence it came that the Romans were less ungrateful to their citizens than were the Athenians.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/xxviii)

Referenced as the family name of Collatinus, which led to his exile.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/iv)

Elder Tarquin lost his kingdom by failing to secure himself against the sons of Ancus, whom he had deprived of it.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/iv)

The younger Tarquin lost his kingdom by not observing the ordinances of the old kings, as will be shown in the next chapter.

### [How an hereditary king may come to lose his kingdom](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/v)

Tarquin the Proud, who seized the kingdom after killing Servius Tullius and lost it by governing as a tyrant, violating laws and customs.

### [Why it is that changes from freedom to servitude, and from servitude to freedom, are sometimes made without bloodshed, but at other times reek with blood.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/vii)

The only person banished when Rome changed from kings to consuls, illustrating a peaceful transition.

### [How women are a cause of the ruin of states](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/xxvi)

Mentioned as the king driven from power due to the violence done to Lucretia.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/characters/tarquin
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/characters