This scene of dissimulation continued for some days, till he had made his party good among the nobles; when, the death of Tarquin being publicly ascertained, Ser'vius came to the crown, solely at the senate's appointment, and without attempting to gain the suffrages of the people.
3.

Ser'vius was the son of a bondwoman, who had been taken at the sacking of a town belonging to the Latins, and was born whilst his mother was a slave.

While yet an infant in his cradle, a lambent flame[1] is said to have played round his head, which Tan'aquil converted into an omen of future greatness.
4.

Upon being acknowledged king, he determined to make a great change in the Roman constitution by admitting the plebeians to a participation in the civil government.

The senate was too weak to resist the change when it was proposed, but it submitted with great reluctance.5.