They say that a voice was returned from the bottom of the cave, "Young men, whichever of you shall first kiss his mother shall enjoy the sovereign power at Rome." The Tarquinii order the matter to be kept secret with the utmost care, that Sextus, who had been left behind at Rome, might be ignorant of the response, and have no share in the kingdom; they cast lots among themselves, as to which of them should first kiss his mother, after they had returned to Rome.

Brutus, thinking that the Pythian response had another meaning, as if he had stumbled and fallen, touched the ground with his lips; she being, forsooth, the common mother of all mankind.
After this they all returned to Rome, where preparations were being made with the greatest vigour for a war against the Rutulians.
[Footnote 63: _The principal sewer_--the _cloaca maxima_.

This is attributed to Tarquinius Priscus by several writers.Dio.iii.

67, states that it was he who commenced it.

See Plin.