10-05-2007, 07:25 AM
Steven said:-
If it is not specifically there in the sources, a clue may be found in Livy I.XLIX.3 where Superbus "...assumed a bodyguard." Like most such bodyguards they will have been aristocrats/nobles/equites, quite likely Etruscans themselves, and probably cavalry. 600 might be a typical number for such a guard ( often also 300, in Greece - the fact that 600 is a multiple may be significant)...so I would agree with your conclusion that they were most likely expelled/disbanded/went into exile with Tarquinius Superbus in 509 B.C....
Quote:The only conclusion is because once they were the king's bodyguard, they were disbanded with the overthrow of the monarchy.
If it is not specifically there in the sources, a clue may be found in Livy I.XLIX.3 where Superbus "...assumed a bodyguard." Like most such bodyguards they will have been aristocrats/nobles/equites, quite likely Etruscans themselves, and probably cavalry. 600 might be a typical number for such a guard ( often also 300, in Greece - the fact that 600 is a multiple may be significant)...so I would agree with your conclusion that they were most likely expelled/disbanded/went into exile with Tarquinius Superbus in 509 B.C....
"dulce et decorum est pro patria mori " - Horace
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff