TARQUIN the ELDER, king of Rome, succeeded Ancus Martius 615 B. C. He instituted a new order of senators, under the title of Patres minorum gentium. He signalized himself as a general, and discovered great taste and magnificence in embellishing the city of Rome. Pliny, who lived 800 years after him, speaks with astonishment of the subterraneous aqueducts which he caused to be constructed to carry off the filth from the city. Assassinated by the sons of Ancus Martius, 577 B. C. See ROME, n° 35-40.