Reign In Livy's account, Tarquinius Priscus had been elected king on the death of the previous king, Ancus Marcius, whose two sons were too young to inherit or offer themselves for election. When Servius' popularity and his marriage to Tarquinius' daughter made him a likely successor to the throne, these sons attempted to seize the throne for themselves. They hired two assassins, who attacked and severely wounded Tarquinius.Livy, Ab urbe condita, 1.40 Tanaquil immediately ordered the palace to be shut, and publicly announced from a palace window that Tarquinius had appointed Servius as regent; meanwhile, Tarquinius died of his wounds. When his death became public knowledge, the senate elected Servius as king, and the sons of Ancus fled to exile in Suessa Pometia.Livy, 1.41. Livy describes this as the first occasion that the people of Rome were not involved in the election of the king. In Plutarch, Servius reluctantly consented to the kingship at the death-bed insistence of Tanaquil.Plutarch, Moralia, On the fortune of the Romans, 10, 64: available online (Loeb) at Thayer's website : see also Ovid, Fasti, 6.627 ff; Livy, 1#39|I.39; Pliny, Natural History, 36 & 70.27.204.
Reign In Livy's account, Tarquinius Priscus had been elected king on the death of the previous king, Ancus Marcius, whose two sons were too young to inherit or offer themselves for election. When Servius' popularity and his marriage to Tarquinius' daughter made him a likely successor to the throne, these sons attempted to seize the throne for themselves. They hired two assassins, who attacked and severely wounded Tarquinius.Livy, Ab urbe condita, 1.40 Tanaquil immediately ordered the palace to be shut, and publicly announced from a palace window that Tarquinius had appointed Servius as regent; meanwhile, Tarquinius died of his wounds When his death became public knowledge, the senate elected Servius as king, and the sons of Ancus fled to exile in Suessa Pometia.Livy, 1.41. Livy describes this as the first occasion that the people of Rome were not involved in the election of the king. In Plutarch, Servius reluctantly consented to the kingship at the death-bed insistence of Tanaquil.Plutarch, Moralia, On the fortune of the Romans, 10, 64: available online (Loeb) at Thayer's website : see also Ovid, Fasti, 6.627 ff; Livy, 1#39|I.39; Pliny, Natural History, 36 & 70.27.204.