Salve Aule Sergi

On Mastarna, or Servius if you prefer, Claudius said that "he was driven out (of Etruria) by a change of fortune." Holloway referred to the inscription as he wrote, "King Servius Tullius was an ally of Caelius Vibenna. After the latter's death the king brought the remnants of his followers to Rome and settled them on the hill renamed in his honor." Are you reading something different into what Holloway wrote? Let us take what Claudius said together with the painting in the Francois Tomb. Caile Vipinas, Aule Vipinas, Macstrna, Rasce and Marce Camitlnas are shown naked. Alfoldi has argued that they are depicted this way since they are seen as prisoners, stripped of their arms and armor, and then bound. Macstrna is shown cutting Caile Vipinas loose from his bonds. The prisoners are then shown fighting with their Etruscan captors, among whom is one identified as Cneve Tarchunies Rumach. A Gnaeus Tarquinius of Rome is seen among his Etruscan friends, not Lucius Tarquinius, king of Rome at the head of a Roman army. The scene in the Francois Tomb follows Roman legend that Mastarna, or Servius, along with the Vibenna brothers were defeated and captured. The scene shows that they then managed to escape. This is contrasted with the other scene in the Francois Tomb that shows naked Trojan prisoners being sacrificed by their Greek captors. So it follows that the remnants of Cailius Vibenna's defeated army came to Rome as refugees and settled among the Romans. In the different versions to come to us, by Varro, Tacitus and Claudius, all agree that Caelius was an ally of Rome, so there is nothing odd that in their defeat their Roman allies would offer shelter to the remnants of his army after their "change of fortune." Their arrival and absorption into Roman society of Etruscan allies was no different than when Appius Claudius arrived with his Sabine followers. Where in this then do you misconstrue the scene to pose evidence of an Etruscan conquest of Rome?