Lyrics The Rape of Lucretia, Op. 37: Rome is now ruled by the Etruscan upstart - Sir Peter Pears feat. English Chamber Orchestra & Benjamin Britten

Rome is now ruled by the Etruscan upstart, Tarquinius Superbus
The proud king, but once servant to the late monarch, Servius
How did Tarquinius reach the throne?
By making his own virtues and his will
Bend to the purpose of determined evil
In quiet humility, he hid his pride
And running to agree with every faction, divided the
Roman court till each part sought him as an ally
And those he murdered, he would mourn as though a friend had died
If piety impeded him, he'd pray with it
If greed, he'd bribe it
And always he'd pay his way with a prodigious
Liberality of self-coined obsequious flattery
So he climbed and married the king's own daughter, whom he
Murdered, then married her sister, the self-seeking, self-
Appointed widow who'd poisoned her first husband, the heir
Once joined in holy wedlock, they throttled the king
And now rule Rome by force and gun at my shelter
Whilst their son, Tarquinius Sextus, of whom you
Shall hear, leads Roman youth to Etruscan war
And treats the proud city as if it were his whore