Editing Servius Tullius (section)

===Early life===
Servius' birth to a slave of the royal household would have made him a member of Tarquin's extended domestic ''familia'', and a slave himself. Livy describes Servius as a youth already holding an honourable position, as son of a living, noble mother and noble father. He is singled out for special favour when members of the royal household witness a nimbus of fire about his head while he sleeps, a sign of divine favour, and a great portent. In Livy's version, Servius becomes a protégé of the royal family ("like a son") through this event, and later marries their daughter [[Tarquinia (wife of Servius Tullius)|Tarquinia]]. For Livy, this marriage undermines the traditional narrative in which Ocrisia, and thus her son Servius, are household slaves; Livy asserts that no slave, nor any of slave descent, could have been granted the great honour of marriage into Rome's ruling family.<ref>Livy, ''Ab urbe condita'', [[s:From the Founding of the City/Book 1#39|1.39]].</ref><ref>Cornell, 131, 132: see Dionysus of Halicarnassus, ''Roman Antiquities'', 4.3.</ref> 

Servius proves a loyal, responsible son-in-law. When given governmental and military responsibilities, he excels in both.<ref>Cornell, 131: see Dionysus of Halicarnassus, 4.3.</ref> Plutarch, citing [[Valerius Antias]] "and his school", names Servius' wife as Gegania: the nimbus of fire appears around the sleeping Servius much later, when Gegania is dying; "a token of his birth from fire".<ref>Plutarch, ''Moralia'', On the fortune of the Romans, 10, 64: available online (Loeb) at Thayer's website [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Fortuna_Romanorum*.html]. Plutarch cites Valerius Antias, Fragment 12; in Peter, Frag. Hist. Rom. p. 154.</ref><ref>Livy, ''Ab urbe condita'', [[s:From the Founding of the City/Book 1#39|1.39]]: see also Dionysius, 4.</ref>