THE FIRST COMMONWEALTH
The acts, civil and military, of the Roman people, henceforth free,
their annual magistrates, and the sovereignty of the laws, more
powerful than that of men, I will now proceed to recount. The haughty
insolence of the last king had caused this liberty to be the more
welcome: for the former kings reigned in such a manner that they all
in succession may be deservedly reckoned founders of those parts
at least of the city, which they independently added as new
dwelling-places for the population, which had been increased by
themselves. Nor is there any doubt that that same Brutus, who gained
such renown from the expulsion of King Superbus, would have acted to
the greatest injury of the public weal, if, through the desire of
liberty before the people were fit for it, he had wrested the kingdom
from any of the preceding kings. For what would have been the
consequence, if that rabble of shepherds and strangers, runaways from
their own peoples, had found, under the protection of an inviolable
sanctuary, either freedom, or at least impunity for former offences,
and, freed from all dread of regal authority, had begun to be
distracted by tribunician storms, and to engage in contests with the
fathers in a strange city, before the pledges of wives and children,
and affection for the soil itself, to which people become habituated
only by length of time, had united their affections? Their condition,
not yet matured, would have been destroyed by discord; but the
tranquillizing moderation of the government so fostered this
condition, and by proper nourishment brought it to such perfection,
that, when their strength was now developed, they were able to bring
forth the wholesome fruits of liberty. The first beginnings of
liberty, however, one may date from this period, rather because
the consular authority was made annual, than because of the royal
prerogative was in any way curtailed. The first consuls kept all the
privileges and outward signs of authority, care only being taken to
prevent the terror appearing doubled, should both have the fasces at
the same time. Brutus, with the consent of his colleague, was first
attended by the fasces, he who proved himself afterward as keen in
protecting liberty as he had previously shown himself in asserting it.
First of all he bound over the people, jealous of their newly-acquired
liberty, by an oath that they would suffer no one to be king in Rome,
for fear that later they might be influenced by the importunities
or bribes of the royal house. Next, that a full house might give
additional strength to the senate, he filled up the number of
senators, which had been diminished by the assassinations of
Tarquinius, to the full number of three hundred, by electing the
principal men of equestrian rank to fill their places: from this is
said to have been derived the custom of summoning into the senate both
the patres and those who were conscripti. They called those who
were elected, conscripti, enrolled, that is, as a new senate. It is
surprising how much that contributed to the harmony of the state, and
toward uniting the patricians and commons in friendship.
Attention was then paid to religious matters, and, as certain public
functions had been regularly performed by the kings in person, to
prevent their loss being felt in any particular, they appointed a
king of the sacrifices.[1] This office they made subordinate to the
pontifex maximus, that the holder might not, if high office were added
to the title, prove detrimental to liberty, which was then their
principal care. And I do not know but that, by fencing it in on every
side to excess, even in the most trivial matters, they exceeded
bounds. For, though there was nothing else that gave offence, the name
of one of the consuls was an object of dislike to the state.
They declared that the Tarquins had been too much habituated to
sovereignty; that it had originated with Priscus: that Servius Tullius
had reigned next; that Tarquinius Superbus had not even, in spite of
the interval that had elapsed, given up all thoughts of the kingdom
as being the property of another, which it really was, but thought to
regain it by crime and violence, as if it were the heirloom of his
family; that after the expulsion of Superbus, the government was inthe
hands of Collatinus: that the Tarquins knew not how to live in a
private station; that the name pleased them not; that it was dangerous
to liberty. Such language, used at first by persons quietly sounding
the dispositions of the people, was circulated through the whole
state; and the people, now excited by suspicion, were summoned by
Brutus to a meeting. There first of all he read aloud the people's
oath: that they would neither suffer any one to be king, nor allow
any one to live at Rome from whom danger to liberty might arise. He
declared that this ought to be maintained with all their might, and
that nothing, that had any reference to it, ought to be treated with
indifference: that he said this with reluctance, for the sake of the
individual; and that he would not have said it, did not his affection
for the commonwealth predominate; that the people of Rome did not
believe that complete liberty had been recovered; that the regal
family, the regal name, was not only in the state but also in power;
that that was a stumbling-block, was a hindrance to liberty. "Do you,
Lucius Tarquinius," said he, "of your own free will, remove this
apprehension? We remember, we own it, you expelled the royal family;
complete your services: take hence the royal name; your property your
fellow-citizens shall not only hand over to you, by my advice, but, if
it is insufficient, they will liberally supply the want. Depart in a
spirit of friendship. Relieve the state from a dread which may be only
groundless. So firmly are men's minds persuaded that only with the
Tarquinian race will kingly power depart hence." Amazement at so
extraordinary and sudden an occurrence at first impeded the consul's
utterance; then, as he was commencing to speak, the chief men of the
state stood around him, and with pressing entreaties urged the same
request. The rest of them indeed had less weight with him, but
after Spurius Lucretius, superior to all the others in age and high
character, who was besides his own father-in-law, began to try various
methods, alternately entreating and advising, in order to induce him
to allow himself to be prevailed on by the general feeling of the
state, the consul, apprehensive that hereafter the same lot might
befall him, when his term of office had expired, as well as loss of
property and other additional disgrace, resigned his consulship, and
removing all his effects to Lavinium, withdrew from the city. Brutus,
according to a decree of the senate, proposed to the people, that all
who belonged to the family of the Tarquins should be banished from
Rome: in the assembly of centuries he elected Publius Valerius, with
whose assistance he had expelled the kings, as his colleague.
Though nobody doubted that a war was impending from the Tarquins, yet
it broke out later than was generally expected; however, liberty was
well-nigh lost by fraud and treachery, a thing they never apprehended.
There were among the Roman youth several young men--and these of no
no rank--who, while the regal government lasted, had enjoyed greater
license in their pleasures, being the equals in age, boon companions
of the young Tarquins, and accustomed to live after the fashion of
princes. Missing that freedom, now that the privileges of all were
equalized,[2] they complained among themselves that the liberty of
others had turned out slavery for them: that a king was a human being,
from whom one could obtain what one wanted, whether the deed might be
an act of justice or of wrong; that there was room for favour and
good offices; that he could be angry, and forgive; that he knew the
difference between a friend and an enemy; that the laws were a deaf,
inexorable thing, more beneficial and advantageous for the poor than
for the rich; that they allowed no relaxation or indulgence, if one
transgressed due bounds; that it was perilous, amid so many human
errors, to have no security for life but innocence. While their minds
were already of their own accord thus discontented, ambassadors from
the royal family arrived unexpectedly, merely demanding restitution of
their personal property, without any mention of their return. After
their application had been heard in the senate, the deliberation about
it lasted for several days, as they feared that the non-restitution of
the property might be made a pretext for war, its restitution a fund
and assistance for the same. In the meantime the ambassadors were
planning a different scheme: while openly demanding the restoration of
property, they secretly concerted measures for recovering the throne,
and soliciting them, as if to promote that which appeared to be the
object in view, they sounded the minds of the young nobles; to those
by whom their proposals were favourably received they gave letters
from the Tarquins, and conferred with them about admitting the royal
family into the city secretly by night.
The matter was first intrusted to the brothers Vitellii and Aquilii. A
sister of the Vitellii was married to Brutus the consul, and the issue
of that marriage was the grown-up sons, Titus and Tiberius; they also
were admitted by their uncles to share the plot; several young nobles
also were taken into their confidence, recollection of whose names has
been lost from lapse of time. In the meantime, as that opinion had
prevailed in the Senate, which was in favour of the property being
restored, the ambassadors made use of this as a pretext for lingering
in the city, and the time which they had obtained from the consuls
to procure conveyances, in which to remove the effects of the royal
family, they spent entirely in consultations with the conspirators,
and by persistent entreaties succeeded in getting letters given to
them for the Tarquins. Otherwise how could they feel sure that the
representations made by the ambassadors on matters of such importance
were not false? The letters, given as an intended pledge of their
sincerity, caused the plot to be discovered: for when, the day before
the ambassadors set out to the Tarquins, they had supped by chance at
the house of the Vitellii, and the conspirators had there discoursed
much together in private, as was natural, concerning their
revolutionary design, one of the slaves, who had already observed what
was on foot, overheard their conversation; he waited, however, for the
opportunity when the letters should be given to the ambassadors, the
detection of which would put the matter beyond a doubt. When he found
that they had been given, he laid the whole affair before the consuls.
The consuls left their home to seize the ambassadors and conspirators,
and quashed the whole affair without any disturbance, particular care
being taken of the letters, to prevent their being lost or stolen.
The traitors were immediately thrown into prison: some doubt was
entertained concerning the treatment of the ambassadors, and though
their conduct seemed to justify their being considered as enemies, the
law of nations nevertheless prevailed.
The consideration of the restoration of the king's effects, for which
the senate had formerly voted, was laid anew before them. The fathers,
overcome by indignation, expressly forbade either their restoration or
confiscation. They were given to the people to be rifled, that, having
been polluted as it were by participation in the royal plunder, they
might lose forever all hopes of reconciliation with the Tarquins. A
field belonging to the latter, which lay between the city and the
Tiber, having been consecrated to Mars, was afterward called the
Campus Martius. It is said that there was by chance, at that time, a
crop of corn upon it ripe for harvest; this produce of the field, as
they thought it unlawful to use it, after it had been reaped, a large
number of men, sent into the field together, carried in baskets corn
and straw together, and threw it into the Tiber, which then was
flowing with shallow water, as is usual in the heat of summer; thus
the heaps of corn as they stuck in the shallows settled down, covered
over with mud; by means of these and other substances carried down to
the same spot, which the river brings along hap-hazard, an island[3]
was gradually formed. Afterward I believe that substructures were
added, and that aid was given by human handicraft, that the surface
might be well raised, as it is now and strong enough besides to bear
the weight even of temples and colonnades. After the tyrant's effects
had been plundered, the traitors were condemned and punishment
inflicted. This punishment was the more noticeable, because the
consulship imposed on the father the office of punishing his own
children, and to him, who should have been removed even as a
spectator, was assigned by fortune the duty of carrying out the
punishment. Young men of the highest rank stood bound to the stake;
but the consul's sons diverted the eyes of all the spectators from the
rest of the criminals, as from persons unknown; and the people felt
pity, not so much on account of their punishment, as of the crime by
which they had deserved it. That they, in that year above all others,
should have brought themselves to betray into the hands of one, who,
formerly a haughty tyrant, was now an exasperated exile, their country
recently delivered, their father its deliverer, the consulate which
took its rise from the Junian family, the fathers, the people, and
all the gods and citizens of Rome. The consuls advanced to take their
seats, and the lictors were despatched to inflict punishment. The
young men were stripped naked, beaten with rods, and their heads
struck off with the axe, while all the time the looks and countenance
of the father presented a touching spectacle, as his natural feelings
displayed themselves during the discharge of his duty in inflicting
public punishment. After the punishment of the guilty, that the
example might be a striking one in both aspects for the prevention of
crime, a sum of money was granted out of the treasury as a reward
to the informer: liberty also and the rights of citizenship were
conferred upon him. He is said to have been the first person made free
by the vindicta; some think that even the term vindicta is derived
from him, and that his name was Vindicius. [4] After him it was
observed as a rule, that all who were set free in this manner were
considered to be admitted to the rights of Roman citizens.
On receiving the announcement of these events as they had occurred,
Tarquin, inflamed not only with grief at the annihilation of such
great hopes, but also with hatred and resentment, when he saw that the
way was blocked against stratagem, considering that war ought to
be openly resorted to, went round as a suppliant to the cities of
Etruria, imploring above all the Veientines and Tarquinians, not to
suffer him, a man sprung from themselves, of the same stock, to perish
before their eyes, an exile and in want, together with his grown-up
sons, after they had possessed a kingdom recently so flourishing. That
others had been invited to Rome from foreign lands to succeed to the
throne; that he, a king, while engaged in extending the Roman Empire
by arms, had been driven out by his nearest relatives by a villainous
conspiracy, that they had seized and divided his kingdom in portions
among themselves, because no one individual among them was deemed
sufficiently deserving of it: and had given up his effects to the
people to pillage, that no one might be without a share in the guilt.
That he was desirous of recovering his country and his kingdom, and
punishing his ungrateful subjects. Let them bring succour and aid him;
let them also avenge the wrongs done to them of old, the frequent
slaughter of their legions, the robbery of their land. These arguments
prevailed on the people of Veii, and with menaces they loudly
declared, each in their own name, that now at least, under the conduct
of a Roman general, their former disgrace would be wiped out, and what
they had lost in war would be recovered. His name and relationship
influenced the people of Tarquinii, for it seemed a high honour that
their countrymen should reign at Rome. Accordingly, the armies of
these two states followed Tarquin to aid in the recovery of his
kingdom, and to take vengeance upon the Romans in war. When they
entered Roman territory, the consuls marched to meet the enemy.
Valerius led the infantry in a square battalion: Brutus marched in
front with the cavalry to reconnoitre. In like manner the enemy's
horse formed the van of the army: Arruns Tarquinius, the king's son,
was in command: the king himself followed with the legions. Arruns,
when he knew at a distance by the lictors that it was a consul, and on
drawing nearer more surely discovered that it was Brutus by his face,
inflamed with rage, cried out: "Yonder is the man who has driven us
into exile from our native country! See how he rides in state adorned
with the insignia of our rank! Now assist me, ye gods, the avengers of
kings." He put spurs to his horse and charged furiously against the
consul. Brutus perceived that he was being attacked, and, as it was
honourable in those days for the generals to personally engage in
battle, he accordingly eagerly offered himself for combat. They
charged with such furious animosity, neither of them heedful of
protecting his own person, provided he could wound his opponent, that
each, pierced through the buckler by his adversary's blow, fell from
his horse in the throes of death, still transfixed by the two spears.
The engagement between the rest of the horse began at the same time,
and soon after the foot came up. There they fought with varying
success, and as it were with equal advantage. The right wings of both
armies were victorious, the left worsted. The Veientines, accustomed
to defeat at the hands of the Roman soldiers, were routed and put to
flight. The Tarquinians, who were a new foe, not only stood their
ground, but on their side even forced the Romans to give way.
After the engagement had thus been fought, so great a terror seized
Tarquinius and the Etruscans, that both armies, the Veientine and
Tarquinian, abandoning the attempt as a fruitless one, departed by
night to their respective homes. Strange incidents are also reported
in the account of this battle--that in the stillness of the next night
a loud voice was heard from the Arsian wood;[5] that it was believed
to be the voice of Silvanus. That the following words were uttered:
that more of the Tuscans by one man had fallen in the fight: that the
Romans were victorious in the war. Under these circumstances, the
Romans departed thence as conquerors, the Etruscans as practically
conquered. For as soon as it was light, and not one of the enemy was
to be seen anywhere, Publius Valerius, the consul, collected the
spoils, and returned thence in triumph to Rome. He celebrated the
funeral of his colleague with all the magnificence possible at the
time. But a far greater honour to his death was the public sorrow,
especially remarkable in this particular, that the matrons mourned him
for a year as a parent, because he had shown himself so vigorous an
avenger of violated chastity. Afterward, the consul who survived--so
changeable are the minds of the people--after enjoying great
popularity, encountered not only jealousy, but suspicion, that
originated with a monstrous charge. Report represented that he was
aspiring to kingly power, because he had not substituted a colleague
in the room of Brutus, and was building on the top of Mount Velia:[6]
that an impregnable stronghold was being erected there in an elevated
and well-fortified position. These reports, widely circulated and
believed, disquieted the consul's mind at the unworthiness of the
charge; and, having summoned the people to an assembly, he mounted the
platform, after lowering the fasces. It was a pleasing sight to the
multitude that the insignia of authority were lowered before them, and
that acknowledgment was made, that the dignity and power of the people
were greater than that of the consul. Then, after they had been
bidden to listen, the consul highly extolled the good fortune of his
colleague, in that, after having delivered his country, he had died
while still invested with the highest rank, fighting in defence of the
commonwealth, when his glory was at its height, and had not yet turned
to jealousy. He himself (said he) had outlived his glory, and only
survived to incur accusation and odium: that, from being the liberator
of his country, he had fallen back to the level of the Aquilii and
Vitellii. "Will no merit then," said he, "ever be so approved in your
eyes as to be exempt from the attacks of suspicion? Was I to apprehend
that I, that bitterest enemy of kings, should myself have to submit
to the charge of desiring kingly power? Was I to believe that, even
though I should dwell in the citadel and the Capitol itself, I should
be dreaded by my fellow-citizens? Does my character among you depend
on so mere a trifle? Does your confidence in me rest on such slight
foundations, that it matters more where I am than what I am? The
house of Publius Valerius shall not stand in the way of your liberty,
Quirites; the Velian Mount shall be secure to you. I will not only
bring down my house into the plain, but will build it beneath the
hill, that you may dwell above me, the suspected citizen. Let those
build on the Velian Mount, to whom liberty can be more safely
intrusted than to Publius Valerius." Immediately all the materials
were brought down to the foot of the Velian Mount, and the house was
built at the foot of the hill, where the Temple of Vica Pota[7] now
stands.
After this laws were proposed by the consul, such as not only freed
him from all suspicion of aiming at regal power, but had so contrary
a tendency, that they even made him popular. At this time he was
surnamed Publicola. Above all, the laws regarding an appeal to the
people against the magistrates, and declaring accursed the life and
property of any one who should have formed the design of seizing regal
authority,[8] were welcome to the people. Having passed these laws
while sole consul, so that the merit of them might be exclusively his
own, he then held an assembly for the election of a new colleague.
Spurius Lucretius was elected consul, who, owing to his great age, and
his strength being inadequate to discharge the consular duties, died
within a few days. Marcus Horatius Pulvillus was chosen in the room of
Lucretius. In some ancient authorities I find no mention of Lucretius
as consul; they place Horatius immediately after Brutus. My own belief
is that, because no important event signalized his consulate, all
record of it has been lost. The Temple of Jupiter on the Capitol had
not yet been dedicated; the conuls Valerius and Horatius cast lots
which should dedicate it. The duty fell by lot to Horatius. Publicola
departed to conduct the war against the Veientines. The friends of
Valerius were more annoyed than the circumstances demanded that the
dedication of so celebrated a temple was given to Horatius. Having
endeavoured by every means to prevent it, when all other attempts had
been tried and failed, at the moment when the consul was holding the
door-post during his offering of prayer to the gods, they suddenly
announced to him the startling intelligence that his son was dead, and
that, while his family was polluted by death, he could not dedicate
the temple. Whether he did not believe that it was true, or whether
he possessed such great strength of mind, is neither handed down for
certain, nor is it easy to decide. On receiving the news, holding the
door-post, without turning off his attention in any other way from the
business he was engaged completed the form of prayer, and dedicated
the temple. Such were the transactions at home and abroad during
the first year after the expulsion of the kings. After this Publius
Valerius, for the second time, and Titus Lucretius were elected
consuls.
By this time the Tarquins had fled to Lars Porsina, King of Clusium.
There, mingling advice with entreaties, they now besought him not to
suffer them, who were descended from the Etruscans, and of the same
stock and name, to live in exile and poverty; now advised him also not
to let the rising practice of expelling kings pass unpunished. Liberty
in itself had charms enough; and, unless kings defended their thrones
with as much vigour as the people strove for liberty, the highest was
put on a level with the lowest; there would be nothing exalted in
states, nothing to be distinguished above the rest; that the end of
regal government, the most beautiful institution both among gods and
men, was close at hand. Porsina, thinking it a great honour to the
Tuscans both that there should be a king at Rome, and that one
belonging to the Etruscan nation, marched toward Rome with a hostile
army. Never before on any other occasion did such terror seize the
senate; so powerful was the state of Clusium[9] at that time, and so
great the renown of Porsina. Nor did they dread their enemies only,
but even their own citizens, lest the common people of Rome, smitten
with fear, should, by receiving the Tarquins into the city, accept
peace even at the price of slavery. Many concessions were therefore
granted to the people by the senate during that period by way of
conciliating them. Their attention, in the first place, was directed
to the markets, and persons were sent, some to the country of the
Volscians, others to Cumae, to buy up corn. The privilege of selling
salt also was withdrawn from private individuals because it was sold
at an exorbitant price, while all the expense fell upon the state:[10]
and the people were freed from duties and taxes, inasmuch as the rich,
since they were in a position to bear the burden, should contribute
them; the poor, they said, paid taxes enough if they brought up their
children. This indulgence on the part of the fathers accordingly kept
the state so united during their subsequent adversity in time of siege
and famine, that the lowest as much as the highest abhorred the name
of king; nor did any single individual afterward gain such popularity
by intriguing practices, as the whole body of the senate at that time
by their excellent government.
On the approach of the enemy, they all withdrew for protection from
the country into the city, and protected the city itself with military
garrisons. Some parts seemed secured by the walls, others by the Tiber
between. The Sublician [11] bridge well-nigh afforded a passage to
the enemy, had it not been for one man, Horatius Cocles: in him the
protecting spirit of Rome on that day found a defence. He happened to
be posted on guard at the bridge: and, when he saw the Janiculum taken
by a sudden assault, and the enemy pouring down from thence at full
speed, and his own party, in confusion, abandoning their arms and
ranks, seizing hold of them one by one, standing in their way, and
appealing to the faith of gods and men, he declared, that their flight
would avail them nothing if they deserted their post; if they crossed
the bridge and left it behind them, there would soon be greater
numbers of the enemy in the Palatium and Capitol than in the
Janiculum; therefore he advised and charged them to break down the
bridge, by sword, by fire, or by any violent means whatsoever; that
he himself would receive the attack of the enemy as far as resistance
could be offered by the person of one man. He then strode to the front
entrance of the bridge, and being easily distinguished among those
whose backs were seen as they gave way before the battle, he struck
the enemy with amazement by his surprising boldness as he faced round
in arms to engage the foe hand to hand. Two, however, a sense of shame
kept back with him, Spurius Larcius and Titus Herminius, both men of
high birth, and renowned for their gallant exploits. With them he for
a short time stood the first storm of danger, and the severest brunt
of the battle. Afterward, as those who were cutting down the bridge
called upon them to retire, and only a small portion of it was left,
he obliged them also to withdraw to a place of safety. Then, casting
his stern eyes threateningly upon all the nobles of the Etruscans, he
now challenged them singly, now reproached them all as the slaves of
haughty tyrants, who, unmindful of their own freedom, came to attack
that of others. For a considerable time they hesitated, looking round
one upon another, waiting to begin the fight. A feeling of shame then
stirred the army, and raising a shout, they hurled their weapons from
all sides on their single adversary; and when they had all stuck in
the shield he held before him, and he with no less obstinacy kept
possession of the bridge with firm step, they now began to strive to
thrust him down from it by their united attack, when the crash of the
falling bridge, and at the same time the shout raised by the Romans
for joy at having completed their task, checked their assault with
sudden consternation. Then Cocles said, "Father Tiberinus, holy one, I
pray thee, receive these arms, and this thy soldier, in thy favouring
stream." So, in full armour, just as he was, he leapedinto the Tiber,
and, amid showers of darts that fell upon him, swam across unharmed to
his comrades, having dared a deed which is likely to obtain more fame
than belief with posterity.[12] The state showed itself grateful
toward such distinguished valour; a statue of him was erected in the
comitium, and as much land was given to him as he could draw a furrow
round in one day with a plough. The zeal of private individuals also
was conspicuous in the midst of public honours. For, notwithstanding
the great scarcity, each person contributed something to him in
proportion to his private means, depriving himself of his own means of
support.
Porsina, repulsed in his first attempt, having changed his plans to a
siege of the city, and a blockade, and pitched his camp in the plain
and on the bank of the Tiber, placed a garrison in the Janiculum.
Then, sending for boats from all parts, both to guard the river, so as
to prevent any provisions being conveyed up stream to Rome, and also
that his soldiers might get across to plunder in different places as
opportunity offered, in a short time he so harassed all the country
round Rome, that not only was everything else conveyed out of the
country, but even the cattle were driven into the city, and nobody
ventured to drive them without the gates. This liberty of action was
granted to the Etruscans, not more from fear than from design: for the
consul Valerius, eager for an opportunity of falling unawares upon a
number of them together in loose order, careless of taking vengeance
in trifling matters, reserved himself as a serious avenger for more
important occasions. Accordingly, in order to draw out the pillagers,
he ordered a large body of his men to drive out their cattle the next
day by the Esquiline gate, which was farthest from the enemy, thinking
that they would get intelligence of it, because during the blockade
and scarcity of provisions some of the slaves would turn traitors and
desert. And in fact they did learn by the information of a deserter,
and parties far more numerous than usual crossed the river in the hope
of seizing all the booty at once. Then Publius Valerius commanded
Titus Herminius, with a small force, to lie in ambush at the second
milestone on the road to Gabii, and Spurius Larcius, with a party of
light-armed youths, to post himself at the Colline gate while the
enemy was passing by, and then to throw himself in their way to cut
off their return to the river. The other consul, Titus Lucretius,
marched out of the Naevian gate with some companies of soldiers, while
Valerius himself led some chosen cohorts down from the Colan Mount.
These were the first who were seen by the enemy. Herminius, when he
perceived the alarm, rushed from his ambush and fell upon the rear of
the Etruscans, who had turned against Valerius. The shout was returned
on the right and left, from the Colline gate on the one side and
the Naevian on the other. Thus the plunderers were put to the sword
between both, being neither their match in strength for fighting, and
all the ways being blocked up to prevent escape: this put an end to
the disorderly raids of the Etruscans.
The blockade, however, was carried on none the less, and corn was both
scarce and very dear. Porsina still entertained the hope that, by
continuing the blockade, he would be able to reduce the city, when
Gaius Mucius, a young noble, who considered it a disgrace that the
Roman people, who, even when in a state of slavery, while under the
kings, had never been confined within their walls during any war, or
blockaded by any enemy, should now, when a free people, be blockaded
by these very Etruscans whose armies they had often routed--and
thinking that such disgrace ought to be avenged by some great and
daring deed, at first designed on his own responsibility to make his
way into the enemy's camp. Then, being afraid that, if he went without
the permission of the consuls, and unknown to all, he might perhaps be
seized by the Roman guards and brought back as a deserter, since the
circumstances of the city at the time rendered such a charge credible,
he approached the senate. "Fathers," said he, "I desire to cross
the Tiber, and enter the enemy's camp, if I may be able, not as
a plunderer, nor as an avenger to exact retribution for their
devastations: a greater deed is in my mind, if the gods assist." The
senate approved. He set out with a dagger concealed under his garment.
When he reached the camp, he stationed himself where the crowd was
thickest, near the king's tribunal. There, as the soldiers happened
to be receiving their pay, and the king's secretary, sitting by him,
similarly attired, was busily engaged, and generally addressed by
the soldiers, he killed the secretary, against whom chance blindly
directed the blow, instead of the king, being afraid to ask which of
the two was Porsina, lest, by displaying his ignorance of the king,
he should disclose who he himself was. As he was moving off in the
direction where with his bloody dagger he had made a way for himself
through the dismayed multitude, the crowd ran up on hearing the noise,
and he was immediately seized and brought back by the king's guards:
being set before the king's tribunal, even then, amid the perilous
fortune that threatened him, more capable of inspiring dread than
of feeling it, "I am," said he, "a Roman citizen; men call me Gaius
Mucius; an enemy, I wished to slay an enemy, nor have I less courage
to suffer death than I had to inflict it. Both to do and to suffer
bravely is a Roman's part. Nor have I alone harboured such feelings
toward you; there follows after me a long succession of aspirants to
the same honour. Therefore, if you choose, prepare yourself for this
peril, to be in danger of your life from hour to hour: to find the
sword and the enemy at the very entrance of your tent: such is the war
we, the youth of Rome, declare against you; dread not an army in the
field, nor a battle; you will have to contend alone and with each of
us one by one." When the king, furious with rage, and at the same time
terrified at the danger, threateningly commanded fires to be kindled
about him, if he did not speedily disclose the plots, at which in his
threats he had darkly hinted, Mucius said, "See here, that you may
understand of how little account the body is to those who have great
glory in view"; and immediately thrust his right hand into the fire
that was lighted for sacrifice. When he allowed it to burn as if
his spirit were quite insensible to any feeling of pain, the king,
well-nigh astounded at this surprising sight, leaped from his seat and
commanded the young man to be removed from the altar. "Depart," said
he, "thou who hast acted more like an enemy toward thyself than toward
me. I would bid thee go on and prosper in thy valour, if that valour
were on the side of my country. I now dismiss thee unharmed and
unhurt, exempt from the right of war." Then Mucius, as if in return
for the kindness, said: "Since bravery is held in honour with you,
that you may obtain from me by your kindness that which you could not
obtain by threats, know that we are three hundred, the chief of the
Roman youth, who have conspired to attack you in this manner. The
lot fell upon me first. The rest will be with you each in his turn,
according to the fortune that shall befall me who drew the first lot,
until fortune on some favourable opportunity shall have delivered you
into their hands."
Mucius, to whom the surname of Scaevola[13] was afterward given from
the loss of his right hand, was let go and ambassadors from Porsina
followed him to Rome. The danger of the first attempt, in which
nothing had protected him but the mistake of his secret assailant,
and the thought of the risk of life he would have to run so often in
proportion to the number of surviving conspirators that remained, made
so strong an impression upon him that of his own accord he offered
terms of peace to the Romans. In these terms the restoration of the
Tarquins to the throne was proposed and discussed without success,
rather because he felt he could not refuse that to the Tarquins, than
from ignorance that it would be refused him by the Romans. In regard
to the restoration of territory to the Veientines his request was
granted, and the obligation of giving hostages, if they wished the
garrison to be withdrawn from the Janiculum, was extorted from the
Romans. Peace being concluded on these terms, Porsina led his troops
down from the Janiculum, and withdrew from Roman territory. The
fathers bestowed upon Gaius Mucius, in reward for his valour, some
land on the other side of the Tiber, which was afterward called the
Mucian meadows. By this honour paid to valour women also were roused
to deeds that brought glory to the state. Among others, a young woman
named Claelia, one of the hostages, escaped her keepers, and, as the
camp of the Etruscans had been pitched not far from the bank of the
Tiber, swam over the river, amid the darts of the enemy, at the head
of a band of maidens, and brought them all back in safety to their
relations at Rome. When news of this was brought to the king, at
first, furious with rage, he sent deputies to Rome to demand the
hostage Claelia, saying that he did not set great store by the rest:
afterward, his feelings being changed to admiration, he said that
this deed surpassed those of men like Cocles and Mucius, and further
declared that, as he would consider the treaty broken if the hostage
were not delivered up, so, if she were given up, he would send her
back unharmed and unhurt to her friends. Both sides kept faith: the
Romans restored their pledge of peace according to treaty: and with
the Etruscan king valour found not only security, but also honour;
and, after praising the maiden, he promised to give her, as a present,
half the hostages, allowing her to choose whom she pleased. When they
had all been led forth, she is said to have picked out those below the
age of puberty, a choice which both reflected honour upon her maiden
delicacy, and was one likely to be approved of by consent of the
hostages themselves--that those who were of such an age as was most
exposed to injury should above all others be delivered from the enemy.
Peace being renewed, the Romans rewarded this instance of bravery
uncommon in a woman with an uncommon kind of honour: an equestrian
statue, which, representing a maiden sitting on horseback, was erected
at the top of the Via Sacra.[14]
The custom handed down from the ancients, and which has continued down
to our times among other usages at public sales, that of selling
the goods of King Porsina, is inconsistent with this account of so
peaceful a departure of the Etruscan king from the city. The origin
of this custom must either have arisen during the war, and not been
abandoned in time of peace, or it must have grown from a milder
beginning than the form of expression seems, on the face of it, to
indicate, of selling the goods as if taken from an enemy. Of the
accounts handed down, the most probable is, that Porsina, when
retiring from the Janiculum, made a present to the Romans of his camp
rich with stores of provisions conveyed from the neighbouring fertile
fields of Etruria, as the city was then exhausted owing to the long
siege: that then, to prevent its contents being plundered as if it
belonged to an enemy when the people were admitted, they were sold,
and called the goods of Porsina, the expression rather conveying the
idea of a thankworthy gift than an auction of the king's property,
seeing that this never even came into the power of the Roman people.
Porsina, having abandoned the war against the Romans, that his army
might not seem to have been led into those parts to no purpose,
sent his son Arruns with part of his forces to besiege Aricia. The
unexpected occurrence at first terrified the Aricians: afterward aid,
which had been sent for, both from the people of Latium and from
Cumæ,[15] inspired such hope that they ventured to try the issue of a
pitched battle. At the beginning of the battle the Etruscans attacked
so furiously that they routed the Aricians at the first onset. But the
Cuman cohorts, employing stratagem against force, moved off a little
to one side, and when the enemy were carried beyond them in loose
array, they wheeled round and attacked them in the rear. By this means
the Etruscans, when on the point of victory, were hemmed in and cut to
pieces. A very small number of them, having lost their general, and
having no nearer refuge, came to Rome without their arms, in the
plight and guise of suppliants. There they were kindly received and
distributed in different lodgings. When their wounds had been attended
to, some with. Affection for their hosts and for the city caused many
others to remain at Rome: a quarter was assigned them to dwell in,
which has ever since been called the Tuscan Street.[16]
Spurius Lucretius and Publius Valerius Publicola were next elected
consuls. In that year ambassadors came from Porsina for the last time,
to discuss the restoration of Tarquin to the throne. And when answer
had been given them, that the senate would send deputies to the king,
the most distinguished of that order were forthwith despatched to
explain that it was not because the answer could not have been given
in a few words--that the royal family would not be received--that
select members of the senate had been deputed to him, rather than an
answer given to his ambassadors at Rome, but in order that all mention
of the matter might be put an end to forever, and that their minds
might not be disturbed amid so many mutual acts of kindness on both
sides, by his asking what was adverse to the liberty of the Roman
people, and by their refusing him (unless they were willing to promote
their own destruction) whom they would willingly refuse nothing. That
the Roman people were not now under a kingly government, but in the
enjoyment of freedom, and were accordingly resolved to open their
gates to enemies sooner than to kings. That it was the wish of all,
that the end of their city's freedom might also be the end of the city
itself. Wherefore, if he wished Rome to be safe, they entreated him
to suffer it to be free. The king, overcome by feelings of respect,
replied: "Since that is your firm and fixed resolve, I will neither
annoy you by importunities, by urging the same request too often to no
purpose, nor will I disappoint the Tarquins by holding out hopes of
aid, which it is not in my power to give them; whether they have need
of peace, or of war, let them go hence and seek another place of
exile, that nothing may hinder the peace between us." To kindly words
he added deeds still more friendly: he delivered up the remainder of
the hostages, and restored to them the land of the Veientines, which
had been taken from them by the treaty concluded at the Janiculum.
Tarquin, now that all hope of return was cut off, went into exile to
Tusculum [17] to his son-in-law Octavius Mamilius. Thus a lasting
peace was concluded between Porsina and the Romans.
The next consuls were Marcus Valerius and Publius Postumius. During
that year war was carried on successfully against the Sabines; the
consuls received the honour of a triumph. Upon this the Sabines made
preparations for war on a larger scale. To make head against them, and
to prevent any sudden danger arising from Tusculum, from which quarter
war, though not openly declared, was suspected, Publius Valerius was
created consul a fourth time, and Titus Lucretius a second time. A
disturbance that arose among the Sabines between the advocates of
war and of peace transferred considerable strength from them to the
Romans. For Attius Clausus, who was afterward called Appius Claudius
at Rome, being himself an advocate of peace, when hard pressed by
the agitators for war, and being no match for the party, fled from
Regillum to Rome, accompanied by a great number of dependents. The
rights of citizenship and land on the other side of the Anio were
bestowed on them. This settlement was called the old Claudian tribe,
and was subsequently increased by the addition of new tribesmen who
kept arriving from that district. Appius, being chosen into the
senate, was soon after advanced to the rank of the highest in that
order. The consuls entered the territories of the Sabines with a
hostile army, and when, both by laying waste their country, and
afterward by defeating them in battle, they had so weakened the power
of the enemy that for a long time there was no reason to dread the
renewal of the war in that quarter, they returned to Rome in triumph.
The following year, Agrippa Menenius and Publius Postumius being
consuls, Publius Valerius, by universal consent the ablest man in
Rome, in the arts both of peace and war, died covered with glory, but
in such straitened private circumstances that there was not enough
to defray the expenses of a public funeral: one was given him at
the public charge. The matrons mourned for him as they had done for
Brutus. The same year two Latin colonies, Pometia and Cora,[18]
revolted to the Auruncans.[19] War was commenced against the
Auruncans, and after a large army, which boldly met the consuls
as they were entering their frontiers, had been defeated, all the
operations of the Auruncan war were concentrated at Pometia. Nor,
after the battle was over, did they refrain from slaughter any more
than when it was going on: the number of the slain was considerably
greater than that of the prisoners, and the latter they put to death
indiscriminately. Nor did the wrath of war spare even the hostages,
three hundred in number, whom they had received. This year also the
consuls celebrated a triumph at Rome.
The succeeding consuls, Opiter Verginius and Spurius Cassius, first
endeavoured to take Pometia by storm, and afterward by means of
mantlets [20] and other works. But the Auruncans, stirred up against
them more by an irreconcilable hatred than induced by any hopes of
success, or by a favourable opportunity, having sallied forth, more of
them armed with lighted torches than swords, filled all places with
fire and slaughter. Having fired the mantlets, slain and wounded many
of the enemy, they almost succeeded in slaying one of the consuls, who
had been thrown from his horse and severely wounded: which of them it
was, authorities do not mention. Upon this the Romans returned to the
city unsuccessful: the consul was taken back with many more wounded,
with doubtful hope of his recovery. After a short interval, sufficient
for attending to their wounds and recruiting their army, they attacked
Pometia with greater fury and increased strength. When, after the
mantlets and the other military works had been repaired, the soldiers
were on the point of mounting the walls, the town surrendered. Yet,
though the town had surrendered, the Auruncans were treated with no
less cruelty than if it had been taken by assault: the chief men were
beheaded: the rest, who were colonists, were sold by auction, the town
was razed, and the land sold. The consuls obtained a triumph more from
having violently gratified their[21] resentment than in consequence of
the importance of the war thus concluded.
In the following year Postumus Cominius and Titus Larcius were
consuls. In that year, during the celebration of the games at Rome, as
some courtesans were being carried off by some of the Sabine youth
in wanton frolic, a crowd assembled, a quarrel ensued, and almost
a battle: and in consequence of this trifling occurrence the whole
affair seemed to point to a renewal of hostilities, which inspired
even more apprehension than a Latin war. Their fears were further
increased, because it was known for certain that thirty different
states had already entered into a confederacy against them, at the
instigation of Octavius Mamilius. While the state was troubled during
the expectation of such important events, the idea of nominating a
dictator was mentioned for the first time.
But in what year, or who the consuls were in whom confidence was not
reposed, because they belonged to the party of the Tarquins--for that
also is reported--or who was elected dictator for the first time, is
not satisfactorily established. Among the oldest authorities, however,
I find that Titus Larcius was appointed the first dictator, and
Spurius Cassius master of the horse. They chose men of consular
dignity: so the law that was passed for the election of a dictator
ordained. For this reason, I am more inclined to believe that Larcius,
who was of consular rank, was attached to the consuls as their
director and superior, rather than Manius Valerius, the son of Marcus
and grandson of Volesus, who had not vet been consul. Moreover, had
they intended a dictator to be chosen from that family under any
circumstances, they would much rather have chosen his father, Marcus
Valerius, a man of consular rank, and of approved merit. On the first
creation of the dictator at Rome, when they saw the axes carried
before him, great awe came upon the people,[22] so that they became
more attentive to obey orders. For neither, as was the case under the
consuls, who possessed equal power, could the assistance of one of
them be invoked, nor was there any appeal, nor any chance of redress
but in attentive submission. The creation of a dictator at Rome also
terrified the Sabines, and the more so because they thought he was
created on their account. Accordingly, they sent ambassadors to treat
concerning peace. To these, when they earnestly entreated the dictator
and senate to pardon a youthful offence, the answer was given, that
the young men might be forgiven, but not the old, seeing that they
were continually stirring up one war after another. Nevertheless they
continued to treat about peace, which would have been granted, if the
Sabines had brought themselves to make good the expenses incurred
during the war, as was demanded. War was proclaimed; a truce, however,
with the tacit consent of both parties, preserved peace throughout the
year.
Servius Sulpicius and Manius Tullius were consuls the next year:
nothing worth mentioning happened. Titus Aebutius and Gaius Vetusius
succeeded. In their consulship Fideae was besieged, Crustumeria taken,
and Præneste[23] revolted from the Latins to the Romans. Nor was the
Latin war, which had now been fomenting for several years, any longer
deferred. Aulus Postumius the dictator, and Titus Aebutius his master
of the horse, setting out with a numerous army of horse and foot,
met the enemy's forces at the Lake Regillus,[24] in the territory of
Tusculum, and, because it was rumoured that the Tarquins were in the
army of the Latins, their rage could not be restrained, so that
they immediately came to an engagement. Accordingly, the battle was
considerably more severe and fierce than others. For the generals
were present not only to direct matters by their instructions, but,
exposing their own persons, they met in combat. And there was hardly
one of the principal officers of either army who came off unwounded,
except the Roman dictator. As Postumius was encouraging his men in the
first line, and drawing them up in order, Tarquinius Superbus, though
now advanced in years and enfeebled, urged on his horse to attack him:
and, being wounded in the side, he was carried off by a party of his
men to a place of safety. In like manner, on the other wing, Aebutius,
master of the horse, had charged Octavius Mamilius; nor was his
approach unobserved by the Etruscan general, who in like manner
spurred his horse against him. And such was their impetuosity as they
advanced with lances couched, that Aebutius was pierced through the
arm and Mamilius run through the breast. The Latins received the
latter into their second line; Aebutius, as he was unable to wield
his lance with his wounded arm, retired from the battle. The Latin
general, no way discouraged by his wound, stirred up the fight: and,
because he saw that his own men were disheartened, sent for a company
of Roman exiles, commanded by the son of Lucius Tarquinius. This body,
inasmuch as they fought with greater fury, owing to the loss of their
country, and the seizure of their estates, for a while revived the
battle.
When the Romans were now beginning to give ground in that quarter,
Marcus Valerius, brother of Publicola, having observed young Tarquin
boldly parading himself at the head of his exiles, fired besides with
the renown of his house, that the family, which had gained glory by
having expelled the kings, might also have the glory of destroying
them, put spurs to his horse, and with his javelin couched made toward
Tarquin. Tarquin retreated before his infuriated foe to a battalion of
his own men. As Valerius rode rashly into the line of the exiles, one
of them attacked him and ran him sideways through the body, and as the
horse was in no way impeded by the wound of his rider, the Roman sank
to the ground expiring, with his arms falling over his body. Postumius
the dictator, seeing the fall of so distinguished a man, and that the
exiles were advancing boldly at a run, and his own men disheartened
and giving ground, gave the signal to his own cohort, a chosen body of
men which he kept for the defence of his person, to treat every Roman
soldier, whom they saw fleeing from the battle, as an enemy. Upon this
the Romans, in fear of the danger on both sides, turned from flight
and attacked the enemy, and the battle was restored. The dictator's
cohort then for the first time engaged in the fight, and with persons
and courage unimpaired, fell on the wearied exiles, and cut them
to pieces. There another engagement took place between the leading
officers. The Latin general, on seeing the cohort of the exiles
almost surrounded by the Roman dictator, hurried up some companies of
reserves to the front. Titus Herminius, a lieutenant-general, seeing
them advancing in a body, and recognising Mamilius, distinguished
among them by his armour and dress, encountered the leader of the
enemy with violence so much greater than the master of the horse had
shown a little before, that at one thrust he ran him through the
side and slew him. While stripping the body of his enemy, he himself
received a wound with a javelin, and, though brought back to the camp
victorious, died while it was being dressed. Then the dictator hurried
up to the cavalry, entreating them, as the infantry were tired out, to
dismount and take up the fight. They obeyed his orders, dismounted,
flew to the front, and, taking the place of the first line, covered
themselves with their targets. The infantry immediately recovered
their courage when they saw the young nobles sustaining a share of the
danger with them, the mode of fighting being now the same for
all. Then at length the Latins were beaten back, and their line,
disheartened, gave way. The horses were then brought up to the
cavalry, that they might pursue the enemy: the infantry likewise
followed. Thereupon the dictator, disregarding nothing that held out
hope of divine or human aid, is said to have vowed a temple to Castor,
and to have promised rewards to the first and second of the soldiers
who should enter the enemy's camp. Such was the ardour of the Romans
that they took the camp with the same impetuosity wherewith they had
routed the enemy in the field. Such was the engagement at the Lake
Regillus.
The dictator and master of the horse returned to the city in triumph.
For the next three years there was neither settled peace nor open war.
The consuls were Q. Cloelius and T. Larcius. They were succeeded by
A. Sempronius and M. Minucius. During their consulship a temple was
dedicated to Saturn and the festival of the Saturnalia instituted.
The next consuls were A. Postumius and T. Verginius. I find in some
authors this year given as the date of the battle at Lake Regillus,
and that A. Postumius laid down his consulship because the fidelity
of his colleague was suspected, on which a Dictator was appointed. So
many errors as to dates occur, owing to the order in which the consuls
succeeded being variously given, that the remoteness in time of both
the events and the authorities make it impossible to determine either
which consuls succeeded which, or in what year any particular event
occurred. Ap. Claudius and P. Servilius were the next consuls. This
year is memorable for the news of Tarquin's death. His death took
place at Cuma, whither he had retired, to seek the protection of the
tyrant Aristodemus after the power of the Latins was broken. The news
was received with delight by both senate and plebs. But the elation of
the patricians was carried to excess. Up to that time they had treated
the commons with the utmost deference, now their leaders began to
practice injustice upon them. The same year a fresh batch of colonists
was sent to complete the number at Signia, a colony founded by King
Tarquin. The number of tribes at Rome was increased to twenty-one. The
temple of Mercury was dedicated on May 15.
The relations with the Volscians during the Latin war were neither
friendly nor openly hostile. The Volscians had collected a force which
they were intending to send to the aid of the Latins had not the
Dictator forestalled them by the rapidity of his movements, a rapidity
due to his anxiety to avoid a battle with the combined armies. To
punish them the consuls led the legions into the Volscian country.
This unexpected movement paralysed the Volscians, who were not
expecting retribution for what had been only an intention. Unable
to offer resistance, they gave as hostages three hundred children
belonging to their nobility, drawn from Cora and Pometia. The legions,
accordingly, were marched back without fighting. Relieved from the
immediate danger, the Volscians soon fell back on their old policy,
and after forming an armed alliance with the Hernicans, made secret
preparations for war. They also despatched envoys through the length
and breadth of Latium to induce that nation to join them. But after
their defeat at Lake Regillus the Latins were so incensed against
every one who advocated a resumption of hostilities that they did not
even spare the Volscian envoys, who were arrested and conducted to
Rome. There they were handed over to the consuls and evidence was
produced showing that the Volscians and Hernicans were preparing for
war with Rome. When the matter was brought before the senate, they
were so gratified by the action of the Latins that they sent back six
thousand prisoners who had been sold into slavery, and also referred
to the new magistrates the question of a treaty which they had
hitherto persistently refused to consider. The Latins congratulated
themselves upon the course they had adopted, and the advocates of
peace were in high honour. They sent a golden crown as a gift to
the Capitoline Jupiter. The deputation who brought the gift were
accompanied by a large number of the released prisoners, who visited
the houses where they had worked as slaves to thank their former
masters for the kindness and consideration shown them in their
misfortunes, and to form ties of hospitality with them. At no
previous period had the Latin nation been on more friendly terms both
politically and personally with the Roman government.
But a war with the Volscians was imminent, and the State was torn with
internal dissensions; the patricians and the plebeians were bitterly
hostile to one another, owing mainly to the desperate condition of the
debtors. They loudly complained that whilst fighting in the field
for liberty and empire they were oppressed and enslaved by their
fellow-citizens at home; their freedom was more secure in war than
in peace, safer amongst the enemy than amongst their own people. The
discontent, which was becoming of itself continually more embittered,
was still further aggravated by the striking sufferings of an
individual. A man advanced in years rushed into the forum with the
tokens of his utter misery upon him. His clothes were covered with
filth, his personal appearance still more pitiable, pale, and
emaciated. In addition, a long beard and hair gave a wild look to his
countenance. Notwithstanding his wretched appearance however, he
was recognised, and people said that he had been a centurion, and,
compassionating him, recounted other distinctions that he had gained
in war: he himself exhibited scars on his breast in front, which bore
witness to honourable battles in several places. When they repeatedly
inquired the reason of his plight, and wretched appearance, a crowd
having now gathered round him almost like a regular assembly, he said,
that, while serving in the Sabine war, because he had not only been
deprived of the produce of his land in consequence of the depredations
of the enemy, but his residence had also been burned down, all his
effects pillaged, his cattle driven off, and a tax imposed on him at a
time when it pressed most hardly upon him, he had got into debt: that
this debt, increased by exorbitant interest, had stripped him first of
his father's and grandfather's farm, then of all his other property;
lastly that, like a wasting sickness, it had reached his person: that
he had been dragged by his creditor, not into servitude, but into a
house of correction and a place of torture. He then showed his back
disfigured with the marks of recent scourging. At this sight and these
words a great uproar arose. The tumult now no longer confined itself
to the forum, but spread everywhere through the entire city. The
nexi,[25] both those who were imprisoned, and those who were now at
liberty, hurried into the streets from all quarters and implored the
protection of the Quirites. Nowhere was there lack of volunteers to
join the disturbance. They ran in crowds through all the streets, from
all points, to the forum with loud shouts. Such of the senators as
happened to be in the forum fell in with this mob at great peril to
themselves; and it might not have refrained from actual violence
had not the consuls, Publius Servilius and Appius Claudius, hastily
interfered to quell the disturbance. The multitude, however, turning
toward them, and showing their chains and other marks of wretchedness,
said that they deserved all this,[26] mentioning, each of them, in
reproachful terms, the military services performed by himself, by
one in one place, by another in another. They called upon them with
menaces, rather than entreaties, to assemble the senate, and stood
round the senate-house in a body, determined themselves to be
witnesses and directors of the public resolves. Very few of the
senators, whom chance had thrown in the way, were got together by the
consuls; fear kept the rest away not only from the senate-house, but
even from the forum, and no business could be transacted owing to
their small attendance. Then indeed the people began to think they
were being tricked, and put off: and that such of the senators as
absented themselves did so not through accident or fear, but with the
express purpose of obstructing business: that the consuls themselves
were shuffling, that their miseries were without doubt held up to
ridicule. Matters had now almost come to such a pass that not even
the majesty of the consuls could restrain the violence of the people.
Wherefore, uncertain whether they would incur greater danger by
staying at home, or venturing abroad, they at length came into the
senate; but, though the house was now by this time full, not only were
the senators unable to agree, but even the consuls themselves. Appius,
a man of violent temperament, thought the matter ought to be settled
by the authority of the consuls, and that, if one or two were seized,
the rest would keep quiet. Servilius, more inclined to moderate
remedies, thought that, while their minds were in this state of
excitement, they could be bent with greater ease and safety than they
could be broken.
Meanwhile an alarm of a more serious nature presented itself. Some
Latin horse came full speed to Rome, with the alarming news that the
Volscians were marching with a hostile army to besiege the city.
This announcement--so completely had discord split the state into
two--affected the senators and people in a far different manner. The
people exulted with joy, and said that the gods were coming to take
vengeance on the tyranny of the patricians. They encouraged one
another not to give in their names,[27] declaring that it was better
that all should perish together than that they should perish alone.
Let the patricians serve as soldiers; let the patricians take up arms,
so that those who reaped the advantages of war should also undergo its
dangers. But the senate, dejected and confounded by the double alarm
they felt, inspired both by their own countryman and by the enemy,
entreated the consul Servilius, whose disposition was more inclined to
favour the people, that he would extricate the commonwealth, beset as
it was with so great terrors. Then the consul, having dismissed the
senate, came forward into the assembly. There he declared that the
senate were solicitous that the interests of the people should be
consulted: but that alarm for the safety of the whole commonwealth had
interrupted their deliberation regarding that portion of the state,
which, though indeed the largest portion, was yet only a portion: nor
could they, seeing that the enemy were almost at the gates, allow
anything to take precedence of the war: nor, even though there should
be some respite, was it either to the credit of the people not to have
taken up arms in defence of their country unless they first received
pay, nor consistent with the dignity of the senators to have adopted
measures of relief for the distressed fortunes of their countrymen
through fear rather than afterward of their own free will. He then
further gave his speech the stamp of sincerity by an edict, by which
he ordained that no one should detain a Roman citizen either in chains
or in prison, so that he would thereby be deprived of the opportunity
of enrolling his name under the consuls, and that no one should either
take possession of or sell the goods of any soldier, while on service,
or detain his children or grandchildren in custody for debt. On
the publication of this edict, both the debtors who were present
immediately gave in their names, and crowds of persons, hastening from
all quarters of the city from private houses, as their creditors had
no right to detain their persons, ran together into the forum, to take
the military oath. These made up a considerable body of men, nor did
any others exhibit more conspicuous bravery or activity during the
Volscian war. The consul led out his forces against the enemy, and
pitched his camp at a little distance from them.
The next night the Volscians, relying on the dissension among the
Romans, made an attempt on their camp, to see if there were any chance
of desertion or treachery during the night. The sentinels on guard
perceived them: the army was called up, and, the signals being given,
they ran to arms. Thus the attempt of the Volscians was frustrated;
the remainder of the night was given up to repose on both sides. The
next morning at daybreak the Volscians, having filled the trenches,
attacked the rampart. And already the fortifications were being
demolished on every side, when the consul, after having delayed a
little while for the purpose of testing the feelings of the soldiers,
although all from every quarter, and before all the debtors, were
crying out for him to give the signal, at length, when their great
eagerness became unmistakable, gave the signal for sallying forth, and
let out the soldiery impatient for the fight. At the very first onset
the enemy was routed; the fugitives were harassed in the rear, as far
as the infantry were able to follow them: the cavalry drove then in
consternation up to their camp. In a short time the legions having
been drawn around it, the camp itself was taken and plundered, since
panic had driven the Volscians even from thence also. On the next
day the legions were led to Suessa Pometia, whither the enemy had
retreated. In a few days the town was taken, and, after being taken,
was given up for plunder, whereby the needs of the soldiers were
somewhat relieved. The consul led back his victorious army to Rome
with the greatest renown to himself. On his departure for Rome, he was
met by the deputies of the Ecetrans, a tribe of the Volscians, who
were alarmed for the safety of their state after the capture of
Pometia. By a decree of the senate peace was granted them, but they
were deprived of their land.
Immediately after this the Sabines also frightened the Romans: for it
was rather an alarm than a war. News was brought into the city during
the night that a Sabine army had advanced as far as the river Anio,
plundering the country: that the country houses there were being
pillaged and set fire to indiscriminately. Aulus Postumius, who had
been dictator in the Latin war, was immediately sent thither with all
the cavalry forces. The consul Servilius followed him with a picked
body of infantry. The cavalry cut off most of the stragglers; nor
did the Sabine legions make any resistance against the battalion of
infantry when it came up with them. Tired both by their march and
nightly raids, surfeited with eating and drinking in the country
houses, a great number of them had scarcely sufficient strength to
flee. Thus the Sabine war was heard of and finished in a single night.
On the following day, when all were sanguine that peace had been
secured in every quarter, ambassadors from the Auruncans presented
themselves before the senate, threatening to declare war unless the
troops were withdrawn from the Volscian territory. The army of the
Auruncans had set out from home at the same time as the ambassadors,
and the report that this army had been seen not far from Aricia threw
the Romans into such a state of confusion that neither could the
senate be consulted in regular form, nor could the Romans, while
themselves taking up arms, give a pacific answer to those who were
advancing to attack them. They marched to Aricia in hostile array,
engaged with the Auruncans not far from that town and in one battle
the war was ended.
After the defeat of the Auruncans, the people of Rome, victorious in
so many wars within a few days, were looking to the consul to fulfill
his promises, and to the senate to keep their word, when Appius, both
from his natural pride, and in order to undermine the credit of his
colleague, issued a decree concerning borrowed money in the harshest
possible terms. From this time, both those who had been formerly in
confinement were delivered up to their creditors, and others also were
taken into custody. Whenever this happened to any soldier, he appealed
to the other consul. A crowd gathered about Servilius: they threw his
promises in his teeth, severally upbraiding him with their services in
war, and the scars they had received. They called upon him either
to lay the matter before the senate, or, as consul, to assist his
fellow-citizens, as commander, his soldiers. These remonstrances
affected the consul, but the situation of affairs obliged him to act
in a shuffling manner: so completely had not only his colleague,
but the whole of the patrician party, enthusiastically taken up the
opposite cause. And thus, by playing a middle part, he neither escaped
the odium of the people, nor gained the favour of the senators.
The patricians looked upon him as wanting in energy and a
popularity-hunting consul, the people, as deceitful: and it soon
became evident that he had become as unpopular as Appius himself. A
dispute had arisen between the consuls, as to which of them should
dedicate the Temple of Mercury. The senate referred the matter from
themselves to the people, and ordained that, to whichever of them the
task of dedication should be intrusted by order of the people, he
should preside over the markets, establish a guild of merchants,[28]
and perform the ceremonies in presence of the Pontifex Maximus. The
people intrusted the dedication of the temple to Marcus Laetorius, a
centurion of the firstrank, which, as would be clear to all, was done
not so muchout of respect to a person on whom an office above his rank
had been conferred, as to affront the consuls. Upon this one of the
consuls particularly, and the senators were highly incensed: however,
the people had gained fresh courage, and proceeded in quite a
different manner to what they had at first intended. For when they
despaired of redress from the consuls and senate, whenever they saw a
debtor led into court, they rushed together from all quarters. Neither
could the decree of the consul be heard distinctly for the noise and
shouting, nor, when he had pronounced the decree, did any one obey
it. Violence was the order of the day, and apprehension and danger in
regard to personal liberty was entirely transferred from the debtors
to the creditors, who were individually maltreated by the crowd before
the very eyes of the consul. In addition, the dread of the Sabine war
spread, and when a levy was decreed, nobody gave in his name: Appius
was enraged, and bitterly inveighed against the self-seeking conduct
of his colleague, in that he, by the inactivity he displayed to win
the favour of the people, was betraying the republic, and, besides not
having enforced justice in the matter of debt, likewise neglected
even to hold a levy, in obedience to the decree of the senate. Yet
he declared that the commonwealth was not entirely deserted, nor the
consular authority altogether degraded; that he, alone and unaided,
would vindicate both his own dignity and that of the senators. When
day by day the mob, emboldened by license, stood round him, he
commanded a noted ringleader of the seditious outbreaks to be
arrested. He, as he was being dragged off by the lictors, appealed
to the people; nor would the consul have allowed the appeal, because
there was no doubt regarding the decision of the people, had not his
obstinacy been with difficulty overcome, rather by the advice and
influence of the leading men, than by the clamours of the people; with
such a superabundance of courage was he endowed to support the weight
of public odium. The evil gained ground daily, not only by open
clamours, but, what was far more dangerous, by secession and by secret
conferences. At length the consuls, so odious to the commons, resigned
office, Servilius liked by neither party, Appius highly esteemed by
the senators.
Then Aulus Verginius and Titus Vetusius entered on the consulship.
Upon this the commons, uncertain what sort of consuls they were likely
to have, held nightly meetings, some of them upon the Esquiline, and
others upon the Aventine, lest, when assembled in the forum, they
should be thrown into confusion by being obliged to adopt hasty
resolutions, and proceed inconsiderately and at hap-hazard. The
consuls, judging this proceeding to be of dangerous tendency, as it
really was, laid the matter before the senate. But, when it was laid
before them, they could not get them to consult upon it regularly; it
was received with an uproar on all sides, and by the indignant shouts
of the fathers, at the thought that the consuls threw on the senate
the odium for that which should have been carried out by consular
authority. Assuredly, if there were real magistrates in the republic,
there would have been no council at Rome but a public one. As it was,
the republic was divided and split into a thousand senate-houses and
assemblies, some meetings being held on the Esquiline, others on the
Aventine. One man, like Appius Claudius--for such a one was of more
value than a consul--would have dispersed those private meetings in a
moment. When the consuls, thus rebuked, asked them what it was that
they desired them to do, declaring that they would carry it out with
as much energy and vigour as the senators wished, the latter issued
a decree that they should push on the levy as briskly as possible
declaring that the people had become insolent from want of employment.
When the senate had been dismissed, the consuls assembled the tribunal
and summoned the younger men by name. When none of them answered to
his name, the people, crowding round after the manner of a general
assembly, declared that the people could no longer be imposed on: that
they should never enlist one single soldier unless the engagement made
publicly with the people were fulfilled: that liberty must be restored
to each before arms should be given, that so they might fight for
their country and fellow-citizens, and not for lords and masters. The
consuls understood the orders of the senate, but saw none of those who
talked so big within the walls of the senate-house present themselves
to share the odium they would incur. In fact, a desperate contest with
the commons seemed at hand. Therefore, before they had recourse to
extremities, they thought it advisable to consult the senate a second
time. Then indeed all the younger senators almost flew to the chairs
of the consuls, commanding them to resign the consulate, and lay aside
an office which they lacked the courage to support.
Both plans having been sufficiently made proof of, the consuls at
length said: "Conscript fathers, that you may not say that you have
not been forewarned, know that a great disturbance is at hand. We
demand that those who accuse us most loudly of cowardice shall assist
us when holding the levy; we will proceed according to the resolution
of the most intrepid among you, since it so pleases you." Returning
to their tribunal, they purposely commanded one of the leaders of the
disturbance, who were in sight, to be summoned by name. When he stood
without saying a word, and a number of men stood round him in a ring,
to prevent violence being offered, the consuls sent a lictor to seize
him, but he was thrust back by the people. Then, indeed, those of
the fathers who attended the consuls, exclaiming against it as an
intolerable insult, hurried down from the tribunal to assist the
lictor. But when the violence of the people was turned from the
lictor, who had merely been prevented from arresting the man, against
the fathers, the riot was quelled by the interposition of consuls,
during which, however, without the use of stones or weapons, there was
more noise and angry words than actual injury inflicted. The senate,
summoned in a tumultuous manner was consulted in a manner still more
tumultuous, those who had been beaten demanding an inquiry, and the
most violent of them attempting to carry their point, not so much by
votes as by clamour and bustle. At length, when their passion had
subsided, and the consuls reproached them that there was no more
presence of mind in the senate than in the forum, the matter began to
be considered in order. Three different opinions were held. Publius
Verginius was against extending relief to all. He voted that they
should consider only those who, relying on the promise of Publius
Servilius the consul, had served in the war against the Volscians,
Auruncans, and Sabines. Titus Larcius was of opinion, that it was not
now a fitting time for services only to be rewarded: that all the
people were overwhelmed with debt, and that a stop could not be put to
the evil, unless measures were adopted for the benefit of all: nay,
further, if the condition of different parties were different discord
would thereby rather be inflamed than healed. Appius Claudius, being
naturally of a hard disposition, and further infuriated by the hatred
of the commons on the one hand, and the praises of the senators on the
other, insisted that such frequent riots were caused not by distress,
but by too much freedom: that the people were rather insolent than
violent: that this mischief, in fact, took its rise from the right of
appeal; since threats, not authority, was all that remained to the
consuls, while permission was given to appeal to those who were
accomplices in the crime. "Come," added he, "let us create a dictator
from whom there lies no appeal, and this madness, which has set
everything ablaze, will immediately subside. Then let me see the man
who will dare to strike a lictor, when he shall know that that person,
whose authority he has insulted, has sole and absolute power to flog
and behead him."
To many the opinion of Appius appeared, as in fact it was, harsh and
severe. On the other hand, the proposals of Verginius and Larcius
appeared injurious, from the precedent they established: that of
Larcius they considered especially so, as one that would destroy all
credit. The advice of Verginius, was reckoned to be most moderate, and
a happy medium between the other two. But through party spirit and
men's regard for their private interest, which always has and always
will stand in the way of public councils, Appius prevailed, and was
himself near being created dictator--a step which would certainly
have alienated the commons at a most dangerous juncture, when the
Volscians, the Aequans, and the Sabines all happened to be in arms at
the same time. But the consuls and elders of the senate took care that
this command, in its own nature uncontrollable, should be intrusted
to a man of mild disposition. They elected Marcus Valerius son of
Volesus, dictator. The people, though they saw that this magistrate
was appointed against themselves, yet, as they possessed the right of
appeal by his brother's law, had nothing harsh or tyrannical to fear
from that family. Afterward an edict published by the dictator, which
was almost identical in terms with that of the consul Servilius,
further inspirited them. But, thinking reliance could be more safely
placed both in the man and in his authority,[29] they abandoned the
struggle and gave in their names. Ten legions were raised, a larger
army than had ever been raised before.[30] Of these, each of the
consuls had three legions assigned him; the dictator commanded four.
The war could not now be any longer deferred. The Aequans had invaded
the territory of the Latins: the deputies of the latter begged the
senate either to send them assistance, or to allow them to arm
themselves for the purpose of defending their own frontiers. It seemed
safer that the Latins should be defended without their being armed,
than to allow them to handle arms again. Vetusius the consul was sent
to their assistance: thereby a stop was put to the raids. The Aequans
retired from the plains, and depending more on the advantages of
position than on their arms, secured themselves on the heights of the
mountains. The other consul, having set out against the Volscians,
lest he in like manner might waste time,[31] provoked the enemy to
pitch their camp nearer, and to risk a regular engagement, by ravaging
their lands. Both armies stood ready to advance, in front of their
lines, in hostile array, in a plain between the two camps. The
Volscians had considerably the advantage in numbers: accordingly, they
entered into battle in loose order, and in a spirit of contempt. The
Roman consul neither advanced his forces, nor allowed the enemy's
shouts to be returned, but ordered his men to stand with their spears
fixed in the ground, and whenever the enemy came to a hand-to-hand
encounter, to draw their swords, and attacking them with all their
force, to carry on the fight. The Volscians, wearied with running and
shouting attacked the Romans, who appeared to them paralyzed with
fear; but when they perceived the vigorous resistance that was made,
and saw the swords glittering before their eyes, just as if they had
fallen into an ambuscade, they turned and fled in confusion. Nor had
they sufficient strength even to flee as they had entered into action
at full speed. The Romans, on the other hand, as they had quietly
stood their ground at the beginning of the action, with physical
vigour unimpaired, easily overtook the weary foe, took their camp by
assault, and, having driven them from it, pursued them to Velitrae,
[32] into which city conquered and conquerors together rushed in one
body. By the promiscuous slaughter of all ranks, which there ensued,
more blood was shed than in the battle itself. Quarter was given to a
few, who threw down their arms and surrendered.
While these operations were going on among the Volscians, the dictator
routed the Sabines, among whom by far the most important operations
of the war were carried on, put them to flight, and stripped them of
their camp. By a charge of cavalry he had thrown the centre of the
enemy's line into confusion, in the part where, owing to the wings
being extended too widely, they had not properly strengthened their
line with companies in the centre. The infantry fell upon them in
their confusion: by one and the same charge the camp was taken and the
war concluded. There was no other battle in those times more memorable
than this since the action at the Lake Regillus. The dictator rode
into the city in triumph. Besides the usual honours, a place in the
circus was assigned to him and his descendants, to see the public
games: a curule chair.[33] was fixed in that place. The territory of
Velitrae was taken from the conquered Volscians: colonists were sent
from Rome to Velitrae, and a colony led out thither. Some considerable
time afterward an engagement with the Aequans took place, but against
the wish of the consul, because they had to approach the enemy on
unfavourable ground: the soldiers, however, complaining that the
affair was being purposely protracted, in order that the dictator
might resign his office before they themselves returned to the city,
and so his promises might come to nothing, like those of the consul
before, forced him at all hazards to march his army up the hills.
This imprudent step, through the cowardice of the enemy, turned out
successful: for, before the Romans came within range, the Aequans,
amazed at their boldness, abandoned their camp, which they had pitched
in a very strong position, and ran down into the valleys that lay
behind them. There abundant plunder was found: the victory was a
bloodless one. While military operations had thus proved successful
in three quarters, neither senators nor people had dismissed their
anxiety in regard to the issue of domestic questions. With such
powerful influence and such skill had the usurers made arrangements,
so as to disappoint not only the people, but even the dictator
himself. For Valerius, after the return of the consul Vetusius, of all
the measures brought before the senate, made that on behalf of the
victorious people the first, and put the question, what it was their
pleasure should be done with respect to the debtors. And when his
report was disallowed, he said: "As a supporter of reconciliation, I
am not approved of. You will ere long wish, depend on it, that the
commons of Rome had supporters like myself. For my part, I will
neither further disappoint my Fellow-citizens, nor will I be dictator
to no purpose. Intestine dissensions and foreign wars have caused the
republic to stand in need of such a magistrate. Peace has been secured
abroad, it is impeded at home. I will be a witness to the disturbance
as a private citizen rather than as dictator." Accordingly, quitting
the senate-house, he resigned his dictatorship. The reason was clear
to the people: that he had resigned his office from indignation at
their treatment. Accordingly, as if his promise had been fully kept,
since it had not been his fault that his word had not been made
good, they escorted him on his return home with favouring shouts of
acclamation.
Fear then seized the senators lest, if the army was disbanded, secret
meetings and conspiracies would be renewed; accordingly, although the
levy had been held by the dictator, yet, supposing that, as they had
sworn obedience to the consuls, the soldiers were bound by their oath,
they ordered the legions to be led out of the city, under the pretext
of hostilities having been renewed by the Aequans. By this course of
action the sedition was accelerated. And indeed it is said that it was
at first contemplated to put the consuls to death, that the legions
might be discharged from their oath: but that, being afterward
informed that no religious obligation could be rendered void by a
criminal act, they, by the advice of one Sicinius, retired, without
the orders of the consuls, to the Sacred Mount,[34] beyond the river
Anio, three miles from the city: this account is more commonly adopted
than that which Piso[35] has given, that the secession was made to the
Aventine. There, without any leader, their camp being fortified with
a rampart and trench, remaining quiet, taking nothing but what was
necessary for subsistence, they remained for several days, neither
molested nor molesting. Great was the panic in the city, and through
mutual fear all was in suspense. The people, left by their fellows in
the city, dreaded the violence of the senators: the senators dreaded
the people who remained in the city, not feeling sure whether they
preferred them to stay or depart. On the other hand, how long would
the multitude which had seceded, remain quiet? What would be the
consequences hereafter, if, in the meantime, any foreign war should
break out? They certainly considered there was no hope left, save in
the concord of the citizens: that this must be restored to the state
at any price. Under these circumstances it was resolved that Agrippa
Menenius, an eloquent man, and a favourite with the people, because
he was sprung from them, should be sent to negotiate with them. Being
admitted into the camp, he is said to have simply related to them the
following story in an old-fashioned and unpolished style: "At the time
when the parts of the human body did not, as now, all agree together,
but the several members had each their own counsel, and their own
language, the other parts were indignant that, while everything was
provided for the gratification of the belly by their labour and
service, the belly, resting calmly in their midst, did nothing but
enjoy the pleasures afforded it. They accordingly entered into a
conspiracy, that neither should the hands convey food to the mouth,
nor the mouth receive it when presented, nor the teeth have anything
to chew: while desiring, under the influence of this indignation, to
starve out the belly, the individual members themselves and the entire
body were reduced to the last degree of emaciation. Thence it became
apparent that the office of the belly as well was no idle one, that it
did not receive more nourishment than it supplied, sending, as it did,
to all parts of the body that blood from which we derive life and
vigour, distributed equally through the veins when perfected by the
digestion of the food." [36] By drawing a comparison from this, how
like was the internal sedition of the body to the resentment of the
people against the senators, he succeeded in persuading the minds of
the multitude.
Then the question of reconciliation began to be discussed, and a
compromise was effected on certain conditions: that the commons should
have magistrates of their own, whose persons should be inviolable, who
should have the power of rendering assistance against the consuls,
and that no patrician should be permitted to hold that office.
Accordingly, two tribunes of the commons were created, Gaius Licinius
and Lucius Albinus. These created three colleagues for themselves.
It is clear that among these was Sicinius, the ring-leader of the
sedition; with respect to the other two, there is less agreement who
they were. There are some who say that only two tribunes were elected
on the Sacred Mount and that there the lex sacrata [37] was passed.
During the secession of the commons, Spurius Cassius and Postumus
Cominius entered on the consulship. During their consulate, a treaty
was concluded with the Latin states. To ratify this, one of the
consuls remained at Rome: the other, who was sent to take command
in the Volscian war, routed and put to flight the Volscians of
Antium,[38] and pursuing them till they had been driven into the town
of Longula, took possession of the walls. Next he took Polusca, also
a city of the Volscians: he then attacked Corioli [39] with great
violence. There was at that time in the camp, among the young nobles,
Gnaeus Marcius, a youth distinguished both for intelligence and
courage, who was afterward surnamed Coriolanus. While the Roman army
was besieging Corioli, devoting all its attention to the townspeople,
who were kept, shut up within the walls, and there was no apprehension
of attack threatening from without, the Volscian legions, setting out
from Antium, suddenly attacked them, and the enemy sallied forth at
the same time from the town. Marcius at that time happened to be on
guard. He, with a chosen body of men, not only beat back the attack
of those who had sallied forth, but boldly rushed in through the
open gate, and, having cut down all who were in the part of the city
nearest to it, and hastily seized some blazing torches, threw them
into the houses adjoining the wall. Upon this, the shouts of the
townsmen, mingled with the wailings of the women and children
occasioned at first by fright, as is usually the case, both increased
the courage of the Romans, and naturally dispirited the Volscians
who had come to bring help, seeing that the city was taken. Thus the
Volscians of Antium were defeated, and the town of Corioli was taken.
And so much did Marcius by his valour eclipse the reputation of the
consul, that, had not the treaty concluded with the Latins by Spurius
Cassius alone, in consequence of the absence of his colleagues, and
which was engraved on a brazen column, served as a memorial of it, it
would have been forgotten that Postumus Cominius had conducted the war
with the Volscians. In the same year died Agrippa Menenius, a man all
his life equally a favourite with senators and commons, endeared still
more to the commons after the secession. This man, the mediator and
impartial promoter of harmony among his countrymen, the ambassador of
the senators to the commons, the man who brought back the commons to
the city, did not leave enough to bury him publicly. The people buried
him by the contribution of a sextans [40] per man.
Titus Geganius and Publius Minucius were next elected consuls. In
this year, when abroad there was complete rest from war, and at home
dissensions were healed, another far more serious evil fell upon the
state: first, dearness of provisions, a consequence of the lands lying
untilled owing to the secession of the commons; then a famine, such as
attacks those who are besieged. And matters would certainly have ended
in the destruction of the slaves and commons, had not the consuls
adopted precautionary measures, by sending persons in every direction
to buy up corn, not only into Etruria on the coast to the right of
Ostia, and through the territory of the Volscians along the coast on
the left as far as Cumae, but into Sicily also, in quest of it. To
such an extent had the hatred of their neighbours obliged them to
stand in need of assistance from distant countries. When corn had
been bought up at Cumae, the ships were detained as security for the
property of the Tarquinians by the tyrant Aristodemus, who was their
heir. Among the Volscians and in the Pomptine territory it could not
even be purchased. The corn dealers themselves incurred danger from
the violence of the inhabitants. Corn was brought from Etruria by way
of the Tiber: by means of this the people were supported. In such
straitened resources they would have been harassed by a most
inopportune war, had not a dreadful pestilence attacked the Volscians
when on the point of beginning hostilities. The minds of the enemy
being so terrified by this calamity, that they felt a certain alarm,
even after it had abated the Romans both augmented the number of their
colonists at Velitrae, and despatched a new colony to the mountains Of
Norba [41] to serve as a stronghold in the Pomptine district. Then
in the consulship of Marcus Minucius and Aulus Sempronius a great
quantity of corn was imported from Sicily and it was debated in the
senate at what price it should be offered to the commons. Many were
of opinion that the time was come for crushing the commons, and
recovering those rights which had been wrested from the senators by
secession and violence. In particular, Marcius Coriolanus, an enemy to
tribunician power, said: "If they desire corn at its old price, let
them restore to the senators their former rights. Why do I, like a
captive sent under the yoke, as if I had been ransomed from robbers,
behold plebeian magistrates, and Sicinius invested with power? Am I to
submit to these indignities longer than is necessary? Am I, who have
refused to endure Tarquin as king, to tolerate Sicinius? Let him now
secede, let him call away the commons. The road lies open to the
Sacred Mount and to other hills. Let them carry off the corn from our
lands, as they did three years since. Let them have the benefit
of that scarcity which in their mad folly they have themselves
occasioned. I venture to say, that, overcome by these sufferings, they
will themselves become tillers of the lands, rather than, taking up
arms, and seceding, prevent them from being tilled." It is not so easy
to say whether it should have been done, but I think that it might
have been practicable for the senators, on the condition of lowering
the price of provisions, to have rid themselves of both the
tribunician power, and all the regulations imposed on them against
their will.
This proposal both appeared to the senate too harsh and from
exasperation well-nigh drove the people to arms: they complained that
they were now being attacked with famine, as if they were enemies,
that they were being robbed of food and sustenance, that the corn
brought from foreign countries, the only support with which fortune
had unexpectedly furnished them, was being snatched from their mouth,
unless the tribunes were delivered in chains to Gnaeus Marcius, unless
satisfaction were exacted from the backs of the commons of Rome. That
in him a new executioner had arisen, one to bid them either die or
be slaves. He would have been attacked as he was leaving the
senate-house, had not the tribunes very opportunely appointed him a
day for trial: thereupon their rage was suppressed, every one saw
himself become the judge, the arbiter of the life and death of his
foe. At first Marcius listened to the threats of the tribunes with
contempt, saying that it was the right of affording aid, not of
inflicting punishment that had been conferred upon that office: that
they were tribunes of the commons and not of the senators. But the
commons had risen with such violent determination, that the senators
felt themselves obliged to sacrifice one man to arrive at a
settlement. They resisted, however, in spite of opposing odium, and
exerted, collectively, the powers of the whole order, as well as,
individually, each his own. At first, an attempt was made to see if,
by posting their clients [42] in several places, they could quash the
whole affair, by deterring individuals from attending meetings and
cabals. Then they all proceeded in a body--one would have said that
all the senators were on their trial--earnestly entreating the commons
that, if they would not acquit an innocent man, they would at least
for their sake pardon, assuming him guilty, one citizen, one senator.
As he did not attend in person on the day appointed, they persisted in
their resentment. He was condemned in his absence, and went into exile
among the Volscians, threatening his country, and even then cherishing
all the resentment of an enemy.[43] The Volscians received him kindly
on his arrival, and treated him still more kindly every day, in
proportion as his resentful feelings toward his countrymen became more
marked, and at one time frequent complaints, at another threats, were
heard. He enjoyed the hospitality of Attius Tullius, who was at that
time by far the chief man of the Volscian people, and had always been
a determined enemy of the Romans. Thus, while long-standing animosity
stimulated the one and recent resentment the other, they concerted
schemes for bringing about a war with Rome. They did not readily
believe that their own people could be persuaded to take up arms, so
often unsuccessfully tried, seeing that by many frequent wars, and
lastly, by the loss of their youth in the pestilence, their spirits
were now broken; they felt that in a case where animosity had now died
away from length of time they must proceed by scheming, that their
feelings might become exasperated under the influence of some fresh
cause for resentment.
It happened that preparations were being made at Rome for a renewal of
the great games.[44] The cause of this renewal was as follows: On the
day of the games, in the morning when the show had not yet begun, a
certain head of a family had driven a slave of his through the middle
of the circus while he was being flogged, tied to the fork:[45] after
this the games had been begun, as if the matter had nothing to do with
any religious difficulty. Soon afterward Titus Latinius, a plebeian,
had a dream, in which Jupiter appeared to him and said that the person
who danced before the games had displeased him; unless those games
were renewed on a splendid scale, danger would threaten the city:
let him go and announce this to the consuls. Though his mind was not
altogether free from religious awe, his reverence for the dignity of
the magistrates, lest he might become a subject for ridicule in the
mouths of all, overcame his religious fear. This delay cost him dear,
for he lost his son within a few days; and, that there might be no
doubt about the cause of this sudden calamity, the same vision,
presenting itself to him in the midst of his sorrow of heart, seemed
to ask him, whether he had been sufficiently requited for his contempt
of the deity; that a still heavier penalty threatened him, unless he
went immediately and delivered the message to the consuls. The matter
was now still more urgent. While, however, he still delayed and kept
putting it off, he was attacked by a severe stroke of disease, a
sudden paralysis. Then indeed the anger of the gods frightened him.
Wearied out therefore by his past sufferings and by those that
threatened him, he convened a meeting of his friends and relatives,
and, after he had detailed to them all he had seen and heard, and the
fact of Jupiter having so often presented himself to him in his sleep,
and the threats and anger of Heaven speedily fulfilled in his own
calamities, he was, with the unhesitating assent of all who were
present, conveyed in a litter into the forum to the presence of the
consuls. From the forum, by order of the consuls, he was carried into
the senate-house, and, after he had recounted the same story to the
senators, to the great surprise of all, behold another miracle: he who
had been carried into the senate-house deprived of the use of all his
limbs, is reported to have returned home on his own feet, after he had
discharged his duty.