1. Fast by the royal standard,
O'erlooking all the war,
Lars Porsena of Clusium
Sate in his ivory car.
By the right wheel rode Mamilius,
Prince of the Latian name;
And by the left false Sextus,
That wrought the deed of shame.
2. But when the face of Sextus
Was seen among the foes,
A yell that rent the firmament
From all the town arose.
On the house-tops was no woman
But spate toward him and hissed;
No child but screamed out curses,
And shook its little fist.
3. But the consul's brow was sad,
And the consul's speech was low;
And darkly looked he at the wall,
And darkly at the foe.
"Their van will be upon us
Before the bridge goes down;
And if they once may win the bridge,
What hope to save the town?"
4. Then out spoke brave Horatius,
The captain of the gate:
"To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his gods!
[Illustration: _Horatius._]
5. "Hew down the bridge, Sir Consul
With all the speed ye may;
I, with two more to help me,
Will hold the foe in play.
In yon straight path a thousand
May well be stopped by three.
Now, who will stand on either hand,
And keep the bridge with me?"
6. Then out spoke Spurius Lartius,
A Ramnian proud was he:
"Lo, I will stand on thy right hand,
And keep the bridge with thee."
And out spoke strong Herminius,
Of Titian blood was he:
"I will abide on thy left side,
And keep the bridge with thee."
7. The three stood calm and silent,
And looked upon the foes.
And a great shout of laughter
From all the vanguard rose:
And forth three chiefs came spurring
Before that mighty mass;
To earth they sprang, their swords they drew
And lifted high their shields, and flew
To win the narrow pass.
8. Aunus from green Tifernum,
Lord of the Hill of Tines;
And Seius, whose eight hundred slaves
Sicken in Ilva's mines;
And Picus, long to Clusium
Vassal in peace and war,
Who led to fight his Umbrian powers
From that gray crag where, girt with towers,
The fortress of Nequinum lowers
O'er the pale waves of Nar.
9. Stout Lartius hurled down Aunus
Into the stream beneath;
Herminius struck at Seius,
And clove him to the teeth;
At Picus brave Horatius
Darted one fiery thrust,
And the proud Umbrian's gilded arms
Clashed in the bloody dust.
10. But meanwhile axe and lever
Have manfully been plied,
And now the bridge hangs tottering
Above the boiling tide.
"Come back, come back, Horatius,"
Loud cried the Fathers all.
"Back, Lartius! back, Herminius!
Back, ere the ruin fall!"
11. Back darted Spurius Lartius;
Herminius darted back:
And as they passed, beneath their feet
They felt the timbers crack.
But when they turned their faces,
And on the further shore
Saw brave Horatius stand alone,
They would have crossed once more.
12. But with a crash like thunder
Fell every loosened beam,
And, like a dam, the mighty wreck
Lay right athwart the stream;
And a long shout of triumph
Rose from the walls of Rome,
As to the highest turret tops
Was splashed the yellow foam.
13. Alone stood brave Horatius,
But constant still in mind;
Thrice thirty thousand foes before,
And the broad flood behind.
"Down with him!" cried false Sextus,
With a smile on his pale face.
"Now yield thee," cried Lars Porsena,
"Now yield thee to our grace."
14. Round turned he, as not deigning
Those craven ranks to see;
Naught spake he to Lars Porsena,
To Sextus naught spake he;
But he saw on Palatinus
The white porch of his home,
And he spake to the noble river
That rolls by the towers of Rome.
15. "Oh, Tiber! Father Tiber!
To whom the Romans pray,
A Roman's life, a Roman's arms,
Take thou in charge this day!"
So he spoke, and speaking sheathed
The good sword by his side,
And with his harness on his back
Plunged headlong in the tide.
16. But fiercely ran the current,
Swollen high by months of rain;
And fast his blood was flowing;
And he was sore in pain,
And heavy with his armor,
And spent with changing blows:
And oft they thought him sinking,
But still again he rose.
17. And now he feels the bottom;
Now on dry earth he stands;
Now round him throng the fathers,
To press his gory hands;
And now with shouts and clapping,
And noise of weeping loud,
He enters through the River-gate,
Borne by the joyous crowd.
18. And still his name sounds stirring
Unto the men of Rome,
As the trumpet-blast that cries to them
To charge the Volscian home;
And wives still pray to Juno
For boys with hearts as bold
As his who kept the bridge so well
In the brave days of old.
19. And in the nights of winter,
When the cold north winds blow,
And the long howling of the wolves
Is heard amidst the snow;
When round the lonely cottage
Roars loud the tempest's din,
And the good logs of Algidus
Roar louder yet within;
20. When the oldest cask is opened,
And the largest lamp is lit,
When the chestnuts glow in the embers,
And the kid turns on the spit;
When young and old in circle
Around the firebrands close;
When the girls are weaving baskets,
And the lads are shaping bows;
21. When the goodman mends his armor,
And trims his helmet's plume;
When the goodwife's shuttle merrily
Goes flashing through the loom;
With weeping and with laughter
Still is the story told,
How well Horatius kept the bridge
In the brave days of old.
_Macaulay._
[Illustration]
_XXVII.-THE ROMAN REPUBLIC._
1. The establishment of the republic marked an era in the history of
Rome. The people had decreed, that for them there never should be a
king, and the law was kept to the letter; though, if they meant that
supreme authority should never be held among them by one man, it was
violated many times. The story of Rome is unique in the history of the
world, for it is not the record of the life of one great country, but
of a city that grew to be strong, and successfully established its
authority over many countries.
2. The most ancient and the most remote from the sea of the cities of
Latium, Rome soon became the most influential, and began to combine in
itself the traits of the peoples near it; but owing to the singular
strength and rare impressiveness of the national character, these were
assimilated, and the inhabitant of the capital remained distinctively
a Roman in spite of his intimate association with men of different
origin and training.
3. The citizen of Rome was practical, patriotic, and faithful to
obligation; he loved to be governed by inflexible law; and it was a
fundamental principle with him that the individual should be
subordinate to the state. His kings were either organizers, like Numa
and Ancus-Marcius, or warriors like Romulus and Tullus Hostilius; they
either made laws, like Servius, or they enforced them with the
despotism of Tarquinius Superbus. It is difficult for us to conceive
of such majestic power emanating from a territory so insignificant.
4. We hardly realize that Latium did not comprise a territory quite
fifty miles by one hundred in extent, and that it was but a hundred
miles from the Mediterranean to the Adriatic. It was but a short walk
from Rome to the territory of the Etruscans, and when Tarquin found an
asylum at Cære, he did not separate himself by twenty miles from the
scene of his tyranny. Ostia was scarcely more distant, and one might
have ridden before the first meal of the day to Lavinium, or Alba, or
Veii, or to Ardea, the ancient city of the Rutuli. It is important to
keep these facts in mind as we read the story of the remarkable city.
5. All towns were built on hills in these early days, for safety in
case of war, as well as because the valleys were insalubrious, but
this was not a peculiarity of the Romans, for in New England in the
late ages of our own ancestors, they were obliged to follow the same
custom. On the tops and slopes of seven hills, as they liked to remind
themselves, the Romans built their city. They were not impressive
elevations, though their sides were sharp and rocky, for the loftiest
rose less than three hundred feet above the sea-level. Their summits
were crowned with groves of beech trees and oaks, and in the lower
lands grew osiers and other smaller varieties.
[Illustration: _Ancient Roman Monument._]
6. The earlier occupations of the Roman people were war and
agriculture, or the pasturage of flocks and herds. They raised grapes
and made wines; they cultivated the oil-olive, and knew the use of its
fruit. They found copper in their soil, and made a pound of it their
unit of value, but it was so cheap that ten thousand pounds of it were
required to buy a war-horse, though cattle and sheep were much lower.
They yoked their oxen and called the path they occupied a _jugerum_
(_jugum_--a cross-beam or a yoke), and this in time came to be their
familiar standard of square measure, containing about two-thirds of an
acre. Two of these were assigned to a citizen, and seven were the
narrow limit to which only one's landed possessions were for a long
time allowed to extend. In time commerce was added to the pursuits of
the men, and with it came fortunes and improved dwellings, and public
buildings. Laziness and luxury were frowned upon by the early Romans.
Mistress and maid worked together in the affairs of the household,
like Lucretia and other noble women of whom history tells, and the man
did not hesitate to hold the plow, as the example of Cincinnatus will
show us. Time was precious, and thrift and economy were necessary to
success. The father was the autocrat in the household, and exercised
his power with stern rigidity.
7. Art was backward, and came from abroad; of literature there was
none, long after Greece had passed its period of heroic poetry. The
dwellings of the citizens were low and insignificant, though, as time
passed on, they became more massive and important. The vast public
structures of the later kings were comparable to the taskwork of the
builders of the Egyptian pyramids, and they still strike us with
astonishment, and surprise.
8. The religion of these strong conquerors was narrow, severe, and
dreary. The early fathers worshiped native deities only. They
recognized gods everywhere--in the home, in the grove, and on the
mountain. They erected their altars on the hills; they had their lares
and penates to watch over their hearth-stones, and their vestal
virgins kept everlasting vigil near the never-dying fires in the
temples. With the art of Greece that made itself felt through Etruria,
came also the influence of the Grecian mythology, and Jupiter, Juno,
and Minerva found a shrine on the top of the Capitoline, where the
first statue of a deity was erected. The mysterious sibylline books
are also a mark of the Grecian influence, coming from Cumæ, a colony
of Magna Græcia.
9. During the period we have considered, the city passed through five
distinct stages of political organization. The government at first was
an elective monarchy, the electors being a patriarchal aristocracy.
After the invasion of the Sabines there was a union with that people,
the sovereignty being held by rulers chosen from each, but it was not
long before Rome became the head of a federal state. The Tarquins
established a monarchy, which rapidly degenerated into an offensive
tyranny, which aroused rebellion and at last led to the republic.
10. During all these changes, the original aristocrats and their
descendants held their position as the Populus Romanus, the Roman
people, insisting that every one else must belong to an inferior order,
and, as no body of men is willing to be condemned to a hopelessly
subordinate position in a state, there was a perpetual antagonism
between the patricians and the plebeians, between the aristocracy and
the commonalty. This led to a temporary change under Servius Tullius,
when property took the place of pedigree in establishing a man's rank
and influence; but owing to the peculiar method of voting adopted, the
power of the commons was not greatly increased. However, they had made
their influence felt, and were encouraged.
11. The overturning of the scheme by Tarquin favored a union of the
two orders for the punishment of that tyrant, and they combined; but
it was only for a time. When the danger had been removed, the tie was
found broken and the antagonism rather increased, so that the
subsequent history for five generations, though exceedingly
interesting, is largely a record of the struggles of the commons for
relief from the burdens laid upon them by the aristocrats.
[Illustration: _Roman Private Life._]
12. The father passed down to his son the story of the oppression of
the patricians, and the son told the same sad narrative to his
offspring. The mother mourned with her daughter over the sufferings
brought upon them by the rich, for whom their poor father and brothers
were obliged to fight the battles, while they were not allowed to
share the spoil, nor to divide the lands gained by their own prowess.
The struggle was not so much between patrician and plebeian as between
the rich and the poor. It was intimately connected with the uses of
money in those times. What could the rich Roman do with his
accumulations? He might buy land or slaves, or he might become a
lender; to a certain extent he could use his surplus in commerce; but
of these its most remunerative employment was found in usury. As there
were no laws regulating the rates of interest, they became exorbitant,
and as it was customary to compound it, debts rapidly grew beyond the
possibility of payment. As the rich made the laws they naturally
exerted their ingenuity to frame them in such a way as to enable the
lender to collect his dues with promptness and with little regard for
the feelings or interests of the debtor.
13. It is difficult, if not impossible, for us to form a proper
conception of the magnitude of the wrongs involved in the system of
money-lending at Rome during the period of the republic. The small
farmers were ever needy, and came to their wealthy neighbors for
accommodation loans. If these were not paid when due, the debtor was
liable to be locked up in prison, to be sold into slavery, with his
children, wife, and grandchildren; and the heartless law reads, that
in case the estate should prove insufficient to satisfy all claims,
the creditors were actually authorized to cut the body to pieces, that
each Shylock might take the pound of flesh that he claimed.
14. At last the severity of the lenders overreached itself. It was in
the year 495 B. C., that a poor but brave debtor, one who had been at
the very front in the wars, broke out of his prison, and while the
wind flaunted his rags in the face of the populace, clanked his chains
and told the story of his calamities so effectually in words of
natural eloquence, that the commons were aroused to madness, and
resolved at last to make a vigorous effort, and seek redress for their
wrongs in a way that could not be resisted.
15. The form of this man stands out forever on the pages of Roman
history, as he entered the forum with all the badges of his misery
upon him. His pale and emaciated body was but partially covered by his
wretched tatters; his long hair played about his shoulders, and his
glaring eyes and the grizzled beard hanging down before him added to
his savage wildness. As he passed along he uncovered the scars of near
two score battles that remained upon his breast, and explained to
inquirers that while he had been serving in the Sabine war, his house
had been pillaged and burned by the enemy; that when he had returned
to enjoy the sweets of the peace he had helped to win, he had found
that his cattle had been driven off, and a tax imposed.
16. To meet the debts that thronged upon him and the interest by which
they were aggravated, he had stripped himself of his ancestral farms.
Finally, pestilence had overtaken him, and as he was not able to work,
his creditor had placed him in a house of detention, the savage
treatment in which was shown by the fresh stripes upon his bleeding back.
17. At the moment a war was imminent, and the forum--the entire city,
in fact--already excited, was filled with the uproar of the angry
plebeians. Many confined for debt broke from their prison-houses and
ran from all quarters into the crowds to claim protection. The majesty
of the consuls was insufficient to preserve order, and while the
discord was rapidly increasing horsemen rushed into the gates
announcing that an enemy was actually upon them, marching to besiege
the city. The plebeians saw that their opportunity had arrived, and
when proud Appius Claudius called upon them to enroll their names for
the war, they refused the summons, saying that the patricians might
fight their own battles; that for themselves it was better to perish
together at home rather than to go to the field and die separated.
18. Threatened with war beyond the gates, and with riot at home, the
patricians were forced to promise to redress the civil grievances. It
was ordered that no one could seize or sell the goods of a soldier
while he was in camp, or arrest his children, and that no one should
detain a citizen in prison or in chains, so as to hinder him from
enlisting in the army. When this was known, the released prisoners
volunteered in numbers, and entered upon the war with enthusiasm. The
legions were victorious, and when peace was declared, the plebeians
anxiously looked for the ratification of the promises made to them.
19. Their expectations were disappointed. They had, however, seen
their power, and were determined to act upon their new knowledge.
Without undue haste they protected their homes on the Aventine, and
retreated the next year to a mountain across the Anio, about three
miles from the city, to a spot which afterward held a place in the
memories of the Romans similar to that which the green meadow on the
Thames called Runnymede has held in British history since the June day
when King John met his commons there, and gave them the great charter
of their liberties.
20. The plebeians said calmly that they would no longer be imposed
upon; that not one of them would thereafter enlist for a war until the
public faith was made good. They reiterated the declaration that the
lords might fight their own battles, so that the perils of conflict
should lie where its advantages were. When the situation of affairs
was thoroughly understood, Rome was on fire with anxiety, and the
enforced suspense filled the citizens with fear lest an external enemy
should take the opportunity for a successful onset upon the city.
21. Meanwhile the poor secessionists fortified their camp, but
carefully refrained from actual war. The people left in the city
feared the senators, and the senators in turn dreaded the citizens
lest they should do them violence. It was a time of panic and
suspense. After consultation, good counsels prevailed in the senate,
and it was resolved to send an embassy to the despised and downtrodden
plebeians, who now seemed to hold the balance of power, and to treat
for peace, for there could be no security until the secessionists had
returned to their homes.
22. The spokesman on the occasion was Menenius Agrippa Lanatus who was
popular with the people and had a reputation for eloquence. The
address of this good man had its desired effect, and the people were
at last willing to listen to a proposition for their return. It was
settled that there should be a general release of all those who had
been handed over to their creditors, and a cancelling of debts, and
that two of the plebeians should be selected as their protectors, with
power to veto objectionable laws, their persons being as inviolable at
all times as were those of the sacred messengers of the gods. These
demands, showing that the plebeians did not seek political power, were
agreed to, the Valerian laws were reaffirmed, and a solemn treaty was
concluded, each party swearing for itself and its posterity, with all
the formality of representatives of foreign nations.
23. The two leaders of the commons, Caius Licinius and Lucius Albinus,
were elected the first tribunes of the people, as the new officers
were called, with two ædiles to aid them. They were not to leave the
city during their term of office, their doors being open night and
day, that all who needed their protection might have access to them.
The hill upon which this treaty had been concluded was ever after
known as the Sacred Mount; its top was enclosed and consecrated, an
altar being built upon it, on which sacrifices were offered to
Jupiter, the god of terror and deliverance, who had allowed the
commons to return home in safety, though they had gone out in
trepidation. Henceforth the commons were to be protected; they were
better fitted to share the honors as well as the benefits of their
country, and the threatened dissolution of the nation was averted.
_Arthur Gilman, M. A. "The Story of Rome."_
_Putnam's "Stories of the Nations Series."_
_XXVIII.--CINCINNATUS._
1. In the course of the early Roman wars, Minucius, one of the consuls
suffered himself to be cut off from Rome, in a narrow valley of Mount
Algidus, and it seemed as if hope of delivery there was none. However,
five horsemen found means to escape and report at Rome the perilous
condition of the consul and his army. Then the other consul consulted
the senate, and it was agreed that the only man who could deliver the
army was Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus. He was thereupon named dictator,
and deputies were sent to acquaint him with his high dignity.
2. He was called Cincinnatus, because he wore his hair in long curling
locks, _cincinni_, and, though he was a patrician he lived on his own
small farm, like any plebeian yeoman. This farm was beyond the
Tiber, and here he lived contentedly with his wife Racilia.
3. Two years before he had been consul, and had been brought into
great distress by the conduct of his son, Kæso. This Kæso was a Wild
and insolent young man, who despised the plebeians and hated their
tribunes. One Volscius Fictor alleged that he and his brother, an old
and sickly man, had been attacked by Kæso and a party of young
patricians by night, and that his brother had died of the treatment
then received. The indignation of the people rose high; and Kæso was
forced to go into exile. After this the young patricians became more
insolent than ever, but they courted the poorest of the people, hoping
to engage them on their side against the more respectable plebeians.
4. Next year all Rome was alarmed by finding that the Capitol had been
seized by an enemy during the night. This enemy was Appius Herdonius, a
Sabine, and with him was associated a band of desperate men, exiles and
runaway slaves. The first demand he made was that all Roman exiles
should be restored. The consul, P. Valerius, collected a force and took
the Capitol, but was killed in the assault, and Cincinnatus, father of
the banished Kæso, was chosen to succeed him. When he heard the news of
his elevation, he turned to his wife, and said: "I fear, Racilia, our
little field must remain this year unsown." Then he assumed the robe of
state, and went to Rome. It was believed that Kæso had been concerned in
the desperate enterprise that had just been defeated. What had become of
him was unknown; but that he was already dead was pretty certain; and
his father was very bitter against the tribunes and their party, to whom
he attributed his son's disgrace and death.
5. P. Valerius, the consul, had persuaded the plebeians to join in the
assault of the Capitol, by promising to gain them further privileges;
this promise Cincinnatus refused to keep, and used all his power to
frustrate the attempts of the tribunes to gain its fulfillment. At the
end of his year of office, however, when the patricians wished to
continue him in the consulship, he positively declined the offer, and
returned to his rustic life as if he had never left it.
6. It was two years after these events that the deputies of the
senate, who came to invest him with the ensigns of dictatorial power,
found him working on his little farm. He was clad in his tunic only,
and as the deputies advanced they bade him put on his toga, that he
might receive the commands of the senate in seemly guise. So he wiped
off the dust and sweat, and bade his wife fetch his toga, and asked
anxiously whether all was right or no. Then the deputies told him how
the army was beset by the Æquian foe, and how the Senate looked to him
as the savior of the state. A boat was provided to carry him over the
Tiber; and when he reached the other bank, he was greeted by his
family and friends, and the greater part of the senate, who followed
him to the city, while he himself walked in state, with his four and
twenty lictors.
7. That same day the dictator and his master of horse came down into
the forum, ordered all shops to be shut, and all business to be
suspended. All men of the military age were to meet in the Field of
Mars before sunset, each man with five days' provisions and twelve
stakes; the older men were to get the provisions ready, while the
soldiers were preparing the stakes. Thus all was got ready in time:
the dictator led them forth; and they marched so rapidly, that by
midnight they had reached Mount Algidus, where the army of the consul
was hemmed in.
8. Then the dictator, when he had discovered the place of the enemy's
army, ordered his men to put all their baggage down in one place, and
then to surround the enemy's camp. They obeyed, and each one raising a
shout, began digging the trench and fixing his stakes, so as to form a
palisade round the enemy. The consul's army, which was hemmed in,
heard the shout of their brethren, and flew to arms; and so hotly did
they fight all night, that the Æquians had no time to attend to the
new foe, and next morning found themselves hemmed in on all sides by
the trench and palisade, so that they were now between two Roman
armies. They were thus forced to surrender. The dictator required them
to give up their chiefs, and made their whole army pass under the
yoke, which was formed by two spears fixed upright in the ground, and
a third bound across them at the top.
9. Cincinnatus returned to Rome amid the shouts and exultation of his
soldiers: they gave him a golden crown, in token that he had saved the
lives of many citizens; and the senate decreed that he should enter the
city in triumph. So Cincinnatus accomplished the purpose for which he
had been made dictator in twenty-four hours. One evening he marched
forth to deliver the consul, and the next evening he returned
victorious. But he would not lay down his high office till he had
avenged his son. Accordingly, he summoned Volscius Fictor, the accuser,
and had him tried for perjury. The man was condemned and banished; and
then Cincinnatus once more returned to his wife and farm.
_Liddell._
_XXIX.--THE ROMAN FATHER._
1. Among the most interesting of the early legends of Rome is that of
Virginius, a soldier of the army belonging to the plebeian order.
While performing his duty in the army which was encamped about twenty
miles from Rome, his young daughter, Virginia, about fifteen years
of age found her home with her near relatives in the city. Her beauty
attracted the attention of Appius Claudius, one of the ten governors
of Rome. With the view of getting possession of her person, he ordered
one of his clients, M. Claudius by name, to lay hands upon her as she
was going to her school in the Forum, and to claim her as his slave.
The man did so; and when the cries of her nurse brought a crowd round
them, M. Claudius insisted on taking her before the decemvir, in order
(as he said) to have the case fairly tried. Her friends consented, and
no sooner had Appius heard the matter, than he gave judgment that the
maiden should be delivered up to the claimant, who should be bound to
produce her in case her alleged father appeared to gainsay the claim.
[Illustration: _The Seizure of Virginia._]
2. Now this judgment was directly against one of the laws of the
Twelve Tables, which Appius himself had framed: for therein it was
provided, that any person being at freedom should continue free, till
it was proved that such person was a slave. Icilius her betrothed,
therefore, with Numitorius, the uncle of the maiden, boldly argued
against the legality of the judgment; and at length, Appius, fearing a
tumult, agreed to leave the girl in their hands, on condition of their
giving bail to bring her before him next morning; and then, if
Virginius did not appear, he would at once, he said, give her up to
her pretended master.
3. To this Icilius consented; but he delayed giving bail, pretending
that he could not procure it readily, and in the mean time he sent off a
secret message to the camp on Algidus to inform Virginius of what had
happened. As soon as the bail was given, Appius also sent a message to
the decemvirs in command of that army, ordering them to refuse leave of
absence to Virginius. But when this last message arrived, Virginius was
already half-way on his road to Rome; for the distance was not more
than twenty miles, and he had started at nightfall.
4. Next morning early, Virginius entered the forum leading his
daughter by the hand, both clad in mean attire. A great number of
friends and matrons attended him; and he went about among the people
entreating them to support him against the tyranny of Appius. So, when
Appius came to take his place on the judgment-seat, he found the forum
full of people, all friendly to Virginius and his cause. But he
inherited the boldness as well as the vices of his sires, and though
he saw Virginius standing there, ready to prove that he was the
maiden's father, he at once gave judgment against his own law, that
Virginia should be given up to M. Claudius, till it should be proved
that she was free. The wretch came up to seize her, and the lictors
kept the people from him. Virginius now despairing of deliverance,
begged Appius to allow him to ask the maiden whether she were indeed
his daughter or no. "If," said he, "I find I am not her father, I
shall bear her loss the lighter." Under this pretense, he drew her
aside to a spot upon the northern side of the forum (afterward called
the Novæ Tabernæ), and here, snatching up a knife from a butcher's
stall, he cried: "In this way only can I keep thee free!" and, so
saying, stabbed her to the heart.
5. Then he turned to the tribunal, and said: "On thee, Appius, and on
thy head be this blood." Appius cried out to sieze "the murderer"; but
the crowd made way for Virginius, and he passed through them holding up
the bloody knife, and went out at the gate, and made straight for the
army. There, when the soldiers had heard his tale, they at once
abandoned their decemviral generals, and marched to Rome. They were soon
followed by the other army from the Sabine frontier; for to them
Icilius had gone, and Numitorius; and they found willing ears among the
men. So the two armies joined their banners, elected new generals, and
encamped upon the Aventine hill, the quarter of the plebeians.
6. Meantime, the people at home had risen against Appius; and after
driving him from the forum, they joined their armed fellow citizens
upon the Aventine. There the whole body of the commons, armed and
unarmed, hung like a dark cloud ready to burst upon the city.
_Liddell._