In our account of the early sieges of Rome, notwithstanding our
conviction that many of the events related of them are apochryphal, we
shall adhere to the version which was the delight of our boyhood. We
do not believe the ancient history of Rome to be more fabulous than
that of other countries. One of the great objects of history is to
form character by placing acts of patriotic devotion or private virtue
in the most attractive light; and we believe that the firmness of a
Mutius Scævola, the devotedness of a Curtius, or even the apologue of
Menenius Agrippa, will be more beneficial to the young mind than the
bare skeletons left by the scepticism of German historians. We venerate
truth, but we have seen and read nothing to convince us that the fine
old tales of Livy were not founded upon _something_; and if in their
passage to us a colouring has been added to make virtue more attractive
and vice more repulsive, let us not reject them because they are too
pleasing; the hard world youth have before them will prove quite
chilling enough to their better sympathies: let them be allowed to
enter it with hearts alive to the good, the great, and the elevating.