Part 4 (1/2)

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 flouris.h.i.+ng. 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 punis.h.i.+ng 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 relations.h.i.+p 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 a.s.sist me, ye G.o.ds, 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 Silva.n.u.s. 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 circ.u.mstances, 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 chast.i.ty. 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 subst.i.tuted 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 a.s.sembly, he mounted the platform, after lowering the fasces. It was a pleasing sight to the mult.i.tude 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 pa.s.sed these laws while sole consul, so that the merit of them might be exclusively his own, he then held an a.s.sembly 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 circ.u.mstances 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 G.o.ds, 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 t.i.tus 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 pa.s.s 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 inst.i.tution both among G.o.ds 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 c.u.mae, 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 pa.s.sage 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 a.s.sault, 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 G.o.ds 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 t.i.tus 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 n.o.bles 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 s.h.i.+eld 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 a.s.sault 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 hara.s.sed 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 n.o.body 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 t.i.tus 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 pa.s.sing by, and then to throw himself in their way to cut off their return to the river. The other consul, t.i.tus 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 n.o.ble, 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 circ.u.mstances 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 G.o.ds a.s.sist.” 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 b.l.o.o.d.y dagger he had made a way for himself through the dismayed mult.i.tude, 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 amba.s.sadors from Porsina followed him to Rome. The danger of the first attempt, in which nothing had protected him but the mistake of his secret a.s.sailant, 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 surpa.s.sed 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 p.u.b.erty, 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 c.u.mae,[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 c.u.man 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 a.s.signed 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 amba.s.sadors 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 amba.s.sadors 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 t.i.tus 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 citizens.h.i.+p 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 circ.u.mstances 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 Ca.s.sius, 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 a.s.sault: 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.