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Plutarch Lives. Revised/translated by A. H. Clough. Revised from Dryden's version. Also known as "Parallel Lives", written in Greek ~100 AD. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. 1859.

====== Plutarch: Life of Popicola ======


Such was Solon.  To him we compare Poplicola, who received this later
title from the Roman people for his merit, as a noble accession to his
former name, Publius Valerius.  He descended from Valerius, a man
amongst the early citizens, reputed the principal reconciler of the
differences betwixt the Romans and Sabines, and one that was most
instrumental in persuading their kings to assent to peace and union.
Thus descended, Publius Valerius, as it is said, whilst Rome remained
under its kingly government, obtained as great a name from his eloquence
as from his riches, charitably employing the one in liberal aid to the
poor, the other with integrity and freedom in the service of justice;
thereby giving assurance, that, should the government fall into a
republic, he would become a chief man in the community.  The illegal and
wicked accession of Tarquinius Superbus to the crown, with his making
it, instead of kingly rule, the instrument of insolence and tyranny,
having inspired the people with a hatred to his reign, upon the death of
Lucretia (she killing herself after violence had been done to her), they
took an occasion of revolt; and Lucius Brutus, engaging in the change,
came to Valerius before all others, and, with his zealous assistance,
deposed the kings.  And whilst the people inclined towards the electing
one leader instead of their king, Valerius acquiesced, that to rule was
rather Brutus's due, as the author of the democracy.  But when the name
of monarchy was odious to the people, and a divided power appeared more
grateful in the prospect, and two were chosen to hold it, Valerius,
entertaining hopes that he might be elected consul with Brutus, was
disappointed; for, instead of Valerius, notwithstanding the endeavors of
Brutus, Tarquinius Collatinus was chosen, the husband of Lucretia, a man
noways his superior in merit.  But the nobles, dreading the return of
their kings, who still used all endeavors abroad and solicitations at
home, were resolved upon a chieftain of an intense hatred to them, and
noways likely to yield.

Now Valerius was troubled, that his desire to serve his country should
be doubted, because he had sustained no private injury from the
insolence of the tyrants.  He withdrew from the senate and practice of
the bar, quitting all public concerns; which gave an occasion of
discourse, and fear, too, lest his anger should reconcile him to the
king's side, and he should prove the ruin of the state, tottering as yet
under the uncertainties of a change.  But Brutus being doubtful of some
others, and determining to give the test to the senate upon the altars,
upon the day appointed Valerius came with cheerfulness into the forum,
and was the first man that took the oath, in no way to submit or yield
to Tarquin's propositions, but rigorously to maintain liberty; which
gave great satisfaction to the senate and assurance to the consuls, his
actions soon after showing the sincerity of his oath.  For ambassadors
came from Tarquin, with popular and specious proposals, whereby they
thought to seduce the people, as though the king had cast off all
insolence, and made moderation the only measure of his desires.  To this
embassy the consuls thought fit to give public audience, but Valerius
opposed it, and would not permit that the poorer people, who entertained
more fear of war than of tyranny, should have any occasion offered them,
or any temptations to new designs.  Afterwards other ambassadors
arrived, who declared their king would recede from his crown, and lay
down his arms, only capitulating for a restitution to himself, his
friends, and allies, of their moneys and estates to support them in
their banishment.  Now, several inclining to the request, and
Collatinus in particular favoring it, Brutus, a man of vehement and
unbending nature, rushed into the forum, there proclaiming his fellow-
consul to be a traitor, in granting subsidies to tyranny, and supplies
for a war to those to whom it was monstrous to allow so much as
subsistence in exile.  This caused an assembly of the citizens, amongst
whom the first that spake was Caius Minucius, a private man, who advised
Brutus, and urged the Romans to keep the property, and employ it against
the tyrants, rather than to remit it to the tyrants, to be used against
themselves.  The Romans, however, decided that whilst they enjoyed the
liberty they had fought for, they should not sacrifice peace for the
sake of money, but send out the tyrants' property after them.  This
question, however, of his property, was the least part of Tarquin's
design; the demand sounded the feelings of the people, and was
preparatory to a conspiracy which the ambassadors endeavored to excite,
delaying their return, under pretense of selling some of the goods and
reserving others to be sent away, till, in fine, they corrupted two of
the most eminent families in Rome, the Aquillian, which had three, and
the Vitellian, which had two senators.  These all were, by the mother's
side, nephews to Collatinus; besides which Brutus had a special alliance
to the Vitellii from his marriage with their sister, by whom he had
several children; two of whom, of their own age, their near relations
and daily companions, the Vitellii seduced to join in the plot, to ally
themselves to the great house and royal hopes of the Tarquins, and gain
emancipation from the violence and imbecility united of their father,
whose austerity to offenders they termed violence, while the imbecility
which he had long feigned, to protect himself from the tyrants, still,
it appears, was, in name at least, ascribed to him.  When upon these
inducements the youths came to confer with the Aquillii, all thought it
convenient to bind themselves in a solemn and dreadful oath, by tasting
the blood of a murdered man, and touching his entrails.  For which
design they met at the house of the Aquillii.  The building chosen for
the transaction was, as was natural, dark and unfrequented, and a slave
named Vindicius had, as it chanced, concealed himself there, not out of
design or any intelligence of the affair, but, accidentally being
within, seeing with how much haste and concern they came in, he was
afraid to be discovered, and placed himself behind a chest, where he was
able to observe their actions and overhear their debates.  Their
resolutions were to kill the consuls, and they wrote letters to Tarquin
to this effect, and gave them to the ambassadors, who were lodging upon
the spot with the Aquillii, and were present at the consultation.

Upon their departure, Vindicius secretly quitted the house, but was at a
loss what to do in the matter, for to arraign the sons before the father
Brutus, or the nephews before the uncle Collatinus, seemed equally (as
indeed it was) shocking; yet he knew no private Roman to whom he could
entrust secrets of such importance.  Unable, however, to keep silence,
and burdened with his knowledge, he went and addressed himself to
Valerius, whose known freedom and kindness of temper were an inducement;
as he was a person to whom the needy had easy access, and who never shut
his gates against the petitions or indigences of humble people.  But
when Vindicius came and made a complete discovery to him, his brother
Marcus and his own wife being present, Valerius was struck with
amazement, and by no means would dismiss the discoverer, but confined
him to the room, and placed his wife as a guard to the door, sending his
brother in the interim to beset the king's palace, and seize, if
possible, the writings there, and secure the domestics, whilst he, with
his constant attendance of clients and friends, and a great retinue of
attendants, repaired to the house of the Aquillii, who were, as it
chanced, absent from home; and so, forcing an entrance through the
gates, they lit upon the letters then lying in the lodgings of the
ambassadors.  Meantime the Aquillii returned in all haste, and, coming to
blows about the gate, endeavored a recovery of the letters.  The other
party made a resistance, and, throwing their gowns round their
opponents' necks, at last, after much struggling on both sides, made
their way with their prisoners through the streets into the forum.  The
like engagement happened about the king's palace, where Marcus seized
some other letters which it was designed should be conveyed away in the
goods, and, laying hands on such of the king's people as he could find,
dragged them also into the forum.  When the consuls had quieted the
tumult, Vindicius was brought out by the orders of Valerius, and the
accusation stated, and the letters were opened, to which the traitors
could make no plea.  Most of the people standing mute and sorrowful,
some only, out of kindness to Brutus, mentioning banishment, the tears
of Collatinus, attended with Valerius's silence, gave some hopes of
mercy.  But Brutus, calling his two sons by their names, "Canst not
thou," said he, "O Titus, or thou, Tiberius, make any defense against
the indictment?"  The question being thrice proposed, and no reply made,
he turned himself to the lictors, and cried, "What remains is your
duty."  They immediately seized the youths, and, stripping them of their
clothes, bound their hands behind them, and scourged their bodies with
their rods; too tragical a scene for others to look at; Brutus, however,
is said not to have turned aside his face, nor allowed the least glance
of pity to soften and smooth his aspect of rigor and austerity; but
sternly watched his children suffer, even till the lictors, extending
them on the ground, cut off their heads with an axe; then departed,
committing the rest to the judgment of his colleague.  An action truly
open alike to the highest commendation and the strongest censure; for
either the greatness of his virtue raised him above the impressions of
sorrow, or the extravagance of his misery took away all sense of it; but
neither seemed common, or the result of humanity, but either divine or
brutish.  Yet it is more reasonable that our judgment should yield to
his reputation, than that his merit should suffer detraction by the
weakness of our judgment; in the Romans' opinion, Brutus did a greater
work in the establishment of the government than Romulus in the
foundation of the city.

Upon Brutus's departure out of the forum, consternation, horror, and
silence for some time possessed all that reflected on what was done; the
easiness and tardiness, however, of Collatinus, gave confidence to the
Aquillii to request some time to answer their charge, and that
Vindicius, their servant, should be remitted into their hands, and no
longer harbored amongst their accusers.  The consul seemed inclined to
their proposal, and was proceeding to dissolve the assembly; but
Valerius would not suffer Vindicius, who was surrounded by his people,
to be surrendered, nor the meeting to withdraw without punishing the
traitors; and at length laid violent hands upon the Aquillii, and,
calling Brutus to his assistance, exclaimed against the unreasonable
course of Collatinus, to impose upon his colleague the necessity of
taking away the lives of his own sons, and yet have thoughts of
gratifying some women with the lives of traitors and public enemies.
Collatinus, displeased at this, and commanding Vindicius to be taken
away, the lictors made their way through the crowd and seized their man,
and struck all who endeavored a rescue.  Valerius's friends headed the
resistance, and the people cried out for Brutus, who, returning, on
silence being made, told them he had been competent to pass sentence by
himself upon his own sons, but left the rest to the suffrages of the
free citizens:  "Let every man speak that wishes, and persuade whom he
can."  But there was no need of oratory, for, it being referred to the
vote, they were returned condemned by all the suffrages, and were
accordingly beheaded.

Collatinus's relationship to the kings had, indeed, already rendered him
suspicious, and his second name, too, had made him obnoxious to the
people, who were loath to hear the very sound of Tarquin; but after this
had happened, perceiving himself an offense to every one, he
relinquished his charge and departed from the city.  At the new
elections in his room, Valerius obtained, with high honor, the
consulship, as a just reward of his zeal; of which he thought Vindicius
deserved a share, whom he made, first of all freedmen, a citizen of
Rome, and gave him the privilege of voting in what tribe soever he was
pleased to be enrolled; other freedmen received the right of suffrage a
long time after from Appius, who thus courted popularity; and from this
Vindicius, a perfect manumission is called to this day vindicta.  This
done, the goods of the kings were exposed to plunder, and the palace to
ruin.

The pleasantest part of the field of Mars, which Tarquin had owned, was
devoted to the service of that god; it happening to be harvest season,
and the sheaves yet being on the ground, they thought it not proper to
commit them to the flail, or unsanctify them with any use; and,
therefore, carrying them to the river side, and trees withal that were
cut down, they cast all into the water, dedicating the soil, free from
all occupation, to the deity.  Now, these thrown in, one upon another,
and closing together, the stream did not bear them far, but where the
first were carried down and came to a bottom, the remainder, finding no
farther conveyance, were stopped and interwoven one with another; the
stream working the mass into a firmness, and washing down fresh mud.
This, settling there, became an accession of matter, as well as cement,
to the rubbish, insomuch that the violence of the waters could not
remove it, but forced and compressed it all together.  Thus its bulk and
solidity gained it new subsidies, which gave it extension enough to stop
on its way most of what the stream brought down.  This is now a sacred
island, lying by the city, adorned with temples of the gods, and walks,
and is called in the Latin tongue inter duos pontes.  Though some say
this did not happen at the dedication of Tarquin's field, but in after-
times, when Tarquinia, a vestal priestess, gave an adjacent field to the
public, and obtained great honors in consequence, as, amongst the rest,
that of all women her testimony alone should be received; she had also
the liberty to marry, but refused it; thus some tell the story.

Tarquin, despairing of a return to his kingdom by the conspiracy, found
a kind reception amongst the Tuscans, who, with a great army, proceeded
to restore him.  The consuls headed the Romans against them, and made
their rendezvous in certain holy places, the one called the Arsian
grove, the other the Aesuvian meadow.  When they came into action,
Aruns, the son of Tarquin, and Brutus, the Roman consul, not
accidentally encountering each other, but out of hatred and rage, the
one to avenge tyranny and enmity to his country, the other his
banishment, set spurs to their horses, and, engaging with more fury than
forethought, disregarding their own security, fell together in the
combat.  This dreadful onset hardly was followed by a more favorable
end; both armies, doing and receiving equal damage, were separated by a
storm.  Valerius was much concerned, not knowing what the result of the
day was, and seeing his men as well dismayed at the sight of their own
dead, as rejoiced at the loss of the enemy; so apparently equal in the
number was the slaughter on either side.  Each party, however, felt
surer of defeat from the actual sight of their own dead, than they could
feel of victory from conjecture about those of their adversaries.  The
night being come (and such as one may presume must follow such a
battle), and the armies laid to rest, they say that the grove shook, and
uttered a voice, saying that the Tuscans had lost one man more than the
Romans; clearly a divine announcement; and the Romans at once received
it with shouts and expressions of joy; whilst the Tuscans, through fear
and amazement, deserted their tents, and were for the most part
dispersed.  The Romans, falling upon the remainder, amounting to nearly
five thousand, took them prisoners, and plundered the camp; when they
numbered the dead, they found on the Tuscans' side eleven thousand and
three hundred, exceeding their own loss but by one man.  This fight
happened upon the last day of February, and Valerius triumphed in honor
of it, being the first consul that drove in with a four-horse chariot;
which sight both appeared magnificent, and was received with an
admiration free from envy or offense (as some suggest) on the part of
the spectators; it would not otherwise have been continued with so much
eagerness and emulation through all the after ages.  The people
applauded likewise the honors he did to his colleague, in adding to his
obsequies a funeral oration; which was so much liked by the Romans, and
found so good a reception, that it became customary for the best men to
celebrate the funerals of great citizens with speeches in their
commendation; and their antiquity in Rome is affirmed to be greater than
in Greece, unless, with the orator Anaximenes, we make Solon the first
author.

Yet some part of Valerius's behavior did give offense and disgust to the
people, because Brutus, whom they esteemed the father of their liberty,
had not presumed to rule without a colleague, but united one and then
another to him in his commission; while Valerius, they said, centering
all authority in himself, seemed not in any sense a successor to Brutus
in the consulship, but to Tarquin in the tyranny; he might make verbal
harangues to Brutus's memory, yet, when he was attended with all the
rods and axes, proceeding down from a house than which the king's house
that he had demolished had not been statelier, those actions showed him
an imitator of Tarquin.  For, indeed, his dwelling house on the Velia
was somewhat imposing in appearance, hanging over the forum, and
overlooking all transactions there; the access to it was hard, and to
see him far of coming down, a stately and royal spectacle.  But Valerius
showed how well it were for men in power and great offices to have ears
that give admittance to truth before flattery; for upon his friends
telling him that he displeased the people, he contended not, neither
resented it, but while it was still night, sending for a number of
workpeople, pulled down his house and leveled it with the ground; so
that in the morning the people, seeing and flocking together, expressed
their wonder and their respect for his magnanimity, and their sorrow, as
though it had been a human being, for the large and beautiful house
which was thus lost to them by an unfounded jealousy, while its owner,
their consul, without a roof of his own, had to beg a lodging with his
friends.  For his friends received him, till a place the people gave him
was furnished with a house, though less stately than his own, where now
stands the temple, as it is called, of Vica Pota.

He resolved to render the government, as well as himself, instead of
terrible, familiar and pleasant to the people, and parted the axes from
the rods, and always, upon his entrance into the assembly, lowered these
also to the people, to show, in the strongest way, the republican
foundation of the government; and this the consuls observe to this day.
But the humility of the man was but a means, not, as they thought, of
lessening himself, but merely to abate their envy by this moderation;
for whatever he detracted from his authority he added to his real
power, the people still submitting with satisfaction, which they
expressed by calling him Poplicola, or people-lover, which name had the
preeminence of the rest, and, therefore, in the sequel of this narrative
we shall use no other.

He gave free leave to any to sue for the consulship; but before the
admittance of a colleague, mistrusting the chances, lest emulation or
ignorance should cross his designs, by his sole authority enacted his
best and most important measures.  First, he supplied the vacancies of
the senators, whom either Tarquin long before had put to death, or the
war lately cut off; those that he enrolled, they write, amounted to a
hundred and sixty-four; afterwards he made several laws which added much
to the people's liberty, in particular one granting offenders the
liberty of appealing to the people from the judgment of the consuls; a
second, that made it death to usurp any magistracy without the people's
consent; a third, for the relief of poor citizens, which, taking off
their taxes, encouraged their labors; another, against disobedience to
the consuls, which was no less popular than the rest, and rather to the
benefit of the commonalty than to the advantage of the nobles, for it
imposed upon disobedience the penalty of ten oxen and two sheep; the
price of a sheep being ten obols, of an ox, a hundred.  For the use of
money was then infrequent amongst the Romans, but their wealth in cattle
great; even now pieces of property are called peculia, from pecus,
cattle; and they had stamped upon their most ancient money an ox, a
sheep, or a hog; and surnamed their sons Suillii, Bubulci, Caprarii,
and Porcii, from caprae, goats, and porci, hogs.

Amidst this mildness and moderation, for one excessive fault he
instituted one excessive punishment; for he made it lawful without trial
to take away any man's life that aspired to a tyranny, and acquitted the
slayer, if he produced evidence of the crime; for though it was not
probable for a man, whose designs were so great, to escape all notice;
yet because it was possible he might, although observed, by force
anticipate judgment, which the usurpation itself would then preclude, he
gave a license to any to anticipate the usurper.  He was honored
likewise for the law touching the treasury; for because it was necessary
for the citizens to contribute out of their estates to the maintenance
of wars, and he was unwilling himself to be concerned in the care of it,
or to permit his friends, or indeed to let the public money pass into
any private house, he allotted the temple of Saturn for the treasury, in
which to this day they deposit the tribute-money, and granted the people
the liberty of choosing two young men as quaestors, or treasurers.  The
first were Publius Veturius and Marcus Minucius; and a large sum was
collected, for they assessed one hundred and thirty thousand, excusing
orphans and widows from the payment.  After these dispositions, he
admitted Lucretius, the father of Lucretia, as his colleague, and gave
him the precedence in the government, by resigning the fasces to him,
as due to his years, which privilege of seniority continued to our time.
But within a few days Lucretius died, and in a new election Marcus
Horatius succeeded in that honor, and continued consul for the remainder
of the year.

Now, whilst Tarquin was making preparations in Tuscany for a second war
against the Romans, it is said a great portent occurred.  When Tarquin
was king, and had all but completed the buildings of the Capitol,
designing, whether from oracular advice or his own pleasure, to erect an
earthen chariot upon the top, he entrusted the workmanship to Tuscans of
the city Veii, but soon after lost his kingdom.  The work thus modeled,
the Tuscans set in a furnace, but the clay showed not those passive
qualities which usually attend its nature, to subside and be condensed
upon the evaporation of the moisture, but rose and swelled out to that
bulk, that, when solid and firm, notwithstanding the removal of the roof
and opening the walls of the furnace, it could not be taken out without
much difficulty.  The soothsayers looked upon this as a divine
prognostic of success and power to those that should possess it; and the
Tuscans resolved not to deliver it to the Romans, who demanded it, but
answered that it rather belonged to Tarquin than to those who had sent
him into exile.  A few days after, they had a horse-race there, with the
usual shows and solemnities, and as the charioteer, with his garland on
his head, was quietly driving the victorious chariot out of the ring,
the horses, upon no apparent occasion, taking fright, either by divine
instigation or by accident, hurried away their driver at full speed to
Rome; neither did his holding them in prevail, nor his voice, but he was
forced along with violence till, coming to the Capitol, he was thrown
out by the gate called Ratumena.  This occurrence raised wonder and fear
in the Veientines, who now permitted the delivery of the chariot.

The building of the temple of the Capitoline Jupiter had been vowed by
Tarquin, the son of Demaratus, when warring with the Sabines; Tarquinius
Superbus, his son or grandson, built, but could not dedicate it, because
he lost his kindom before it was quite finished.  And now that it was
completed with all its ornaments, Poplicola was ambitious to dedicate
it; but the nobility envied him that honor, as, indeed, also, in some
degree, those his prudence in making laws and conduct in wars entitled
him to.  Grudging him, at any rate, the addition of this, they urged
Horatius to sue for the dedication and, whilst Poplicola was engaged in
some military expedition, voted it to Horatius, and conducted him to the
Capitol, as though, were Poplicola present, they could not have carried
it.  Yet, some write, Poplicola was by lot destined against his will to
the expedition, the other to the dedication; and what happened in the
performance seems to intimate some ground for this conjecture; for, upon
the Ides of September, which happens about the full moon of the month
Metagitnion, the people having assembled at the Capitol and silence
being enjoined, Horatius, after the performance of other ceremonies,
holding the doors, according to custom, was proceeding to pronounce the
words of dedication, when Marcus, the brother of Poplicola, who had got
a place on purpose beforehand near the door, observing his opportunity,
cried, "O consul, thy son lies dead in the camp;" which made a great
impression upon all others who heard it, yet in nowise discomposed
Horatius, who returned merely the reply, "Cast the dead out whither you
please; I am not a mourner;" and so completed the dedication.  The news
was not true, but Marcus thought the lie might avert him from his
performance; but it argues him a man of wonderful self-possession,
whether he at once saw through the cheat, or, believing it as true,
showed no discomposure.

The same fortune attended the dedication of the second temple; the
first, as has been said, was built by Tarquin and dedicated by Horatius;
it was burnt down in the civil wars.  The second, Sylla built, and,
dying before the dedication, left that honor to Catulus; and when this
was demolished in the Vitellian sedition, Vespasian, with the same
success that attended him in other things, began a third, and lived to
see it finished, but did not live to see it again destroyed, as it
presently was; but was as fortunate in dying before its destruction, as
Sylla was the reverse in dying before the dedication of his.  For
immediately after Vespasian's death it was consumed by fire.  The
fourth, which now exists, was both built and dedicated by Domitian.  It
is said Tarquin expended forty thousand pounds of silver in the very
foundations; but the whole wealth of the richest private man in Rome
would not discharge the cost of the gilding of this temple in our days,
it amounting to above twelve thousand talents; the pillars were cut out
of Pentelican marble, of a length most happily proportioned to their
thickness; these we saw at Athens; but when they were cut anew at Rome
and polished, they did not gain so much in embellishment, as they lost
in symmetry, being rendered too taper and slender.  Should any one who
wonders at the costliness of the Capitol visit any one gallery in
Domitian's palace, or hall, or bath, or the apartments of his
concubines, Epicharmus's remark upon the prodigal, that

'Tis not beneficence, but, truth to say,\\
A mere disease of giving things away,\\

would be in his mouth in application to Domitian.  It is neither piety,
he would say, nor magnificence, but, indeed, a mere disease of building,
and a desire, like Midas, of converting every thing into gold or stone.
And thus much for this matter.

Tarquin, after the great battle wherein he lost his son in combat with
Brutus, fled to Clusium, and sought aid from Lars Porsenna, then one of
the most powerful princes of Italy, and a man of worth and generosity;
who assured him of assistance, immediately sending his commands to Rome
that they should receive Tarquin as their king, and, upon the Romans'
refusal, proclaimed war, and, having signified the time and place where
he intended his attack, approached with a great army.  Poplicola was, in
his absence, chosen consul a second time, and Titus Lucretius his
colleague, and, returning to Rome, to show a spirit yet loftier than
Porsenna's, built the city Sigliuria when Porsenna was already in the
neighborhood; and, walling it at great expense, there placed a colony of
seven hundred men, as being little concerned at the war.  Nevertheless,
Porsenna, making a sharp assault, obliged the defendants to retire to
Rome, who had almost in their entrance admitted the enemy into the city
with them; only Poplicola by sallying out at the gate prevented them,
and, joining battle by Tiber side, opposed the enemy, that pressed on
with their multitude, but at last, sinking under desperate wounds, was
carried out of the fight.  The same fortune fell upon Lucretius, so that
the Romans, being dismayed, retreated into the city for their security,
and Rome was in great hazard of being taken, the enemy forcing their way
on to the wooden bridge, where Horatius Cocles, seconded by two of the
first men in Rome, Herminius and Lartius, made head against them.
Horatius obtained this name from the loss of one of his eyes in the
wars, or, as others write, from the depressure of his nose, which,
leaving nothing in the middle to separate them, made both eyes appear
but as one; and hence, intending to say Cyclops, by a mispronunciation
they called him Cocles.  This Cocles kept the bridge, and held back the
enemy, till his own party broke it down behind, and then with his armor
dropped into the river, and swam to the hither side, with a wound in his
hip from a Tuscan spear.  Poplicola, admiring his courage, proposed at
once that the Romans should every one make him a present of a day's
provisions, and afterwards gave him as much land as he could plow round
in one day, and besides erected a brazen statue to his honor in the
temple of Vulcan, as a requital for the lameness caused by his wound.

But Porsenna laying close siege to the city, and a famine raging amongst
the Romans, also a new army of the Tuscans making incursions into the
country, Poplicola, a third time chosen consul, designed to make,
without sallying out, his defense against Porsenna, but, privately
stealing forth against the new army of the Tuscans, put them to flight,
and slew five thousand.  The story of Mucius is variously given; we,
like others, must follow the commonly received statement.  He was a man
endowed with every virtue, but most eminent in war; and, resolving to
kill Porsenna, attired himself in the Tuscan habit, and, using the
Tuscan language, came to the camp, and approaching the seat where the
king sat amongst his nobles, but not certainly knowing the king, and
fearful to inquire, drew out his sword, and stabbed one who he thought
had most the appearance of king.  Mucius was taken in the act, and
whilst he was under examination, a pan of fire was brought to the king,
who intended to sacrifice; Mucius thrust his right hand into the flame,
and whilst it burnt stood looking at Porsenna with a steadfast and
undaunted countenance; Porsenna at last in admiration dismissed him, and
returned his sword, reaching it from his seat; Mucius received it in his
left hand, which occasioned the name of Scaevola, left-handed, and said,
"I have overcome the terrors of Porsenna, yet am vanquished by his
generosity, and gratitude obliges me to disclose what no punishment
could extort;" and assured him then, that three hundred Romans, all of
the same resolution, lurked about his camp, only waiting for an
opportunity; he, by lot appointed to the enterprise, was not sorry that
he had miscarried in it, because so brave and good a man deserved rather
to be a friend to the Romans than an enemy.  To this Porsenna gave
credit, and thereupon expressed an inclination to a truce, not, I
presume, so much out of fear of the three hundred Romans, as in
admiration of the Roman courage.  All other writers call this man Mucius
Scaevola, yet Athenodorus, son of Sandon, in a book addressed to
Octavia, Caesar's sister, avers he was also called Postumus.

Poplicola, not so much esteeming Porsenna's enmity dangerous to Rome as
his friendship and alliance serviceable, was induced to refer the
controversy with Tarquin to his arbitration, and several times undertook
to prove Tarquin the worst of men, and justly deprived of his kingdom.
But Tarquin proudly replied he would admit no judge, much less Porsenna,
that had fallen away from his engagements; and Porsenna, resenting this
answer, and mistrusting the equity of his cause, moved also by the
solicitations of his son Aruns, who was earnest for the Roman interest,
made a peace on these conditions, that they should resign the land they
had taken from the Tuscans, and restore all prisoners and receive back
their deserters.  To confirm the peace, the Romans gave as hostages ten
sons of patrician parents, and as many daughters, amongst whom was
Valeria, the daughter of Poplicola.

Upon these assurances, Porsenna ceased from all acts of hostility, and
the young girls went down to the river to bathe, at that part where the
winding of the bank formed a bay and made the waters stiller and
quieter; and, seeing no guard, nor any one coming or going over, they
were encouraged to swim over, notwithstanding the depth and violence of
the stream.  Some affirm that one of them, by name Cloelia, passing over
on horseback, persuaded the rest to swim after; but, upon their safe
arrival, presenting themselves to Poplicola, he neither praised nor
approved their return, but was concerned lest he should appear less
faithful than Porsenna, and this boldness in the maidens should argue
treachery in the Romans; so that, apprehending them, he sent them back
to Porsenna.  But Tarquin's men, having intelligence of this, laid a
strong ambuscade on the other side for those that conducted them; and
while these were skirmishing together, Valeria, the daughter of
Poplicola, rushed through the enemy and fled, and with the assistance of
three of her attendants made good her escape, whilst the rest were
dangerously hedged in by the soldiers; but Aruns, Porsenna's son, upon
tidings of it, hastened to their rescue, and, putting the enemy to
flight, delivered the Romans.  When Porsenna saw the maidens returned,
demanding who was the author and adviser of the act, and understanding
Cloelia to be the person, he looked on her with a cheerful and benignant
countenance, and, commanding one of his horses to be brought,
sumptuously adorned, made her a present of it.  This is produced as
evidence by those who affirm that only Cloelia passed the river or.
horseback; those who deny it call it only the honor the Tuscan did to
her courage; a figure, however, on horseback stands in the Via Sacra, as
you go to the Palatium, which some say is the statue of Cloelia, others
of Valeria.  Porsenna, thus reconciled to the Romans, gave them a fresh
instance of his generosity, and commanded his soldiers to quit the camp
merely with their arms, leaving their tents, full of corn and other
stores, as a gift to the Romans.  Hence, even down to our time, when
there is a public sale of goods, they cry Porsenna's first, by way of
perpetual commemoration of his kindness.  There stood, also, by the
senate-house, a brazen statue of him, of plain and antique workmanship.

Afterwards, the Sabines making incursions upon the Romans, Marcus
Valerius, brother to Poplicola, was made consul, and with him Postumius
Tubertus.  Marcus, through the management of affairs by the conduct and
direct assistance of Poplicola, obtained two great victories, in the
latter of which he slew thirteen thousand Sabines without the loss of
one Roman, and was honored, as all accession to his triumph, with an
house built in the Palatium at the public charge; and whereas the doors
of other houses opened inward into the house, they made this to open
outward into the street, to intimate their perpetual public recognition
of his merit by thus continually making way for him.  The same fashion
in their doors the Greeks, they say, had of old universally, which
appears from their comedies, where those that are going out make a noise
at the door within, to give notice to those that pass by or stand near
the door, that the opening the door into the street might occasion no
surprisal.

The year after, Poplicola was made consul the fourth time, when a
confederacy of the Sabines and Latins threatened a war; a superstitious
fear also overran the city on the occasion of general miscarriages of
their women, no single birth coming to its due time.  Poplicola, upon
consultation of the Sibylline books, sacrificing to Pluto, and renewing
certain games commanded by Apollo, restored the city to more cheerful
assurance in the gods, and then prepared against the menaces of men.
There were appearances of treat preparation, and of a formidable
confederacy.  Amongst the Sabines there was one Appius Clausus, a man of
a great wealth and strength of body, but most eminent for his high
character and for his eloquence; yet, as is usually the fate of great
men, he could not escape the envy of others, which was much occasioned
by his dissuading the war, and seeming to promote the Roman interest,
with a view, it was thought, to obtaining absolute power in his own
country for himself.  Knowing how welcome these reports would be to the
multitude, and how offensive to the army and the abettors of the war, he
was afraid to stand a trial, but, having a considerable body of friends
and allies to assist him, raised a tumult amongst the Sabines, which
delayed the war.  Neither was Poplicola wanting, not only to understand
the grounds of the sedition, but to promote and increase it, and he
dispatched emissaries with instructions to Clausus, that Poplicola was
assured of his goodness and justice, and thought it indeed unworthy in
any man, however injured, to seek revenge upon his fellow-citizens; yet
if he pleased, for his own security, to leave his enemies and come to
Rome, he should be received, both in public and private, with the honor
his merit deserved, and their own glory required.  Appius, seriously
weighing the matter, came to the conclusion that it was the best
resource which necessity left him, and advising with his friends; and
they inviting again others in the same manner, he came to Rome, bringing
five thousand families, with their wives and children; people of the
quietest and steadiest temper of all the Sabines.  Poplicola, informed
of their approach, received them with all the kind offices of a friend,
and admitted them at once to the franchise, allotting to every one two
acres of land by the river Anio, but to Clausus twenty-five acres, and
gave him a place in the senate; a commencement of political power which
he used so wisely, that he rose to the highest reputation, was very
influential, and left the Claudian house behind him, inferior to none in
Rome.

The departure of these men rendered things quiet amongst the Sabines;
yet the chief of the community would not suffer them to settle into
peace, but resented that Clausus now, by turning deserter, should
disappoint that revenge upon the Romans, which, while at home, he had
unsuccessfully opposed.  Coming with a great army, they sat down before
Fidenae, and placed an ambuscade of two thousand men near Rome, in
wooded and hollow spots, with a design that some few horsemen, as soon
as it was day, should go out and ravage the country, commanding them
upon their approach to the town so to retreat as to draw the enemy into
the ambush.  Poplicola, however, soon advertised of these designs by
deserters, disposed his forces to their respective charges.  Postumius
Balbus, his son-in-law, going out with three thousand men in the
evening, was ordered to take the hills, under which the ambush lay,
there to observe their motions; his colleague, Lucretius, attended with
a body of the lightest and boldest men, was appointed to meet the Sabine
horse; whilst he, with the rest of the army, encompassed the enemy.  And
a thick mist rising accidentally, Postumius, early in the morning, with
shouts from the hills, assailed the ambuscade, Lucretius charged the
light-horse, and Poplicola besieged the camp; so that on all sides
defeat and ruin came upon the Sabines, and without any resistance the
Romans killed them in their flight, their very hopes leading them to
their death, for each division, presuming that the other was safe, gave
up all thought of fighting or keeping their ground; and these quitting
the camp to retire to the ambuscade, and the ambuscade flying; to the
camp, fugitives thus met fugitives, and found those from whom they
expected succor as much in need of succor from themselves.  The
nearness, however, of the city Fidenae was the preservation of the
Sabines, especially those that fled from the camp; those that could not
gain the city either perished in the field, or were taken prisoners.
This victory, the Romans, though usually ascribing such success to some
god, attributed to the conduct of one captain; and it was observed to be
heard amongst the soldiers, that Poplicola had delivered their enemies
lame and blind, and only not in chains, to be dispatched by their
swords.  From the spoil and prisoners great wealth accrued to the
people.

Poplicola, having completed his triumph, and bequeathed the city to the
care of the succeeding consuls, died; thus closing a life which, so far
as human life may be, had been full of all that is good and honorable.
The people, as though they had not duly rewarded his deserts when alive,
but still were in his debt, decreed him a public interment, every one
contributing his quadrans towards the charge; the women, besides, by
private consent, mourned a whole year, a signal mark of honor to his
memory.  He was buried, by the people's desire, within the city, in the
part called Velia, where his posterity had likewise privilege of burial;
now, however, none of the family are interred there, but the body is
carried thither and set down, and someone places a burning torch under
it, and immediately takes it away, as an attestation of the deceased's
privilege, and his receding from his honor; after which the body is
removed.