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                                      75 AD
                                   POPLICOLA
                                    500 B.C.
                                  by Plutarch
                           translated by John Dryden
POPLICOLA

  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 endeavours 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 endeavours 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 determined 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 action 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
favouring 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 had 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 endeavoured to
excite, delaying their return, under pretence 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, and 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 intrust 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,
endeavoured a recovery of the letters. The other party made a
resistance, and throwing their gowns around their opponents' necks, at
last, after much struggling on both sides, made their way with them
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 defence 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 rigour 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 Roman's 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 harboured 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 endeavoured
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 loth to hear the very sound of Tarquin; but after
this had happened, perceiving himself an offence to every one, he
relinquished his charge and departed from the city. At the new
elections in his room, Valerius obtained, with high honour, 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; but, 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 the 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
aftertimes, when Tarquinia, a vestal priestess, gave an adjacent field
to the public, and obtained great honours 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
favourable 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 of February, and Valerius triumphed in honour
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 offence (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 honours 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 behaviour did give offence 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
off 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
work-people, pulled down his house and levelled 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 pre-eminence of the rest, and,
therefore, in the sequel of his 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
labours; 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, an 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 caproe, 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 preclue, he gave a licence to any to anticipate the
usurper. He was honoured 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 honour, 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 intrusted the
workmanship to Tuscans of the city Veii, but soon after lost his
kingdom. The work thus modelled, 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 Roman, 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 kingdom 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 honour, 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 he 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 honour 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 everything 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 those 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 Sigliura
when Porsenna was already in the neighbourhood; 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 war, 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 armour 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 give him as much land as he could plough round in one
day, and besides erected a brazen statute to his honour 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 defence 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 Athendrous, 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 maiden 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 on horseback; those who deny it call it only the
honour 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 honoured, as an 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 great 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 is 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 despatched 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
honour 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 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 succour as much in need of succour 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 despatched 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 honourable. 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 honour 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 some one places a burning torch under it and
immediately takes it away, as an attestation of the deceased's
privilege, and his receding from his honour; after which the body is
removed.


                               THE END