ROMÈ, a very ancient and celebrated city of Italy, situated on the river Tiber, in E. Long. 13° N. Lat. 41° 45' once the capital of the greatest empire in the world; and famous in modern history for being the centre of an ecclesiastical tyranny, by which for many ages the greatest part of the world was held in subjection.

The ancient Romans derived their origin from Æneas, near the Trojan hero; and though some historians pretend to treat his voyage into Italy as a mere fable, yet there are no sufficient reasons for rejecting this account have been offered, nor has any more probable history of the origin of the Roman name been given; so that, without entering into the dispute, we shall proceed to the history of Æneas and his successors as they are recorded by the generality of Latin writers.

When the Greeks, by the treachery of the sons of Antenor, or by whatever other means it happened, were become masters of Troy, Æneas with the forces under his command retired into the fortress of the city, and defended it bravely for some time; but yielding at length to necessity, he conveyed away his gods, his father, wife, and children, with every thing he had that was valuable, and, followed by a numerous crowd of Trojans, fled to the strong places of Mount Ida. Hither all those of his countrymen, who were more anxious than the rest to preserve their liberty, flocked to him from the several towns of Troas. His army thus augmented and advantageously posted, he continued quiet, waiting for the departure of the Greeks, who it was imagined, would return home as soon as they had pillaged the country. But these, after they had enriched themselves with the spoils of Troy and of the neighbouring towns, turned their arms against the fugitives, resolving to attack them in their strong-holds upon the mountain. Æneas, to avoid the hazard of being forced in his last refuge, had recourse to negotiation; and, by his heralds, intreated the enemy not to constrain him to a battle. Peace was granted him, on condition that he with his followers quitted the Trojan territories; and the Greeks, on their part, promised sed not to molest him in his retreat, but to let him safely pass through any country within the extent of their domination.

Upon this assurance Æneas equipped a fleet, in order to seek a settlement in some foreign land. We are told, that at his departure he left his eldest son Ascanius with the Dardanites, a people of Bithynia, who desired to have him for their king; but that the young prince did not remain long with them: for when Scamandrius (Astyanax), with the rest of the Hectoridae whom Neoptolemus permitted to return home from Greece, repaired to him, he put himself at their head, and led them back to their native country.

The Trojan, having crossed the Hellespont, arrived in the peninsula of Pallene, where he built a city, called from him Ætea, and left in it a part of that multitude which had followed him. From thence he sailed to Delos; and thence to Cythera, where he erected a temple to Venus. He built another to the same goddess in Zacynthus, in which island he likewise instituted games, called the races of Æneas and Venus: the statues of both, says Dionysius, are standing to this day. In Leucas, where the Trojans landed, was to be seen, in the same author's time, a temple erected to Venus the mother of Æneas. Nor were Actium and Ambracia without monuments that testified his arrival in those places. At Dodona were found brazen vases, upon which the name of the Trojan hero, who had made an offering of them to Jupiter, was engraven in old characters. Not far from Ruthrotos, in Epirus, a Trojan camp which had escaped the injuries of time, retained the name of Troy. All these antiquities, still subsisting in the reign of Augustus, were then looked upon as indisputable proofs of Æneas's voyage to Epirus: "and that he came into Italy (adds the same Dionysius) we have the concurrent testimony of all the Romans; the ceremonies they observe in their sacrifices and festivals bear witness to it, as also the Sibylline books, the Pythian oracles, and many other things which nobody can reasonably reject as invented merely for ornament."

The first land of Italy which Æneas made, after crossing the Ionian sea, was Cape Minerva, in Iapygia; and here he went on shore. Sailing afterwards from hence, and coasting along the south-east of Italy and the east and south sides of Sicily, he arrived with his fleet either by choice or by stress of weather at the port of Drepanum in that island. Elymus and Ægestus, who had escaped from Troy a little before him, had brought a Trojan colony to this place. Æneas augmented it by a good number of his followers, whom, pleased to have found a safe resting place after many dangers and fatiguing voyages, he willingly left behind him at their request; though certain authors pretend that he was constrained to it by the difficulty of transporting them, because some Trojan women, weary of the sea, had burnt a considerable part of his ships.

Æneas, leaving Drepanum, steered his course for Italy across the Tyrrhenian sea. To the cape where he first landed, he gave the name Palinurus, from one of his pilots who died there. The little island of Leucasia, not far distant, whither he sailed next, got its name in like manner from a daughter of Æneas's sister, who there ended her days. The port of Misenum, the island of Prochyta, and the promontory of Cajeta, where he successively arrived, were so called from being the burial places, the first of a noble Trojan his companion, the second of his kinswoman, and the third of his nurse. At length the Trojan prince and his chosen band finished their tedious and painful voyages on the coast of the since famous Latium. This was a small territory on the east side of the river Tiber, containing a part of the present Campagna di Roma: Latinus was the king of it; his capital town, Laurentum; his subjects, a people who, till his time called Aborigines, had from him taken the name of Latins. Here, far removed from their implacable enemies the Greeks, Æneas and his followers undertook to raise a second Troy; they fortified a camp near the mouth of the Tiber, gave it the name of Troy, and flattered themselves with the hopes of a quiet settlement, and a period to all their unhappy adventures.

When Æneas arrived in Italy, Latinus was engaged in a war with the Rutuli, a neighbouring people, in which he was attended but with very indifferent success, when news was brought him that a foreign army had made a descent on his coasts, pillaged the maritime part of his dominions, and were fortifying themselves in a camp at a small distance from the sea. Hereupon he marched against them with all his forces, hoping to oblige them to reembark and abandon his dominions, without meeting with any great resistance from a band of vagabonds, as he supposed, or pirates, come only to seek for plunder: but finding them, as he drew near, well-armed, and regularly drawn up, he thought it advisable to forbear engaging troops that appeared so well disciplined; and, instead of venturing a battle, to desire a parley. In this conference Latinus understanding who they were, and being at the same time struck with terror, and touched with compassion for those brave but unfortunate men, entered into a treaty with them, and assigned them a tract of land for a settlement, on condition that they should employ their arms and exert their valour in defence of his dominions, and look upon the Rutuli as a common enemy. This condition Æneas readily accepted; and complied with his engagement so faithfully, that Latinus came at length to repose an entire confidence in the Trojan; and in proof of it gave him Lavinia, his daughter and only child, in marriage, securing to him by that means the succession to the throne of Latium. Æneas, to testify his gratitude to Latinus, and affection for Lavinia, gave her name to the camp he had pitched; and instead of Troy called it Latium. The Trojans followed the example of their leader; and by making alliances with Latin families, became, in a short time, one and the same people with the Latins.

In the mean time Turnus, the queen's nephew, who had been brought up in the palace under the eye of Latinus, and entertained hopes of marrying Lavinia and succeeding to the throne, seeing the princess bestowed on a stranger, and all his views defeated, went over to the Rutuli; and by stirring them up, brought on a battle between them and the Latins, in which both he and Latinus were killed. Thus Æneas, by the death of his father-in-law, and by that of a troublesome rival, came into the quiet possession of the kingdom of Latium, which he governed with great wisdom, and transmitted to his posterity.

Æneas is said to have reigned three years; during which which time he established the worship of the gods of his own country, and to the religion of the Latins added that of Troy. The two Palladiums, which had been the protectors of that city, became the tutelary deities of Lavinium and, in after ages, of the whole Roman empire. The worship of Vesta was likewise introduced by Æneas; and virgins, from her called Vestals, were appointed to keep a fire continually burning in honour of that goddess. Jupiter, Venus, and many other deities who had been revered in Troy, became in all likelihood, known to the Latins by means of Æneas; which gave occasion to the poets of representing him under the character of a pious hero.

While Æneas was thus employed, the Rutuli, ancient enemies of the Latin name, entering into an alliance with Mezentius king of the Tyrrhenians, took the field with a design to drive out those new-comers, of whose power they began to conceive no small jealousy. Æneas marched out against them at the head of his Trojans and Latins. Hereupon a battle ensued, which lasted till night; when Æneas being pushed to the banks of the Numicus, which ran close by Lavinium, and forced into that river, was there drowned. The Trojans concealed his body; and pretending that he had vanished away on a sudden, made him pass for a deity among his credulous subjects, who accordingly erected a temple to him under the title of Jupiter Indiges.

Upon the death of Æneas, his son Euryleon, called also Ascanius and Iulus, ascended the throne; but as the young king did not think it advisable to venture a battle in the very beginning of his reign, with a formidable enemy, who promised himself great success from the death of Æneas, he had the prudence to confine himself within the walls of Lavinium, and to try whether he could, by an honourable treaty, put an end to so dangerous a war. But the haughty Mezentius demanding of the Latins, as one of the conditions of a peace, that they should pay him yearly, by way of tribute, all the wine produced in the territory of Latium, Ascanius rejected the proposal with the utmost indignation; and having caused all the vines throughout his dominions to be consecrated to Jupiter, and by that means put it out of his power to comply with the enemy's request, he resolved to make a vigorous sally, and try whether he could, by force of arms, bring the insulting Tyrrhonian to more reasonable terms. The main body of the enemy's army was encamped at some distance from Lavinium; but Lausus, the son of Mezentius, with the flower of their youth under his command, lay entrenched at the very gates of the city. The Trojans, who had been long accustomed to make vigorous sallies, marching out in the night, attacked the post where Lausus commanded, forced his entrenchments, and obliged the troops he had with him to save themselves by flying to the main body of the army encamped on the plain; but the unexpected arrival, and overthrow of their advance-guard struck them with such terror, that, instead of stopping the flight of their companions, they fled with them, in great disorder, to the neighbouring mountains. The Latins pursued them, and in their pursuit Lausus was killed: whose death so discouraged Mezentius, that he immediately sued for peace; which was granted him, upon condition, that for the future the Tiber should be the boundary between the Latin and Hetrurian territories.

In the mean time Lavinia, who had been left with child by Æneas, entertaining a strong jealousy of the ambition of her son-in-law, retired to the woods, and was there peaceably delivered of a son, who, from his father was named Æneas, and, from the place of his birth, had the surname of Silvius; but as the queen's heir, who had disappeared on a sudden, raised suspicions at Lavinium prejudicial to the reputation of Ascanius, he used all possible means to remove them, caused diligent search to be made after Lavinia, calmed her fears, and prevailed upon her to return to the town with her son, whom he ever after treated as a brother. Lavinium grew every day more populous; but as it was in reality the patrimony of Lavinia, and the inheritance of her son Silvius, Ascanius resolved to resign it to them, and build elsewhere another city for himself. This he made the place of his residence, and the capital of his new kingdom, calling it Alba Longa; and Alba, from a white sow, which we are told Æneas had found in the place where it was built; and Longa, to distinguish it from another town of the same name in the country of the Marsi; or rather, because it extended, without having much breadth, the whole length of a lake near which it was built. It was 30 years after the building of Lavinium that Ascanius fixed his abode at Alba; and there he died, after a reign of about 38 years, 12 of which he had resided at his new settlement. He left a son called Iulus; so that between him and Silvius lay the right of succession to the Latin throne; the latter being the son, and the former the grandson, of Æneas.

The Latins not thinking it their interest to continue divided, as it were, into two states, resolved to unite Alba and Lavinium into one sovereignty; and as Silvius was born of Lavinia the daughter of Latinus, and had thereby an undoubted title to the kingdom of his grandfather, whereas the other was but the son of a stranger, the Latins bestowed the crown on Silvius; and, to make Iulus some amends, decreed to him the sovereign power in affairs of religion; a power which thenceforth continued in his family. Silvius was succeeded by 13 kings of the same race, who for near 400 years reigned at Alba; but we scarce know any thing of them besides their names, and the years of their respective reigns. Æneas Silvius died, after a reign of 29 years. His son, called also Æneas Silvius, governed Latium 31 years. Latinus Silvius, who succeeded him, swayed the sceptre for the space of 51 years.—Alba reigned 39; Capetus, by Livy named Algys, 26; Capis, 28; and Capetus 13. Tiberinus, who succeeded him, engaged in a war which proved fatal to him; for in a battle which was fought on the banks of the Albula, he was forced into that river and drowned. From him the river took the name of Tiber, which it has borne ever since. Agrippa succeeded Tiberinus the name after a reign of eight years; and left the throne, which he had held 41 years, to Alladius; who reigned 19, and was succeeded by Aventinus, who left his name to the hill Aventinus, where he was interred. Procas, who succeeded him, and reigned 23 years, was the father of Numitor and Amulius; and at his death bequeathed the throne to his elder son Numitor. But Amulius, who surpassed his brother in courage and understanding, drove him from the throne; and, to secure it to himself, murdered Ægestus, Numitor's only son, and consecrated... crated his daughter Rhea Sylvia to the worship of Vesta, by which she was obliged to perpetual virginity. But this precaution proved ineffectual; for as the Vestal was going to a neighbouring spring to fetch water for the performance of a sacrifice to Mars, she was met and ravished by a man in a military habit, like that in which the god Mars is represented. Some authors think that this counterfeit Mars was a lover come thither by her appointment; others charge Amulius himself with using this violence to his niece, not so much to gratify his lust, as to have a pretence to destroy her.—For ever after he caused her to be carefully watched, till she was delivered of two sons; and then exaggerating her crime in an assembly of the people, he prevailed upon them to sentence her to death, and to condemn the fruit of her criminal amour to be thrown into the Tiber. The sentence against Rhea was, according to some authors, changed by Amulius, at the request of his daughter Anto, into perpetual confinement, but executed against the twins; who being laid in a wooden trough, and carried to the foot of Mount Palatine, were there turned adrift on the Tiber, which at that time overflowed its banks. But the wind and stream proved both so favourable, that at the fall of the water the two infants were left safe on the strand, and were there happily found by Faustulus, the chief of the king's shepherds, and suckled by his wife Acca Laurentia, who for her disorderly life was called Lupi; and this probably gave rise to the fabulous miracle of their being nursed by a wolf.

As Faustulus was probably well acquainted with the birth of the twins, he took more than ordinary care of their education, and sent them to Gabii to be instructed there in Greek literature. As they grew up, they appeared to have something great in their mien and air which commanded respect; and the ascendant which they assumed over the other shepherds made them dreaded in the forests, where they exercised a sort of empire. A quarrel happening between the herdsmen of Amulius and those of Numitor, the two brothers took the part of the former against the latter; and some blood being shed in the fray, the adverse party, to be revenged on Romulus and Remus (for so the twins were called), on the festival of Lupercalia, surprised Remus, and carried him before Numitor, to be punished according to his deserts. But Numitor feeling himself touched in the prisoner's favour, asked him where he was born, and who were his parents. His answer immediately struck Numitor with a lively remembrance of his two grandsons; their age, which was about 18 years, agreed with the time when the two infants were exposed upon the Tiber; and there needed no more to change his anger into tenderness.

In the mean time Romulus, eager to rescue his brother, and pursue those who had carried him off, was preparing to be revenged on them; but Faustulus dissuaded him from it; and on that occasion, disclosing to him his birth, awakened in his breast sentiments worthy of his extraction. He resolved, at all adventures, to attempt the delivering of his mother and grandfather from oppression. With this view he assembled the country people, over whom he had assumed a kind of sovereignty, and engaged them to come to the city on an appointed day, and enter it by different gates, provided with arms, which they were to conceal. While Remus was thus disposing every thing for the execution of his design, Numitor made the same discovery to Remus concerning his parents, and the oppressions they groaned under; which so fired him, that he was ready to embark in any enterprise. But Numitor took care to moderate the transports of his grandson, and only desired him to acquaint his brother with what he had heard from him, and to send him to his house. Romulus soon came, and was followed by Faustulus, who took with him the trough or skiff in which the twins had been exposed, to show it to Numitor: but, as the shepherd betrayed an air of concern and earnestness in his looks, he was stopped at the gate of the city, led before Amulius, and examined concerning his burden. It was easily known by its make and inscription, which was still legible; and therefore Faustulus owned what it was, and confessed that the twins were living; but, in order to gain time, pretended that they were feeding flocks in a remote desert. In the mean time, the usurper's death being resolved on, Remus undertook to raise the city, and Romulus to invest the king's palace. The country people came at the time appointed, and formed themselves into companies each consisting of 100 men. They had no other ensigns but bundles of hay hanging upon long poles, which the Latins at that time called manipuli; and hence came the name of manipulares, originally given to troops raised in the country. With this tumultuous army Romulus beset the avenues of the palace, forced the guard, and having killed the tyrant, after he had reigned 42 years, restored his grandfather Numitor to the throne.

Affairs being thus settled at Alba, the two brothers, by the advice of Numitor, undertook the founding of a new colony. The king bestowed on them those lands found near the Tiber where they had been brought up, supplied them with all manner of instruments for breaking up ground, with slaves, and beasts of burden, and granted full liberty to his subjects to join them. Hereupon most of the Trojans, of whom there still remained 50 families in Augustus's time, chose to follow the fortune of Romulus and Remus, as did also the inhabitants of Pallantium and Saturnia, two small towns. For the more speedy carrying on of the work, it was thought proper to divide those who were to be employed in the building of the city into two companies, one under the command of Romulus, the other of Remus; but this division, which was designed purely with a view to the public welfare, and that the two parties might work by way of emulation, gave birth to two factions, and produced a jealousy between the two brothers, which broke out when they came to choose a place for the building of their new city; for Remus was for the Aventine, and Romulus for the Palatine mount. Upon which, the matter being referred to their grandfather, he advised the contending parties to have recourse to the gods, and to put an end to the dispute by augury, to which he was himself greatly addicted. The day appointed for the ceremony being come, the brothers posted themselves each upon his hill; and it was agreed, that whoever should see the first flight, or the greatest number of vultures, should gain his cause. After the two rivals had waited some time for the appearance of a favourable omen, Romulus, before any had appeared, sent to acquaint his brother that he had seen some vultures; but Remus, having actually seen six, while his brother's messengers messengers were yet on their way, hastened, on their arrival, to Mount Palatine, to examine the truth of what they had told him. He had no sooner got thither, than by an unexpected good fortune twelve vultures appeared to Romulus. These he immediately showed to his brother; and, transported with joy, desired him to judge himself of the truth of what his messengers had told him. However, Remus discovered the deceit; and, being told that Romulus had not seen the twelve vultures till after he had seen six, he insisted on the time of his seeing them, and the other on the number of birds he had seen. This widened the breach between the two brothers; and, their parties being divided, while each man espoused the cause of his leader, the dispute grew so warm, that, from words they came at length to blows. The shepherd Faustulus, who was equally dear to both the brothers, endeavouring to part the combatants, was, by an unknown hand, laid dead on the spot. Some writers tell us, that Remus likewise lost his life in the fray; but the greater number place his death later, and say that he was killed by one Fabius, for having, in derision, leaped over the wall of the new city: but Livy says, the more common report was, that Remus fell by the hand of his brother.

Romulus, being now head of the colony, by having got the better of his brother's party in the late engagement, applied his thoughts wholly to the building of the city, which he proposed to call after his own name. He chose Mount Palatine for its situation, and performed all those ceremonies which the superstition of the Heturians had introduced. He first offered sacrifices to the gods, and ordered all the people to do the same: and from that time decreed, that eagles should be the auspices of his new colony. After this, great fires were kindled before their tents, and all the people leaped through the flames to purify themselves. When this ceremony was over, they dug a trench round the spot where the assemblies of the people were afterwards held, and threw into it the first-fruits of whatever they were allowed to make use of for food: every man of the colony was ordered to cast into the same trench an handful of earth, brought either from his own or some neighbouring country. The trench they called Mundus, that is, the world, and made it the centre round which the city was to be built. Then Romulus, yoking an ox and a cow to a plough, the coulter whereof was brass, marked out, by a deep furrow, the whole compass of the city. These two animals, the symbols of marriage, by which cities are peopled, were afterwards slain upon the altar. All the people followed the plough, throwing inwards the clods of earth which the plough-share sometimes turned outwards. Wherever a gate was to be made, the plough was lifted up, and carried; and hence came the Latin word porta, "a gate," derived from the verb portare, "to carry." As Mount Palatine stood by itself, the whole was inclosed within the line made by the plough, which formed almost the figure of a square; whence, by Dionysius Halicarnassensis, it is called Roma Quadrata.

As to the exact year of the foundation of Rome, there is a great disagreement among historians and chronologers. Fabius Pictor, the most ancient of all the Roman writers, places it in the end of the seventh Olympiad; that is, according to the computation of Usher, in the year of the world 5256, of the flood 1600, and 748 before the Christian era. The Romans, if we may so call them, began to build, as Plutarch and others inform us, on the 21st of April; which day was then consecrated to Pales, goddess of the shepherds; whence the festival of Pales, and that of the foundation of the city, were afterwards jointly celebrated at Rome.

When Rome had received the utmost perfection which its poor and rude founder could give it, it consisted of a poor village about 1000 houses, or rather huts: and was, properly speaking, a beggarly village, whereof the principal inhabitants followed the plough, being obliged to cultivate with their own hands the ungrateful soil of a barren country which they had shared among themselves. Even the walls of Romulus's palace were made of rushes, and covered with thatch. As every one had chosen his ground to build upon, without any regard to the regularity and beauty of the whole, the streets, if we may so call them, were both crooked and narrow. In short, Rome, till it was rebuilt after the burning of it by the Gauls, was rather a disorderly heap of huts, than a city built with any regularity or order.

As soon as the building of the city was finished, Romulus assembled the people, and desired them to choose what kind of government they would obey. At that time monarchy was the unanimous voice of the Romans, and Romulus was elected king. Before he ascended the throne, however, he consulted the will of the gods by augury; and having received a favourable answer, it thence became an established custom to have recourse to augury before the raising any one to the dignity of king, priest, or any public employment. After this he applied himself to the establishment of good order and subordination among his subjects. He put on a habit of distinction for himself, appointed 12 lictors to attend him as guards, divided his subjects, who at this time consisted only of 33,000 men, into curiae, decuriae, patricians, plebeians, patrons, clients, &c. for an account of which, see these articles as they occur in the order of the alphabet. After this he formed a senate consisting of 100 persons, chosen from among the patricians; and a guard of 300 young men called celeres, who attended the king, and fought either on foot or on horseback as occasion required. The king's office at home was to take care of religious affairs, to be the guardian of laws and customs; to decide the weightier causes between man and man, referring those of smaller moment to the senate; to call together the senators, and assemble the people, first delivering his own opinion concerning the affair he proposed, and then ratifying by his consent what was agreed on by the majority. Abroad, and in the time of war, he was to command the army with absolute authority, and to take care of the public money. The senate were not only to be judges in matters of small importance, but to debate and resolve upon such public affairs as the king proposed, and to determine them by a plurality of voices. The people were allowed to create magistrates, enact laws, and resolve upon any war which the king proposed; but in all these things the consent of the senate was necessary.

Romulus next proceeded to settle the religious affairs of his people. Many of the Trojan and Phrygian deities were added to those whom the Aborigines or Italian natives already worshipped. He chose priests, instituted festivals, and laid the foundation of a regular system. system of religion; after which, as his colony was still thinly peopled, he opened an asylum for fugitive slaves, homicides, outlaws, and debtors. These, however, he did not at first receive within the walls, but appointed for their habitation the hill Saturnius, called afterwards Capitoline, on which he erected a temple to a divinity of his own invention, whom he named the Asylean god, under whose protection all criminals were to live securely. But afterwards, when the city was enlarged, the asylum was inclosed within the walls, and those who dwelt in it included among the citizens of Rome.

When Romulus had thus settled every thing relating to his new colony, it was found that a supply of women was wanting to perpetuate its duration. This occasioned some difficulty; for the neighbouring nations refused to give their daughters in marriage to such a crew of vagabonds as had settled in Rome; wherefore Romulus at last resolved on the following expedient. By the advice of his grandfather Numitor, and with the consent of the senate, he proclaimed a solemn feast and public games in honour of the Equestrian Neptune called Consus. This occasioned a great concourse of people, who flocked from the adjacent parts to behold these pompous shows, together with the new city. But, in the midst of the solemnity, the Romans, rushing in with their swords drawn, seized all the young women, to the number of 683, for whom Romulus chose husbands. Among all those who were thus seized, only one married woman, named Hersilia, was found; and Romulus is said to have kept her for himself.

This violence soon brought on a war with the neighbouring nations. Acrum, king of Caenina, a city on the confines of Latium, having entered into a league with the inhabitants of Crustumini and Antemnae, invaded the Roman territories. Romulus marched against them without delay, defeated the confederate army, killed their king in single combat, decreed himself a triumph, and consecrated the spoils of Acrum to Jupiter Feretrius, under the name of Opima Spolia. The city of Caenina was razed to the ground, and the inhabitants transplanted to Rome, where they were admitted to the privileges of citizens. The king then marched with one legion (consisting at this time of 3000 foot and 300 horse) against the Crustumini and Antemnates, both of whom he defeated in battle, and transplanted the inhabitants to Rome; which being incapable of holding such a number, Romulus took in the hill Saturnius above mentioned, on the top of which he built a citadel, committing the care of it to a noble Roman named Tarpeius. The citadel was surrounded on all sides with ramparts and towers, which equally commanded the city and country. From the foot of the hill Saturnius a wall was carried on quite to the Tiber, and a gate opened in it named Carmentalis, from Carmenta the mother of Evander, who either lived there, or had some chapel or altar erected to her.

Romulus had now become so formidable to his neighbours, and had so well established his reputation for clemency, that several cities of Heturria voluntarily submitted to him. Caelius, an Heturian general, led the troops under his command to Rome, and settled on a hill near the city, which from him took the name of Mount Caelius. The Sabines, however, not in the least dismayed at this increase of the Roman forces, sent a deputation to Romulus, demanding restitution of the young women who had been carried off; and, upon his refusal, marched to Rome with an army of 25,000 foot and 1000 horse, under the command of their king Titus Tatius. Romulus, having received supplies from Numitor and from Heturria, likewise took the field, with 20,000 foot and 800 horse, with whom he seized an advantageous post, and fortified himself so strongly, that he could not be attacked. The Sabine monarch, perceiving the military skill of Romulus, began to be apprehensive of the event; but was extricated out of his difficulties by the treachery of Tarpeia, daughter to the governor of the citadel, who agreed to betray that important fortress to the enemy, on condition of being rewarded with the bracelets which the Sabines wore on their left arms. But when once they became masters of this important place, they are said to have crushed Tarpeia under the weight of their bucklers, pretending that thus they discharged their promise, as they wore their bucklers also on their left arms. The possession of the citadel enabled the Sabines to carry on the war with more success; but, at last, in a general engagement, they had the misfortune to be driven back into the citadel, whither they were pursued by the Romans, who expected to have retaken that important post; but the enemy, rolling down great stones from the top of the hill, wounded Romulus on the head, so that he was carried insensible out of the field of battle, while, in the mean time, his troops were repulsed, and pursued to the very gates of Rome. However, the king soon recovering himself, encouraged his routed troops, and drove the enemy back into the citadel. But while the two nations were thus fiercely contending, the women, for whose cause the war had been commenced, undertook the office of mediators; and having obtained leave from the senate, marched in a body to the camp of the Sabines, where they pleaded the cause of their husbands so effectually, that a treaty of union between the two nations was set on foot, and a peace was at last concluded, on the following terms. 1. That the two kings should reside and reign jointly at Rome. 2. That the city should still, from Romulus, be called Rome; but the inhabitants Quirites, a name till then peculiar to the Sabines. 3. That the two nations should become one; and that the Sabines should be made free in Rome, and enjoy all the privileges of Roman citizens. As Rome was chiefly indebted for this increase of her power and splendour to the Sabine women, honourable privileges and marks of distinction were allowed them. Every one was commanded to give way to them; in capital causes they were exempted from the jurisdiction of the ordinary judges; and their children were allowed to wear a golden ball hanging from their necks, and a particular kind of robe called praetexta, to distinguish them from the vulgar.

The two kings reigned with great harmony for the space of five years; during which time the only military exploit they accomplished was the reduction of the city of Cameria, at a small distance from Rome. Four thousand of the Camerini were transplanted to Rome, and a Roman colony sent to repeople Cameria; soon after which the Sabine king was murdered by the Lavilians, on account of his granting protection to some of his friends who had ravaged their territories. The Lavilians, fearing the resentment of Romulus, delivered up the assassins into his hands; but he sent them back unpunished. punished, which gave occasion to suspect that he was not displeased with the death of his colleague.

Soon after the death of Tatius, Rome was afflicted with famine and pestilence, which encouraged the Camerini to revolt; but Romulus marching against them suddenly, defeated them with the loss of 6000 men. After which he attacked the Fidenates, whose city stood about five miles from Rome, took their capital, and made it a Roman colony. This drew upon him the resentment of the Veientes, a powerful nation in the neighbourhood, who claimed Fidene as within their jurisdiction; but their forces being defeated in two engagements, and a great number of them taken prisoners they were obliged to sue for peace. Romulus granted them a truce for 100 years, on condition that they delivered to him seven small towns on the Tiber, together with some salt-pits near the mouth of that river, and sent 50 of their chief citizens as hostages to Rome. The prisoners taken in this war were all sold for slaves.

The remaining part of the life of Romulus was spent in making laws for the good of his people; but towards the latter end of his reign, being elated with success, he began to enlarge the bounds formerly set to his prerogative, and to behave in an arbitrary manner. He paid no longer any regard to the voice of the senate, but assembled them only for form's sake to ratify his commands. The senate therefore conspired to destroy him, and accomplished their purpose while he was reviewing his troops. A violent storm of hail and thunder dispersed the army; and the senators taking this opportunity, when they were left alone with the king, instantly killed him, and conveyed his body out of sight. Some writers tell us, that, the better to conceal the fact, they cut his body in pieces, each of them carrying away a part under his robe; after which they told the multitude, that their king was on a sudden surrounded by flame, and snatched up into heaven. This stratagem, however, did not satisfy the soldiery, and violent disturbances were about to ensue, when Julius Proculus, a senator of great distinction, having assembled the curiae, told them that Romulus had appeared to him, and enjoined him to acquaint the people, that their king was returned to the gods from whom he originally came, but that he would continue to be propitious to them under the name of Quirinus; and to the truth of this story Julius swore.

Romulus reigned, according to the common computation, 37 years; but some historians reduce the length of his reign to little more than 17; it being very unlikely, as they observe, that a prince of such an active disposition should perform nothing worthy of record during a period of 20 years. Be this as it will, however, the death of Romulus was followed by an interregnum, during which the senators, to prevent anarchy and confusion, took the government into their own hands. Tatius added another hundred to that body; and these 200 senators divided themselves into decuries or tens. These decuries drew lots which should govern first; and the decury to whose lot it fell enjoyed the supreme authority for five days; yet in such a manner, that one person only of the governing decury had the ensigns of sovereignty at a time. To these another decury succeeded, each of them sitting on the throne in his turn, &c. But the people soon growing weary of such frequent change of masters, obliged the senate to resolve on the election of a king. The senate referred the election to the people, and the people to the senate, who at last undertook the task. Some difficulties, however, occurred: the Romans did not choose to be subject to a Sabine; and the Sabines, as they had been subject to Romulus after the death of Tatius, insisted that the king should be chosen out of their nation. At last it was agreed, that the king should be a Sabine, but that the Romans should make the choice.

In consequence of this determination, the Romans elected Numa Pompilius, an austere philosopher, who had married Tatia, the daughter of Tatius the late king. After the death of his wife, he gave himself entirely up to philosophy and superstition, wandering from solitude to solitude, in search of sacred woods and fountains, which gave the people a great opinion of his sanctity. The philosopher at first rejected the offer of the kingdom; but being at last prevailed upon, he set out for Rome, where he was received with loud acclamations, and had his election unanimously confirmed by the senate.

The reign of Numa is by no means memorable for battles or conquests. He was averse to war; and made it his study to soften the manners of the Romans, rather than to exalt them to superiority over their neighbours. He dismissed the celeres, encouraged agriculture, and divided the citizens into distinct bodies of tradesmen. This last measure he took on purpose to abolish the distinction between Romans and Sabines, which had hitherto rent the city into two factions; and this effectually answered his end: for now all of each particular profession, whether Romans or Sabines, were obliged to associate together, and had each their respective courts and privileges. In this division the musicians held the first rank, because they were employed in the offices of religion. The goldsmiths, carpenters, curriers, dyers, tailors, &c. formed also distinct communities; and were allowed to make bye laws among themselves, to have their own festivals, particular sacrifices, &c.

Though Numa himself is said by Plutarch to have had pretty just notions of the Supreme Being, he nevertheless added innumerable superstitions to those he found in Rome. He divided the ministers of religion into eight classes, appointing to each their office with the greatest precision; he erected a temple to Janus, the symbol of prudence, which was to remain open in time of war, and to be shut in time of peace. Another temple was erected to Bona Fides; and he invented a new kind of deities called Dii Termini, or boundaries, which he caused to be placed on the borders of the Roman state, and of each man's particular lands.—The last reformation which Numa undertook, was that of the kalendar. Romulus had divided his year into ten months, which, according to Plutarch, had no certain or equal number of days; some consisting of 20, some of 35, &c. However, by other historians, we are informed that he allotted to March, May, Quintillis, and October, 31 days; to April, June, Sextillis, November, and December 30; making in all 304 days. But Numa being better acquainted with the celestial motions, added to these the two months of January and February. To compose these two months he added 50 days to the 304; and thus made the year answer to the course of... the moon. He then took six more from the months that had even days; and added one day merely out of superstition, that the year might prove fortunate; for the pagans looked upon even numbers as unlucky, but imagined odd numbers to be fortunate. However, he could make out no more than 28 for February, and therefore that month was always reckoned unlucky among the Romans. Besides this, he observed the difference between the solar and lunar year to be 11 days; and to remedy the inequality, he added an intercalary month named Mercedinus or Mercedonius, of 22 days every two years: but as he knew also that the solar year consisted of 365 days 6 hours, he ordered that every fourth year the month Mercedinus should consist of 23 days. The care of these intercalations was left to the priests, who left out or put in the intercalary day or month as they imagined it to be lucky or unlucky; and by that means created such confusion, that the festivals came in process of time to be kept at a season quite opposite to what they had been formerly.

These are all the remarkable transactions of the reign of Numa, which is said to have continued 43 years; though some think that its duration could not be above 15 or 16. His death was followed by a short interregnum; after which Tullus Hostilius, the son or grandson of the famous Hersilia, was unanimously chosen king. Being of a bold and fiery temper, he did not long continue to imitate his peaceful predecessor. The Albans, indeed, soon gave him an opportunity of exercising his martial disposition. Cælius, or, as he is called by Livy, Cluilius, who was at the head of the Alban republic, jealous of the growing greatness of Rome, privately commissioned some of the most indigent of his subjects to waste the Roman territory; in consequence of which, a Roman army entered the territories of Alba, engaged the robbers, killed many, and took a great number prisoners. A war soon commenced, in consequence of this, between the two nations; but when the armies came in sight of each other, their ardour cooled, neither of them seeming inclined to come to an engagement. This inaction raised a great discontent in the Alban army against Cluilius; insomuch that he came to a resolution of giving battle to the Romans next morning, or of storming their trenches if they should decline it. Next morning, however, he was found dead in his bed; after which the Alban chose in his stead one Mettus Fufetius, a man remarkable for his hatred to the Roman name, as Cluilius had been before him. Fufetius, however, continued in the same state of inactivity as his predecessor, until he received certain intelligence that the Veientes and Fidenates had resolved to destroy both Romans and Albans when they should be weakened by a battle. Fufetius then resolved to come to an accommodation with the Romans; and, having obtained a conference with Tullus, both seemed equally desirous of avoiding the calamities of war. But, in order to establish the peace on the most perfect foundation, Tullus proposed that all, or at least the chief families in Alba, should remove to Rome; or, in case they were unwilling to leave their native city, that one common council should be established to govern both cities, under the direction of one of the two sovereigns. Fufetius took aside those who attended him, to consult with them about this proposal; but they, though willing to come to an accommodation with Rome, absolutely refused to leave Alba. The only difficulty remaining, then, was to settle which city should have the superiority; and, as this could not be determined by argument, Tullus proposed to determine it by single combat betwixt himself and Fufetius. This proposal, however, the Alban general thought proper to decline; and it was at last agreed, that three champions should be chosen out of each camp to decide the difference. This produced the famous combat between the Horatii and Curiatii, by which the sovereignty was decided in favour of Rome. See Horatii.

Tullus now resolved to call the Fidenates to an account for their treacherous behaviour during the war with Alba, and therefore cited them to appear before the senate; but they, conscious of their guilt, refused to appear, and took up arms in conjunction with the Veientes. Fufetius, in obedience to the orders of Tullus, joined him with the Alban troops; but the day before the battle, he acquainted the principal officers with his design, which was to stand neuter till fortune had declared for one side, and then to join with the conqueror. This design being approved, Fufetius, during the engagement, retired with his forces to a neighbouring eminence. Tullus perceived his treachery; but dissembling his uneasiness, told his men that Fufetius had possessed himself of that hill by his order, and that he was from thence to rush down upon the enemy. The Veientes, in the mean time, who had expected that Fufetius was to join them, were dismayed, and the Romans obtained the victory. After the battle, Tullus returned privately to Rome in the night; and having consulted with the senate about the treachery of Fufetius, returned to the camp by break of day. He then detached Horatius, who had conquered the three Curiatii, with a chosen body of horse and foot, to demolish Alba, as had been concerted at Rome. In the mean time, he commanded both the Roman and Alban troops to attend him unarmed, but gave private orders to the Romans to bring their swords concealed under their garments. When they were assembled, he laid open the treachery of Fufetius, and ordered him to be torn in pieces by horses. His accomplices were all put to the sword; and the inhabitants of Alba carried to Rome, where they were admitted to the privileges of citizens, and some of them even admitted to the senate.

Tullus now turned his arms against Fidenæ, which he again reduced under the Roman yoke: and took Medulia, a strong city of the Latins; after which he waged a successful war with the Sabines, whose union with the Romans seems to have ceased with the time of Numa. This was the last of his martial exploits; after which we hear no more of him, but that he became extremely superstitious in his advanced years, giving ear to many foolish stories, as that it rained stones, that miraculous voices were heard from heaven, &c. and for this he appointed nine days expiatory sacrifices; whence it became a custom to appoint nine days to appease the wrath of the gods as often as men were alarmed with prodigies. As to the manner of his death authors are not agreed. Some tell us that he was killed by lightning, together with his wife, children, and his whole family; while others are of opinion that he died murdered with his wife and children by Ancus Martius who succeeded him. He died after a reign of Martin. 33 years, leaving the city greatly increased, but the dominions much the same as they had been in the time of Romulus.

After a short interregnum, Ancus Martius, the grandson of Numa by his daughter Pomphilia and Marcus his relation, was unanimously chosen by the people and senate. Though naturally inclined to war, he began his reign without attempting to restore the ceremonies of Numa, which had been neglected under Tullus Hostilius. He endeavoured also to draw the attention of his people to husbandry and the peaceful arts; advising them to lay aside all sorts of violence, and to return to their former employments. This gained him the affections of his subjects, but brought upon him the contempt of the neighbouring nations. The Latins pretending that their treaty with Rome was expired, made incursions into the Roman territories. Ancus, after using the ceremonies directed by Numa, took the field with an army consisting entirely of new-levied troops, and reduced the cities of Politorium, Tillena, and Ficana, transplanting the inhabitants to Rome. A new colony of Latins repeopled Politorium; but Ancus retook the place next year, and entirely demolished it. He then laid siege to Medulia; which, though it had been ruined by Tullus Hostilius, was now stronger than ever. It submitted after a siege of four years, when Ancus found himself obliged to undertake a second expedition against Ficana, which he had before reduced, as we have already related; and it was not without the utmost difficulty that he reduced it a second time. After this he defeated the Latins in a pitched battle; vanquished the Fidenates, Vejentes, and Sabines; and having taken in the hill Janiculum to be included within the walls, and built the port of Ostia, he died in the 24th year of his reign.

Ancus Martius left two sons behind him, one an infant, and the other about 15 years of age. Both of these he put under the tuition of Tarquin, the son of a rich merchant in Corinth, who had fled from that city to secure his wealth from Cypselus tyrant of the place. He settled in Tarquinii, one of the principal cities in Heturia; but finding that he could not there attain to any of the principal posts in the city on account of his foreign extraction, he removed to Rome, where he had been gradually raised to the rank of patrician and senator. The death of Ancus Martius gave him an opportunity of assuming the regal dignity, and setting aside his pupils; and in the beginning of his reign he took care to strengthen his party in the senate by adding another hundred to that body. These were called senatores minorum gentium, because they were chosen out of the plebeians; however, they had the same authority in the senate as the others, and their children were called patricians.

Tarquin was not inferior to any of his predecessors either in his inclination or abilities to carry on a war. As soon as he ascended the throne, he recommenced hostilities with the Latins; from whom he took the cities of Apiola, Crustuminum, Nomentum, and Collatia. The inhabitants of Apiola were sold for slaves; but those of Crustuminum and Nomentum, who had submitted after their revolt, were treated with great clemency. The inhabitants of Collatia were disarmed and obliged to pay a large sum of money; the sovereignty of it, in the mean time, being given to Egerius the son of Arrinx, Tarquin's brother; from whence he took the name of Collatinus, which he transmitted to his posterity. Corniculum, another city of Latium, was taken by storm, and reduced to ashes. This progress having greatly alarmed the Latins, several of them joined their forces in order to oppose such a formidable enemy; but being defeated in a bloody battle near Fidenae, they were obliged to enter into an alliance with Rome; upon which the Latins having held a national conference, entered into a league with the Heturians, and again took the field with a very numerous army. But Tarquin, having defeated the confederate armies in two very bloody battles, obliged the Latin cities to submit to a kind of dependence on Rome; and having entered the city in triumph, built the circus maximus with the spoils which he had taken from the enemy.

The war with the Latins was scarcely ended, when another commenced with Heturia. This was accounted the most powerful nation in Italy, and was at that time divided into 12 tribes or lucumonies. These appointed a national assembly, in which was decreed that the whole force of Heturia should be employed against Tarquin; and if any city presumed only to stand neuter, it should be forever cut off from the national alliance. Thus a great army was raised, with which they ravaged the Roman territory, and took Fidenae by the treachery of some of its inhabitants. Tarquin, not being in a condition to oppose them at first, was obliged to submit to the loss occasioned by their ravages for a whole year; after which he took the field with all the forces he could raise. The Roman army was divided into two bodies, one under the king himself, the other commanded by his nephew Collatinus. The latter, having divided his forces in order to plunder the country, was defeated; but Tarquin, in two engagements vanquished the army which opposed him. He then marched against Fidenae, where he gained a third battle; after which he took the city. Such of the citizens as were suspected to have been concerned in betraying it to the enemy were whipped to death; the rest were sent into banishment, and their lands divided by lot among the Roman soldiers. Tarquin now hastened to oppose the new army of the Heturians before their forces could be properly collected; and having come up with them at Eretum, a place about 10 miles from Rome, defeated them with great slaughter, for which victory he was decreed a triumph by the senate; while the enemy, disheartened by so many misfortunes, were glad to sue for peace; which Tarquin readily granted, upon the sole condition of their owning his superiority over them. In compliance with this, the Heturians sent him all the ensigns of royalty which were in use among them, viz., him by a crown of gold, a throne of ivory, a sceptre with an eagle on the top of it, a tunic embroidered with gold, and adorned with figures of palm branches, together with a purple robe enriched with flowers of several colours. Tarquin, however, would not wear these magnificent ornaments till such time as the senate and people had consented to it by an express law. He then applied the regalia to the decoration of his triumph, and never afterwards laid them aside. In this triumph he appeared in a gilt chariot, drawn by four horses, clothed in a purple robe, and a tunic embroidered with gold, a crown on his head, and a sceptre. in his hand, attended by 12 lictors with their axes and fasces.

Tarquin, having now obtained some respite from war, applied himself to the beautifying and ornamenting the city. He built the walls of Rome with hewn stone, and erected those famous common sewers which have deservedly been accounted one of the wonders of the world. Rome at this time contained four hills within its compass, viz. the Palatinus, Tarpeius, Quirinalis, and Cælius. In the valleys between these hills, the rain-water and springs uniting, formed great pools which laid under water the streets and public places. The mud likewise made the way impassable, infected the air, and rendered the city unhealthy. Tarquin undertook to free the city from this nuisance, by conveying off these waters by subterraneous channels into the Tiber. In doing this, it was necessary to cut through hills and rocks a channel large enough for a navigable stream, and covered with arches strong enough to bear the weight of houses, which were frequently built upon them, and stood as firm as on the most solid foundations. All these arches were made of hard stone, and neither trouble nor expense were spared to make the work durable. Their height and breadth were so considerable, that a cart loaded with hay could easily pass through them underground. The expense of constructing these sewers was never so thoroughly understood as when it became necessary to repair them: for then the censors gave no less than 1000 talents to the person appointed for this purpose.

Besides these great works, Tarquin adorned the forum, surrounding it with galleries in which were shops for tradesmen, and building temples in it for the youth of both sexes, and halls for the administration of public justice. He next engaged in a war with the Sabines, on pretence that they had assisted the Hetrurians. Both armies took the field, and came to an engagement on the confines of Sabinia, without any considerable advantage on either side; neither was anything of consequence done during the whole campaign. Tarquin then considering with himself that the Roman forces were very deficient in cavalry, resolved to add some new bodies of knights to those already instituted by Romulus. But this project met with great opposition from the superstitious augurs, as the original division of horse into three bodies had been determined by augurs; and Actius Naevius, the chief of the diviners at that time, violently opposed the king's will. On this Tarquin, desirous to expose the deceit of these people, summoned Naevius before an assembly of the people, and desired him to show a specimen of his art, by telling the king if what he thought of at that time could be done or not. The augur replied, after consulting his birds, that the thing was very possible. On which Tarquin told him, that he had been thinking whether it was possible to cut a flint with a razor, pulling at the same time a razor and flint from below his robe. This set the people a-laughing; but Naevius gravely desiring the king to try it, he was surprised to find that the flint yielded to the razor; and that with so much ease as to draw blood from his hand. The people testified their surprise by loud acclamations, and Tarquin himself continued to have a great veneration for augurs ever after. A statue of brass was erected to the memory of Naevius, which continued till the time of Augustus; the razor and flint were buried near it, under an altar, at which witnesses were afterwards sworn in civil causes.

This adventure, whatever was the truth of it, caused Tarquin to abandon his design of increasing the number of bodies of horse, and content himself with augmenting the number in each body. He then renewed the war with the Sabines, ravaged their country, defeated them in three pitched battles, obliged them at last to submit to him and put him in possession of their country. In the decline of life he employed himself in further decorating the city, building temples, &c. He was assassinated in his palace, in the 80th year of his age, by the sons of Ancus Martius, whom he had originally deprived of the kingdom.

After the death of Tarquin I. his wife Tanaquil preserved the kingdom to her son-in-law Servius Tullius, by artfully giving out that the king was only stunned, and would soon recover; upon which the sons of Ancus went voluntarily into banishment. These second day after his decease, Servius Tullius heard causes from the throne in the royal robes and attended by the lictors; but as he pretended only to supply the king's place till he should recover, and thought it incumbent on him to revenge the wicked attempt upon his life, he summoned the sons of Ancus to appear before his tribunal; and on their non-appearance, caused them to be declared infamous, and their estates to be confiscated. After he had thus managed matters for some time in such a manner as to engage the affections of the people, the death of Tarquin was published as a thing that had newly happened, and Servius Tullius assumed the ensigns of royalty, having none to dispute the honour with him.

The new king showed himself every way worthy of the throne. No sooner were the Hetrurians informed of Tarquin's death, than they shook off the yoke; but Servius quickly reduced them to obedience, depriving them of their lands, which he shared among the poor Roman citizens who had none. For this he was decreed a triumph by the people, in spite of the opposition of the senate, who could never be brought to approve of his election to the kingdom, though he was soon after legally chosen by the tribes.

After Servius had obtained the sanction of the popular voice, he marched a second time against the revolted Hetrurians: and having again vanquished them, was decreed another triumph. He then applied himself to the enlarging and adorning the city. To the hills Palatinus, Tarpeius, Quirinalis, Cælius, and Aventinus, he added the Esquilinus and Viminalis, fixing his own palace on the Esquiline, in order to draw inhabitants thither. He likewise added a fourth tribe, which he called Tribus Esquilina, to those instituted by Romulus. He divided also the whole Roman territory into distinct tribes, commanding that there should be at least one place of refuge in each tribe situated on a rising ground, and strong enough to secure the effects of the peasants in case of a sudden alarm. These strongholds he called pagi, that is, "villages;" and commanded that each of them should have their peculiar temple, tutelary god, and magistrates. Each of them had likewise their peculiar festival, called pagonalia; when every person was to pay into the hands of those who presided at the sacrifices a piece of money, the men of one kind, the women of another, and the children of a third. By this means an exact computation was made of the men, women, and children, in each tribe.

In the mean time, his two wards, Lucius Tarquinius and Arunx, the grandchildren of Tarquin, being grown up, in order to secure their fidelity, he married them to his two daughters. And though the elder of these daughters, who was of a mild and tractable disposition, resembled in character the younger of his pupils, as the elder of his pupils did the younger of his daughters, who was of a violent and vicious temper, yet he thought it advisable to give his elder daughter to Tarquin, and the younger to Arunx; for by that means he matched them according to their ages, and at the same time hoped that the elder Tullia's sweet disposition would temper Tarquin's impetuosity, and the younger Tullia's vivacity rouse the indolence of Arunx.

During the public rejoicing for this double marriage, the twelve lucumonies of Hetruria, uniting their forces, attempted to shake off the Roman yoke; but were in several battles defeated by Servius, and obliged to submit to him on the same conditions on which they had submitted to his predecessor. For this success Servius was honoured with a third triumph.

The king being thus disengaged from a troublesome war, returned to the pursuit of his political schemes; and put in execution that masterpiece of policy which Rome made use of ever after, and which established a perpetual order and regularity in all the members of the state, with respect to wars, to the public revenues, and the suffrages of the comitia. The public supplies had hitherto been raised upon the people at so much a head, without any distinction of rich and poor; whence it likewise followed, that when levies were made for the war, the rich and poor were equally obliged to take the field according to the order of their tribe; and as they all served at their own expence, the poorer sort could hardly bear the charges of a campaign. Besides, as the most indigent of the people saw themselves burdened with the same taxes as the rich, they pretended to an equal authority in the comitia; so that the election of kings and magistrates, the making of peace or war, and the judging of criminals, were given up into the hands of a populace who were easily corrupted, and had nothing to lose. Servius formed a project to remedy these evils, and put it in execution, by enacting a law, enjoining all the Roman citizens to bring in an account in writing of their own names and ages, and of those of their fathers, wives, and children. By the same law, all heads of families were commanded to deliver in upon oath a just estimate of their effects, and to add to it the places of their abode, whether in town or country. Whoever did not bring in an account of his effects, was to be deprived of his estate, to be beat with rods, and publicly sold for a slave. Servius, from these particular accounts, which might be pretty well relied on, undertook to ease the poor by burdening the rich, and at the same time to please the latter by increasing their power.

To this end he divided the Roman people into six classes: the first class consisted of those whose estates and effects amounted to the value of 10,000 drachmae, or 100,000 asses of brass; the first way of computing being used by the Greeks, and the latter by the Latins. This class was subdivided into 80 centuries, or companies of foot. To these Servius joined 18 centuries of Roman knights, who fought on hor-breck; and appointed this considerable body of horsemen to be at the head of the first class, because the estates of these knights, without all doubt, exceeded the sum necessary to be admitted into it. However, the public supplied them with horses; for which a tax was laid upon widows, who were exempt from all other tributes. This first class, including infantry and cavalry, consisted of 98 centuries. The second class comprehended those whose estates were valued at 7500 drachmae, or 75,000 asses of brass. It was subdivided into 20 centuries, all foot. To these were added two centuries of carpenters, smiths, and other artificers. In the third class were those who were esteemed worth 5000 drachmae, or 50,000 asses. This class was subdivided into 20 centuries. The fourth class was of those whose effects were rated at the value of 2500 drachmae, or 25,000 asses, and was divided into 20 centuries; to which were added two other centuries of trumpets and blowers of the horn, who supplied the whole army with this martial music. The fifth class included those only whose whole substance did not amount to more than 1250 drachmae, or 12,500 asses; and this class was divided into 30 centuries. The sixth class comprehended all those who were not worth so much as those of the fifth class: they exceeded in number any other class, but nevertheless were reckoned but as one century.

The king drew from these regulations all the advantages he had expected. Levies for the army were no longer raised by tribes, nor were taxes laid at so much a-head as formerly, but all was levied by centuries. When, for instance, an army of 20,000 men, or a large supply of money, was wanted for the war, each century furnished its quota both of men and money; so that the first class, which contained more centuries, though fewer men, than all the others together, furnished more men and more money for the public service than the whole Roman state besides. And by this means the Roman armies consisted for the most part of the rich citizens of Rome; who, as they had lands and effects to defend, fought with more resolution, while their riches enabled them to bear the expence of a campaign. As it was but just the king should make the first class amends for the weight laid on it, he gave it almost the whole authority in public affairs; changing the comitia by curiae, in which every man gave his vote, into comitia by centuries, in which the majority was not reckoned by single persons, but by centuries, how few soever there might be in a century. Hence the first class, which contained more centuries than the other five taken together, had every thing at its disposal. The votes of this class were first taken; and if the 98 centuries happened to agree, or only 97 of them, the affair was determined; because these made the majority of the 193 centuries which composed the six classes. If they disagreed, then the second, the third, and the other classes in their order, were called to vote, though there was very seldom any occasion to go so low as the fourth class for a majority of votes; so that by this good order Servius brought the affairs of the state to be determined by the judgment of the most considerable considerable citizens, who understood the public interest much better than the blind multitude, liable to be imposed upon, and easily corrupted.

And now the people being thus divided into several orders, according to the census or valuation of their estates, Servius resolved to solemnize this prudent regulation by some public act of religion, that it might be the more respected and the more lasting. Accordingly, all the citizens were commanded to appear, on a day appointed, in the Campus Martius, which was a large plain lying between the city and the Tiber, formerly consecrated by Romulus to the god Mars. Here the centuries being drawn up in battalia, a solemn lustration or expiatory sacrifice was performed in the name of all the people. The sacrifice consisted of a sow, a sheep, and a bull, whence it took the name of suetaurilia. The whole ceremony was called lustrum, à luendo; that is, from paying, expiating, clearing, or perhaps from the goddess Lus, who presided over expiations, and to whom Servius had dedicated a temple. This wise king considering, that in the space of five years there might be such alterations in the fortunes of private persons as to entitle some to be raised to a higher class, and reduce others to a lower, enjoined that the census should be renewed every five years. As the census was usually closed by the lustrum, the Romans henceforth began to compute time by lustrums, each lustrum containing the space of five years. However, the lustrums were not always regularly observed, but often put off, though the census had been made in the fifth year. Some writers are of opinion, that Servius at this time coined the first money that had ever appeared at Rome; and add, that the circumstances of the lustrum probably led him to stamp the figures of the animals there slain on pieces of brass of a certain weight.

The government of the city being thus established in so regular a manner, Servius, touched with compassion for those whom the misfortunes of an unsuccessful war had reduced to slavery, thought that such of them as had by long and faithful services deserved and obtained their freedom, were much more worthy of being made Roman citizens, than untractable vagabonds from foreign countries, who were admitted without distinction. He therefore gave the freedmen their choice, either to return to their own country, or continue at Rome. Those who chose to continue there, he divided into four tribes, and settled them within the city; and though they were distinguished from the plebeians by their old name of liberti, or freedmen, yet they enjoyed all the privileges of free citizens. The senate took offence at the regard which the king showed to such mean people, who had but lately shaken off their fetters; but Servius, by a most humane and judicious discourse, entirely appeased the fathers, who passed his institution into a law, which subsisted ever after.

The wise king, having thus established order among the people, undertook at last to reform the royal power itself; his equity, which was the main spring of all his resolutions, leading him to act contrary to his own interest, and to sacrifice one half of the royal authority to the public good. His predecessor had reserved to themselves the cognizance of all causes both public and private; but Servius, finding the duties of his office too much for one man to discharge well, committed the cognizance of ordinary suits to the senate, and reserved that only of state-crimes to himself.

All things being now regulated at home, both in the city and country, Servius turned his thoughts abroad, and formed a scheme for attaching the Sabines and Latins to the Romans, by such social ties as should be strengthened by religion. He summoned the Latin and Sabine cities to send their deputies to Rome, to consult about an affair of great importance. When they were come, he proposed to them the building of a temple in honour of Diana, where the Latins and Sabines should meet once a-year, and join with the Romans in offering sacrifices to that goddess: that this festival would be followed by a council, in which all disputes between the cities should be amicably determined; that there proper measures should be taken to pursue their common interest; and, lastly, in order to draw the common people thither, a fair should be kept, at which every one might furnish himself with what he wanted. The king's design met with no opposition; the deputies only added to it, that the temple should be an inviolable asylum for the united nations; and that all the cities should contribute towards the expense of building it. It being left to the king to choose a proper place for it, he pitched upon the Aventine hill, where the temple was built, and assemblies annually held in it. The laws which were to be observed in these general meetings, were engraved on a pillar of brass, and were to be seen in Augustus's time, in the Latin tongue, but in Greek characters.

But now Servius was grown old; and the ambition of Tarquin his son-in-law revived in proportion as the king advanced in years. His wife used her utmost endeavours to check the rashness and fury of her husband, and to divert him from all criminal enterprises; while her younger sister was ever instigating Amunx, who placed all his happiness in a private life, to the most villainous attempts. She was continually lamenting her fate in being tied to such an indolent husband, and wishing she had either continued unmarried, or were become a widow. Similitude of temper and manners, formed, by degrees, a great intimacy between her and Tarquin. At length she proposed nothing less to him than the murdering of her father, sister, and husband, that they two might meet and ascend the throne together. Soon after, they paved their way to an incestuous marriage, he by poisoning his wife, and she her husband; and then had the assurance to ask the king's and queen's consent to their marriage. Servius and Tarquinius, though they did not give it, were silent, through too much indulgence to a daughter in whom now was their only hope of posterity. But these criminal nuptials were only the first step towards a yet greater iniquity. The wicked ambition of the new married couple first showed itself against the king: for they publicly declared, that the crown belonged to them; that Servius was an usurper, who, being appointed tutor to Tarquin's grandchildren, had deprived his pupils of their inheritance; that it was high time for an old man, who was but little able to support the weight of public affairs, to give place to a prince who was of a mature age, &c.

The patricians, whom Servius had taken great pleasure in humbling during the whole time of his reign, were easily gained over to Tarquin's party; and, by the help help of money, many of the poorer citizens were also brought over to his interest. The king, being informed of their treasonable practices, endeavoured to dissuade his daughter and son-in-law from such proceedings, which might end in their ruin; and exhorted them to wait for the kingdom till his death. But they, despising his counsels and paternal admonitions, resolved to lay their claim before the senate; which Servius was obliged to summon: so that the affair came to a formal process. Tarquin reproached his father-in-law with having ascended the throne without a previous interregnum; and with having bought the votes of the people, and despised the suffrages of the senate. He then urged his own right of inheritance to the crown, and injustice of Servius, who, being only his guardian, had kept possession of it, when he himself was of an age to govern. Servius answered, that he had been lawfully elected by the people; and that, if there could be a hereditary right to the kingdom, the sons of Ancus had a much better one than the grandsons of the late king, who must himself have been an usurper. He then referred the whole to an assembly of the people; which being immediately proclaimed all over the city, the forum was soon filled; and Servius harangued the multitude in such a manner as gained all their affections. They all cried out with one voice, *Let Servius reign; let him continue to make the Romans happy.* Amidst their confused clamours, these words were likewise heard: *Let Tarquin perish; let him die; let us kill him.* This language frightened him so, that he retired to his house in great haste; while the king was conducted back to his palace with the acclamations of the people.

The ill success of this attempt cooled Tarquin's ardent desire of reigning; but his ambition made him act a new part. He undertook to regain the favour of his father-in-law by caresses, submissions, and protestations of a sincere regard and affection for him; insomuch that the king, who judged of the policy of others from his own, was sincerely reconciled to him, and tranquillity re-established in the royal family. But it was not long ere Tarquin, roused by the continual reproaches of his wife, began to renew his intrigues among the senators; of whom he had no sooner gained a considerable party, than he clothed himself in the royal robes, and causing the fasces to be carried before him by some of his domestics, crossed the Roman forum, entered the temple where the senate used to meet, and seated himself on the throne. Such of the senators as were in the faction he found already in their places (for he had given them private notice to be there early); and the rest, being summoned to assemble in Tarquin's name, made what haste they could to the appointed place, thinking that Servius was dead, since Tarquin assumed the title and functions of king. When they were all assembled, Tarquin made a long speech, reviling his father-in-law, and repeating the invectives against him, which he had so often uttered, calling him a slave, an usurper, a favourite of the populace, and an enemy to the senate and patricians. When he was yet speaking, Servius arrived; and, rashly giving way to the motions of his courage, without considering his strength, drew near the throne, to pull Tarquin down from it. This raised a great noise in the assembly, which drew the people into the temple; but nobody ventured to part the two rivals. Tarquin, therefore, being more strong and vigorous seized the old man by the waist, and hurrying him through the temple, threw him down from the top of the steps into the forum. The king, who was grievously wounded, raised himself up with some difficulty: but all his friends had abandoned him; only two or three of the people, touched with compassion, lent him their arms to conduct him to his palace.

As they were leading him on slowly, the cruel Tullia appeared in the forum, whither she had hastened in her chariot on the first report of what had passed in the senate. She found her husband on the top of the steps of the temple; and, transported with joy, was the first who saluted him king. The example was immediately followed by the senators of Tarquin's party. Nor was this enough for the unnatural daughter; she took aside her husband, and suggested to him, that he would never be safe so long as the usurper of his crown was alive. Hereupon Tarquin instantly dispatched some of his domestics to take away the remains of the unfortunate king's life. The orders for the wicked parricide were no sooner given than Tullia mounted her chariot again, with an air of triumph, to return home. The way to her house was through a narrow street, called vicus cypris, or the good street. There the assassins had left the king's body, which was still panting. At this sight, the charioteer, struck with horror, checked his horses, and made a stop: but Tullia forced him to go on; and the blood of the father is said to have dyed the wheels of the chariot, and even the clothes of the inhuman daughter, whence the street was called ever after vicus saceratus.

The new king proved a most despotic and cruel tyrant; receiving, in the very beginning of his reign, the surname of proud, on account of his capricious humour and haughty behaviour. All controversies whatever were decided by himself and his friends; and he banished, fined, and even executed, whom he pleased. The census and lustrum, the division of citizens into classes and centuries, were abolished; and all kinds of assemblies, even those for amusement and recreation, were prohibited, both in town and country. Nay, to such a height did Tarquin carry his insolence and tyranny, that the most virtuous of the senators went into voluntary banishment; while many of those who remained were cut off on various pretences, that the king might enjoy their estates.

Tarquin could not but be sensible of the extreme danger in which he stood by losing the affections of his people in such a manner. He therefore provided a sufficient number of soldiers, by way of guard, to prevent attempts upon his person; and gave his daughter to Octavius Mamilius, one of the most considerable men among the Latins, in order to strengthen his interest by this foreign alliance, in case of a revolt among his subjects. Mamilius accordingly procured many friends to his father-in-law, but he had like to have lost them again by his haughty behaviour. He had desired the Latins to call a national council at Ferentium, where he would meet them on a day appointed by himself. The Latins accordingly met; but after waiting for several hours, Tarquin did not appear. On this, one Turnus Herdonius, an enterprising and eloquent man, who hated Tarquin, and was jealous of Mamilius, made a speech, in which he inveighed against the haughty behaviour of Tarquin, set forth the contempt which he had had put upon the Latins, and concluded with desiring the council to break up and return home without taking any further notice of him. Mamilius, however, prevailed upon them to return the day following; when Tarquin made his appearance, and told the assembly that his design in calling them together was to claim his right of commanding the Latin armies, which he said was derived from his grandfather, but which he desired to be confirmed to him by them. These words were scarce out of his mouth, when Herdonius, rising up, entered into a detail of Tarquin's tyranny and arbitrary behaviour at Rome, which he said, the Latins would soon feel in an equal degree, if they complied with Tarquin's demand. To this speech the king made no reply at that time, but promised to answer him next day. In the mean time, however, he bribed the domestics of Herdonius to admit among his baggage a large quantity of arms; and then, telling the Latins that Herdonius's opposition proceeded only from Tarquin's having refused him his daughter in marriage, accused him of having laid a plot to cut off all the deputies there present, and to usurp a jurisdiction over the Latin cities; as a proof of which he appealed to the arms hid among the baggage of Herdonius. The accused, conscious of his innocence, desired that his baggage might be searched; which being accordingly done, and the arms found, he was hurried away without being allowed to make any defence, and thrown into a bason at the head of the spring of Ferentium, where a hurdle being laid upon him, and stones laid upon the hurdle, he was pressed down into the water and drowned.

In consequence of this monstrous treachery, Tarquin was looked upon by the Latins as their deliverer, and declared general of the Latin armies; soon after which, the Hernici and two tribes of the Volsci entered into an alliance with him on the same terms. In order to keep these confederates together, Tarquin, with their consent, erected a temple to Jupiter Latiaris on a hill near the ruins of Alba, where he appointed certain feasts called Feriae Latinae to be held on the 27th of April, where the several nations were to sacrifice together, and on no account to commit any hostilities against each other during their continuance. The king then proceeded to make war on the rest of the Volsci who had refused to enter into an alliance with him. Some depredations which they had committed in the territories of the Latins served for a pretence to begin the war; but as Tarquin had no confidence in the Romans, his army was composed only of a small body of them who were incorporated among the Latin auxiliaries. However, he defeated the enemy, took one of their cities by storm, and gave the booty to his soldiers. He next turned his arms against the Sabines, whom he entirely defeated in two engagements, and made the whole nation tributary; for which exploits he decreed himself two triumphs, and on his return to Rome he employed the populace in finishing the sewers and circus which had been begun by his grandfather Tarquin I.

In the mean time, the persecutions of Tarquin against his own subjects daily drove some of the most considerable into banishment. A great number of patricians took refuge in Gabii, a city of Latium about 13 miles from Rome; where the inhabitants, touched with compassion for their misfortunes, not only received them with kindness, but began a war with Tarquin on their account. The Gabini seem to have been the most formidable enemies whom the Romans had hitherto met with; since Tarquin was obliged to raise a prodigious bulwark to cover the city on the side of Gabii. The war lasted seven years; during which time, by the mutual devastations committed by the two armies, a great scarcity of provisions took place in Rome. The people soon grew clamorous; and Tarquin being unable either to quiet them, or to reduce the Gabini, fell upon the following dishonourable and treacherous expedient. His son Sextus Tarquinius pretended to be on very bad terms with his father, and openly inveighed against him as a tyrant; on which he was proclaimed a rebel, and publicly beaten in the forum. This being reported at Gabii, by persons sent thither on purpose, the inhabitants became very desirous of having Sextus among them; and accordingly he soon went thither, having previously obtained a solemn promise from the inhabitants never to deliver him up to his father. Here he made frequent inroads into the Roman territories, and always came back laden with spoil, his father sending against him only such weak parties as must infallibly be worsted. By this means he soon came to have such a high degree of credit among the Gabini, that he was chosen general of their army, and was as much master at Gabii as Tarquin was at Rome. Finding then that his authority was sufficiently established, he dispatched a slave to his father for instructions; but the king, unwilling to return an explicit answer, only took the messenger into the garden, where he struck off the heads of the tallest poplars. Sextus understood that by this hint the king desired him to put to death the leading men in the city of Gabii, which he immediately put in execution; and while the city was in confusion on account of this massacre, he opened the gates to his father, who took possession of the city with all the pride of a conqueror. The inhabitants dreaded everything from the haughty tyranny of the Roman monarch; however, on this occasion he consulted his policy rather than his revenge; granted them their life, liberty, and estates, and even entered into a treaty of alliance with them. The articles were written on the hide of an ox, which was still to be seen in the time of Augustus, in the temple of Jupiter Fidius. After this, however, he made his son Sextus king of Gabii; sending off also his other two sons, Titus and Aruns, the one to build a city at Signia, the other at Circeum, a promontory of the Tyrrhene sea, and both these to keep the Volsci in awe.

For some time Tarquin now enjoyed a profound peace; the Romans, being accustomed to oppression and the yoke of an imperious master, making no opposition to his will. During this interval Tarquin met with the celebrated adventure of the Sibyl; whose books were ever afterwards held in high estimation at Rome, and Tarquin appointed two persons of distinction to take care of them. These were called Duumviri; but their number was afterwards increased to 10, when they were called Decemviri; and then to 15, when they were termed Quindecimviri. At this time also the written civil law had its origin among the Romans; all the statutes enacted by the kings being collected into one body; which, from Papirius the name of the collector, was called the Papirian law. The temple of the Capitol was also finished; for which purpose the most skilful architects and workmen were brought from Heturia, the populace being obliged to serve them in the most laborious parts.

We now come to the important revolution which put an end to the regal power at Rome, and introduced a new form of government, to which this city is allowed to owe the greatest part of her grandeur. Tarquin, as we have already seen, had left himself no friends among the rich citizens, by reason of the oppression under which he made them labour; and the populace were equally disaffected on account of their being obliged to labour in his public works. Among the many persons of distinction who had been sacrificed to the avarice or suspicions of Tarquin, was one M. Junius, who had married the daughter of Tarquin I. This nobleman had a son named L. Junius Brutus, who escaped the cruelty of the tyrant by pretending to be an idiot, which part he had ever since continued to act. Soon after the finishing of the works above-mentioned, a violent plague happening to break out at Rome, Tarquin sent his sons Titus and Arxum to consult the oracle of Delphi; and the princes took Brutus along with them, to divert themselves with his pretended folly by the way. Brutus chose for his offering to the Delphic Apollo a stick of elder, which occasioned much laughter. However, he had the precaution to inclose a rod of gold within the stick; and to this probably it was owing, that the priestess gave the princes the following riddle, that he who should first kiss his mother should succeed Tarquin in the government of Rome. This answer had been given to their inquiries concerning the succession; upon which the two brothers either drew lots which of them should kiss their mother at their return, or agreed to do it at once, that both might reign jointly: but Brutus, imagining the oracle had another meaning, fell down and kissed the earth, the common mother of all living. This, in all probability, the priestess had meant; and had given the answer on purpose to have another proof of Brutus's ingenuity, which had already discovered itself, by his offering the elder stick.

On the return of the princes to Rome, they found their father engaged in a war with the Rutuli. The treasury being exhausted by the sums which Tarquin had expended in his public works, he had marched to Ardea, the capital of that nation, which lay about 20 miles from Rome, in hopes of taking it without opposition. Contrary to his expectation, however, he was obliged to besiege it in form: and this constrained him to lay a heavy tax upon his subjects, which increased the number of malcontents, and disposed everything for a revolt. As the siege was carried on very slowly, the general officers frequently made entertainments for one another in their quarters. One day, when Sextus Tarquinius was entertaining his brothers, the conversation happened to turn upon their wives: every one extolled the good qualities of his own; but Collatinus bestowed such extravagant praises on his Lucretia, that the dispute ended in a kind of quarrel. It was then resolved that they should mount their horses and surprise their wives by their unexpected return. The king's daughters-in-law were employed in feasting and diversion, and seemed much disconcerted by the appearance of their husbands; but Lucretia, though the night was far advanced, was found, with her maids about her, spinning and working in wool. She was not at all discomposed by the company whom her husband brought with him, and they were all pleased with the reception she gave them. As Lucretia was very beautiful, Sextus Tarquinius conceived a passion for her, which resolving to satisfy at all events, he soon returned to Collatia in the absence of Lucretia's husband, and was entertained by her with great civility and respect. In the night time he entered Lucretia's apartment, and threatened her with immediate death if she did not yield to his desires. But finding her not self-to-be intimidated with this menace, he told her, that, if she still persisted in her refusal, he would kill one of her male slaves, and lay him naked by her when she was dead, and then declare to all the world that he had only revenged the injury of Collatinus. On this the virtuous Lucretia (who, it seems, dreaded prostitution less than the infamy attending it), submitted to the desires of Sextus; but resolved not to outlive the violence which had been offered her. She dressed herself in mourning, and took a poniard under her robe, having previously written to her husband to meet her at her father Lucretius's house, where she refused to discover the cause of her grief except in a full assembly of her friends and relations. Here, addressing herself to her husband Collatinus, she acquainted him with the whole affair; exhorted him to revenge the injury; and protested that she would not outlive the loss of her honour. Every one present gave her a solemn promise that they would revenge her quarrel; but while they endeavoured to comfort her, she suddenly stabbed herself to the heart with the dagger which she had concealed under her robe. See Chastity.

This extravagant action inflamed beyond measure the minds of all present. Brutus, laying aside his pretended folly, drew the bloody dagger out of Lucretia's body; and, showing it to the assembly, swore by the blood upon it that he would pursue Tarquin and his family with fire and sword: nor would he ever suffer that or any other family to reign in Rome. The same oath was taken by all the company, who were so much surprised at the apparent transition of Brutus from folly to wisdom, that they did whatever he desired them.—By his advice the gates of the city were shut, that nobody might go out of it to inform Tarquin of what was going forward; which, as Lucretius had been left governor of the city by Tarquin, was put in execution without difficulty. The corps of Lucretia was then exposed to public view: and Brutus having made a speech to the people, in which he explained the mystery of his conduct in counterfeiting folly for many years past, proceeded to tell them that the patricians were come to a resolution of deposing the tyrant, and exhorted them to concur in the same design. The people testified their approbation, and called out for arms; but deposed. Brutus did not think proper to trust them with arms till he had first obtained a decree of the senate in favour of the design. This was easily procured: the senate enacted that Tarquin had forfeited all the prerogatives belonging to the regal authority, condemned him and all his posterity to perpetual banishment, and devoted to the gods of hell every Roman who should hereafter, by word or deed, endeavour his restoration:

Vol. XVIII. Part I. and this decree was unanimously confirmed by the curiae.

Tarquin being thus deposed, the form of government became the next object. Lucretius was for the present declared Interrex; but Brutus being again consulted, declared, that though it was by no means proper for the state to be without supreme magistrates, yet it was equally necessary that the power should not be centered in one man, and that it should not be perpetual. For this reason, he proposed, that two magistrates, called consuls, should be elected annually; that the states should thenceforth have the name of republic; that the ensigns of royalty should be abolished; and that the only ensigns of consular dignity should be an ivory chair, a white robe, and 12 lictors for their attendants. However, that he might not utterly abolish the name of king, he proposed that this title should be given to him who had the superintendency of religious matters, who should thenceforth be called rex sacrorum, or king of sacred things.

The scheme of Brutus being approved of, Brutus and Collatinus were proposed by Lucretius as the two first consuls, and unanimously accepted by the people, who thought it was impossible to find more implacable enemies to the Tarquins. They entered on their office in the year 508 B.C.; and Tullia, perceiving that now all was lost, thought proper to leave the city, and retire to her husband at Ardea. She was suffered to depart without molestation, though the populace hooted at her, and cursed her as she went along. Tarquin, in the meantime, being informed by some who had gone out of Rome before the gates were shut, that Brutus was raising commotions to his prejudice, returned in haste to the city, attended only by his sons and a few friends; but finding the gates shut, and the people in arms on the walls, he returned again to the camp: but here again, to his surprise, he found that the consuls had taken the opportunity of gaining over the army to their interest; so that, being refused admittance into the camp also, he was forced to fly for refuge, at the age of 76, with his wife and three sons, to Gabii, where Sextus had been made king. Here he continued for some time; but not finding the Latins very forward to revenge his cause, he retired into Etruria; where, being the country of his mother's family, he hoped to find more friends, and a readier assistance for attempting the recovery of his throne.

The Romans now congratulated themselves on their happy deliverance from tyranny. However, as Tarquin had by his policy procured himself many friends abroad, these now became enemies to the Roman name; and, by the defection of their allies, the Roman dominions were left in much the same state as they had been in the time of Romulus. The territory of Rome had always been confined to a very narrow compass. Though almost constantly victorious in war for 243 years, they had not yet gained land enough to supply their city with provisions. The main strength of the state lay in the number of the citizens of Rome; which the custom of transplanting the inhabitants of the conquered cities thither had so prodigiously increased, that it put the Romans in a condition of usurping the authority over other nations, the most inconsiderable of which had an extent of territory far exceeding theirs. By frequent depredations and incursions they so harassed the petty states of Latium and Etruria, that many of them were constrained to enter into treaties with Rome, by which they obliged themselves to furnish her with auxiliaries whenever she should be pleased to invade and pillage the lands of her other neighbours. Submissions of this kind the Romans called making alliances with them, and these useful alliances supplied the want of a larger territory; but now, upon the change of her government, all the allies of Rome forsook her at once, and either stood neutral, or espoused the cause of the banished king; so that she was now obliged to maintain her liberties as she best might.

The new consuls in the mean time took the most effectual methods they could for securing the liberties of the republic. The army which had been employed in the siege of Ardea marched home under the conduct of Herminius and Horatius, who concluded a truce with the Ardeates for 15 years. The consuls then again assembled the people by centuries, and had the decree of Tarquin's banishment confirmed; a rex sacrorum was elected to preside at the sacrifices, and many of the laws of Servius Tullius were revived, to the great joy of the people, who were thus restored to their ancient right of voting in all important affairs. Tarquin, however, resolved not to part with his kingdom on such easy terms. Having wandered from city to city in order to move compassion, he at length made Tarquinii the seat of his residence; where he engaged the inhabitants to send an embassy to Rome, with a modest, submissive letter from himself, directed to the Roman people. The ambassadors represented in such strong terms to the senate how reasonable it was to let the king be heard before he was condemned, and the danger which threatened the state from the neighbouring powers if that common justice were refused, that the consuls inclined to bring these agents before the people, and to leave the decision thereof to the curiae; but Valerius who had been very active in the revolution, strenuously opposed this, and by his influence in the senate got it prevented. As that illustrious body had been greatly thinned by the murders committed by Tarquin, new members were elected from among the knights, and the ancient number of 300 again completed. The old senators had been called patres, or "fathers;" and as the names of the new ones were now written on the same roll, the whole body received the name of patres conscripti.

The old king was not to be foiled by a single attempt. He prevailed on the inhabitants of Tarquinii to send a second embassy to Rome, under pretence of demanding the estates of the exiles, but with private instructions to get the consuls assassinated. The restoration of the estates of the exiles was opposed by Brutus, but Collatinus was for complying with it; whereupon Brutus accused his colleague of treachery, and of a design to bring back the tyrant. The matter was then referred to the people, where it was carried by one vote in favour of the Tarquins. But whilst the people were employed in loading carriages with the effects of the exiles, and in selling what could not be carried off, the ambassadors found means to draw some of the nearest relations of the consuls into a plot with them. These were three young noblemen of the Aquilian family (the sons of Collatinus's sister), and two of the Vitellii (whose sister Brutus had married); and these last engaged gaged Titus and Tiberius, the two sons of Brutus, in the same conspiracy. They all bound themselves by solemn oaths, with the dreadful ceremony of drinking the blood of a murdered man and touching his entrails. They met at the house of the Aquilii, where they wrote letters to Tarquin and gave them to the ambassadors. But though they used all imaginable precaution, their proceedings were overheard by one Vindicius a slave, who immediately communicated the whole to Valerius: upon which all the criminals were apprehended. Brutus stood judge over his own sons; and, notwithstanding the intercession of the whole assembly, and the tears and lamentations of his children, commanded them to be beheaded; nor would he depart till he saw the execution of the sentence. Having performed this piece of heroic barbarity, he quitted the tribunal and left Collatinus to perform the rest. Collatinus, however, being inclined to spare his nephews, allowed them a day to clear themselves; and caused Vindicius, the only witness against them, to be delivered up to his masters. This roused the indignation of the people in general, especially of Valerius, who had promised to protect the witness, and therefore he refused to deliver him up to the lictors. The multitude called aloud for Brutus to return; which when he had done, he told them that he had executed his two sons in consequence of his own paternal authority over them, but that it belonged to the people to determine the fate of the rest. Accordingly, by a decree of the curiae, all the delinquents suffered as traitors except the ambassadors, who were spared out of respect to their character. The slave Vindicius had his liberty granted him; and was presented with 25,000 asses of brass, in value about 80l. 14s. 7d. of our money. The decree for restoring the estates of the exiled Tarquins was annulled, their palaces were destroyed, and their lands divided among the indigent people. The public only retained a piece of ground, near the Campus Martius, which the king had usurped. This they consecrated to Mars, and it afterwards became a common field where the Roman youth exercised themselves in running and wrestling. But after this consecration, the superstitious Romans scrupled to use the corn which they found there ready reaped to their hands; so that, with some trees, it was thrown into the Tiber; and the water being low, it stopped in the middle of the river, and began to form a fine island named afterwards Insula Sacra.

The behaviour of Brutus towards his two sons struck such a terror into the Romans, that scarce any person durst oppose him; and therefore, as he hated Collatinus, he openly accused him before the people, and without ceremony deposed him from the consulship, banishing him at the same time from Rome. The multitude acquiesced in every thing he said, and refused to hear Collatinus speak in his own defence; so that the consul was on the point of being driven out with ignominy and disgrace, when Lucretius interposed, and prevailed upon Brutus to allow his colleague quietly to resign the fasces, and retire of his own accord from the city. Brutus then, to remove all suspicions of personal enmity, procured him a present of 20 talents out of the public treasury, to which he added five of his own. Collatinus then retired to Lavinium, where he lived in peace, and at last died of old age.

After the abdication of Collatinus, Valerius was chosen in his room; and as his temper agreed much better with Brutus than that of Collatinus, the two consuls lived in great harmony. Nothing, however, could make the dethroned king forego the hope of recovering his kingdom by force. He first engaged the Volsci and Tarquinienses to join their forces in order to support his right. The consuls marched out without delay to meet them. Brutus commanded the horse and Valerius the foot, drawn up in a square battalion. The two armies Tarquin, being in sight of each other, Brutus advanced with his cavalry, at the same time that Arunx, one of Tarquin's sons, was coming forward with the enemy's horse, the king himself followed with the legions. Arunx no sooner discovered Brutus, than he made towards him with all the fury of an enraged enemy. Brutus advanced towards him with no less speed; and as both were actuated only by motives of hatred, without each other's thoughts of self-preservation, both of them were pierced through with their lances. The death of the two generals served as a prelude to the battle; which continued with the utmost fury till night, when it could not be known which side had got the victory, or which had lost the greatest number of men. A report was spread, however, that a voice had been heard out of a neighbouring wood, declaring the Romans conquerors; and this, probably a stratagem of Valerius, operated so powerfully on the superstitious minds of the Volsci, that they left their camp in confusion, and returned to their own country. It is said that Valerius, having caused the dead to be numbered, found, that the Volsci had lost 11,300 men, and the Romans only one short of that number.

Valerius being left without a colleague in the consulship, and having for some reasons delayed to choose one, began to be suspected by the people of aspiring at the sovereignty; and these suspicions were in some measure counterbalanced by his building a fine house on the steep part of the hill Palatinus, which overlooked the forum, and was by them considered as a citadel. But of this Valerius was no sooner informed, than he caused this house to be pulled down, and immediately called an assembly of the people for the election of a consul, in which he left them entirely free. They chose Lucretius; and, being ashamed of having suspected Valerius, they complimented him with a large ground-plot in an agreeable place, where they built him a house. The new consul died a few days after his promotion, so that Valerius was once more left sole governor. In the interval betwixt the death of Lucretius and the choice of another consul, Valerius gave the people so many striking proofs of his attachment to their interest, that they bestowed upon him the surname of Poplicola, or "popular;" nor was he ever called by another name afterwards.

When Poplicola's year of consulship expired, the Romans thought fit, in consequence of the critical situation of affairs, to elect him a second time, and joined with him T. Lucretius, the brother of the famous Lucretia. They began with restoring the census and lustrum; and found the number of Roman citizens, at or above the age of puberty, to amount to 130,000. As they apprehended an attack from the Latins on account of Tarquin, they were at great pains to fortify Sinquirirum or Singliuria, an important post on that side. Contrary to their expectations, however, the Latins remained quiet; but a haughty embassy was received from Porsena king of Clusium in Etruria, commanding them either to take back the Tarquins to Rome, or to restore them their estates. To the first of these demands the consuls returned an absolute refusal; and, as to the second, they answered, that it was impracticable; a part of those estates having been consecrated to Mars, and the rest divided among indigent people, from whom they could not be recovered. The imminent danger which now threatened the city, procured Valerius the honour of a third consulship; and with him was joined Horatius Pulvillus, who had enjoyed the dignity for a few months before in the interval betwixt the death of Lucretius and the expiration of the first consulate.

While the Romans were making the most vigorous preparations for defence, Porsena, attended by his son Aruns and the exiles, marched towards the city at the head of a formidable army, which was quickly joined by a considerable body of Latins under Mamilius, the son-in-law of Tarquin. The consuls and the senate took all imaginable care to supply the common people with provisions, lest famine should induce them to open the gates to Tarquin; and they desired the country people to lodge their effects in the fort Janiculum, which overlooked the city, and which was the only fortified place possessed by the Romans on that side the Tiber. Porsena, however, soon drove the Romans out of this fort; upon which the consuls made all their troops pass the river, and drew them up in order of battle to defend the bridge, while Porsena advanced to engage them. The victory was a long time doubtful; but at last the Romans fled. Horatius Cocles, nephew to the consul, with Sp. Lartius and T. Herminius, who had commanded the right wing, posted themselves at the entrance of the bridge, and for a long time bravely defended it; but at last, the defensive arms of Lartius and Herminius being broken, they retired; and then Horatius desiring them to advise the consuls from him to cut the bridge at the other end, he for a while sustained the attack of the enemy alone. At last, being wounded in the thigh, and the signal given that the bridge was almost broken down, he leaped into the river, and swam across it through a shower of darts. The Romans, in token of gratitude for this eminent service, erected a statue to him in the temple of Vulcan, gave him as much land as he himself with one yoke of oxen could plough in one day; and each of the inhabitants, to the number of 300,000, gave him the value of as much food as each consumed in a day. But notwithstanding all this, as he had lost one eye, and from his wounds continued lame throughout the remainder of his life, these defects prevented his ever being raised to the consulate, or invested with any military command.

The city was not yet fully invested; but as it was very difficult to find provisions for such a multitude, the inhabitants soon began to be in want. Porsena being informed of their difficulties, told them that he would supply them with provisions if they would take back their old masters; but to this they replied, that hunger was a less evil than slavery and oppression. The constancy of the Romans, however, was on the point of failing, when a young patrician, named Mutius Cor-

dur, with the consent of the senate and consuls, undertook to assassinate Porsena. He got access to the Etrurian camp, disguised like a peasant, and made his way to the king's tent. It happened to be the day on which the troops were all reviewed and paid; and Porsena's secretary, magnificently dressed, was sitting on the same tribunal with the king. Mutius, mistaking him for Porsena, instantly leaped upon the tribunal and killed him. He then attempted to make his escape; but being seized and brought back, he owned his design; and with a countenance expressive of desperate rage and disappointment, thrust his hand which had missed the blow into a pan of burning coals which stood by, and there held it for a considerable time. On this, Porsena, changing his resentment into admiration, granted him his life and liberty, and even restored him the dagger with which he intended to have stabbed himself. Mutius took it with his left hand, having lost the use of the other; and from this time had the name of Scrovala, or "left-handed." He then, in order to induce Porsena to break up the siege, invented a story that 800 young Romans, all of them as resolute as himself, had sworn to take away the life of the king of Etruria, or to perish in the attempt. This had the desired effect; Porsena sent deputies to Rome, whose only demands were, that the Romans should restore the estates of the Tarquins, or give them an equivalent, and give back the seven small towns which had been formerly taken from the Veientes. The latter of these demands was cheerfully complied with; but the former was still refused, until Porsena should hear the strong reasons they had to urge against it. A truce being agreed on, deputies were sent to the Etrurian camp to plead the Roman cause against the Tarquins, and with them ten youngmen, and as many virgins, by way of hostages for performing the other article.

The reception which Porsena gave the deputies raised the jealousy of the Tarquins; who still retaining their ancient pride, refused to admit Porsena for a judge between them and the Romans. But the king, without any regard to their opposition, resolved to satisfy himself, by an exact inquiry, whether the protection he had given the Tarquins was just. But while the cause was ready to be opened before the Roman deputies, news were brought that the young women whom the Romans had sent as hostages had ventured to swim across the Tiber, and were returned to Rome. They had gone to bathe in the river, and Chelia happened to turn her eyes towards her native city, that sight raised in her a desire of returning to it. She therefore ventured to swim across the river; and having encouraged her companions to follow her, they all got safe to the opposite shore, and returned to their fathers houses. The return of the hostages gave the consul Poplicola great uneasiness; he was afraid lest this rash action might be imputed to want of fidelity in the Romans. To remove therefore all suspicions, he sent a deputation to the Etrurian camp, assuring the king that Rome had no share in the foolish attempt of the young women; and promising to send them immediately back to the camp from whence they had fled. Porsena was easily appeased; but the news of the speedy return of the hostages being known in the camp, the Tarquins, without any regard to the truce, or respect to the king their protector, lay in ambush on the road to surprise them. Poplicola having put himself at the head of the Roman troops who escorted them, sustained the attack of the Tarquins, though sudden and unexpected, till his daughter Valeria rode full speed to the Heturian camp, and gave notice of the danger her father and companions were in; and then Arunx, the king's son, flying with a great body of cavalry to their relief, put the aggressors to the rout.

This notorious piece of treachery in the Tarquins gave Porsena strong suspicions of the badness of their cause. He therefore assembled the chief commanders of the Heturians; and having heard in their presence the complaints of the Romans, and the justification of their proceedings against the Tarquins, he was so struck with horror at the recital of the crimes the Tarquins were charged with, that he immediately ordered them to leave his camp; declaring that he renounced his alliance with them, and would no longer continue the hospitality he had shewn them. He then commanded the ten young virgins to be brought before him, and inquired who was the first author and chief manager of the enterprise. They all kept silence, till Clelia herself, with an air of intrepidity, confessed that she alone was guilty, and that she had encouraged the others by her advice. Upon this the king, extolling her resolution above the bravery of Horatius and the intrepidity of Mutius, made her a present of a fine horse, with sumptuous furniture. After this he concluded a peace with the Romans, and restored to them all their hostages; declaring, that their bare word was to him a sufficient security for the performance of the articles.

And now Porsena being about to return to Clusium, gave, before his departure, a further testimony of his respect and friendship for the Romans. He knew that Rome was greatly distressed for want of provisions; but being afraid to offend the inhabitants by relieving them in a direct manner, he ordered his soldiers to leave behind them their tents and provisions, and to carry nothing with them but their arms. As his camp abounded with all sorts of provisions, Rome was hereby much relieved in her wants. The moveables and corn of the Heturians were sold by auction to private persons; and on this occasion the Romans took up the custom of making a proclamation by a herald, whenever any effects belonging to the public were to be sold in the following words, These are Porsena's goods. The design of this was to preserve the memory of that prince's kindness. The senate, not satisfied with this, erected a statue of the king near the comitium, and sent an embassy to him with a present of a throne adorned with ivory, a sceptre, a crown of gold, and a triumphal robe.

Thus the Romans escaped the greatest danger they had hitherto been in. However, they did not yet enjoy tranquillity. The Sabines revolted, and continued the war for some time with great obstinacy: but being defeated in several engagements, they were at last obliged to submit; and scarce was this war ended, when another began with the Latins, who now declared for King Tarquin. Before they began this war, however, an embassy was sent to Rome, the purport of which was, that the Romans should raise the siege of Fidene which had revolted, and receive the Tarquins; who, on their part should grant a general amnesty. The ambassadors were to allow the Romans a whole year to consider on these overtures; and to threaten them with a war in case they refused to comply with them. The chief view of Tarquin and his partisans in promoting this embassy was, to lay hold of that opportunity to raise a sedition in the city. To the ambassadors therefore, of the Latins, he joined some of his own emissaries, who on their arrival in the city, found two sorts of people disposed to enter into their measures; to wit, the slaves, and the meaner citizens.

The slaves had formed a conspiracy the year before to seize the Capitol, and set fire to the city in several quarters at the same time. But the plot being discovered, those who were concerned in it had been all crucified, and this execution had highly provoked the whole body of slaves. As to the meaner citizens, who were for the most part overwhelmed with debt, and cruelly used by their creditors, they were well apprised that there could happen no change in the government but to their advantage. These were the conspirators pitched upon, and to them were given the following parts to act: the citizens were to make themselves masters of the ramparts and gates of the city, at an appointed hour of the night; and then to raise a great shout as a signal to the slaves, who had engaged to massacre their masters at the same instant; the gates of the city were then to be opened to the Tarquins, who were to enter Rome while it was yet reeking with the blood of the senators. The conspiracy was ripe for execution, when Tarquin's principal agents, Publius and Marcus, both of his own name and family, being terrified with frightful dreams, had not courage enough to proceed in their design till they had consulted a diviner. However, they did not discover to him the conspiracy; but only asked him in general terms, what success they might expect in a project they had formed? The soothsayer, without the least hesitation, returned the following answer: Your project will end in your ruin; disburden yourselves of so heavy a load. Hereupon the Tarquins, fearing lest some of the other conspirators should be beforehand with them in informing, went immediately to S. Sulpitius, the only consul then at Rome, and discovered the whole matter to him. The consul greatly commended them, and detained them in his house, till, by private inquiries, he was assured of the truth of their depositions. Then he assembled the senate, and gave the Latin ambassadors their audience of leave, with an answer to their proposals; which was, that the Romans would neither receive the Tarquins, nor raise the siege of Fidene, being all to a man ready to sacrifice their lives in defence of their liberties, and willing to undergo any dangers rather than submit to the government of a tyrant.

The ambassadors being dismissed with this answer, and conducted out of the city, Sulpitius laid open to the fathers the dreadful conspiracy. It struck them with horror; but they were all at a loss in what manner they should apprehend and punish the guilty; since, by the law of Poplicola, there was an appeal to the people in all capital cases; and the two witnesses, who were strangers, might be excepted against by Roman citizens. In this perplexity they left the whole conduct of this critical affair to Sulpitius; who took a method which he thought would equally serve to prove the guilt and punish the guilty. He engaged the two informers to assemble the conspirators, and to appoint a rendezvous at midnight in the forum, as if they designed to take the last measures for the execution of the enterprise. In the mean time he used all proper means to secure the city, and ordered the Roman knights to hold themselves ready, in the houses adjoining to the forum, to execute the orders they should receive. The conspirators met at the time and place appointed by the two Tarquins; and the knights, upon a signal agreed on beforehand invested the forum, and blocked up all the avenues to it so closely, that it was impossible for any of the conspira- tors to make their escape. As soon as it was light, the two consuls appeared with a strong guard on the tribu- nal; for Sulpitius had sent to his colleague Manius, who was besieging Fidene, desiring him to hasten to the city with a chosen body of troops. The people were con- vened by curiae, and acquainted with the conspiracy which had been formed against the common liberty. The accused were allowed to make their defence, if they had any thing to offer against the evidence; but not one of them denying the fact, the consuls repaired to the senate, where sentence of death was pronounced against the conspirators, in case the people approved it.

This decree of the senate being read to and approved by the assembly, the people were ordered to retire, and the conspirators were delivered up to the soldiers, who put them all to the sword. The peace of Rome was thought sufficiently secured by this stroke of severity; and therefore, though all the conspirators were not pu- nished with death, it was judged proper not to make any farther inquiries. The two informers were reward- ed with all the privileges of Roman citizens, 100,000 ases, and 20 acres of land. Three festival-days were appointed for expiations, sacrifices, and public games, by way of thanksgiving to the gods. But the general joy was disturbed by a melancholy accident; as the peo- ple were conducting Manius Tullius the consul from the circus to his house, he fell from his chariot, and died three days after.

The city of Fidene was not yet reduced: it held out during the following consulship of T. Ælius and P. Veturius; but was taken the next year by T. Lar- tius, who, together with Q. Clodius, was raised to the consular dignity. The Latins, enraged at the loss of this town, began to complain of their leading men; which opportunity Tarquin and Mamilius improved so far, as to make all the Latin cities, 24 in number, enter into an alliance against Rome, and to bind themselves by oath never to violate their engagements. The La- tins made vast preparations, as did likewise the Romans; but the latter could procure no assistance from their neighbours. As the Latin nation was much superior to them in strength, they sent deputies to solicit suc- cours from the several states with which they were sur- rounded; but their negotiations proved everywhere unsuccessful; and, what was worse than all, the republic had rebellious sons in her own bosom, who refused to lend their aid in defence of their country. The poorer sort of people and the debtors, refused to take the mili- tary oaths, or to serve; alleging their poverty, and the fruitless hazards they ran in fighting for the defence of a city, where they were oppressed and enslaved by their creditors. This spirit of mutiny spread among the in- ferior classes, most of them refusing to list themselves, unless their debts were all remitted by a decree of the senate; nay, they began to talk of leaving the city, and settling elsewhere.

The senate, apprehending a general insurrection, as- sembled to deliberate on the means of quieting those domestic troubles. Some were for a free remission of all debts, as the safest expedient at that juncture; others urged the dangerous consequences of such a condescen- sion, advising them to list such only as were willing to serve, not doubting but those who refused their assi- stance would offer it of their own accord when it was no longer desired. Several other expedients were pro- posed; but at length this prevailed; to wit, that all actions for debts should be suspended till the conclu- sion of the war with the Latins. But this the indigent debtors thought only a suspension of their misery; and therefore it had not the intended effect on the minds of the unruly multitude. The senate might indeed have prosecuted the ringleaders of the sedition; but the law of Poplicola, called the Valerian law, which allowed appeals to the assembly of the people, was a protection for the seditions, who were sure of being acquitted by the accomplices of their rebellion. The senate, therefore, to elude the effect of a privilege that put such a restraint upon their power, resolved to create one supreme magistrate, who, with the title of dictator, should have an absolute power for a time: but as this could not be done without striking at the law of Po- plicola, and transferring the power of the people in cri- minal cases to a magistrate superior to all laws, it was necessary to use artifice, in order to obtain the consent of the curiae. They therefore represented to them in a public assembly, that, in so difficult a conjuncture, when they had their domestic quarrels to decide, and at the same time a powerful enemy to repulse, it would be expedient to put the commonwealth under a single governor, who, superior to the consuls themselves, should be the arbiter of the laws, and as it were the father of his country; that his power should have no limits: but, however, lest he should abuse it, they ought not to trust him with it above six months.

The people, not foreseeing the consequences of this change, agreed to it; but the greatest difficulty was to find a man duly qualified in all respects for so great a trust. T. Lartius, one of the consuls, seemed to be of all men the most unexceptionable; but the senate, fearing to offend his colleague by an injurious prefer- ence, gave the consuls the power of choosing a dicta- tor, and obliged them to name one of themselves, not doubting but Clodius would yield to the superior ta- lents of his colleague: nor were they disappointed in their expectations. But Lartius, with the same readi- ness, named Clodius; and the only contest was, which of the two should raise the other to the supreme autho- rity. Each persisted obstinately in remitting the dig- nity to his colleague, till Clodius, starting up on a sud- den, abdicated the consulship, and, after the manner of an interrex, proclaimed Titus Lartius dictator, who thereupon was obliged to take upon him the govern- ment of the republic.

Lartius indeed took as much state upon him, after he had entered upon his office, as he had shown modesty in a gram- refusing it. He began by creating, without the partici- pation either of the senate or people, a general of the Ro- man horse; an office which lasted only during the dicta- torship, and which all subsequent dictators revived imme- diately after their election. Sp. Cassius, formerly consul, and honoured with a triumph, was the person he advan- ced ced to this second station in the republic. Lartius, having by this means secured the Roman knights, resolved, in the next place, to make the people respect and fear him. With this view he never appeared in public, without being attended by 24 lictors, to whose fasces he again added the axes which Poplicola had caused to be taken from them. The novelty of this sight was alone sufficient to awe the seditions, and without executions, to spread consternation throughout Rome. The murmurs of the inferior classes being by this means silenced, the dictator commanded a census to be taken, according to the institution of King Servius. Every one, without exception, brought in his name, age, the particulars of his estate, &c. and there appeared to be in Rome 150,700 men who were past the age of puberty. Out of these the dictator formed four armies; the first he commanded himself; the second he gave to Clodius his late colleague; the third to Sp. Cassius his general of the horse; and the fourth he left in Rome, under the command of his brother Sp. Lartius, who was to guard the city.

The Latins not being so forward in their preparations as was expected, all their hostilities against Rome this campaign amounted to no more than the sending a detachment into the Roman territory to lay it waste. The dictator gained some advantage over that party; and the great humanity with which he treated the prisoners and wounded, disposed the Latins to listen the more readily to the overtures which he at the same time made them for a suspension of hostilities. At length a truce was agreed on for a year; and then Lartius, seeing the republic restored to its former tranquillity, resigned the dictatorship, though the time appointed for its duration was not yet expired.

The following consulship of Sempronius Atratinus and Minatius Angurinus, produced nothing memorable. But the next year the truce expired, when Aulus Posthumius and T. Virginius took possession of the consulship. Both Romans and Latins were busied in making the necessary preparations for war. The nobility of Latium, who were for the most part in the interest of the Tarquins, having found means to exclude the citizens from the Latin diets, carried all before them in those assemblies; whereupon many of the citizens removed with their families to Rome, where they were well received. The Latins being bent upon war, the senate, notwithstanding the perfect harmony that reigned between them and the people, thought it expedient to create a dictator. The two consuls were therefore empowered to name one of themselves to that dignity; whereupon Virginius readily yielded it to his colleague Posthumius, as the more able commander. The new dictator, having created Abutius Elva his general of the horse, and divided his army into four bodies, left one of them, under the command of Sempronius, to guard the city; and with the other three, commanded by himself, Virginius, and Abutius, marched out against the Latins, who, with an army of 40,000 foot and 3000 horse, under the command of Sextus Tarquinius, Titus Tarquinius, and Mamilius, had already made themselves master of Corbio, a strong-hold belonging to the republic, and put the garrison to the sword. Posthumius encamped in the night on a steep hill near the lake Regillus, and Virginius on another hill over against him. Abutius was ordered to march silently in the night, with the cavalry and light-armed infantry, to take possession of a third hill upon the road by which provisions must be brought to the Latins.

Before Abutius had fortified his new camp, he was vigorously attacked by Lucius Tarquinius, whom he repulsed three times with great loss, the dictator having sent him a timely reinforcement. After this Abutius intercepted two couriers sent by the Volsci to the Latin generals, and, by letters found upon them, discovered, that a considerable army of the Volsci and Hernici were to join the Latin forces in three days. Upon this intelligence, Posthumius drew his three bodies of troops together, which amounted in all to no more than 24,000 foot and 1000 horse, with a design to engage the enemy before the arrival of the succours they expected. Accordingly he encouraged his men, and, with his army in battle array, advanced to the place where the enemy was encamped. The Latins, who were much superior to the Romans in numbers, and besides began to want provisions, did not decline the engagement. Titus Tarquinius, at the head of the Roman exiles and deserters, was in the centre, Mamilius in the right wing, and Sextus Tarquinius in the left. In the Roman army the dictator commanded in the centre, Abutius in the left wing, and Virginius in the right.

The first body which advanced was that of the dictator; and, as soon as it began to march, T. Tarquinius, singling out the dictator, ran full speed against him. The dictator did not decline the encounter, but, flying at his adversary, wounded him with a javelin in the right side. Upon this, the first line of the Latins advanced to cover their general; but he being carried out of the field, they made but a faint resistance when charged by the troops of the dictator. They were destitute of a leader; and therefore began to retire, when Sextus Tarquinius, taking the place of his brother, brought them back to the charge, and renewed the fight with such vigour, that the victory in the centre was still doubtful. On the side of Mamilius and Abutius, both parties, encouraged by the example of their leaders, fought with incredible bravery and resolution. After a long and bloody contest, the two generals agreed to determine the doubtful victory by a single combat. Accordingly the champions pushed on their horses against each other. Abutius with his lance wounded Mamilius in the breast; and Mamilius with his sword Abutius in the right arm. Neither of the wounds were mortal; but, both generals falling from their horses, put an end to the combat. Marcus Valerius, the brother of Poplicola, supplying the place of Abutius, endeavoured, at the head of the Roman horse, to break the enemy's battalions; but was repulsed by the cavalry of the Roman royalists. At the same time Mamilius appeared again in the van, with a considerable body of horse and light-armed infantry. Valerius, with the assistance of his two nephews, the sons of Poplicola, and a chosen troop of volunteers, attempted to break through the Latin battalions, in order to engage Mamilius; but being surrounded by the Roman exiles, he received a mortal wound in his side, fell from his horse, and died. The dead body was carried off by the two sons of Poplicola, in spite of the utmost efforts of the exiles, and delivered to Valerius's servants, who conveyed it to the Roman camp; but but the young heroes being afterwards invested on all sides, and overpowered by numbers, were both killed on the spot. Upon their death, the left wing of the Romans began to give ground, but were soon brought back by Posthumius; who, with a body of Roman knights, flying to their assistance, charged the royalists with such fury, that they were, after an obstinate resistance, obliged to give way, and retire in the utmost confusion. In the mean time Titus Horminius, one of the dictator's lieutenants, having rallied those who had fled, fell upon some close battalions of the enemy's left wing, which still kept their ground under the command of Mamilius, killed him with his own hand, and put that body to flight. But while he was busy in stripping the body of his enemy, he received himself a wound, of which he died soon after.

Sextus Tarquinius in the mean time maintained the fight with great bravery, at the head of the left wing, against the consul Virginius; and had even broke through the right wing of the Roman army, when the dictator attacked him unexpectedly with his victorious squadrons. Then Sextus, having lost at once all hopes of victory, threw himself, like one in despair, into the midst of the Roman knights, and there sunk under a multitude of wounds, after he had distinguished himself in a most eminent manner. The death entirely of the three generals was followed by the entire defeat of the Latin army. Their camp was taken and plundered, and most of their troops cut in pieces; for of the 43,000 men who came into the field, scarce 10,000 returned home. The next morning the Volsci and Hernici came, according to their agreement, to assist the Latins; but finding, upon their arrival, how matters had gone, some of them were for falling upon the Romans before they could recover from the fatigue of the preceding day; but others thought it more safe to send ambassadors to the dictator, to congratulate him on his victory, and assure him that they had left their own country with no other design than to assist Rome in so dangerous a war. Posthumius, by producing their couriers and letters, gave them to understand that he was well apprised of their designs and treacherous proceedings. However, out of a regard to the law of nations, he sent them back unhurt, with a challenge to their generals to fight the next day; but the Volsci and their confederates, not caring to engage a victorious army, decamped in the night, and returned to their respective countries before break of day.

The Latins having now no remedy but an entire submission, sent ambassadors to solicit a peace at Rome, yielding themselves absolutely to the judgment of the senate. As Rome had long since made it a maxim to spare the nations that submitted, the motion of Titus Lartius, the late dictator, prevailed; and the ancient treaties with the Latins were renewed, on condition, however, that they should restore the prisoners they had taken, deliver up the deserters, and drive the Roman exiles out of Latium. Thus ended the last war which the Romans waged with their neighbours on account of their banished king; who, being now abandoned by the Latins, Hetrurians, and Sabines, retired into Campania, to Aristodemus tyrant of Cumae, and there died, in the 90 year of his age and 14th of his exile.

The Romans were no sooner freed from these dangerous wars, than they began to oppress one another; and those domestic feuds took place which continued more or less during the whole time of the republic. The first disturbances were occasioned by the oppression of the plebeians who were debtors to the patricians. The senate, who were at the head of the patricians, chose to the consulate one Appius Claudius, who violently opposed the pretensions of the plebeians; but gave him for his colleague one P. Servilius, who was of a quite contrary opinion and disposition. The consequence of this was, that the consuls disagreed; the senate did not know what to determine, and the people were ready to revolt. In the midst of these disturbances, an army of the Volsci advanced towards Rome; the people refused to serve; and had not Servilius procured some troops who served out of a personal affection to himself, the city would have been in great danger.

But though the Volsci were for this time driven back, they had no intention of dropping their designs; they engaged in an alliance with them the Hernici and Sabines. In the mean time, the disputes at Rome continued with as much violence as ever. Nay, though they were expressly told that the Volscian army was on its way to besiege the city, the plebeians absolutely refused to march against them; saying, that it was the same thing whether they were chained by their own countrymen or by the enemy. In this extremity Servilius promised, that when the enemy were repulsed the senate would remit all the debts of the plebeians. This having engaged them to serve, the consul marched out at their head, defeated the enemy in a pitched battle, and took their capital, giving it up to be plundered by his soldiers, without reserving any part for the public treasury.

Whatever might have been the reasons of Servilius for this step, it furnished Appius with a pretence for refusing him a triumph, as a man of a seditious disposition, who aimed at popularity by an excessive indulgence and profuseness to his soldiers. Servilius, incensed at this injustice, and encouraged by the acclamations of the people, decreed himself a triumph in spite of Appius and the senate. After this he marched against the Aurunci, who had entered Latium; and, in conjunction with Posthumius Regillens, he utterly defeated them, and obliged them to retire into their own country. But neither the services of the general nor his soldiers could mollify the senate and patrician party. Appius even doubled the severity of his judgments, and imprisoned all those who had been set at liberty during the war. The prisoners cried for relief to Servilius; but he could not obtain the accomplishment of those promises which the senate never had meant to perform; neither did he choose to quarrel openly with the whole patrician body; so that, striving to preserve the friendship of both parties, he incurred the hatred of the one and the contempt of the other. Perceiving therefore that he had lost all his interest with the plebeians, he joined with the patricians against them; but the plebeians rushing tumultuously into the forum, made such a noise, that no sentence pronounced by the judges could be heard, and the utmost confusion prevailed through the whole city. Several proposals were made to accommodate matters; but through the obstinacy of Appius and the majority of the senators, they all all came to nothing. In the mean time it was necessary to raise an army against the Sabines, who had invaded the territories of the republic; but the people refused to serve. Manius Valerius, however, brother to the celebrated Poplicola, once more prevailed upon them to march out against the common enemy; having previously obtained assurances from the senate that their grievances should be redressed. But no sooner had victory declared in favour of the Romans, than the senate, apprehending that the soldiers at their return would challenge Valerius, who had been nominated dictator, for the performance of their promises, desired him and the two consuls to detain them still in the field, under pretence that the war was not quite finished. The consuls obeyed; but the dictator, whose authority did not depend on the senate, disbanded his army, and declared his soldiers free from the oath which they had taken; and as a further proof of his attachment to the plebeians, he chose out of that order 400, whom he invested with the dignity of knights. After this he claimed the accomplishment of the promises made by the senate; but, instead of performing them, he had the mortification to hear himself loaded with reproaches; on which he resigned his office as dictator, and acquainted the people with his inability to fulfil his engagements to them. No sooner were these transactions known in the army, than the soldiers, to a man, deserted the consuls and other officers, and retired to a hill called afterwards Mons Sacer, three miles from Rome, where they continued to observe an exact discipline, offering no sort of violence whatever. The senate, after taking proper measures for the defence of the city, sent a deputation to the malcontents; but it was answered with contempt. In short, all things tended to a civil war, when at last matters were compromised by the institution of tribunes of the people, who had power to prevent the passing of any law that might be prejudicial to the people, and whose persons were declared sacred, insomuch that whoever offered the least violence to the person of a tribune was declared accursed, his effects were to be consecrated to Ceres, and he himself might be killed with impunity; and all the Romans were to engage themselves, in their own name and that of their posterity, never to repeal this law. The people, after these regulations, erected an altar to Jupiter the Terrible, on the top of the hill where their camp had stood; and when they had offered sacrifices to the god, and consecrated the place of their retreat, they returned to Rome, led by their new magistrates and the deputies of the senate.

Thus the Roman constitution, which had originally been monarchic, and from thence had passed into an aristocracy, began now to verge towards a democracy. The tribunes immediately after their election obtained permission from the senate to elect two persons as their ministers or assistants, who should ease them a little in the great multiplicity of their affairs. They were called plebeian ediles; and afterwards came to have the inspection of the public baths, aqueducts, with many other offices originally belonging to the consuls, after which they were called simply ediles.

All opposition to the making of regular levies being now at an end, the consul Cominius led an army against the Volsci. He defeated them in battle, and took from them Longula and Tolusca; after which he besieged Corioli, a city strongly fortified, and which might be called their capital. He carried this place, and gained a victory over the Antiates, the same day; but Caius Marcius, an eminent patrician, had all the glory of both actions. The troops detached by the consul to scale the walls of Corioli being repulsed in their first assault, Marcius rallied the runaways, led them on afresh to the charge, drove back the enemy within their walls, and, entering the city with them, made himself master of it. This exploit achieved, he with all expedition put himself in the foremost ranks of the consul's main army, that was just going to engage with the Antiates, who were come to the relief of the place; and there he behaved with equal bravery, and had equal success.

The next day, the consul, having erected his tribunal before his tent, called the soldiers together. His whole speech to them was little more than a panegyric upon Marcius. He put a crown upon his head; assigned him a tenth part of all the spoil; and, in the name of the republic, made him a present of a fine horse with stately furniture, giving him leave at the same time to choose out any ten of the prisoners for himself; and lastly, he allotted him as much money as he could carry away. Of all these offers Marcius accepted only the horse, and one captive of the ten, an old friend of his family, that he might give him his liberty. To add to the glory of the brave warrior, the consul bestowed on him the surname of Coriolanus, transferring thereby from himself to Marcius all the honour of the conquest of Corioli. Cominius, at his return to Rome, disbanded his army; and war was succeeded by works of religion, public games, and treaties of peace. A census and a lustrum closed the events of this memorable consulship. There appeared to be in Rome at this time no more than 110,000 men fit to bear arms; a number by many thousands less than at the last enrollment. Doubtless great numbers had run away to avoid being slaves to their creditors.

Under the following administration of T. Geganius and P. Minucius, Rome was terribly afflicted by a famine, occasioned chiefly by the neglect of ploughing and sowing during the late troubles; for the sedition had happened after the autumnal equinox, about sowing-time, and the accommodation was not made till just before the winter solstice. The senate dispatched agents into Heturia, Campania, the country of the Volsci, and even into Sicily, to buy corn. Those who embarked for Sicily met with a tempest which retarded their arrival at Syracuse; where they were constrained to pass the winter. At Cumae, the tyrant Aristotle seized the money brought by the commissaries; and they themselves with difficulty saved their lives by flight. The Volsci, far from being disposed to succour the Romans, would have marched against them, if a sudden and most destructive pestilence had not defeated their purpose. In Hetrarria alone the Roman commissaries met with success. They sent a considerable quantity of grain from thence to Rome in barks; but this was in a short time consumed, and the misery became excessive; the people were reduced to eat anything they could get; and nature in so great extremity loathed nothing.

During this distress a deputation came from Velitrae, a Volscian city, where the Romans had formerly planted a colony sent to Ve- ed a colony, representing that nine parts in ten of its inhabitants had been swept away by a plague, and praying the Romans to send a new colony to re-people it. The conscript fathers without much hesitation granted the request, pressed the departure of the colony, and without delay named three leaders to conduct it.

The people at first were very well pleased with the proposal, as it gave them a prospect of relief in their hunger; but when they reflected on the terrible havoc the plague had made among the old inhabitants of Velitrae, they began to fear that the place might be still infected; and this apprehension became so universal, that not one of them would consent to go thither. Nevertheless the senate at length published a decree that all the citizens should draw lots; and that those to whose lot it fell to be of the colony should instantly march for Velitrae, or suffer the severest punishments for their disobedience: fear and hunger made the people comply; and the fathers, a few days after, sent away a second colony to Norba, a considerable city of Latium. But the patricians were disappointed as to the benefit they expected from these measures. The plebeians who remained in Rome being more and more pressed by hunger and want, grew daily more angry with the senate. At first they assembled in small companies to vent their wrath in abusive complaints; and at length, in one great body, rushed all together into the forum, calling out upon their tribunes for succour.

The tribunes made it their business to heighten the general discontent. Having convened the people, Spurius Icilius, chief of the college of tribunes, inveighed most bitterly against the senate; and when he had ended his harangue, exhorted others to speak freely their thoughts; particularly, and by name, calling upon Brutus and Sicinius, the ringleaders of the former sedition, and now ediles. These men, far from attempting to extinguish the fire, added fresh fuel to it: And the more to inflame the spirits of the multitude, they enumerated all the past insults which the people had suffered from the nobles. Brutus concluded his harangue with loudly threatening, that if the plebeians would follow his advice, he would soon oblige those men who had caused the present calamity to find a remedy for it: after which the assembly was dismissed.

The next day, the consul, greatly alarmed at this commotion, and apprehending from the menaces of Brutus some very mischievous event, thought it advisable to convene the senators, that they might consider of the best means to avert the impending evil. The fathers could not agree in opinion. Some were for employing soft words and fair promises to quiet and gain over the most turbulent. But Appius's advice prevailed: which was, that the consuls should call the people together, assure them that the patricians had not brought upon them the miseries they suffered, and promise, on the part of the senate, all possible care to provide for their necessities; but at the same time should reprove the disturbers of the public peace, and threaten them with the severest punishments if they did not amend their behaviour.

When the consuls, towards the close of the day, having assembled the people, would have signified to them the disposition and intention of the senate, they were interrupted by the tribunes. A dispute ensued, in which no order or decency was observed on either side. Several speaking at the same time, and with great vociferation, no one could be well understood by the audience. The consuls judged, that being the superior magistrates, their authority extended to all assemblies of the citizens. On the other side, it was pretended, that the assemblies of the people were the province of the tribunes, as the senate was that of the consuls.

The dispute grew warm, and both parties were ready to come to blows; when Brutus having put some questions to the consuls, ended it for that time. Next day he proposed a law which was carried, that no person whatever should interrupt a tribune when speaking in an assembly of the people: by which means the influence and power of the popular party was considerably increased, and the tribunes became formidable opponents to the consuls and patricians. An opportunity soon offered for both parties to try their strength. A great fleet of ships laden with corn from Sicily, a great part of which was a present from Gelon the king of that country to the Romans, and the rest purchased by the senate with the public money, raised their spirits once more.

But Coriolanus incurred their resentment, by insisting that it should not be distributed till the grievances of the senate were removed. For this, the tribunes summoned him to a trial before the people, under pretence that he aspired at the sovereignty.

When the appointed day was come, all persons were filled with the greatest expectations, and a vast concourse from the adjacent country assembled and filled up the forum. Coriolanus, upon this, presented himself before the people with a degree of intrepidity that merited better fortune. His graceful person, his persuasive eloquence, the cries of those whom he had saved from the enemy, inclined the auditors to relent. But being confounded with a new charge which he did not expect, of having embezzled the plunder of Antium, the tribunes immediately took the votes, and Coriolanus was condemned to perpetual exile.

This sentence against their bravest defender struck the whole body of the senate with sorrow, consternation, and regret. Coriolanus alone, in the midst of the tumult, seemed an unconcerned spectator. He returned home, followed by the lamentations of hundreds of the most respectable senators and citizens of Rome, to take a lasting leave of his wife, his children, and his mother Veturia. Thus recommending his little children to their care, he left the city, without followers or fortune, to take refuge with Tullus Attius, a man of great power among the Volscians, who took him under his protection, and espoused his quarrel.

The first thing to be done, was to induce the Volsci to break the league which had been made with Rome; and for this purpose Tullus sent many of his citizensthither, in order to see some games at that time celebrating; but at the same time gave the senate private information, that the strangers had dangerous intentions of burning the city. This had the desired effect; the senate issued an order that all strangers, whoever they were, should depart from Rome before sunset. This order Tullus represented to his countrymen as an infraction of the treaty, and procured an embassy to Rome, complaining of the breach, and demanding back all the territories... territories belonging to the Volscians, of which they had been violently dispossessed; declaring war in case of a refusal: but this message was treated by the senate with contempt.

War being thus declared on both sides, Coriolanus and Tullus were made generals of the Volscians; and accordingly invaded the Roman territories, ravaging and laying waste all such lands as belonged to the plebeians, but letting those of the senators remain untouched. In the mean time, the levies went on very slowly at Rome; the two consuls, who were re-elected by the people, seemed but little skilled in war, and even feared to encounter a general whom they knew to be their superior in the field. The allies also showed their fears, and slowly brought in their succours; so that Coriolanus continued to take their towns one after the other. Fortune followed him in every expedition; and he was now so famous for his victories, that the Volsci left their towns defenceless to follow him into the field. The very soldiers of his colleague's army came over to him, and would acknowledge no other general. Thus finding himself unopposed in the field, and at the head of a numerous army, he at length invested the city of Rome itself, fully resolved to besiege it. It was then that the senate and the people unanimously agreed to send deputies to him, with proposals of restoration, in case he should draw off his army. Coriolanus received their proposals at the head of his principal officers, and, with the sternness of a general that was to give the law, refused their offers.

Another embassy was now sent forth, conjuring him not to exact from his native city ought but what became Romans to grant. Coriolanus, however, still persisted in his former demands, and granted them but three days in which to finish their deliberations. In this exigence, all that was left was another deputation still more solemn than either of the former, composed of the pontiffs, the priests, and the augurs. These, clothed in their habits of ceremony, and with a grave and mournful deportment, issued from the city, and entered the camp of the conqueror: but all in vain, they found him severe and inflexible as before.

When the people saw them return ineffectually, they began to give up the commonwealth as lost. Their temples were filled with old men, with women and children, who, prostrate at their altars, put up their ardent prayers for the preservation of their country. Nothing was to be heard but anguish and lamentation, nothing to be seen but scenes of affright and distress. At length it was suggested to them, that what could not be effected by the intercession of the senate or the adjuration of the priests, might be brought about by the tears of his wife, or the commands of his mother. This deputation seemed to be relished by all; and even the senate itself gave it the sanction of their authority. Veturia, the mother of Coriolanus, at first made some hesitation to undertake so pious a work; however, she at last undertook the embassy, and set forward from the city, accompanied by many of the principal matrons of Rome, with Volumnia his wife, and his two children. Coriolanus, who at a distance, discovered this mournful train of females, was resolved to give them a denial, and called his officers round him to be witness of his resolution; but, when told that his mother and his wife were among the number, he instantly came down from his tribunal to meet and embrace them. At first, the women's tears and embraces took away the power of words; and the rough soldier himself, hard as he was, could not refrain from sharing in their distress. Coriolanus now seemed much agitated by contending passions; while his mother, who saw him moved, seconded her words by the most persuasive eloquence, her tears: his wife and children hung round him, intreating for protection and pity; while the fair train, her companions, added their lamentations, and deplored their own and their country's distress. Coriolanus for a moment was silent, feeling the strong conflict between honour and inclination: at length, as if roused from his dream, he flew to take up his mother, who had fallen at his feet, crying out, "O my mother, thou hast saved Rome, but lost thy son." He accordingly gave orders to draw off the army, pretending to the officers that the city was too strong to be taken. Tullus, who had long envied his glory, was not remiss in aggravating the lenity of his conduct to his countrymen. Upon their return, Coriolanus was slain in an insurrection of the people, and afterwards honourably buried, with late and ineffectual repentance.

The year following, the two consuls of the former year, Manlius and Fabius, were cited by the tribunes to appear before the people. The Agrarian law, which had been proposed some time before, for equally dividing the lands of the commonwealth among the people, was the object invariably pursued, and they were accused of having made unjustifiable delays in putting it off.

It seems the Agrarian law was a grant the senate could not think of giving up to the people. The consuls, therefore, made many delays and excuses, till at length they were once more obliged to have recourse to a dictator; and they fixed upon Quintus Cincinnatus, a man who had for some time given up all views of ambition, and retired to his little farm, where the deputies of the senate found him holding the plough, and dressed in the mean attire of a labouring husbandman. He appeared but little elevated with the addresses of ceremony and the pompous habits they brought him; and, upon declaring to him the senate's pleasure, he testified rather a concern that his aid should be wanted. However, he departed for the city, where both parties were strongly inflamed against each other: but he was resolved to side with neither; only, by a strict attention to the interests of his country, instead of gaining the confidence of faction, to obtain the esteem of all. Thus, by threats and well-timed submission, he prevailed upon the tribunes to put off their law for a time, and carried himself so as to be a terror to the multitude whenever they refused to enlist; and their greatest encourager whenever their submission deserved it. Thus, Quelled by having restored that tranquillity to the people which he so much loved himself, he again gave up the splendours of ambition, to enjoy it with a greater relish in his little farm.

Cincinnatus was not long retired from his office when a fresh exigence of the state once more required his assistance. The Equi and the Volsci, who, though still worsted, still were for renewing the war, made new inroads into the territories of Rome. Minutius, one of the consuls who succeeded Cincinnatus, was sent to oppose them; but being naturally timid, and rather more afraid afraid of being conquered than desirous of victory, his army was driven into a defile between two mountains, from which, except through the enemy, there was no egress. This, however, the Æqui had the precaution to fortify; by which the Roman army was so hemmed in on every side, that nothing remained but submission to the enemy, famine, or immediate death. Some knights, who found means of getting away privately through the enemy's camp, were the first that brought the account of this disaster to Rome. Nothing could exceed the consternation of all ranks of people when informed of it. The senate at first thought of the other consul; but not having sufficient experience of his abilities, they unanimously turned their eyes upon Cincinnatus, and resolved to make him dictator. Cincinnatus, the only person on whom Rome could now place her whole dependence, was found, as before, by the messengers of the senate, labouring in his little field with cheerful industry. He was at first astonished at the ensigns of unbounded power with which the deputies came to invest him; but still more at the approach of the principal of the senate, who came out to meet him.

A dignity so unlooked for, however, had no effect upon the simplicity or the integrity of his manners; and being now possessed of absolute power, and called upon to nominate his master of the horse, he chose a poor man named Tarquinius, one who, like himself, despised riches when they led to dishonour. Upon entering the city, the dictator put on a serene look, and intreated all those who were able to bear arms to repair before sunset to the Campus Martius (the place where the levies were made) with necessary arms, and provisions for five days. He put himself at the head of these; and marching all night with great expedition, he arrived before day within sight of the enemy. Upon his approach, he ordered his soldiers to raise a loud shout, to apprize the consul's army of the relief that was at hand. The Æqui were not a little amazed when they saw themselves between two enemies; but still more when they perceived Cincinnatus making the strongest entrenchments beyond them, to prevent their escape, and inclosing them as they had inclosed the consul. To prevent this, a furious combat ensued; but the Æqui, being attacked on both sides, and unable to resist or fly, begged a cessation of arms. They offered the dictator his own terms; he gave them their lives; but obliged them, in token of servitude, to pass under the yoke, which was two spears set upright, and another across, in the form of a gallows, beneath which the vanquished were to march. Their captains and generals made prisoners of war, being resolved to adorn his triumph. As for the plunder of the enemy's camp, that he gave entirely up to his own soldiers, without reserving any part for himself, or permitting those of the delivered army to have a share. Thus, having rescued a Roman army from inevitable destruction, having defeated a powerful enemy, having taken and fortified their city, and still more, having refused any part of the spoil, he resigned his dictatorship, after having enjoyed it but 14 days. The senate would have enriched him; but he declined their offers, choosing to retire once more to his farm and his cottage, content with temperance and fame.

But this repose from foreign invasion did not lessen the tumults of the city within. The clamours for the Agrarian law still continued, and still more fiercely, when Sicinius Dentatus, a plebeian, advanced in years, but of an admirable person and military deportment, came forward, to enumerate his hardships and his merits. This old soldier made no scruple of extolling the various merits of his youth; but indeed his achievements supported ostentation. He had served his country in the wars 40 years; he had been an officer 30, first a centurion, and then a tribune; he had fought 120 battles, in which, by the force of his single arm, he had saved a multitude of lives; he had gained 14 civic, three mural, and eight golden crowns, besides 83 chains, 60 bracelets, 18 gilt spears, and 23 horse-trappings, whereof nine were for killing the enemy in single combat; moreover, he had received 45 wounds, all before, and none behind. These were his honours: yet, notwithstanding all this, he had never received any share of those lands which were won from the enemy, but continued to drag on a life of poverty and contempt; while others were possessed of those very territories which his valour had won, without any merit to deserve them, or ever having contributed to the conquest. A case of so much hardship had a strong effect upon the multitude; they unanimously demanded that the law might be passed, and that such merit should not go unrewarded. It was in vain that some of the senators rose up to speak against it; their voices were drowned by the cries of the people. When reason, therefore, could no longer be heard, passion, as usual, succeeded; and the young patricians, running furiously into the throng, broke the balloting urns, and dispersed the multitude that offered to oppose them. For this they were some time after fined by the tribunes; but their resolution, nevertheless, for the present, put off the Agrarian law.

The commonwealth of Rome had now for near 60 years been fluctuating between the contending orders that composed it, till at length, each side, as it weary, were willing to respire a while from the mutual exertions of their claims. The citizens, now, therefore, of every rank, began to complain of the arbitrary decisions of their magistrates, and wished to be guided by a written body of laws, which being known might prevent wrongs as well as punish them. In this both the senate and the people concurred, as hoping that such laws would put an end to the commotions that so long had harassed the state. It was thereupon agreed, that ambassadors should be sent to the Greek cities in these, Italy, and to Athens, to bring home such laws from thence as by experience had been found most equitable and useful. For this purpose, three senators, Posthumius, Sulpicius, and Manlius, were fixed upon, and galleys assigned to convey them, agreeable to the majesty of the Roman people. While they were upon this commission abroad, a dreadful plague depopulated the city at home, and supplied the interval of their absence with other anxiety than that of wishes for their return. In about a year the plague ceased, and the ambassadors returned, bringing home a body of laws, collected from the most civilized states of Greece and Italy, which being afterwards formed into ten tables, and two more being added, made that celebrated code called the Laws of the Twelve Tables, many fragments of which remain to this day.

The ambassadors were no sooner returned, than the Decemviri, tribunes elected, tribunes required that a body of men should be chosen to digest their new laws into proper form, and to give weight to the execution of them. After long debates whether this choice should not be partly made from the people as well as the patricians, it was at last agreed that 10 of the principal senators should be elected, whose power, continuing for a year, should be equal to that of kings and consuls, and that without any appeal. The persons chosen were Appius and Genuilius, who had been elected consuls for the ensuing year; Posthumius, Sulpicius, and Manlius, the three ambassadors; Sextus and Romulus, former consuls; with Julius Veturius, and Horatius, senators of the first consideration.

The decemviri being now invested with absolute power, agreed to take the reins of government by turns, and that each should dispense justice for a day.

These magistrates for the first year, wrought with extreme application; and their work being finished, it was expected that they would be contented to give up their offices; but having known the charms of power, they were now unwilling to resign it: they therefore pretended that some laws were yet wanting to complete their design, and intreated the senate for a continuance of their offices; to which that body assented.

But they soon threw off the mask of moderation; and, regardless either of the approbation of the senate or the people, resolved to continue themselves, against all order, in the decemvirate. A conduct so notorious produced discontents; and these were as sure to produce fresh acts of tyranny. The city was become almost a desert, with respect to all who had anything to lose; and the decemvirs' rapacity was then only discontinued, when they wanted fresh objects to exercise it upon. In this state of slavery, proscription, and mutual distrust, not one citizen was found to strike for his country's freedom; these tyrants continued to rule without control, being constantly guarded, not with their lictors alone, but a numerous crowd of dependents, clients, and even patricians, whom their vices had confederated round them.

In this gloomy situation of the state, the Equi and Volsci, those constant enemies of the Romans, undertook their incursions, resolved to profit by the intestine divisions of the people, and advanced within about 10 miles of Rome.

But the decemviri, being put in possession of all the military as well as of the civil power, divided their army into three parts; whereof one continued with Appius in the city, to keep it in awe; the other two were commanded by his colleagues, and were led, one against the Equi, and the other against the Sabines. The Roman soldiers had now got into a method of punishing the generals whom they disliked, by suffering themselves to be vanquished in the field. They put it in practice upon this occasion, and shamefully abandoned their camp upon the approach of the enemy. Never was the news of a victory more joyfully received at Rome than the tidings of this defeat: the generals, as is always the case, were blamed for the treachery of their men; some demanded that they should be deposed; others cried out for a dictator to lead the troops to conquest: but among the rest, old Sicinius Dentatus the tribune spoke his sentiments with his usual openness; and treating the generals with contempt, showed all the faults of their discipline in the camp, and of their conduct in the field. Appius, in the mean time, was not remiss in observing the disposition of the people. Dentatus, in particular, was marked out for vengeance, and, under pretence of doing him particular honour, he was appointed legate, and put at the head of the supplies which were sent from Rome to reinforce the army. The office of legate was held sacred among the Romans, as in it were united the authority of a general, with the reverence due to the priesthood. Dentatus, no way suspecting Sicinius' design, went to the camp with alacrity, where he Dentatus was received with all the external marks of respect. But the generals soon found means of indulging their desire of revenge. He was appointed at the head of 100 men to go and examine a more commodious place for encampment, as he had very candidly assured the commanders that their present situation was wrong. The soldiers, however, who were given as his attendants, were assassins; wretches who had long been ministers of the vengeance of the decemviri, and who now engaged to murder him, though with all those apprehensions which his reputation, as he was called the Roman Achilles, might be supposed to inspire. With these designs, they led him from the way into the hollow bosom of a retired mountain, where they began to set upon him from behind. Dentatus, now too late, perceived the treachery of the decemviri, and was resolved to sell his life as dearly as he could; he therefore put his back to a rock, and defended himself against those who pressed most closely. Though now grown old, he had still the remains of his former valour, and killed no less than 15 of the assailants, and wounded 30. The assassins now therefore, terrified at his amazing bravery, showered in their javelins upon him at a distance; all which he received in his shield with undaunted resolution. The combat, though so unequal in numbers, was managed for some time with doubtful success, till at length his assailants betook themselves of ascending the rock against which he stood, and thus poured down stones upon him from above. This succeeded; the old soldier fell beneath their united efforts, after having shown by his death that he owed it to his fortitude, and not his fortune, that he had come off so many times victorious. The decemviri pretended to join in the general sorrow for so brave a man, and decreed him a funeral, with the first military honours; but the greatness of their apparent distress, compared with their known hatred, only rendered them still more detestable to the people.

But a transaction still more atrocious than the former served to inspire the citizens with a resolution to break all measures of obedience, and at last to restore freedom. Virginia, Appius, who still remained at Rome, sitting one day on his tribunal to dispense justice, saw a maiden of exquisite beauty, and aged about 15, passing to one of the public schools, attended by a matron her nurse. Conceiving a violent passion for her, he resolved to obtain the gratification of his desire whatever should be the consequence, and found means to inform himself of her name and family. Her name was Virginia, the daughter of Virginius a centurion, then with the army in the field; and she had been contracted to Icilius, formerly a tribune of the people, who had agreed to marry her at the end of the the present campaign. Appius, at first, resolved to break this match, and to espouse her himself; but the laws of the Twelve Tables had forbidden the patricians to intermarry with the plebeians; and he could not infringe these, as he was the enactor of them. Nothing therefore remained but a criminal enjoyment: which, as he was long used to the indulgence of his passions, he resolved to obtain. After having vainly tried to corrupt the fidelity of her nurse, he had recourse to another expedient, still more guilty. He pitched upon one Claudius, who had long been the minister of his pleasures, to assert the beautiful maid was his slave, and to refer the cause to his tribunal for decision. Claudius behaved exactly according to his instructions; foreentering into the school, where Virginia was playing among her female companions, he seized upon her as his property, and was going to drag her away by force, but was prevented by the people drawn together by her cries. At length, after the first heat of opposition was over, he led the weeping virgin to the tribunal of Appius, and there plausibly exposed his pretensions. He asserted, that she was born in his house, of a female slave, who sold her to the wife of Virginius, who had been barren. That he had several credible evidences to prove the truth of what he said; but that, until they could come together, it was but reasonable the slave should be delivered into his custody, being her proper master. Appius seemed to be struck with the justice of his claims. He observed, that if the reputed father himself were present, he might indeed be willing to delay the delivery of the maiden for some time: but that it was not lawful for him, in the present case, to detain her from her master. He therefore adjudged her to Claudius, as his slave, to be kept by him till Virginius should be able to prove his paternity. This sentence was received with loud clamours and reproaches by the multitude: the women, in particular, came round Virginia, as if willing to protect her from the judge's fury; while Icilius, her lover, boldly opposed the decree, and obliged Claudius to take refuge under the tribunal of the decemvir. All things now threatened an open insurrection; when Appius, fearing the event, thought proper to suspend his judgment till the arrival of Virginius, who was then about 14 miles from Rome, with the army. The day following was fixed for the trial; and, in the mean time, Appius sent letters to the generals to confine Virginius, as his arrival in town might only serve to kindle sedition among the people. These letters, however, were intercepted by the centurion's friends, who sent him down a full relation of the design laid against the liberty and the honour of his only daughter. Virginius, upon this, pretending the death of a near relation, got permission to leave the camp, and flew to Rome, inspired with indignation and revenge. Accordingly, the next day he appeared before the tribunal, to the astonishment of Appius, leading his weeping daughter by the hand, both habited in the deepest mourning. Claudius, the accuser, was also there, and began by making his demand. Virginius next spoke in turn: he represented that his wife had many children; that she had been seen pregnant by numbers; that, if he had intentions of adopting a suppositious child, he would have fixed upon a boy rather than a girl; that it was notorious to all, that his wife had herself suckled her own child; and that it was surprising such a claim should be now revived after a 15 years discontinuance.

While the father spoke this with a stern air, Virginia stood trembling by, and, with looks of persuasive innocence, added weight to all his remonstrances. The people seemed entirely satisfied of the hardship of his case, till Appius, fearing what he said might have dangerous effects upon the multitude, interrupted him, under a pretence of being sufficiently instructed in the merits of the cause, and finally adjudged her to Claudius, ordering the lictors to carry her off. The lictors, in obedience to his command, soon drove off the throng that pressed round the tribunal; and now they seized upon Virginia, and were delivering her up into the hands of Claudius, when Virginius, who found that all was over, seemed to acquiesce in the sentence. He therefore mildly intreated Appius to be permitted to take a last farewell of one whom he had long considered as his child; and so satisfied, he would return to his duty with fresh alacrity. With this the decemvir complied, but upon condition that their endearments should pass in his presence. Virginius, with the most poignant anguish, took his almost expiring daughter in his arms, for a while supported her head upon his breast, and wiped away the tears that rolled down her lovely visage: and happening to be near the shops that surrounded the forum, he snatched up a knife that lay on the shambles, and buried the weapon in her breast; then holding it up, reeking with the blood of his daughter, "Appius (he cried) by this blood of innocence, I devote thy head to the infernal gods." Thus saying, with the bloody knife in his hand, and threatening destruction to whomsoever should oppose him, he ran through the city, wildly calling upon the people to strike for freedom, and from thence went to the camp, in order to spread a like flame through the army.

He no sooner arrived at the camp, followed by a number of his friends, but he informed the army of all that was done, still holding the bloody knife in his hand. He asked their pardon, and the pardon of the gods, for having committed so rash an action, but ascribed it all to the dreadful necessity of the times. The army, already predisposed, immediately withouts echoed their approbation; and decamping, left their generals behind, to take their station once more upon Mount Aventine, whither they had retired about 40 years before. The other army, which had been to oppose the Sabines, seemed to feel a like resentment, and came over in large parties to join them.

Appius, in the mean time, did all he could to quell the disturbances in the city; but finding his tumult incapable of control, and perceiving that his mortal enemies, Valerius and Horatius, were the most active in opposition, at first attempted to find safety by flight; nevertheless, being encouraged by Oppius, who was one of his colleagues, he ventured to assemble the senate, and urged the punishment of all deserters. The senate, however, were far from giving him the relief he sought for; they foresaw the dangers and miseries that threatened the state, in case of opposing the incensed army; they therefore dispatched messengers to them, offering to restore their former mode of government. To this proposal all the people joyfully assented, and the army gladly obeyed. Appius, and Oppius one of his colleagues, both died by their own hands in prison. The other other eight decemvirs went into voluntary exile; and Claudius, the pretended master of Virginia, was driven out after them.

The tribunes now grew more turbulent: they proposed two laws; one to permit plebeians to intermarry with patricians; and the other, to permit them to be admitted to the consulship also. The senators received these proposals with indignation, and seemed resolved to undergo the utmost extremities rather than submit to enact them. However, finding their resistance only increase the commotions of the state, they at last consented to pass the law concerning intermarriages, hoping that this concession would satisfy the people. But they were to be appeased but for a very short time: for, returning to their old custom of refusing to enlist upon the approach of an enemy, the consuls were forced to hold a private conference with the chief of the senate; where, after many debates, Claudius proposed an expedient as the most probable means of satisfying the people in the present conjuncture. This was, to create six or eight governors in the room of consuls, whereof one half at least should be patricians. This project was eagerly embraced by the people; yet, so fickle were the multitude, that though many of the plebeians stood, the choice wholly fell upon the patricians who offered themselves as candidates. These new magistrates were called military tribunes; they were at first but three, afterwards they were increased to four, and at length to six. They had the power and ensigns of consuls; yet that power being divided among a number, each singly was of less authority. The first that were chosen only continued in office about three months, the augurs having found something amiss in the ceremonies of their election.

The military tribunes being deposed, the consuls once more came into office; and in order to lighten the weight of business which they were obliged to sustain, a new office was erected, namely, that of censors, to be chosen every fifth year. Their business was to take an estimate of the number and estates of the people, and to distribute them into their proper classes; to inspect into the lives and manners of their fellow-citizens; to degrade senators for misconduct; to dismount knights; and to turn down plebeians from their tribes into an inferior, in case of misdemeanour. The two first censors were Papirius and Sempronius, both patricians; and from this order they continued to be elected for near 100 years.

This new creation served to restore peace for some time among the orders; and the triumph gained over the Volscians, by Geganius the consul, added to the universal satisfaction that reigned among the people.

This calm, however, was but of short continuance: for, some time after, a famine pressing hard upon the poor, the usual complaints against the rich were renewed; and these, as before, proving ineffectual, produced new seditions. The consuls were accused of neglect in not having laid in proper quantities of corn: they, however, disregarded the murmurs of the populace, content with exerting all their care in attempts to supply the pressing necessities. But though they did all that could be expected from active magistrates, in providing and distributing provisions to the poor; yet Spurius Maelius, a rich knight, who had bought up all the corn of Tuscany, by far outshone them in liberality. This dema-

gogue, inflamed with a secret desire of becoming powerful by the contentions in the state, distributed corn in great quantities among the poorer sort each day, till his house became an asylum of all such as wished to exchange a life of labour for one of lazy dependence. When he had thus gained a sufficient number of partizans, he procured large quantities of arms to be brought into his house by night, and formed a conspiracy, by which he was to obtain the command, while some of the tribunes, whom he had found means to corrupt, were to act under him, in seizing upon the liberties of his country. Minucius soon discovered the plot; and informing the senate thereof, they immediately formed the resolution of creating a dictator, who should have the power of quelling the conspiracy without appealing to the people. Cincinnatus, who was now 80 years old, was chosen once more to rescue his country from impending danger. He began by summoning Maelius to appear; who refused to obey. He next sent Ahala, who is his master of the horse, to force him; who, meeting him in the forum, and pressing Maelius to follow him to the dictator's tribunal, upon his refusal Ahala killed him upon the spot. The dictator applauded the resolution of his officer, and commanded the conspirator's goods to be sold, and his house to be demolished, distributing his stores among the people.

The tribunes of the people were much enraged at the death of Maelius; and, in order to punish the senate, at the next election, instead of consuls, insisted upon restoring their military tribunes. With this the senate were obliged to comply. The next year, however, the government returned to its ancient channel, and consuls were chosen.

The Veientes had long been the rivals of Rome; they had ever taken the opportunity of its internal distresses to ravage its territories, and had even threatened its ambassadors, sent to complain of these injuries, with outrage. In war they had been extremely formidable, and had cut off almost all the Fabian family; who, to the number of 300 persons, had voluntarily undertaken to defend the frontiers against their incursions. It seemed now therefore determined, that the city of Veii, whatever it should cost, was to fall; and the Romans accordingly sat regularly down before it, prepared for a long and painful resistance. The strength of the place, or the unskilfulness of the besiegers, may be inferred from the continuance of the siege, which lasted for 10 years; during which time the army continued encamped round it, lying in winter under tents made of the skins of beasts, and in summer driving on the operations of the attack. Various was the success, and many were the commanders that directed the siege: sometimes all the besiegers works were destroyed, and many of their men cut off by sallies from the town; sometimes they were annoyed by an army of Veians, who attempted to bring assistance from without. A siege so bloody seemed to threaten depopulation to Rome itself, by draining its forces continually away; so that a law was obliged to be made for all the bachelors to marry the widows of the soldiers who were slain. In order to carry it on with greater vigour, Furius Camillus was created dictator, and to him was intrusted the sole power of managing the long protracted war. Camillus, who, without intrigue or any solicitation had raised himself to the first eminence emience in the state, had been made one of the censors some time before, and was considered as the head of that office; he was afterwards made a military tribune, and had in this post gained several advantages over the enemy. It was his great courage and abilities in the above offices that made him thought most worthy to serve his country on this pressing occasion. Upon his appointment, numbers of the people flocked to his standard, confident of success under so experienced a commander. Conscious, however, that he was unable to take the city by storm, he secretly wrought a mine into it with vast labour, which opened into the midst of the citadel. Certain thus of success, and finding the city incapable of relief, he sent to the senate, desiring that all who chose to share in the plunder of Veii should immediately repair to the army. Then giving his men directions how to enter at the breach, the city was instantly filled with his legions, to the amazement and consternation of the besieged, who but a moment before had rested in perfect security. Thus, like a second Troy, was the city of Veii taken, after a ten years siege, and with its spoils enriched the conquerors; while Camillus himself, transported with the honour of having subdued the rival of his native city, triumphed after the manner of the kings of Rome, having his chariot drawn by four milk-white horses; a distinction which did not fail to disgust the majority of the spectators, as they considered those as sacred, and more proper for doing honour to their gods than their generals.

His usual good fortune attended Camillus in another expedition against the Falisci; he routed their army, and besieged their capital city Falerii, which threatened a long and vigorous resistance. Here a schoolmaster, who had the care of the children belonging to the principal men of the city, having found means to decoy them into the Roman camp, offered to put them into the hands of Camillus, as the surest means of inducing the citizens to a speedy surrender. The general was struck with the treachery of a wretch whose duty it was to protect innocence, and not to betray it; and immediately ordered him to be stripped, his hands tied behind him, and in that ignominious manner to be whipped into the town by his own scholars. This generous behaviour in Camillus effected more than his arms could do; the magistrates of the town immediately submitted to the senate, leaving to Camillus the conditions of their surrender; who only fined them in a sum of money to satisfy his army, and received them under the protection and into the alliance of Rome.

Notwithstanding the veneration which the virtues of Camillus had excited abroad, they seemed but little adapted to bring over the respect of the turbulent tribunes at home, as they raised some fresh accusation against him every day. To their other charges they added that of his having concealed a part of the plunder of Veii, particularly two brazen gates, for his own use; and appointed him a day on which to appear before the people. Camillus, finding the multitude exasperated against him upon many accounts, detesting their ingratitude, resolved not to wait the ignominy of a trial; but embracing his wife and children, prepared to depart from Rome. He had already passed as far as one of the gates, unattended on his way, and unguarded. There he could suppress his indignation no longer; but, turning his face to the capitol, and lifting up his hands to heaven, intreated all the gods that his country might one day be sensible of their injustice and ingratitude; and so saying, he passed forward to take refuge at Ardea, where he afterwards learned that he had been fined 1500 asses by the tribunes at home.

The Romans indeed soon had reason to repent their usage of Camillus; for now a more formidable enemy than ever they had met with threatened the republic: an inundation of Gauls, leaving their native woods, under the command of one Brennus, wasted everything with fire and sword. It is said that one Ceddutius, a man of the lowest rank, pretended to have heard a miraculous voice, which pronounced distinctly these words: "Go to the magistrates, and tell them that the Gauls draw near." The meanness of the man made his warning despised; though, when the event showed the truth of his prediction, Camillus erected a temple to the unknown Deity, and the Romans invented for him the name of Aius Locutius. Messenger after messenger arrived with the news of the progress and devastations of the Gauls; but the Romans behaved with as much security as if it had been impossible for them to have felt the effects of their depredations. At last envoys arrived at Rome, imploring the assistance of the republic against an army of Gauls, which had made an irruption into Italy, and now besieged their city. The occasion of the irruption and siege was this: Arunx, one of the chief men of Clusium in Hettruria, had been guardian to a young lucumo, or lord of a lucomony, and had educated him in his house from his infancy. The lucumo, as soon as he was of an age to feel the force of passion, fell in love with his guardian's wife; and, upon the first discovery of their intrigue, conveyed her away. Arunx endeavoured to obtain reparation for the injury he had received; but the lucumo, by his interest and money, gained over the magistrates: so that the injured guardian, finding no protectors in Hettruria, resolved to make his application to the Gauls. The people among all the Celtic nations, to whom he chose to address himself, were the Senones; and, in order to engage them in his quarrel, he acquainted them with the great plenty of Italy, and made them taste of some Italian wines. Upon this the Senones resolved to follow him; and a numerous army was immediately formed, which passing the Alps, under the conduct of their Hettrurian guide, and leaving the Celtæ in Italy unmolested, fell upon Umbria, and possessed themselves of all the country from Ravenna to Picenum. They were about six years in settling themselves in their new acquisitions, while the Romans were carrying on the siege of Veii. At length Arunx brought the Senones before Clusium, in order to besiege that place, his wife and her lover having shut themselves up there.

The senate, being unwilling to engage in an open war with a nation which had never offended them, sent an embassy of three young patricians, all brothers, and of the Fabian family, to bring about an accommodation between the two nations. These ambassadors, being arrived at the camp of the Gauls, and conducted into the council, offered the mediation of Rome; and demanded of Brennus, the leader of the Gauls, What injury the Clusini had done him; or what pretensions any people from a remote country could have upon Hettruria? Brennus answered proudly, that his right lay in his sword, and that all things belonged to the brave; but that, without having recourse to this primitive law of nature, he had a just complaint against the Clusini, who, having more lands than they could cultivate, had refused to yield to him those they left untilled: And what other motives had you yourselves, Romans (said he), to conquer so many neighbouring nations? You have deprived the Sabines, the Albans, the Fidenates, the Aqui, and the Volsci, of the best part of their territories. Not that we accuse you of injustice; but it is evident, that you thought this to be the prime and most ancient of all laws, to make the weak give way to the strong. Forbear therefore to interest yourselves for the Clusini, or allow us to take the part of the people you have subdued."

The Fabii were highly provoked at so haughty an answer; but, dissembling their resentment, desired leave to go into the town, under pretence of conferring with the magistrates. But they were no sooner there, than they began to stir up the inhabitants to a vigorous defence; nay, forgetting their character, they put themselves at the head of the besieged in a sally, in which Q. Fabius, the chief of the ambassadors, slew with his own hand one of the principal officers of the Gauls. Hereupon Brennus, calling the gods to witness the perfidiousness of the Romans, and their violating the law of nations, immediately broke up the siege of Clusium, and marched leisurely to Rome, having sent a herald before him to demand that those ambassadors, who had so manifestly violated the law of nations, should be delivered up to him. The Roman senate was greatly perplexed between their regard for the law of nations and their affection for the Fabii. The wisest of the senate thought the demand of the Gauls to be but just and reasonable; however, as it concerned persons of great consequence and credit, the conscript fathers referred the affair to the people assembled by curiae. As the Fabian family was very popular, the curiae were so far from condemning the three brothers, that at the next election of military tribunes, they were chosen the first. Brennus, looking upon the promotion of the Fabii as a high affront on his nation, hastened his march to Rome.

As his army was very numerous, the inhabitants of the towns and villages through which he passed left their habitations at his approach; but he stopped nowhere, declaring that his design was only to be revenged on the Romans. The six military tribunes, to wit, Q. Fabius, Cæso Fabius, Caius Fabius, Q. Sulpitius, Q. Servilius, and Sextus Cornelius, marched out of Rome at the head of 40,000 men, without either sacrificing to the gods or consulting the auspices; essential ceremonies among a people that drew their courage and confidence from the propitious signs which the augurs declared to them. As most of the military tribunes were young, and men of more valour than experience, they advanced boldly against the Gauls, whose army was 70,000 strong. The two armies met near the river Allia, about 60 furlongs from Rome. The Romans, that they might not be surrounded by the enemy, extended their wings so far as to make their centre very thin. Their best troops, to the number of 24,000 men, they posted between the river and the adjoining hills; the rest they placed on the hills. The Gauls first attacked the latter, who being soon put into confusion, the forces in the plain were struck with such terror, that they fled without drawing their swords. In this general disorder, most of the soldiers, instead of returning to Rome, fled to Vii: some were drowned as they endeavoured to swim across the Tiber; many fell in the pursuit by the sword of the conquerors; and some got to Rome, which they filled with terror and consternation, it being believed there that all the rest were cut off. The day after the battle, Brennus marched his troops into the neighbourhood of Rome, and encamped on the banks of the Anio. Thither his scouts brought him word, that the gates of the city lay open, and that not one Roman was to be seen on the ramparts. This made him apprehensive of some ambuscade, it being unreasonable to suppose that the Romans would abandon their city to be plundered and sacked without making any resistance. On this consideration he advanced slowly, which gave the Romans an opportunity to throw into the Capitol all the men who were fit to bear arms. They carried into it all the provisions they could get; and, that they might last the longer, admitted none into the place but such as were capable of defending it.

As for the city, they had not sufficient forces to defend it; and therefore the old men, women, and children, seeing themselves abandoned, fled to the neighbouring towns. The Vestals, before they left Rome, took care to hide every thing appropriated to the gods which they could not carry off. The two palladiums, and the sacred fire, they took with them. When they came to the Janiculum, one Albinus, a plebeian, who was conveying his wife and children in a carriage to a place of safety, seeing the sacred virgins bending under their load, and their feet bloody, made his family alight, put the priestesses and their gods into the carriage, and conducted them to Caere, a city of Heturria, where they met with a favourable reception. The Vestals remained at Caere, and there continued to perform the usual rites of religion; and hence those rites were called ceremonies. But while the rest of the citizens at Rome were providing for their safety, about 80 of the most illustrious and venerable old men, rather than fly from their native city, chose to devote themselves to death by a vow, which Fabius the high pontiff pronounced in their names. The Romans believed, that, by these voluntary devotions to the infernal gods, disorder and confusion was brought among the enemy. Of these brave old men some were pontifices, others had been consuls, and others generals of armies, who had been honoured with triumphs. To complete their sacrifice with a solemnity and pomp becoming the magnanimity and constancy of the Romans, they dressed themselves in their pontifical, consular, and triumphal robes; and repairing to the forum, seated themselves there in their curule chairs, expecting the enemy and death with the greatest constancy.

At length Brennus, having spent three days in useless precautions, entered the city the fourth day after the battle. He found the gates open, the walls without defence, and the houses without inhabitants. Rome appeared to him like a mere desert; and this solitude increased his anxiety. He could not believe, either that all the Romans were lodged in the Capitol, or that so numerous a people should abandon the place of their nativity. On the other hand, he could nowhere see any any armed men but on the walls of the citadel. However, having first secured all the avenues to the Capitol with strong bodies of guards, he gave the rest of his soldiers leave to disperse themselves all over the city and plunder it. Brennus himself advanced into the forum with the troops under his command, in good order; and there he was struck with admiration at the unexpected sight of the venerable old men who had devoted themselves to death. Their magnificent habits, the majesty of their countenances, the silence they kept, their meekness and constancy at the approach of his troops, made him take them for so many deities: for they continued as motionless as statues, and saw the enemy advance without showing the least concern. The Gauls kept a great while at an awful distance from them, being afraid to come near them. But at length one soldier bolder than the rest, having out of curiosity touched the beard of M. Papirius, the venerable old man, not being used to such familiarity, gave him a blow on the head with his ivory staff. The soldier in revenge immediately killed him; and the rest of the Gauls following his example, slaughtered all those venerable old men without mercy.

After this the enemy set no bounds to their rage and fury. They plundered all places, dragging such of the Romans as had shut themselves up in their houses into the streets, and there putting them to the sword without distinction of age or sex. Brennus then invested the Capitol; but being repulsed with great loss, in order to be revenged of the Romans for their resistance, he resolved to lay the city in ashes. Accordingly by his command, the soldiers set fire to the houses, demolished the temples and public edifices, and raised the walls to the ground. Thus was the famous city of Rome entirely destroyed; nothing was to be seen in the place where it stood but a few little hills covered with ruins, and a wide waste, in which the Gauls who invested the Capitol were encamped. Brennus, finding he should never be able to take a place which nature had so well fortified otherwise than by famine, turned the siege into a blockade. But in the mean time, his army being distressed for want of provisions, he sent out parties to pillage the fields, and raise contributions in the neighbouring cities. One of these parties appeared before Ardea, where the great Camillus had now spent two years in a private life. Notwithstanding the affront he had received at Rome, the love he bore his country was not in the least diminished. The senate of Ardea being met to deliberate on the measures to be taken with relation to the Gauls, Camillus, more afflicted at the calamities of his country than at his own banishment, desired to be admitted into the council, where, with his eloquence, he prevailed upon the Ardeates to arm their youth in their own defence, and refuse the Gauls admittance into their city.

Hereupon the Gauls encamped before the city; and as they despised the Ardeates after they had made themselves masters of Rome, they preserved neither order nor discipline in the camp, but spent whole days in drinking. Hereupon Camillus, having easily persuaded the youth of the city to follow him, marched out of Ardea in a very dark night, surprised the Gauls drowned in wine, and made a dreadful slaughter of them. Those who made their escape under the shelter of the night fell next day into the hands of the peasants, by whom they were massacred without mercy. This defeat of the enemy revived the courage of the Romans scattered about the country, especially of those who had retired to Veii after the unfortunate battle of Allia. There was not one of them who did not condemn himself for the exile of Camillus, as if he had been the author of it; and looking upon that great man as their last resource, they resolved to choose him for their leader. Accordingly, they sent without delay ambassadors to him, beseeching him to take into his protection the fugitive Romans, and the wrecks of the defeat at Allia. But Camillus would not accept of the command of the troops till the people assembled by curiae had legally conferred it upon him. He thought the public authority was lodged in the hands of those who were shut up in the citadel, and therefore would undertake nothing at the head of the Roman troops till a commission was brought him from thence.

To do this was very difficult, the place being invested on all sides by the enemy. However, one Pontius Cominius, a man of mean birth, but bold and very ambitious of glory, undertook it. He put on a light habit, and providing himself with cork to keep the longer above water, threw himself into the Tiber above Rome in the beginning of the night, and suffered himself to be carried down with the stream. At length he came to the foot of the Capitol, and landed at a steep place where the Gauls had not thought it necessary to post any centinels. There he mounted with great difficulty to the rampart of the citadel; and having made himself known to the guards, he was admitted into the place, and conducted to the magistrates. The senate being immediately assembled, Pontius gave them an account of Camillus's victory; and in the name of all the Romans at Veii demanded that great captain for their general. There was not much time spent in debates: the curiae being called together, the act of condemnation which had been passed on Camillus was abrogated, and he named dictator with one voice. Pontius was immediately dispatched with the decree; and the same good fortune which had attended him to the Capitol accompanied him in his return. Thus was Camillus, from the state of banishment, raised at once to be sovereign magistrate of his country. His promotion to the command was no sooner known, but soldiers flocked from all parts to his camp; insomuch that he soon saw himself at the head of above 40,000 men, partly Romans and partly allies, who all thought themselves invincible under so great a general.

While he was taking proper measures to raise the blockade of the citadel, some Gauls rambling round the place, perceived on the side of the hill the print of Pontius's hands and feet. They observed likewise, that the moss on the rocks was in several places torn up. From these marks they concluded, that somebody had lately gone up to and returned from the Capitol. The Gauls immediately made their report to Brennus of what they had observed; and that experienced commander laid a design, which he imparted to nobody, of surprising the place by the same way that the Roman had ascended. With this view he chose out of the army such soldiers as had dwelt in mountainous countries, and been accustomed from their youth to climb precipices. These he ordered, after he had well examined the nature of the place, to ascend in the night the same way that was market. marked out for them; climbing two abreast, that one might support the other in getting up the steep parts of the precipice. By this means they advanced with much difficulty from rock to rock, till they arrived at the foot of the wall. They proceeded with such silence, that they were not discovered or heard, either by the centinels who were upon guard in the citadel, or even by the dogs, that are usually awaked and alarmed at the least noise. But though they eluded the sagacity of the dogs, they could not escape the vigilance of the geese. A flock of these birds was kept in a court of the Capitol in honour of Juno, and near her temple. Notwithstanding the want of provisions in the garrison, they had been spared out of religion; and as these creatures are naturally quick of hearing, they were alarmed at the first approach of the Gauls: so that running up and down, with their cackling and beating of their wings, they awaked Manlius, a gallant soldier, who some years before had been consul. He sounded an alarm, and was the first man who mounted the rampart, where he found two Gauls already upon the wall. One of these offered to discharge a blow at him with his battle-axe; but Manlius cut off his right hand at one blow, and gave the other such a push with his buckler, that he threw him headlong from the top of the rock to the bottom. He, in his fall, drew many others with him; and in the mean time, the Romans crowding to the place, pressed upon the Gauls, and tumbled them one over another. As the nature of the ground would not suffer them to make a regular retreat, or even to fly, most of them, to avoid the swords of the enemy, threw themselves down the precipice, so that very few got safe back to their camp.

As it was the custom of the Romans at that time not to suffer any commendable action to go unrewarded, the tribune Sulpius assembled his troops the next morning, in order to bestow the military rewards on those who, the night before, had deserved them. Among these Manlius was first named; and, in acknowledgment of the important service he had just rendered the state, every soldier gave him part of the corn which he received sparingly from the public stock, and a little measure of wine out of his scanty allowance; an inconsiderable present indeed in itself, but very acceptable at that time to the person on whom it was bestowed. The tribune's next care was to punish the negligent; accordingly the captain of the guard, who ought to have had an eye over the centinels, was condemned to die, and, pursuant to his sentence, thrown down from the top of the Capitol. The Romans extended their punishments and rewards even to the animals. Geese were ever after held in honour at Rome, and a flock of them always kept at the expense of the public. A golden image of a goose was erected in memory of them, and a goose every year carried in triumph upon a soft litter finely adorned; whilst dogs were held in abhorrence by the Romans, who every year impaled one of them on a branch of elder.

The blockade of the Capitol had already lasted seven months; so that the famine began to be very sensibly felt both by the besieged and besiegers. Camillus, since his nomination to the dictatorship, being master of the country, had posted strong guards on all the roads; so that the Gauls dared not stir out for fear of being cut to pieces. Thus Brennus, who besieged the Capitol, was besieged himself, and suffered the same inconveniences which he made the Romans undergo. Besides, a plague raged in his camp, which was placed in the midst of the ruins of the demolished city, his men lying confusedly among the dead carcases of the Romans, whom they had slain, and not buried. So great a number of them died in one quarter of the city, that it was afterwards called Busta Gallica, or the place where the dead bodies of the Gauls were burnt. But, in the mean time, the Romans in the Capitol were more pinched with want than the Gauls. They were reduced to the last extremity, and at the same time ignorant both of the lamentable condition to which the enemy's army was brought, and of the steps Camillus was taking to relieve them. That great general only waited for a favourable opportunity to fall upon the enemy; but, in the mean time, suffered them to pine away in their infected camp, not knowing the extreme want the Romans endured in the Capitol, where they were so destitute of all sorts of provisions, that they could no longer subsist. Matters being brought to this sad pass on both sides, the centinels of the Capitol, and those of the enemy's army, began to talk to one another of an accommodation. Their discourses came at length to the ears of their leaders, who were not averse to the design.

The senate, not knowing what was become of Camillus, and finding themselves hard pinched by hunger, resolved to enter upon a negociation, and empowered Sulpius, one of the military tribunes, to treat with the Gauls; who made no great difficulty in coming to terms, they being no less desirous than the Romans to put an end to the war. In a conference, therefore, between Brennus and Sulpius, an agreement was made, and sworn to. The Romans were to pay to the Gauls 1000 pounds weight of gold, that is, 45,000l. sterling; and the latter were to raise the siege of the Capitol, and quit all the Roman territories. On the day appointed, Sulpius brought the sum agreed on, and Brennus the scales and weights; for there were no gold or silver coins at that time, metals passing only by weight. We are told, that the weights of the Gauls were false, and their scales untrue; which Sulpius complaining of, Brennus, instead of redressing the injustice, threw his sword and belt into the scale where the weights were; and when the tribune asked him the meaning of so extraordinary a behaviour, the only answer he gave was Vece Victiv! "Wo to the conquered!" Sulpius was so stung with this haughty answer, that he was for carrying the gold back into the Capitol, and sustaining the siege to the last extremity; but others thought it advisable to put up the affront, since they had submitted to a far greater one, which was to pay anything at all.

During these disputes of the Roman deputies among themselves and with the Gauls, Camillus advanced with his army to the very gates of the city; and being there informed of what was doing, he commanded the main body to follow him slowly and in good order, while he, with the choicest of his men, hastened to the place of the parley. The Romans, overjoyed at his unexpected arrival, opened to make room for him as the supreme magistrate of the republic, gave him an account of the treaty they had made with the Gauls, and complained of the wrong Brennus did them in the execution of it. They had scarce done speaking, when Camillus cried out, "Carry back this gold into the Capitol: and you, Gauls, retire with your scales and weights. Rome must not be redeemed with gold, but with steel." Brennus replied, That he contravened a treaty which was concluded and confirmed with mutual oaths. "Be it so (answered Camillus); yet it is of no force, having been made by an inferior magistrate, without the privi- ty or consent of the dictator. I, who am invested with the supreme authority over the Romans, declare the contract void." At these words Brennus flew into a rage; and both sides drawing their swords, a confused scuffle ensued among the ruins of the houses, and in the narrow lanes. The Gauls, after an inconsiderable loss, thought fit to retire within their camp, which they abandoned in the night, not caring to engage Camil- lus's whole army; and, having marched eight miles, encamped on the Gabian way. Camillus pursued them as soon as it was day, and, coming up with them, gave them a total overthrow. The Gauls, according to Livy, made but a faint resistance, being disheartened at the loss they had sustained the day before. It was not, says that author, so much a battle as a slaughter. Many of the Gauls were slain in the action, more in the pursuit; but the greater number were cut off, as they wandered up and down in the fields, by the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages. In short, there was not one single Gaul left to carry to his countrymen the news of this fatal catastrophe. The camp of the barba- rians was plundered; and Camillus, loaded with spoils, returned in triumph to the city, the soldiers in their songs styling him Romulus, Father of his country, and Second founder of Rome.

As the houses of Rome were all demolished, and the walls razed, the tribunes of the people renewed, with more warmth than ever, an old project which had occasioned great disputes. They had formerly proposed a law for dividing the senate and government between the cities of Veii and Rome. Now this law was revi- ved: nay, most of the tribunes were for entirely aban- doning their old ruined city, and making Veii the sole seat of the empire. The people were inclined to favour the project, Veii offering them a place fortified by art and nature, good houses ready built, a wholesome air, and a fruitful territory. On the other hand, they had no materials for rebuilding a whole city, were quite exhausted by misfortunes, and even their strength was greatly diminished. This gave them a reluctance so great an undertaking, and emboldened the tribunes to utter seditious harangues against Camillus, as a man too ambitious of being the restorer of Rome. They even insinuated that the name of Romulus, which had been given him, threatened the republic with a new king. But the senate took the part of Camillus, and, being desirous to see Rome rebuilt, continued him contrary to custom, a full year in the office of dictator; during which time he made it his whole business to suppress the strong inclination of the people to remove to Veii. Having assembled the curia, he expostulated with them upon the matter; and by arguments drawn from prudence, religion, and glory, prevailed upon them to lay aside all thoughts of leaving Rome. As it was necessary to have the resolution of the people confirmed by the senate, the dictator reported it to the conscript fathers, leaving every one at full liberty to vote as he pleased. While L. Lucretius, who was to give his opinion the first, was beginning to speak, it happened that a centurion, who with his company had been upon guard, and was then marching by the senate-house, cried out aloud, "Plant your colours, ensign: this is the best place to stay in." These words were considered as dictated by the gods themselves; and Lucretius, taking occasion from them to urge the necessity of staying in Rome, "An happy omen (cried he); I adore the gods who gave it." The whole senate applauded his words; and a decree was passed without opposition for rebuilding the city.

Though the tribunes of the people were defeated by Camillus in this point, they resolved to exercise their authority against another patrician, who had indeed deserved punishment. This was Q. Fabius, who had violated the laws of nations, and thereby provoked the Gauls, and occasioned the burning of Rome. His crime being notorious, he was summoned by C. Mar- tius Rutilus before the assembly of the people, to an- swer for his conduct in his embassy. The criminal had reason to fear the severest punishment: but his relations gave out that he died suddenly; which generally hap- pened when the accused person had courage enough to prevent his condemnation, and the shame of a public punishment. On the other hand, the public gave an house situated on the Capitol to M. Manlius, as a reward of his valour, and of the gratitude of his fellow citizens. Camillus closed this year by laying down his dictatorship; whereupon an interregnum ensued; during which he governed the state alternately with P. Cornelius Scipio; and it fell to his lot to preside at the election of new magistrates, when L. Valerius Poplicola, L. Virginius Tricostus, P. Cornelius Cossus, A. Manlius Capitolinus, L. Emilius Mamercius, and L. Posthumius Albinus, were chosen. The first care of these new magistrates was to collect all the ancient monuments of the religion and civil laws of Rome which could be found among the ruins of the demolish- ed city. The laws of the twelve tables, and some of the laws of the kings, had been written on brass, and fixed up in the forum; and the treaties made with sev- eral nations had been engraved on pillars erected in the temples. Pains were therefore taken to gather up the ruins of these precious monuments; and what could not be found was supplied by memory. The ponti- fices, on their part, took care to re-establish the reli- gious ceremonies, and made also a list of lucky and un- lucky days.

And now the governors of the republic applied them- selves wholly to rebuild the city. Plutarch tells us, that as the workmen were digging among the ruins of the temple of Mars, they found Romulus's augural staff untouched by the flames; and that this was looked upon as a prodigy, from whence the Romans inferred that their city would continue for ever. The expense of building private houses was partly defrayed out of the public treasure. The ediles had the direction of the works; but they had so little taste for order or beauty, that the city, when rebuilt, was even less regular than in the time of Romulus. And though in Augustus's time, when Rome became the capital of the known world, the temples, palaces and private houses, were built in a more magnificent manner than before; yet even then these new decorations did not rectify the faults of the plan. plan upon which the city had been built after its first demolition.

Rome was scarce restored, when her citizens were alarmed by the news that all her neighbours were combining against her destruction. The Æqui, the Volsci, the Heturians, and even her old friends the Latins and the Hernici, entered into an alliance against her, in hopes of oppressing her before she had recovered her strength. The republic, under this terror, nominated Camillus dictator a third time. This great commander, having appointed Servilius to be his general of horse, summoned the citizens to take arms, without excepting even the old men. He divided the new levies into three bodies. The first, under the command of A. Manlius, he ordered to encamp under the walls of Rome; the second he sent into the neighbourhood of Veii; and marched himself at the head of the third, to relieve the tribunes, who were closely besieged in their camp by the united forces of the Volsci and Latins. Finding the enemy encamped near Lamuvium, on the declivity of the hill Marcius, he posted himself behind it, and by lighting fires, gave the distressed Romans notice of his arrival. The Volsci and Latins, when they understood that Camillus was at the head of an army newly arrived, were so terrified, that they shut themselves up in their camp, which they fortified with great trees cut down in haste. The dictator, observing that this barrier was of green wood, and that every morning there arose a great wind, which blew full upon the enemy's camp, formed the design of taking it by fire. With this view he ordered one part of his army to go by break of day with fire-brands to the windward side of the camp, and the other to make a brisk attack on the opposite side. By this means the enemy were entirely defeated, and their camp taken. Camillus then commanded his men to extinguish the flames, in order to save the booty, with which he rewarded his army. He then left his son in the camp to guard the prisoners; and, entering the country of the Æqui, made himself master of their capital city Bola. From thence he marched against the Volsci, whom he entirely reduced, after they had waged war with the Romans for the space of 107 years. Having subdued this untractable people, he penetrated into Heturia, in order to relieve Sutrium, a town in that country in alliance with Rome, and besieged by a numerous army of Heturians. But, notwithstanding all the expedition Camillus could use, he did not reach the place before it had capitulated. The Sutrinii, being greatly distressed for want of provisions, and exhausted with labour, had surrendered to the Heturians, who had granted them nothing but their lives, and the clothes on their backs. In this destitute condition they had left their own country, and were going in search of new habitations, when they met Camillus leading an army to their relief.

The unfortunate multitude no sooner saw the Roman arms, but they threw themselves at the dictator's feet, who, moved at this melancholy sight, desired them to take a little rest, and refresh themselves, adding, that he would soon dry up their tears, and transfer their sorrows from them to their enemies. He imagined, that the Heturians would be wholly taken up in plundering the city, without being upon their guard, or observing any discipline. And herein he was not mistaken. The Heturians did not dream that the dictator could come so speedily from such a distance to surprise them; and therefore were wholly employed in plundering the houses and carrying off the booty, or feasting on the provisions they had found in them. Many of them were put to the sword, and an incredible number made prisoners; and the city was restored to its ancient inhabitants, who had not waited in vain for the performance of the dictator's promise. And now, after these glorious exploits, which were finished in so short a time, the great Camillus entered Rome in triumph a third time.

Camillus having resigned his dictatorship, the republic chose six new military tribunes, Q. Quinctius, Q. Servius, L. Julius, L. Aquilius, L. Lucretius, and Ser. Sulpicius. During their administration the country of the Æqui was laid waste, in order to put it out of their power to revolt anew; and the two cities of Cortuosa and Coutenebra, in the lucumony of the Tarquinienses, were taken from the Heturians, and entirely demolished. At this time it was thought proper to repair the Capitol, and add new works to that part of the hill where the Gauls had endeavoured to scale the citadel. These works were esteemed very beautiful, as Livy informs us, even in the time of Augustus, after the city was embellished with most magnificent decorations.

And now Rome being reinstated in her former flourishing condition, the tribunes of the people, who had been for some time quiet, began to renew their seditious harangues, and revive the old quarrel about the division of the conquered land. The patricians had appropriated to themselves the Pomptin territory lately taken from the Volsci, and the tribunes laid hold of this opportunity to raise new disturbances. But the citizens being so drained of their money that they had not enough left to cultivate new farms and stock them with cattle, the declamations of the tribunes made no impression upon their minds; so that the project vanished. As for the military tribunes, they owned that their election had been defective; and, lest the irregularities of the former comitia should be continued in the succeeding ones, they voluntarily laid down their office. So that, after a short interregnum, during which M. Manlius, Ser. Sulpicius, and L. Valerius Potitus, governed the republic, six new military tribunes L. Papirius, C. Sergius, L. Emilius, L. Menenius, L. Valerius, and C. Cornelius, were chosen for the ensuing year, which was spent in works of peace. A temple, which had been vowed to Mars during the war with the Gauls, was built, and consecrated by T. Quinctius, who presided over the affairs of religion. As there had hitherto been but few Roman tribes beyond the Tiber which had a right of suffrage in the comitia, four new ones were added, under the name of the Stellatina, Tramontina, Sabatina, and Arniensis; so that the tribes were now in all 25, which enjoyed the same rights and privileges.

The expectation of an approaching war induced the centuries to choose Camillus one of the military tribunes for the next year. His colleagues were Ser. Cornelius, Q. Servilius, L. Quinctius, L. Horatius, and P. Valerius. As all these were men of moderation, they agreed to invest Camillus with the sole management of affairs in time of war; and accordingly in full senate transferred all their power into his hands; so that he became in effect dictator. It had been already determined. mined in the senate to turn the arms of the republic against the Hetrurians; but, upon advice that the Antiates had entered the Pompon territory, and obliged the Romans who had taken possession of it to retire, it was thought necessary to humble them before the republic engaged in any other enterprise. The Antiates had joined the Latins and Hernici near Satricum; so that the Romans, being terrified at their prodigious numbers, shewed themselves very backward to engage; which Camillus perceiving, he instantly mounted his horse, and riding through all the ranks of the army, encouraged them by a proper speech after which he dismounted, took the next standard-bearer by the hand, led him towards the enemy, and cried out, Soldiers, advance. The soldiery were ashamed not to follow a general who exposed himself to the first attack; and therefore, having made a great shout, they fell upon the enemy with incredible fury. Camillus, in order to increase their eagerness still more, commanded a standard to be thrown into the middle of the enemy's battalions; which made the soldiers, who were fighting in the first ranks, exert all the resolution they could to recover it. The Antiates, not being able any longer to make head against the Romans, gave way, and were entirely defeated. The Latins and Hernici separated from the Volsci, and returned home. The Volsci, seeing themselves thus abandoned by their allies, took refuge in the neighbouring city of Satricum; which Camillus immediately invested, and took by assault. The Volsci threw down their arms, and surrendered at discretion. He then left his army under the command of Valerius; and returned to Rome to solicit the consent of the senate, and to make the necessary preparations for undertaking the siege of Antium.

But, while he was proposing this affair to the senate, deputies arrived from Nepet and Sutrium, two cities in alliance with Rome in the neighbourhood of Hetruria, demanding succours against the Hetrurians, who threatened to besiege these two cities, which were the keys of Hetruria. Hereupon the expedition against Antium was laid aside, and Camillus commanded to hasten to the relief of the allied cities, with the troops which Servilius had kept in readiness at Rome in case of an emergency. Camillus immediately set out for the new war; and, upon his arrival before Sutrium, found that important place not only besieged, but almost taken, the Hetrurians having made themselves masters of some of the gates, and gained possession of all the avenues leading to the city. However, the inhabitants no sooner heard that Camillus was come to their relief, but they recovered their courage, and, by barricades made in the streets, prevented the enemy from making themselves masters of the whole city. Camillus in the mean time having divided his army into two bodies, ordered Valerius to march round the walls, as if he designed to scale them, while he with the other undertook to charge the Hetrurians in the rear, force his way into the city, and shut up the enemy between the besieged and his troops. The Romans no sooner appeared but the Hetrurians betook themselves to a disorderly flight through a gate which was not invested. Camillus's troops made a dreadful slaughter of them within the city, while Valerius put great numbers of them to the sword without the walls. From reconquering Sutrium, Camillus hastened to the relief of Nepet. But that city being better affected to the Hetrurians than to the Romans, had voluntarily submitted to the former. Wherefore Camillus, having invested it with his whole army, took it by assault, put all the Hetrurian soldiers without distinction to the sword, and condemned the authors of the revolt to die by the axes of the lictors. Thus ended Camillus's military tribuneship, in which he acquired no less reputation than he had done in the most glorious of his dictatorships.

In the following magistracy of six military tribunes, a dangerous sedition is said to have taken place through the ambition of Marcus Manlius, who had saved the Capitol from the Gauls in the manner already related. Though this man had pride enough to despise all the other great men in Rome, yet he envied Camillus, and took every opportunity of magnifying his own exploits beyond those of the dictator. But not finding such a favourable reception from the nobility as he desired, he concerted measures with the tribunes of the people, and strove to gain the affections of the multitude. Not content with renewing the proposal for the distribution of conquered lands, he also made himself an advocate for insolvent debtors, of whom there was now a great number, as most of the lower class had been obliged to borrow money in order to rebuild their houses. The senate, alarmed at this opposition, created A. Cornelius Cossus dictator, for which the war with the Volsci afforded them a fair pretence. Manlius, however, still continued to inflame the people against the patricians. Besides the most unbounded personal generosity, he held assemblies at his own house (in the citadel), where he confidently gave out that the senators, not content with being the possessors of those lands which ought to have been equally divided among all the citizens, had concealed with an intent to appropriate it to their own use, all the gold which was to have been paid to the Gauls, and which would alone be sufficient to discharge the debts of all the poor plebeians; and he moreover promised to show in due time where this treasure was concealed. For this assertion he was brought before the dictator; who commanded him to discover where the pretended treasure was, or to confess openly before the whole assembly that he had slandered the senate.—Manlius replied, that the dictator himself, and the principal persons in the senate, could only give the proper intelligence of this treasure, as they had been the most active in securing it. Upon this he was committed to prison; but the people made such disturbance, that the senate were soon after fain to release him. By this he was emboldened to continue his former practices; till at last the senate gave an order to the military tribunes to take care that the commonwealth suffered no detriment from the pernicious projects of Marcus Manlius, and even gave them authority to assassinate him, if they found it necessary so to do. At last, however, he was publicly accused of aspiring to be king; however, the people, it is said, were so struck with gratitude, on account of his having delivered the Capitol from the Gauls, that they could not resolve to condemn him. But the military tribunes, who, it seems, were bent on his destruction, having appointed the assembly to be held without the city, there obtained their wish. Manlius was thrown headlong from the Capitol itself; it was decreed that no patrician should dwell in and around the Capitol or citadel; and the Manlian family resolved to... that no member of it should ever afterwards bear the prenomen of Marcus. No sooner was Manlius dead, however, than the people lamented his fate; and because a plague broke out soon after, they imputed it to the anger of the gods on account of the destruction of the hero who had saved the state (a).

The Romans, having now triumphed over the Sabines, the Etrurians, the Latins, the Hernici, the Equi, and the Volscians, began to look for greater conquests. They accordingly turned their arms against the Sam- nites, a people about 100 miles east from the city, de- scended from the Sabines, and inhabiting a large tract of southern Italy, which at this day makes a consider- able part of the kingdom of Naples. Valerius Corvus and Cornelius were the two consuls, to whose care it first fell to manage this dreadful contention between the rival states.

Valerius was one of the greatest commanders of his time; he was surnamed Corvus, from a strange cir- cumstance of being assisted by a crow in a single com- bat, in which he fought and killed a Gaul of a gigan- tic stature. To his colleague's care it was consigned to lead an army to Samnium, the enemy's capital; while Corvus was sent to relieve Capua, the capital of the Campanians. The Samnites were the bravest men the