Read Ancient Rome: An Introductory History Online

Authors: Paul A. Zoch

Tags: #History, #Ancient, #Rome, #test

Ancient Rome: An Introductory History (10 page)

 
Page 43
A statue of Horatius was placed in the Comitium, and he was granted as much land as he could drive a plow around in a day.
Gaius Mucius Scaevola (Lefty)
Porsenna, frustrated at his failure to take Rome by storm, next tried to conquer it by besieging the city. Food soon became scarce in Rome, and the Romans' hope was dimming when Gaius Mucius, a young Roman aristocrat, presented himself to the Senate with his plan to assassinate Porsenna. The Senate consented.
When Mucius arrived at the Etruscans' camp, he stood in a densely packed crowd next to the king's tribunal. It happened to be payday for the soldiers, and the king's secretary, sitting next to the king and wearing almost the same type of clothes, worked busily as the common soldiers came up to him. Mucius feared asking which one was Porsenna, since his ignorance would betray him; as luck would have it, he stabbed the secretary instead of the king.
As he was making his escape through the frightened crowd, with his bloody sword opening a path for him, the king's bodyguards seized him and dragged him back, where a crowd had gathered because of the shouting. He was put before the king's tribunal. Even then, in such great danger to his life, he was one more to be feared than to feel fear. "I am a Roman citizen," he said. "People call me Gaius Mucius. I, your enemy, intended to kill you, my enemy; nor do I have less courage to die than I had to kill. It is the Roman way to do and suffer brave deeds. Nor am I the only one that has such hatred for you: behind me there is a long line of men seeking the same honor. From now on, be prepared for this struggle, so that you may fight for your life, hour by hour, so you may always have an armed enemy in your courtyard. We, the Roman youth, declare this war on you. You will fear no army and no battle. It will be a matter for you, alone, with men one by one."
The king, both outraged and terrified by the danger, threatened to have Mucius burned alive unless he immediately exposed the plot to which he had referred. "Look," said Mucius, "so you may understand how meaningless the body is for those who have their eyes set on glory!" And he thrust his right hand into a fire that had been lit for a sacrifice.
 
Page 44
When Mucius had burned his hand, as if he had no feeling, the king, astonished by the unbelievable sight, jumped from his chair and ordered the young man to be moved from the altar. "You may leave," he said, "since you have dared to hurt yourself more than me. I would applaud you for your courage, if your courage were benefiting my country. I release you from my captor's power over you; free, unharmed, and untouched, you may go."
Then Mucius, as if returning the favor, said, "Since there is honor for courage here too, and since you have gotten from me as a kindness what you were unable to get by threats, I'll tell you this: we, three hundred noble youth of Rome, have sworn an oath to take this same path against you. I drew the first lot; other leading young men will come, as the lot dictates, until your luck finally deserts you." (Livy II.12.6)
Porsenna was so shaken by Mucius' disclosure of the plot that he sent envoys to Rome to propose peace. Peace was made, and Porsenna withdrew his troops from Rome's territory. Mucius was rewarded with a plot of land west of the Tiber, which came to be called the Mucian Meadows. Mucius also received a nickname, Scaevola (from
scaevus,-a,-um
"left"), which means "lefty."
That is the story from the Roman historian Livy (59
B.C.
A.D.
17). Porsenna probably did take over Rome for a while; at one point the Romans had to agree to hand over hostages so Porsenna would withdraw his troops from Roman territory. One of the hostages was a clever and courageous girl named Cloelia.
Cloelia
Since the Etruscans had pitched their camp not far at all from the banks of the Tiber, Cloelia, one of the female hostages, fooled her guards and, leading the troop of girls, swam across the Tiber, among the enemy's falling missiles; then she returned all the girls safely to their families in Rome. When this was reported to Porsenna, he was at first outraged and sent ambassadors to Rome to demand Cloelia's return. The other girls did not matter much, he said. Then his anger turned to admiration; he said that her deed was far beyond even that of a Horatius Cocles or a Gaius Mucius; but he was of the opinion that if

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