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.
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Gaius Mucius Scaevola (Lefty)
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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.
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 | | 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.
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| | 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."
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| | 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.
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