Download Livy History of the Roman Republic Livy was a Roman historian who

Livy History of the Roman Republic
Livy was a Roman historian who lived from 59 BC to 17 AD. His 142-volume History of the
Roman Republic began with the founding of Rome by Romulus and Remus and continued until the
age of Augustus. Whenever possible, Livy described the exploits of Roman heroes to teach moral
lessons to his generation. The following passage takes place during the sixth century BC. At that
time an Etruscan king named Porsena tried to blockade Rome. Porsena hoped to capture Rome
and restore the tyrant Tarquin to power.
Scaevola and Cloelia
The blockade, however, continued,
and with it a growing scarcity of corn at
famine prices. Porsena still cherished
hopes of capturing the City by sitting still.
There was a young noble, Caius Mucius,
who regarded it as a disgrace that whilst
Rome in the days of servitude under her
kings had never been blockaded in any war
or by any foe, she should now, in the day
of her freedom, be besieged by those very
Etruscans whose armies she had often
routed. Thinking that this disgrace ought to
be avenged by some great deed of daring,
he determined in the first instance to
penetrate into the enemy's camp on his
own responsibility. On second thoughts,
however, he became apprehensive that if
he went without orders from the consuls,
or unknown to any one, and happened to
be arrested by the Roman outposts, he
might be brought back as a deserter, a
charge which the condition of the City at
the time would make only too probable. So
he went to the senate. "I wish," he said,
"Fathers, to swim the Tiber, and, if I can,
enter the enemy's camp, not as a pillager
nor to inflict retaliation for their pillagings.
I am purposing, with heaven's help, a
greater deed." The senate gave their
approval. Concealing a sword in his robe,
he started. When he reached the camp he
took his stand in the densest part of the
crowd near the royal tribunal. It happened
to be the soldiers' pay-day, and a secretary,
sitting by the king and dressed almost
exactly like him, was busily engaged, as
the soldiers kept coming to him
incessantly. Afraid to ask which of the two
was the king, lest his ignorance should
betray him, Mucius struck as fortune
directed the blow and killed the secretary
instead of the king. He tried to force his
way back with his blood-stained dagger
through the dismayed crowd, but the
shouting caused a rush to be made to the
spot; he was seized and dragged back by
the king's bodyguard to the royal tribunal.
Here, alone and helpless, and in the
utmost peril, he was still able to inspire
more fear than he felt. "I am a citizen of
Rome," he said, "men call me C. Mucius.
As an enemy I wished to kill an enemy,
and I have as much courage to meet death
as I had to inflict it. It is the Roman nature
to act bravely and to suffer bravely. I am
not alone in having made this resolve
against you, behind me there is a long list
of those who aspire to the same distinction.
If then it is your pleasure, make up your
mind for a struggle in which you will every
hour have to fight for your life and find an
armed foe on the threshold of your royal
tent. This is the war which we the youth of
Rome, declare against you. You have no
serried ranks, no pitched battle to fear, the
matter will be settled between you alone
and each one of us singly."
The king, furious with anger, and at
the same time terrified at the unknown
danger, threatened that if he did not
promptly explain the nature of the plot
which he was darkly hinting at he should
be roasted alive. "Look," Mucius cried,
"and learn how lightly those regard their
bodies who have some great glory in
view." Then he plunged his right hand into
a fire burning on the altar.
Whilst he kept it roasting there as if
he were devoid of all sensation, the king,
astounded at his preternatural conduct,
sprang from his seat and ordered the youth
to be removed from the altar. "Go," he
said, "you have been a worse enemy to
yourself than to me. I would invoke
blessings on your courage if it were
displayed on behalf of my country; as it is,
I send you away exempt from all rights of
war, unhurt, and safe." Then Mucius,
reciprocating, as it were, this generous
treatment, said, "Since you honor courage,
know that what you could not gain by
threats you have obtained by kindness.
Three hundred of us, the foremost amongst
the Roman youth, have sworn to attack you
in this way. The lot fell to me first, the rest,
in the order of their lot, will come each in
his turn, until fortune shall give us a
favorable chance against you.”
Mucius was accordingly dismissed;
afterwards he received the soubriquet of
Scaevola, from the loss of his right hand.
Envoys from Porsena followed him to
Rome. The king's narrow escape from the
first of many attempts; which was owing
solely to the mistake of his assailant, and
the prospect of having to meet as many
attacks as there were conspirators, so
unnerved him that he made proposals of
peace to Rome. One for the restoration of
the Tarquins was put forward, more
because he could not well refuse their
request than because he had any hope of its
being granted. The demand for the
restitution of their territory to the
Veientines, and that for the surrender of
hostages as a condition of the withdrawal
of the detachment from the Janiculum,
were felt by the Romans to be inevitable,
and on their being accepted and peace
concluded, Porsena moved his troops from
the Janiculum and evacuated the Roman
territory. As a recognition of his courage
the senate gave C. Mucius a piece of land
across the river, which was afterwards
known as the Mucian Meadows.
The honor thus paid to courage
incited even women to do glorious things
for the State. The Etruscan camp was
situated not far from the river, and the
maiden Cloelia, one of the hostages,
escaped, unobserved, through the guards
and at the head of her sister hostages swam
across the river amidst a shower of javelins
and restored them all safe to their relatives.
When the news of this incident reached
him, the king was at first exceedingly
angry and sent to demand the surrender of
Cloelia; the others he did not care about.
Afterwards his feelings changed to
admiration; he said that the exploit
surpassed those of Cocles and Mucius, and
announced that whilst on the one hand he
should consider the treaty broken if she
were not surrendered, he would on the
other hand, if she were surrendered, send
her back to her people unhurt.
Both sides behaved honorably; the
Romans surrendered her as a pledge of
loyalty to the terms of the treaty; the
Etruscan king showed that with him
courage was not only safe but honored, and
after eulogizing the girl's conduct, told her
that he would make her a present of half
the remaining hostages, she was to choose
whom she would. It is said that after all
had been brought before her, she chose the
boys of tender age; a choice in keeping
with maidenly modesty, and one approved
by the hostages themselves, since they felt
that the age which was most liable to illtreatment should have the preference in
being rescued from hostile hands. After
peace was thus re-established, the Romans
rewarded the unprecedented courage
shown by a woman by an unprecedented
honor, namely an equestrian statue. On the
highest part of the Sacred Way a statue
was erected representing the maiden sitting
on horseback.
Comprehension
1. What did Mucius mean when he said, “Both to do and to endure valiantly is the
Roman way.”?
2. Why did Mucius put his hand in the fire?
3. Why did Porsena voluntarily propose peace terms to the Romans?
4. What heroic deed did Cloelia perform? How did Porsena treat Cloelia?
Critical Thinking
5. What heroic qualities did Mucius and Cloelia demonstrate?