388 



ROMAN EMPIRE. 



Roman 

 Empire. 



The Volsci 



invade 



Home. 



troops, and fell upon some close battalions under Ma- 

 milius ; he slew Mamilius with his own hand, but he 

 himself received a fatal wound while he was stripping 

 the body of his enemy. 



While the battle was raging between Sextus Tar- 

 quinius and the Roman left, under Virginius, which had 

 begun to give way, it was unexpectedly supported by 

 the dictator. The career of Sextus being thus checked, 

 he threw himself in distraction in the middle of the 

 Roman knights, and perished bravely among their 

 swords. The Latin army was thus entirely routed 

 and destroyed, and when the Volsci and Hernici ar- 

 rived next day, they found it more prudent to retire 

 than to try their strength with a victorious though ex- 

 hausted army. 



The Latins yielded entire submission to the Roman 

 power, and having agreed to abandon the Roman exiles, 

 Tarquin retired to Aristodemus, king of Cumee, where 

 he died in the 90th year of his age, and the 14th of his 

 exile. 



No sooner were the Romans delivered from their fo- 

 reign enemies, than they began to oppress each other 

 at home. The Patricians and the Plebeians cherished 

 opposing interests ; and in the midst of the disturb- 

 ances which were thus excited, the Volsci, Hernici, and 

 Sabines advanced to the gates of the city. P. Ser- 

 vilius succeeded in raising a small army, with which 

 he defeated the enemy in a pitched battle, and took and 

 plundered their capital. He then marched against the 

 armies who had entered Latium, and compelled them 

 to retire into their own territories. 



Notwithstanding these successes Rome was again 

 agitated with fresh dissensions. The Sabines invaded 

 the republic and were beaten ; but the army revelled 

 and retired precipitately to a hill, afterwards called 

 Mons Sacer, about three miles from Rome, where they 

 continued till the Senate agreed to institute tribunes 

 of the people, whose persons were to be sacred, and 

 who were to have the power of preventing any law 

 from being passed which was prejudicial to the people. 

 The people being thus reconciled to the Senate by 

 the predominance thus given to their own order, made 

 no opposition to the levies which were required against 

 the Volsci. The Consul Cominius, after defeating them 

 in battle, and taking Longula and Polusia, march- 

 ed against Corioli, a city strongly fortified. The scal- 

 ing party being repulsed at the first attempt, were ral- 

 lied by Caius Marcius, who led them back to the walls, 

 and made himself master of the city. He afterwards 

 marched against the Antiates, who had come to relieve 

 the city, and defeated them after displaying the greatest 

 bravery. 



Caius Mar- The Consul Cominius assembled the army next morn- 

 rius receives ing, pronounced a panegyric upon Marcius, put a 

 the surname crown upon his head, and bestowed upon him the sur- 

 name of Coriolanus. The army returned to Rome, and 

 the arts of peace flourished for a while. 



The neglect of agriculture, which had arisen from the 

 revolt of the army, occasioned a severe and destructive 

 famine ; and it was only by the breaking out of a dread- 

 ful pestilence among the Volsci that Rome was pro- 

 tected from their incursions. The distresses and 

 hunger of the lower orders excited disturbances in 

 Pome, which the tribunes of the people made it their 

 business to exasperate. The most violent and indecent 

 contentions took place ; and when a large supply of 

 corn arrived from Gelon, King of Sicily, Coriolanus 

 insisted that it should not be distributed till the 

 grievances of the senate were redressed. 



49 J B. C. 



Institu- 

 tion of Tri- 

 bmes of 

 the People. 



491 B. C. 



of Corio- 

 Janu. 



The resentment which this proposal excited, en- 

 couraged the tribunes of the people to devise charges 

 against that intrepid warrior. They charged him with 

 aspiring to the sovereignty, and accused him of having 

 embezzled the plunder of Actium. Summoned to stand 

 trial before the people, this great general, who had saved 

 his country, appeared unconcerned before the august 

 tribunal. Neither his sorrow nor his eloquence could 

 save him. He was condemned to perpetual exile ; and 

 having returned home to take leave of his wife, his 

 children, and his mother Veturia, he took refuge with 

 Tullus Atticus, a powerful Volscian. 



The Volscians soon found reason for availing them- 

 selves of the injury done to Coriolanus, and war having 

 been formally proclaimed, the Volscians laid waste the 

 Roman territory, with a powerful army, commanded 

 by Coriolanus and Tullus. The most unexampled suc- 

 cess followed all their operations, and the city itself was 

 speedily invested by their triumphant arms. When 

 the Romans saw no hope but in submission, they sent 

 embassy after embassy to avert the fate which awaited 

 them ; but when all these attempts proved fruitless, 

 when the pontiffs, the priests, and the virgins returned 

 from the inflexible Coriolanus, despair seized upon all 

 ranks, and hurried the old and young to the shelter of 

 the altars. The last resource, however, was suggested. 

 A deputation of Roman matrons, attended by Vetu- 

 ria, and Volumnia, the mother, and the wife of Corio- 

 lanus, and by his own children, set off to the hostile 

 camp, to make a last intercession for their country. 

 When he saw from afar the approach of the mournful 

 train, Coriolanus assembled his officers to witness the 

 resolution which he had summoned up for the inter- 

 view ; but when he learned that his wife and mother 

 were amongst the supplicants, the sternness of the 

 warrior could not resist the claims of natural affection. 

 The eloquence with which they pleaded for their country 

 was irresistible, and raising his mother from her feet, 

 he exclaimed, " Thou hast saved Rome, but lost your 

 son." The besieging army was withdrawn; but the 

 lenity which was thus shown to the Romans was 

 avenged by the Volsci, who slew Coriolanus during an 

 insurrection of the people which followed their return 

 from Rome. 



The attempt of the Roman people to pass the agrarian 

 law, by which the lands of the commonwealth were to be 

 equally divided among the inhabitants, created party dis- 

 sensions between the Senate and the people. Under 

 these circumstances the consuls had recourse to the in- 

 fluence of a dictator. Quintus Cincinnatus was chosen 

 for that high office ; and the senatorial deputies found 

 him in the attire of a husbandman tilling the ground 

 with his plough. By wisdom, moderation, and jus- 

 tice, Cincinnatus succeeded in softening the animo- 

 sities of the contending factions. He ordered the 

 tribunes to postpone the consideration of, the agra- 

 rian law, and when he gave tranquillity to his divided 

 country, he retired again to enjoy the seclusion of a 

 rural life. 



The tranquillity of Rome was again disturbed by an 

 incursion of the Equi and Volsci. The Consul Minu- 

 cius was sent to oppose them ; but he unskilfully per- 

 mitted his army to be driven into a defile between two 

 mountains, from which there was no escape but through 

 the ranks of the enemy. Some knights who had con- 

 trived to find their way through the enemy's camp, 

 brought the news of their disaster to Rome. In this 

 alarming crisis all eyes were again directed to Cincinna- 

 tus, whom it was resolved to make dictator. Taken a se 



Roman 

 Empire. 



491 B. C. 



The Volsci 

 led by Cori- 

 olanus ad- 

 vanced to 

 Rome. 



Coriolanus 

 withdraws 

 the Volsci 

 from Rome. 

 488 B. C. 



Cincinnatus 

 chosen Dic- 

 tator. 

 458 B. C. 



