212 History of Nature. [BOOK VII. 



greatest degree of hardy Courage existed ; and more espe- 

 cially if we admit the fabulous tales of Poets. Q. Ennius 

 had in greatest admiration T. Ccecilius Teucer, and his 

 brother; and in regard of those Two he added to the others 

 the Sixth Book of his Annals. But L. Siccius Dentatus, a 

 Tribune of the Commons, not long after the Banishment of 

 the Kings, when Sp. Tarpeius and A. JEternius were Con- 

 suls, by most Voices surpasseth in this kind, having Fought 

 120 Battles; having been Conqueror in Eight Combats with 

 a Challenge ; being marked with 45 Scars on the front 

 of his Body, and none behind. Also he won the Spoils of 

 33 Enemies; he had been presented with 18 Spears; 25 

 trappings for Horses ; 83 Chains ; 160 Bracelets ; 26 

 Crowns, of which 14 were Civic, eight of Gold : three 

 Mural ; and one Obsidional ; together with a Pension from 

 the Treasury ; and ten Captives with twenty Oxen ; and 

 thus he followed nine Imperators, who chiefly by his means 

 triumphed. Besides these things, he accused in open court 

 before the body of the People, which I suppose was the 

 worthiest act he ever did, T. Romulius, one of the lead- 

 ing Generals (who had been a Consul) and convicted him for 

 his ill management of his military command. Scarcely 

 inferior to these were the exploits of Manlius Capitolinus, if 

 he had not forfeited them again with such an end of his life. 1 

 Before he was seventeen years of age, he had gained two 

 spoils of his Enemies. He was the first Roman Knight that 

 received a Mural Crown; with six Civic Crowns ; 37 Dona- 

 tions; and he carried the Scars in the forepart of his Body 

 of 33 Wounds. He rescued P. Servilius, Master of the 

 Horse, and (in the rescue) was himself wounded in the Arm 



1 Marcus Manlius was the means of preserving the Capitol when it was 

 nearly taken by the Gauls ; from which exploit he obtained the surname 

 of Capitolinus. Becoming afterwards a warm supporter of the popular 

 party against the patrician order, he was accused of aiming at the kingly 

 power, and condemned to death. According to Livy (lib. vi.) "the 

 tribunes cast him down from the Tarpeian rock ; thus the same spot, in 

 the case of one man, became a monument of distinguished glory and of 

 the cruellest punishment." Wern. Club. 



