224 The Republic. R O 
The sublime heroism of Brutus made so deep an impres¬ 
sion on the Romans, that they allowed him the uncontrouled 
management of their state. - Suspecting the fidelity of Colla- 
tinus, he shortly after procured his dismissal from the con¬ 
sulship. He obtained for him, however, 20 talents out of 
the public treasury, and added five talents from his own 
purse. He then caused Valerius, a man of tried fidelity, 
to be appointed with himself in the consulship. 
The first employment of the new consuls was a war with 
the Tarquins. This ambitious family did not readily give 
up the hope of recovering the kingdom. At first they en¬ 
gaged the Volsci and Tarquinienses to support this attempt. 
The consuls marched out without delay to meet them. 
Brutus commanded the horse and Valerius the foot, drawn 
up in a square battalion. The two armies being in sight of 
each other, Brutus advanced with his cavalry, at the same 
time that Arunx, one of Tarquin’s sons, was coming forward 
with the enemy’s horse, the king himself following with the 
legions. Arunx no sooner discovered Brutus, than he made 
towards him with all the fury of an enraged enemy. Brutus 
advanced towards him with no less speed; and as both were 
actuated only by motives of hatred, without thoughts of self- 
preservation, both of them were pierced through with their 
lances. The death of the two generals served as a prelude to 
the battle, which continued with the utmost fury till night, 
when it could not be known which side had got the victory, 
or which had lost the greatest number of men. A report 
was spread, however, that a voice had been heard out of a 
neighbouring wood, declaring the Romans conquerors; and 
this, probably a stratagem of Valerius, operated so power¬ 
fully on the superstitious minds of the Volsci, that they left 
their camp in confusion, and returned to their own country. 
It is said that Valerius, having caused the dead to be num¬ 
bered, found that the Volsci had lost 11,300 men, and the 
Romans only one short of that number. 
Valerius being left without a colleague in the consulship, 
and having for some reasons delayed to choose one, began 
’ to be suspected by the people of aspiring at the sovereignty; 
and these suspicions were in some measure countenanced by 
his building a fine house on the steep part of the hill Pala¬ 
tines, which overlooked the forum, and was by them con¬ 
sidered as a citadel. But of this Valerius was no sooner in¬ 
formed, than he caused this house to be pulled down, and 
immediately called an assembly of the people for the elec¬ 
tion of a consul, in which he left them entirely free. They 
chose Lucretius; and, being ashamed of having suspected 
Valerius, they complimented him with a large ground-plot 
in an agreeable place, where they built him a house. The 
new consul died a few days after his promotion, so that 
Valerius w r as once more left sole governor. In the interval 
betwixt the death of Lucretius and the choice of another 
consul, Valerius gave the people so many striking proofs of 
his attachment to their interest, that they bestowed upon him 
the surname of Poplicola, or “popular;” nor was he ever 
called by another name afterwards. 
When Poplicola’s year of consulship expired, the Romans 
thought fit, in consequence of the critical situation of affairs, 
to elect him a second time, and joined with him T. Lucre- 
tins, the brother of the famous Lucretia. They began with 
restoring the census and lustrum; and found tbe number of 
Roman citizens, at or above the age of puberty, to amount to 
130,000. As they apprehended an attack from the Latins 
on account of Tarquin, they were at great pains to fortify 
Sinquirinum or Singliuria, an important post; but, contrary 
to their expectations, the Latins remained quiet. An haughty 
embassy, however, was received from Porsena king of Clu- 
sium in Etruria, commanding them either to take back the 
Tarquins to Rome, or to restore them their estates. To the 
first of these demands the consuls returned an absolute refu¬ 
sal; and, as to the second, they answered, that it was im¬ 
practicable; apart of those estates having been consecrated 
to Mars, and the rest divided among indigent people, from 
whom they could not be recovered. The imminent danger 
which now threatened the city, procured Valerius the honour 
M E. The Republic. 
of a third consulship; and with him was joined Horatius 
Pulvilius, who had enjoyed the dignity for a few montlis 
before in the interval betwixt the death of Lucretius and' the 
expiration of the first consulate. 
While the Romans were making the most vigorous pre¬ 
parations for defence, Porsena, attended by his son Arunx 
and the exiles, marched towards the city at the head of a 
formidable army, which was quickly joined by a consider¬ 
able body of Latins under Mamilius, the son-in-law of 
Tarquin. The consuls and the senate took all care to sup¬ 
ply the common people with provisions, lest famine should 
induce them to open the gates to Tarquin; and they desired 
the country people to lodge their effects in the fort Janicu- 
lum, which overlooked the city, and which was the only 
fortified place possessed by the Romans on that side the 
Tiber. Porsena, however, soon drove the Romans out of 
this fort; upon which the consuls made all their troops pass 
the river, and drew them up in order of battle to defend the 
bridge, while Porsena advanced to engage them. The vic¬ 
tory was a long time doubtful; but at last the Romans fled. 
Horatius Codes, nephew to the consul, with Sp. Lartius and 
T. Herminius, who had commanded the right wing, posted 
themselves at the entrance of the bridge, and for a long time 
bravely defended it: but at last, the defensive arms of Lar¬ 
tius and Herminius being broken, they retired; and then 
Horatius desiring them to advise the consuls from him to cut 
the bridge at the other end, he, for a while, sustained the 
attack of the enemy alone. At last, being wounded in ,the 
thigh, and the signal given that the bridge was almost 
broken down, he leaped info the river, and swam across it 
through a shower of darts. The Romans, in token of gra¬ 
titude for this eminent service, erected a statue to him in the 
temple of Vulcan, gave him as much land as he himself 
with one yoke of oxen could plough in one day; and each 
of the inhabitants, to the number of 300,000, gave him the 
value of as much food as each consumed in a day. But, 
notwithstanding all this, as he had lost one eye, and from 
his wounds continued lame throughout the remainder of his 
life; these defects prevented his ever being raised to the con¬ 
sulate, or invested with any military command. 
The city was not yet fully invested; but as it was very 
difficult to find provisions for such a multitude, the inhabit¬ 
ants soon began to be in want. Porsena being informed of 
their difficulties, told them that he would supply them with 
provisions if they would take back their old masters; but to 
this they nobly replied, that hunger was a less evil than 
slavery and oppression. The constancy of the Romans, 
however, was on the point of failing, when a young patri¬ 
cian, named Mutius Cordus, with the consent of the senate 
and consuls, undertook to assassinate Porsena. He got access 
to the Etrurian camp, disguised like a peasant, and made his 
way to the king’s tent. It happened to be the day on which 
the troops were all reviewed and paid; and Porsena’s secre¬ 
tary, magnificently dressed, was sitting on the same tribunal 
with the king. Mutius, mistaking him for Porsena, instantly 
leaped upon the tribunal and killed him. He then attempted 
to make his escape; but being seized and brought back, be 
owned his design; and with a countenance expressive of 
desperate rage and disappointment, thrust his hand which 
had missed the blow into a pan of burning coals which stood 
by, and there held it for a considerable time. On this, Por¬ 
sena, changing his resentment into admiration, granted him 
his life and liberty, and even restored him the dagger with 
which he intended to have stabbed himself. Mutius took it 
with his left hand, having lost the use of the other; and from 
this time had the name of Scievola, or “left-handed.” He 
then, in order to induce Porsena to break up the siege, in¬ 
vented a story that 300 young Romans, all of them as reso¬ 
lute as himself, had sworn to take away the life of the king 
of Etruria, or to perish in the attempt. This had the de¬ 
sired effect; Porsena sent deputies to Rome, whose only 
demands were, that- the Romans should restore the estates of 
the Tarquins, or give them an equivalent, and give back the 
seven small towns which had been formerly taken from the 
Veientes. 
