Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans
was king, and had all but completed the buildings of the Capitol,
designing, whether from oracular advice or his own pleasure, to erect an
earthen chariot upon the top, he entrusted the workmanship to Tuscans of
the city Veii, but soon after lost his kingdom. The work thus modeled,
the Tuscans set in a furnace, but the clay showed not those passive
qualities which usually attend its nature, to subside and be condensed
upon the evaporation of the moisture, but rose and swelled out to that
bulk, that, when solid and firm, notwithstanding the removal of the roof
and opening the walls of the furnace, it could not be taken out without
much difficulty. The soothsayers looked upon this as a divine
prognostic of success and power to those that should possess it; and the
Tuscans resolved not to deliver it to the Romans, who demanded it, but
answered that it rather belonged to Tarquin than to those who had sent
him into exile. A few days after, they had a horse-race there, with the
usual shows and solemnities, and as the charioteer, with his garland on
his head, was quietly driving the victorious chariot out of the ring,
the horses, upon no apparent occasion, taking fright, either by divine
instigation or by accident, hurried away their driver at full speed to
Rome; neither did his holding them in prevail, nor his voice, but he was
forced along with violence till, coming to the Capitol, he was thrown
out by the gate called Ratumena. This occurrence raised wonder and fear
in the Veientines, who now permitted the delivery of the chariot.
The building of the temple of the Capitoline Jupiter had been vowed by
Tarquin, the son of Demaratus, when warring with the Sabines; Tarquinius
Superbus, his son or grandson, built, but could not dedicate it, because
he lost his kindom before it was quite finished. And now that it was
completed with all its ornaments, Poplicola was ambitious to dedicate
it; but the nobility envied him that honor, as, indeed, also, in some
degree, those his prudence in making laws and conduct in wars entitled
him to. Grudging him, at any rate, the addition of this, they urged
Horatius to sue for the dedication and, whilst Poplicola was engaged in
some military expedition, voted it to Horatius, and conducted him to the
Capitol, as though, were Poplicola present, they could not have carried
it. Yet, some write, Poplicola was by lot destined against his will to
the expedition, the other to the dedication; and what happened in the
performance seems to intimate some ground for this conjecture; for, upon
the Ides of September, which happens about the full moon of the month
Metagitnion, the people having assembled at the Capitol and silence
being enjoined, Horatius, after the performance of other ceremonies,
holding the doors, according to custom, was proceeding to pronounce the
words of dedication, when Marcus, the brother of Poplicola, who had got
a place on purpose beforehand near the door, observing his opportunity,
cried, "O consul, thy son lies dead in the camp;" which made a great
impression upon all others who heard it, yet in nowise discomposed
Horatius, who returned merely the reply, "Cast the dead out whither you
please; I am not a mourner;" and so completed the dedication. The news
was not true, but Marcus thought the lie might avert him from his
performance; but it argues him a man of wonderful self-possession,
whether he at once saw through the cheat, or, believing it as true,
showed no discomposure.
The same fortune attended the dedication of the second temple; the
first, as has been said, was built by Tarquin and dedicated by Horatius;
it was burnt down in the civil wars. The second, Sylla built, and,
dying before the dedication, left that honor to Catulus; and when this
was demolished in the Vitellian sedition, Vespasian, with the same
success that attended him in other things, began a third, and lived to
see it finished, but did not live to see it again destroyed, as it
presently was; but was as fortunate in dying before its destruction, as
Sylla was the reverse in dying before the dedication of his. For
immediately after Vespasian's death it was consumed by fire. The
fourth, which now exists, was both built and dedicated by Domitian. It
is said Tarquin expended forty thousand pounds of silver in the very
foundations; but the whole wealth of the richest private man in Rome
would not discharge the cost of the gilding of this temple in our days,
it amounting to above twelve thousand talents; the pillars were cut out
of Pentelican marble, of a length most happily proportioned to their
thickness; these we saw at Athens; but when they were cut anew at Rome
and polished, they did not gain so much in embellishment, as they lost
in symmetry, being rendered too taper and slender. Should any one who
wonders at the costliness of the Capitol visit any one gallery in
Domitian's palace, or hall, or bath, or the apartments of his
concubines, Epicharmus's remark upon the prodigal, that
'Tis not beneficence, but, truth to say,
A mere disease of giving things away,
would be in his mouth in application to Domitian. It is neither piety,
he would say, nor magnificence, but, indeed, a mere disease of building,
and a desire, like Midas, of converting every thing into gold or stone.
And thus much for this matter.
Tarquin, after the great battle wherein he lost his son in combat with
Brutus, fled to Clusium, and sought aid from Lars Porsenna, then one of
the most powerful princes of Italy, and a man of worth and generosity;
who assured him of assistance, immediately sending his commands to Rome
that they should receive Tarquin as their king, and, upon the Romans'
refusal, proclaimed war, and, having signified the time and place where
he intended his attack, approached with a great army. Poplicola was, in
his absence, chosen consul a second time, and Titus Lucretius his
colleague, and, returning to Rome, to show a spirit yet loftier than
Porsenna's, built the city Sigliuria when Porsenna was already in the
neighborhood; and, walling it at great expense, there placed a colony of
seven hundred men, as being little concerned at the war. Nevertheless,
Porsenna, making a sharp assault, obliged the defendants to retire to
Rome, who had almost in their entrance admitted the enemy into the city
with them; only Poplicola by sallying out at the gate prevented them,
and, joining battle by Tiber side, opposed the enemy, that pressed on
with their multitude, but at last, sinking under desperate wounds, was
carried out of the fight. The same fortune fell upon Lucretius, so that
the Romans, being dismayed, retreated into the city for their security,
and Rome was in great hazard of being taken, the enemy forcing their way
on to the wooden bridge, where Horatius Cocles, seconded by two of the
first men in Rome, Herminius and Lartius, made head against them.
Horatius obtained this name from the loss of one of his eyes in the
wars, or, as others write, from the depressure of his nose, which,
leaving nothing in the middle to separate them, made both eyes appear
but as one; and hence, intending to say Cyclops, by a mispronunciation
they called him Cocles. This Cocles kept the bridge, and held back the
enemy, till his own party broke it down behind, and then with his armor
dropped into the river, and swam to the hither side, with a wound in his
hip from a Tuscan spear. Poplicola, admiring his courage, proposed at
once that the Romans should every one make him a present of a day's
provisions, and afterwards gave him as much land as he could plow round
in one day, and besides erected a brazen statue to his honor in the
temple of Vulcan, as a requital for the lameness caused by his wound.
But Porsenna laying close siege to the city, and a famine raging amongst
the Romans, also a new army of the Tuscans making incursions into the
country, Poplicola, a third time chosen consul, designed to make,
without sallying out, his defense against Porsenna, but, privately
stealing forth against the new army of the Tuscans, put them to flight,
and slew five thousand. The story of Mucius is variously given; we,
like others, must follow the commonly received statement. He was a man
endowed with every virtue, but most eminent in war; and, resolving to
kill Porsenna, attired himself in the Tuscan habit, and, using the
Tuscan language, came to the camp, and approaching the seat where the
king sat amongst his nobles, but not certainly knowing the king, and
fearful to inquire, drew out his sword, and stabbed one who he thought
had most the appearance of king. Mucius was taken in the act, and
whilst he was under examination, a pan of fire was brought to the king,
who intended to sacrifice; Mucius thrust his right hand into the flame,
and whilst it burnt stood looking at Porsenna with a steadfast and
undaunted countenance; Porsenna at last in admiration dismissed him, and
returned his sword, reaching it from his seat; Mucius received it in his
left hand, which occasioned the name of Scaevola, left-handed, and said,
"I have overcome the terrors of Porsenna, yet am vanquished by his
generosity, and gratitude obliges me to disclose what no punishment
could extort;" and assured him then, that three hundred Romans, all of
the same resolution, lurked about his camp, only waiting for an
opportunity; he, by lot appointed to the enterprise, was not sorry that
he had miscarried in it, because so brave and good a man deserved rather
to be a friend to the Romans than an enemy. To this Porsenna gave
credit, and thereupon expressed an inclination to a truce, not, I
presume, so much out of fear of the three hundred Romans, as in
admiration of the Roman courage. All other writers call this man Mucius
Scaevola, yet Athenodorus, son of Sandon, in a book addressed to
Octavia, Caesar's sister, avers he was also called Postumus.
Poplicola, not so much esteeming Porsenna's enmity dangerous to Rome as
his friendship and alliance serviceable, was induced to refer the
controversy with Tarquin to his arbitration, and several times undertook
to prove Tarquin the worst of men, and justly deprived of his kingdom.
But Tarquin proudly replied he would admit no judge, much less Porsenna,
that had fallen away from his engagements; and Porsenna, resenting this
answer, and mistrusting the equity of his cause, moved also by the
solicitations of his son Aruns, who was earnest for the Roman interest,
made a peace on these conditions, that they should resign the land they
had taken from the Tuscans, and restore all prisoners and receive back
their deserters. To confirm the peace, the Romans gave as hostages ten
sons of patrician parents, and as many daughters, amongst whom was
Valeria, the daughter of Poplicola.
Upon these assurances, Porsenna ceased from all acts of hostility, and
the young girls went down to the river to bathe, at that part where the
winding of the bank formed a bay and made the waters stiller and
quieter; and, seeing no guard, nor any one coming or going over, they
were encouraged to swim over, notwithstanding the depth and violence of
the stream. Some affirm that one of them, by name Cloelia, passing over
on horseback, persuaded the rest to swim after; but, upon their safe
arrival, presenting themselves to Poplicola, he neither praised nor
approved their return, but was concerned lest he should appear less
faithful than Porsenna, and this boldness in the maidens should argue
treachery in the Romans; so that, apprehending them, he sent them back
to Porsenna. But Tarquin's men, having intelligence of this, laid a
strong ambuscade on the other side for those that conducted them; and
while these were skirmishing together, Valeria, the daughter of
Poplicola, rushed through the enemy and fled, and with the assistance of