The History of Rome Volume I Part 9

The decemvirs consult what should be done. Whilst they were thus left dest.i.tute between the hatred of the patricians and people, fortune added, moreover, another cause of alarm. The aequans on the opposite side pitch their camp at Algidum; and amba.s.sadors from Tusculum, imploring relief, bring accounts that the Tusculan land was ravaged by detachments from thence. The panic occasioned hereby urged the decemvirs to consult the senate, two wars at the same time surrounding the city. They order the patricians to be summoned into the senate-house, well aware what a storm of resentment was ready to break upon them; that all would heap on them the causes of the land laid waste, and of the dangers which threatened them; and that that would occasion an attempt to abolish their office, if they did not unite in resisting, and by enforcing their authority with severity on a few of an intractable spirit repress the efforts of others. When the voice was heard in the forum of the crier summoning the senators into the senate-house before the decemvirs; as a matter altogether new, because they had long since laid aside the custom of consulting the senate, it attracted the attention of the people, who expressed their surprise: "What could have happened, that after so long an interval they should revive a practice now discontinued. That they had reason to return thanks to the enemy and to war, that any thing was done that used to be done when their state was free." They looked around for a senator through all parts of the forum, and seldom recognised one any where: they then directed their attention to the senate-house, and to the solitude around the decemvirs: whilst both they themselves referred the non-a.s.sembling of the patricians to their own universally detested government, and the commons (would have it, that the cause of the non-a.s.sembling was) because, being but private citizens, they (the decemvirs) had no right to convene the senate;[141] "that a head was now formed of those who would demand back their liberty, if the commons would but accompany the senate, and as the patricians, when summoned, did not attend the senate, so the commons also should refuse to enlist."

Such were the remarks of the commons. There was scarcely any of the patricians in the forum, and but very few in the city. In disgust with the state of affairs, they had retired into the country, and were attending to their own affairs, renouncing all public concerns, considering that they themselves were aloof from ill-treatment in proportion as they should remove themselves from the meeting and converse of their imperious masters. When those who had been summoned did not a.s.semble, apparitors were despatched to their houses, both to levy the penalties,[142] and to ascertain whether they declined attendance through design? They bring back word that the senate was in the country. This was more pleasing to the decemvirs, than if they brought word that they were present and refused obedience to their commands. They command them all to be sent for, and proclaim a meeting of the senate for the following day; which congregated together in much greater numbers than they themselves had expected. By which proceeding the commons considered that their liberty was betrayed by the patricians, because the senate had obeyed those persons, as if they had a right to compel them, who had already gone out of office; and were but private individuals, were it not for the violence employed by them.[143]

[Footnote 140: _Inhibendum_, sc. _adhibendum_--the term _inhibeo_ occurs frequently in this sense, as below, _imperioque inhibendo_. The adjective _imminutis_ also refers evidently to _honoris insignibus_.--_Stroth._]

[Footnote 141: The words are, _quum et ipsi invisum consensu imperium, et plebs, quid privatis jus non esset vocandi senatum, non convenire patres interpretarentur_, i. e. while, on the one hand, the decemvirs themselves accounted for the staying away of the senators from the meeting, by the fact of their (the decemvirs') government being disliked by them; whilst, on the other hand, the commons accounted for the non-appearance of the senators by the fact, that being now mere private citizens, their time of office being pa.s.sed, they (the decemvirs) had no right whatever to convene the senate.--_Stroth._]

[Footnote 142: The senators were obliged to attend the meeting of the senate when convened by the magistrate; otherwise a fine was imposed, to insure the payment of which pledges were exacted, which were sold in case of non-payment. See Cicero de Orat. iii. 1. Philip. i. 5.]

[Footnote 143: In the original the words are: _quod iis qui jam magistratu abissent, privatisque, si vis abesset_, &c., i. e. who differed in no other respect from mere private citizens, except that they had recourse to violence, which it was competent for the magistrate only to do.]

39. But they showed more obedience in coming into the senate than servility in the sentiments expressed by them, as we have learned. It is recorded that, after Appius's stating the subject of the meeting, and before the opinions were demanded in order, Lucius Valerius Pot.i.tus excited a commotion, by demanding permission to express his sentiments concerning the state, and when the decemvirs were prohibiting him with threats, declaring that he would present himself before the people. (We have also heard) that Marcus Horatius Barbatus entered the lists with no less boldness, calling them "ten Tarquins," and reminding them, "that under the leadership of the Valerii and Horatii[144] the kings had been expelled. Nor was it of the mere name that men were then tired, it being that by which it was usual to style Jupiter, and by which Romulus, the founder of the city, and his successors were also styled; a name too which has been retained even in the ceremonies of religion, as a solemn one; that it was the tyranny and arrogance of a king they then detested, which if they were not to be tolerated in one who was both a king himself and the son of a king, who was to tolerate it in so many private citizens? that they should beware lest, by preventing persons from speaking their sentiments freely in the senate, they might oblige them to raise their voice outside the senate-house. Nor could he see how it was less allowable for him, a private citizen, to summon the people to an a.s.sembly, than for them to convene the senate. They might try, whenever they pleased, how much more determined a sense of wrong will be found to be in vindicating one's own liberty, than ambition in (vindicating) usurped domination. That they proposed the question concerning the Sabine war, as if the Roman people had any more important war on hand, than that against those who, having been elected for the purpose of framing laws, had left no law in the state; who had abolished elections, annual magistrates, the regular change of rulers, which was the only means of equalizing liberty; who, though private citizens, still possess the fasces and regal dominion. That on the expulsion of the kings, patrician magistrates were appointed, and subsequently, after the secession of the people, plebeian magistrates. To which party, he asked, did they belong? To the popular party? What had they ever done with the concurrence of the people? were they n.o.bles? who for now nearly an entire year have not held a meeting of the senate; and then hold one in such a manner, that they actually prevent numbers from expressing their sentiments regarding the commonwealth; that they should not place too much hope in the fears of others; that the grievances which they are suffering now appear to men more oppressive than any they may have to apprehend."

[Footnote 144: Livy's own account of the matter does not justify this claim of the Horatii to having been at the head of the revolution which banished the kings. But Dionysius of Halicarna.s.sus informs us that it was Marcus Horatius who made the army revolt against Tarquinius Superbus, and that the same in his second consulate rendered unavailing all the efforts of Porsenna to restore the Tarquins.]

40. Whilst Horatius was exclaiming in this manner, "and the decemvirs could not discover any limit either to their anger or forbearance, nor could they see to what the thing would come, Caius Claudius, who was uncle to Appius the decemvir, delivered an address more like entreaties than reproach, beseeching him by the shade of his own brother and of his father, that he would hold in recollection the civil society in which he had been born rather than the confederacy nefariously entered into with his colleagues; that he besought this much more on Appius's own account, than for the sake of the commonwealth. For that the commonwealth would a.s.sert its rights in spite of them, if it could not obtain them with their consent. But that from great contests great animosities arise; the result of the latter he dreads." Though the decemvirs forbad them to speak on any other subject than that which they had submitted to them, they felt too much respect for Claudius to interrupt him. He therefore concluded his address by moving that it was their wish that no decree of the senate should be pa.s.sed. And all understood the matter thus, that they were judged by Claudius to be private citizens; and many of the men of consular standing expressed their a.s.sent. Another measure proposed, more harsh in appearance, possessed much less efficacy; one which ordered the patricians to a.s.semble to elect an interrex; for by pa.s.sing any resolution they judged, that those persons who convened the senate were magistrates of some kind or other, whilst the person who recommended that no decree of the senate should be pa.s.sed, had thereby declared them private citizens. When the cause of the decemvirs was now sinking, Lucius Cornelius Maluginensis, brother of Marcus Cornelius the decemvir, having been purposely reserved from among the consular men to close the debate, by affecting an anxiety about the war, defended his brother and his colleagues thus: saying, "he wondered by what fatality it had occurred, that those who had been candidates for the decemvirate, should attack the decemvirs, either as secondaries,[145] or as princ.i.p.als: or when no one disputed for so many months whilst the state was disengaged, whether legal magistrates had the management of affairs, why do they now sow discord, when the enemies are nearly at the gate; unless that in a state of confusion they think that what they are aiming at will be less seen through." But that it was not just that any one should prejudice so important a cause, whilst our minds are occupied with a more momentous concern. It was his opinion, that the point which Valerius and Horatius urged, viz. that the decemvirs had gone out of office before the ides of May, should be discussed in the senate, when the wars which are now impending are over, and the commonwealth has been restored to tranquillity: and that Appius Claudius should now prepare to take notice that an account is to be rendered by him of the comitia which he himself held for electing decemvirs, whether they were elected for one year, or until the laws which were wanting were ratified. It was his opinion that all other matters should be laid aside for the present, except the war; and if they thought that the reports regarding it were propagated without foundation, and that not only the couriers, but the amba.s.sadors of the Tusculans also had stated what was false, he thought that scouts should be despatched to bring back more certain information; but if credit were given both to the couriers and the amba.s.sadors, that the levy should be held at the very earliest opportunity; that the decemvirs should lead the armies, whither it may seem proper to each; and that no other matter should take precedence.

[Footnote 145: The original here is rather obscure. _Aut socii, aut hi maxime._ Crevier prefers to read _aut soli aut hi maxime_. Stroth explains _socii, se socios praebendo_.]

41. The junior patricians succeeded in having this opinion carried.

Valerius and Horatius rising again with greater vehemence demanded aloud, "that it should be allowed them to express their sentiments concerning the republic; that they would address the people, if by a faction they were not allowed to do so in the senate. For that private individuals, either in the senate or in a general a.s.sembly, could not prevent them; nor would they yield to their imaginary fasces." Appius then considering that the crisis was now nigh at hand, when their authority would be overpowered, unless their violence were resisted with equal boldness: "It will be better," says he, "not to utter a word on any subject, except that which we are now considering: and to Valerius, when he refused to be silent for a private individual, he commands a lictor to proceed." When Valerius, on the threshold of the senate-house, now craved the protection of the citizens, Lucius Cornelius, embracing Appius, put an end to the dispute, not consulting the interest of him whose interest he affected to consult; and permission to speak his sentiments being obtained for Valerius through Cornelius, when this liberty did not extend beyond words, the decemvirs obtained their object. The consulars also and senior members, from the hatred of tribunitian power still rankling in their bosoms, the desire of which they considered was much more keenly felt by the commons than that of the consular power, almost had rather that the decemvirs themselves should voluntarily resign their office at some future period, than that the people should rise once more into consequence through their unpopularity. If the matter, conducted with gentleness, should again return to the consuls without popular turbulence, that the commons might be induced to forget their tribunes, either by the intervention of wars or by the moderation of the consuls in exercising their authority. A levy is proclaimed amid the silence of the patricians; the young men answer to their names, as the government was without appeal. The legions being enrolled, the decemvirs set about arranging among themselves who should set out to the war, who command the armies. The leading men among the decemvirs were, Quintus Fabius and Appius Claudius. There appeared a more serious war at home than abroad. They considered the violence of Appius as better suited to suppress commotions in the city; that Fabius possessed a disposition rather inconstant in good pursuits than strenuous in bad ones. For this man, formerly distinguished at home and abroad, his office of decemvir and his colleagues had so changed, that he chose rather to be like to Appius than like himself. To him the war against the Sabines was committed, his colleagues, Manius Rabuleius and Quintus Paetelius, being sent with him. Marcus Cornelius was sent to Algidum with Lucius Menucius and t.i.tus Antonius, and Caeso Duilius and Marcus Sergius: they determine on Spurius Oppius as an a.s.sistant to Appius Claudius to protect the city, their authority being equal to that of all the decemvirs.

42. The republic was managed with no better success in war than at home.

In this the only fault in the generals was, that they had rendered themselves objects of hatred to their fellow citizens: in other respects the whole fault lay with the soldiers; who, lest any enterprise should succeed under the conduct and auspices of the decemvirs, suffered themselves to be beaten, to their own disgrace, and that of them (the generals). Their armies were routed by the Sabines at Eretum, and in Algidum by the aequans. Having fled from Eretum during the silence of the night, they fortified their camp nearer to the city, on an elevated situation between Fidenae and Crustumeria; no where encountering the enemy, who pursued them, on equal ground, they protected themselves by the nature of the place and a rampart, not by valour or arms. Greater disgrace and greater loss were sustained in Algidum, their camp also was lost; and the soldiers, stripped of all their utensils, betook themselves to Tusculum, determined to procure the means of subsistence from the good faith and compa.s.sion of their hosts; which, however, did not disappoint them. Such alarming accounts were brought to Rome, that the patricians, having laid aside their hatred of the decemvirs, pa.s.sed an order that watches should be held in the city; commanded that all who were able by reason of their age to carry arms, should mount guard on the walls, and form out-posts before the gates; they also voted arms to be sent to Tusculum, besides a reinforcement; that the decemvirs also should come down from the citadel of Tusculum and keep their troops encamped; that the other camp should be removed from Fidenae into the Sabine territory; and that the enemy might be deterred, by thus attacking them first, from entertaining any intentions of attacking the city.

43. To the calamities received from the enemy, the decemvirs add two flagitious deeds, one abroad, and the other in the city. In the Sabine district, Lucius Siccius, who, during the unpopularity of the decemvirs, introduced, in secret conversation with the common soldiers, mention of electing tribunes and of a secession, was sent forwards to select a place for a camp: instructions were given to the soldiers whom they had sent to accompany him in that expedition, to attack him in a convenient place and slay him. They did not kill him with impunity; for several of the a.s.sa.s.sins fell around him resisting them, whilst, possessing great personal strength and with a courage equal to that strength, he was defending himself against them, now surrounded as he was. The rest bring an account into the camp that Siccius, when fighting bravely, had fallen into an ambush, and that some soldiers were lost with him. At first the narrators were believed; afterwards a cohort, which went by permission of the decemvirs to bury those who had fallen, when they observed that none of the bodies there were stripped, that Siccius lay in the middle with his arms, all the bodies being turned towards him, whilst there was neither any body of the enemy, nor even any traces of them as going away; they brought back his body, saying, that he had certainly been slain by his own men. The camp was now filled with indignation, and it was being determined that Siccius should be forthwith brought to Rome, had not the decemvirs hastened to perform a military funeral for him at the public expense. He was buried amid the great grief of the soldiery, and with the worst possible reputation of the decemvirs among the common people.

44. Another atrocious deed follows in the city, originating in l.u.s.t, attended with results not less tragical than that deed which drove the Tarquins from the city and the throne through the injured chast.i.ty and violent death of Lucretia: so that the decemvirs not only had the same end as the kings had, but the same cause also of losing their power.

Appius Claudius was seized with a criminal pa.s.sion for violating the person of a young woman of plebeian condition. Lucius Virginius, the girl's father, held an honourable rank among the centurions at Algidum, a man of exemplary good conduct both at home and in the service. His wife had been educated in a similar manner, as also were their children.

He had betrothed his daughter to Lucius Icilius, who had been a tribune, a man of spirit and of approved zeal in the interest of the people. This young woman, in the bloom of youth, distinguished for beauty, Appius, burning with desire, attempted to seduce by bribes and promises; and when he perceived that all the avenues (to the possession of her) were barred by modesty, he turned his thoughts to cruel and tyrannical violence. He instructed a dependent of his, Marcus Claudius, to claim the girl as his slave, and not to yield to those who might demand her interim retention of liberty; considering that, because the girl's father was absent, there was an opportunity for committing the injury.

The tool of the decemvir's l.u.s.t laid hands on the girl as she was coming into the forum (for there in the sheds the literary schools were held); calling her "the daughter of his slave and a slave herself," he commanded her to follow him; that he would force her away if she demurred. The girl being stupified with terror, a crowd collects at the cries of the girl's nurse, who besought the protection of the citizens.

The popular names of her father, Virginius, and of her spouse, Icilius, are in the mouths of every one. Their regard for them gains over their acquaintances, whilst the heinousness of the proceeding gains over the crowd. She was now safe from violence, when the claimant says, "that there was no occasion for raising a mob; that he was proceeding by law, not by force." He cites the girl into court. Those who stood by her advising her to follow him, they now reached the tribunal of Appius. The claimant rehea.r.s.es the farce well known to the judge, as being the author of the plot, "that a girl born in his house, and clandestinely transferred from thence to the house of Virginius, had been fathered on the latter." That he stated a thing ascertained by certain evidence, and would prove it to the satisfaction even of Virginius himself, whom the princ.i.p.al portion of that loss would concern. That it was but just that in the interim the girl should accompany her master. The advocates for Virginia, after they had urged that Virginius was absent on business of the state, that he would be here in two days if word were sent to him, that it was unfair that in his absence he should run any risk regarding his children, demand that he adjourn the whole matter till the arrival of the father; that he should allow the claim for her interim liberty according to the law pa.s.sed by himself, and not allow a maiden of ripe age to encounter the risk of her reputation before that of her liberty.

45. Appius prefaced his decree by observing that the very law, which Virginius's friends were putting forward as the ground of their demand, clearly showed how much he favoured liberty. But that liberty would find secure protection in it on this condition, that it varied[146] neither with respect to cases or persons.[147] For with respect to those individuals who were claimed as free, that point of law was good, because[148] any person may proceed by law (and act for them); with respect to her who is in the hands of her father, that there was no other person (than her father) to whom her master need relinquish his right of possession. That it was his determination, therefore, that her father should be sent for: in the mean time, that the claimant should suffer no loss of his right, but that he should carry off the girl with him, and promise that she should be produced on the arrival of him who was called her father. When many rather murmured against the injustice of this decision than any one individual ventured to protest against it, the girl's uncle, Publius Numitorius, and her betrothed spouse, Icilius, just come in; and way being made through the crowd, the mult.i.tude thinking that Appius might be most effectually resisted by the intervention of Icilius, the lictor declares that "he had decided the matter," and removes Icilius, when he attempted to raise his voice.

Injustice so atrocious would have fired even a cool temper. "By the sword, Appius," says he, "I must be removed hence, that you may carry off in silence that which you wish to be concealed. This young woman I am about to marry, determined to have a lawful and chaste wife.

Wherefore call together all the lictors even of your colleagues; order the rods and axes to be had in readiness; the betrothed wife of Icilius shall not remain without her father's house. Though you have taken from us the aid of our tribunes, and the power of appeal to the commons of Rome, the two bulwarks for maintaining our liberty, absolute dominion has not therefore been given to you over our wives and children. Vent your fury on our backs and necks; let chast.i.ty at least be secure. If violence be offered to her, I shall implore the protection of the citizens here present in behalf of my spouse; Virginius will implore that of the soldiers in behalf of his only daughter; we shall all implore the protection of G.o.ds and men, nor shall you carry that sentence into effect without our blood. I demand of you, Appius, consider again and again to what lengths you are proceeding. Let Virginius, when he comes, consider what conduct he should pursue with respect to his daughter. Let him only be a.s.sured of this, that if he yield to the claims of this man, he will have to seek out another match for his daughter. As for my part, in vindicating the liberty of my spouse, life shall leave me sooner than my honour."

[Footnote 146: Appius here contrasts two cla.s.ses of persons, one consisting of individuals, who are in their own power; the other, of those who are not _sui juris_, but are under the control either of a parent, or some other person. If the question arise concerning a person who is _sui juris_, whether he is to be consigned to slavery, or to be restored to liberty, then "_id juris esse_," sc. that he remain free till the decision is made, _because any person_, as being _h.o.m.o sui juris_, and consequently he himself, "may proceed by law;" but he says, that this does not hold good with respect to a person who is not _sui juris_, but is in the hands of others; such a person, he says, cannot be p.r.o.nounced free, but must be subject to the power, either of the parent or master, so that no injury be done to either. Wherefore, since the girl is not _sui juris_, she must be in the power, either of Virginius, who says he is her father, or of Claudius, who says he is her master.

But since Virginius is not present, that she can be in the power of no one but Claudius, until Virginius arrive.

I cannot resist the temptation of giving in full Mr. Gunn's note on the pa.s.sage, as found in his very neat edition of our author.

"Appius for his own purposes, in interpreting his own law, introduces a distinction betwixt those who were _sui juris_, entirely free, and those who were subject to the _patria potestas_. The law, according to him, can apply only to the former, because in them only is there a true claim for liberty, and in them only could a judge give an interim decision _secundum libertatem_. To give such a decision in favour of Virginia, would be a _variatio personarum_; it would be introducing as ent.i.tled to the benefit of the law a cla.s.s of persons, who were, even according to their own statements, not ent.i.tled to _vindiciae secundum libertatem_.

Besides, and most important of all, the law could act in the former, as any citizen was ent.i.tled to plead the cause of one presumptively free.

But in this case no one could plead, but either the father as master on the one hand, or the alleged master on the other: as the father was not present, consequently no one had any legal claim to urge the law."]

[Footnote 147: _Si nec causis nec personis variet._ Sc. lex variet. Some understand _libertas_ as the nominative to variet.]

[Footnote 148: _Because any person_. "As the law permits any strangers to interpose in vindicating an individual's liberty, they have an undoubted right so to do. But the question is not whether this maiden is free: that she cannot be in any case; for she belongs either to her father or her master. Now as her father is not present to take charge of her, no one here but her master can have any t.i.tle to her." Appius argues that he could not p.r.o.nounce in favour of her temporary liberty, without prejudice to her father's right and power over her: as there was no one present, who claimed a legal right to the possession of her but M. Claudius, the judge had no alternative but to award her during the interim to his safe keeping.--_Stocker._]

46. The mult.i.tude was now excited, and a contest seemed likely to ensue.

The lictors had taken their stand around Icilius; nor did they, however, proceed beyond threats, when Appius said, "that it was not Virginia that was defended by Icilius, but that, being a restless man, and even now breathing the spirit of the tribuneship, he was seeking an occasion for a disturbance. That he would not afford him material on that day; but in order that he may now know that the concession has been made not to his petulance, but to the absent Virginius, to the name of father and to liberty, that he would not decide the cause on that day, nor interpose a decree: that he would request of Marcus Claudius to forego somewhat of his right, and suffer the girl to be bailed till the next day. But unless the father attended on the following day, he gave notice to Icilius and to men like Icilius, that neither the founder would be wanting to his own law, nor firmness to the decemvir; nor would he a.s.semble the lictors of his colleagues to put down the promoters of sedition; that he would be content with his own lictors." When the time of this act of injustice was deferred, and the friends of the maiden had retired, it was first of all determined, that the brother of Icilius and the son of Numitorius, both active young men, should proceed thence straightforward to the gate, and that Virginius should be brought from the camp with all possible haste. That the safety of the girl depended on his being present next day at the proper time, as her protector from injury. They proceed according to directions and with all speed carry the account to her father. When the claimant of the maiden was pressing Icilius to become defendant, and give sureties,[149] and Icilius said that that was the very thing he was doing, designedly spinning out the time, until the messengers sent to the camp might gain time for their journey, the mult.i.tude raised their hands on all sides, and every one showed himself ready to go surety for Icilius. And he with tears in his eyes says, It is very kind of you; on to-morrow I will avail myself of your a.s.sistance; at present I have sufficient sureties. Thus Virginia is bailed on the security of her relations. Appius having delayed a short time, that he might not appear to have sat on account of the present case, when no one applied, all other concerns being given up by reason of their solicitude about the one, betook himself home, and writes to his colleagues to the camp, "not to grant leave of absence to Virginius, and even to keep him in confinement." This wicked scheme was late, as it deserved to be; for Virginius, having already obtained his leave, had set out at the first watch, while the letter regarding his detention was delivered on the following morning to no purpose.

[Footnote 149: _Sureties_--sponsores. The preliminary bail.]

47. But in the city, when the citizens were standing in the forum erect with expectation, Virginius, clad in mourning, by break of day conducts his daughter, also attired in weeds, attended by some matrons, into the forum, with a considerable body of advocates. He then began to go round and to solicit individuals; and not only to entreat their aid as a boon to his prayers, but demanded it as due to him: "that he stood daily in the field of battle in defence of their children and wives, nor was there any other man, to whom a greater number of brave and intrepid deeds in war can be ascribed than to him. What availed it, if, whilst the city was still secure, their children would be exposed to suffer the severest hardships which would have to be dreaded if it was taken?"

Delivering these observations like one haranguing in an a.s.sembly, he solicited them individually. Similar arguments were used by Icilius: the female attendants produced more effect by their silent tears than any language. With a mind utterly insensible to all this, (such, a paroxysm of madness, rather than of love, had perverted his mind,) Appius ascended the tribunal; and when the claimant began to complain briefly, that justice had not been administered to him on the preceding day through a desire to please the people, before either he could go through with his claim, or an opportunity of reply was afforded to Virginius, Appius interrupts him. The preamble with which he prefaced the sentence, ancient authors may have handed down perhaps with truth; because I no where find any one that was likely (to have been used) on so scandalous a business, it seems, that the naked fact should be stated as being a point which is agreed on, viz. that he pa.s.sed a sentence[150] consigning her to slavery. At first all were astounded with amazement at so heinous a proceeding; then silence prevailed for some time. Then when Marcus Claudius proceeded to seize the maiden, the matrons standing around her, and was received with piteous lamentation of the women, Virginius, menacingly extending his hands towards Appius, says, To Icilius, and not to you, Appius, have I betrothed my daughter, and for matrimony, not prost.i.tution, have I brought her up. Do you wish men to gratify their l.u.s.t promiscuously, like cattle and wild beasts? Whether these persons will endure such things, I know not; I hope that those will not who have arms in their hands. When the claimant of the girl was repulsed by the crowd of women and advocates who were standing around her, silence was commanded by the crier.

[Footnote 150: _He pa.s.sed a sentence_, &c. In the original it is, "decresse vindicias secundum servitutem." This decision relates to the definitive bail. Appius the day before had made up his mind to this decision. He had calculated, however, on the non-appearance of the father; yet did not now choose to be foiled by his unexpected presence.--_Stocker._]

48. The decemvir, engrossed in mind by his l.u.s.tful propensities, states that not only from the abusive language of Icilius yesterday, and the violence of Virginius, of which he had the entire Roman people as witnesses, but from authentic information also he ascertained, that cabals were held in the city during the whole night to stir up a sedition. Accordingly that he, being aware of that danger, had come down with armed soldiers; not that he would molest any peaceable person, but in order to punish suitably to the majesty of the government persons disturbing the tranquillity of the state. It will, therefore, be better to remain quiet. Go, lictor, says he, remove the crowd; and make way for the master to lay hold of his slave. When, bursting with pa.s.sion, he had thundered out these words, the mult.i.tude themselves voluntarily separated, and the girl stood deserted a prey to injustice. Then Virginius, when he saw no aid any where, says, I beg you, Appius, first pardon a father's grief, if I have said any thing too harsh against you: in the next place, suffer me to question the nurse before the maiden, what all this matter is? that if I have been falsely called her father, I may depart hence with a more resigned mind. Permission being granted, he draws the girl and the nurse aside to the sheds near the temple of Cloacina, which now go by the name of the new sheds: and there s.n.a.t.c.hing up a knife from a butcher, "In this one way, the only one in my power, do I secure to you your liberty." He then transfixes the girl's breast, and looking back towards the tribunal, he says, "With this blood I devote thee, Appius, and thy head." Appius, aroused by the cry raised at so dreadful a deed, orders Virginius to be seized. He, armed with the knife, cleared the way whithersoever he went, until, protected by the crowd of persons attending him, he reached the gate. Icilius and Numitorius take up the lifeless body and exhibit it to the people: they deplore the villany of Appius, the fatal beauty of the maiden, and the dire necessity of the father. The matrons who followed exclaim, "Was this the condition of rearing children? were these the rewards of chast.i.ty?" and other things which female grief on such occasions suggests, when their complaints are so much the more affecting, in proportion as (their grief) is more intense from the natural tenderness of their minds. The voice of the men, and more especially of Icilius, entirely turned on the tribunitian power, on the right of appeal to the people which had been taken from them, and on the indignities thrown upon the state.

49. The mult.i.tude was excited partly by the atrocious nature of the deed, partly by the hope of recovering their liberty through a favourable opportunity. Appius now orders Icilius to be summoned before him, now on refusing to come to be seized; at length, when an opportunity of approaching him was not afforded to the beadles, he himself proceeding through the crowd with a body of young patricians, orders him to be taken into confinement. Now not only the mult.i.tude, but Lucius Valerius and Marcus Horatius, the leaders of the mult.i.tude, stood around Icilius: who, having repulsed the lictor, stated, that "if he meant to proceed by law, they would protect Icilius from one who was but a private citizen; if he desired to employ force, that they would be no bad match for him even then." Hence arises a furious scuffle. The decemvir's lictor attacks Valerius and Horatius: the fasces are broken by the people. Appius ascends the tribunal; Horatius and Valerius follow him. To them the a.s.sembly pays attention, they drown with clamour the voice of the decemvir. Now Valerius authoritatively ordered the lictors to depart from one who was but a private citizen: when Appius, whose spirits were now broken, being alarmed for his life, betook himself into a house in the vicinity of the forum, unknown to his enemies, with his head covered up. Spurius Oppius, in order to a.s.sist his colleague, rushes into the forum from the opposite side; he sees their authority overpowered by force. Distracted then by various counsels between which he wavered, by a.s.senting to several advisers from every side, he eventually ordered the senate to be convened. Because the proceedings of the decemvirs seemed to be displeasing to the greater portion of the patricians, this step quieted the people with the hope that the government would be abolished through the senate. The senate gave their opinion that neither the commons should be exasperated, and much more that care should be taken that the arrival of Virginius should not occasion any commotion in the army.

50. Accordingly some of the junior patricians, being sent to the camp which was at that time on Mount Vecilius, announce to the decemvirs "that by every means in their power they should keep the soldiers from mutinying." Where Virginius occasioned greater commotion than he had left behind him in the city. For besides that he was seen coming with a body of near four hundred men, who, fired at the heinous enormity of the occurrence, had accompanied him from the city; the unsheathed weapon and himself besmeared with blood, attracted to him the entire camp; and the gowns[151] seen in the different parts of the camp, had caused the number of people from the city to appear much greater than it really was. When they asked him what was the matter, in consequence of his weeping he uttered not a word. At length, as soon as the crowd of those running together became still, and silence took place, he related every thing in order as it occurred. Then extending his hands towards heaven, addressing his fellow soldiers, he begged of them, "not to impute to him that which was the crime of Appius, not to abhor him as the murderer of his children." To him the life of his daughter was dearer than his own, if she had been allowed to live in freedom and chast.i.ty. When he beheld her dragged to prost.i.tution as if a slave, thinking it better that his child should be lost by death than by dishonour, through compa.s.sion for her he fell into an appearance of cruelty. Nor would he have survived his daughter, had he not placed hope of avenging her death in the aid of his fellow soldiers. For that they too had daughters, sisters, and wives; nor was the l.u.s.t of Appius Claudius extinguished with his daughter; but in proportion as it escaped with impunity, so much the more unbridled would it be. That in the calamities of others a warning was given to them to guard against a similar injury. That for his own part, his wife had been taken from him by fate; his daughter, because she no longer could live in chast.i.ty, died an unfortunate but honourable death; that there was no longer in his house an opportunity for Appius's l.u.s.t; that from any other violence of his he would defend his person with the same spirit with which he vindicated that of his daughter. That others should take care of themselves and of their children. To Virginius, uttering these words in a loud voice, the mult.i.tude responded with a shout, "that they would not be backward, with respect either to his wrongs or their own liberty. And the gown-men mixing with the crowd of soldiers, both by narrating with sorrow those same circ.u.mstances, and by showing how much more shocking they must have appeared when seen than when merely heard, and also by telling them that matters were now desperate at Rome; those also who followed (the persons that accompanied Virginius from Rome) and alleged that Appius, having with difficulty escaped with life, had gone into exile;[152] all these individuals so far influenced them that there was a general cry to arms, they s.n.a.t.c.hed up their standards, and set out for Rome." The decemvirs, being alarmed at the same time both by what they now saw, as well as by those things which they had heard had taken place at Rome, ran about to different parts of the camp to quell the commotion. Whilst they proceeded with mildness no answer was returned to them. If any of them attempted to exert authority over them, the answer given was, that "they were men and had arms." They go in a body to the city and post themselves on the Aventine; encouraging the commons, according as each person met them, to rea.s.sume their liberty, and elect tribunes of the people; no other violent expression was heard. Spurius Oppius holds a meeting of the senate; it is resolved that no harsh proceedings should be adopted, as occasion for the sedition had been given by themselves. Three men of consular rank, Spurius Tarpeius, Caius Julius, Publius Sulpicius, are sent as amba.s.sadors, to inquire, in the name of the senate, by whose orders they had deserted the camp? or what they intended in posting themselves on the Aventine in arms, and in turning away their arms from the enemy and taking their own country? They were at no loss for an answer; they wanted some one to give the answer, there being as yet no certain leader, and individuals not being forward enough to expose themselves to the invidious office. The mult.i.tude only called out with one voice, that they should send Lucius Valerius and Marcus Horatius to them: that to them they would give their answer.

[Footnote 151: The dress of the citizens.]

[Footnote 152: Two cla.s.ses of persons are here intended: 1. Those who accompanied Virginius into the camp. 2. Others who followed them subsequently.]

51. The amba.s.sadors being dismissed, Virginius reminds the soldiers "that a little time before they had been embarra.s.sed in a matter of no very great difficulty, because the mult.i.tude was without a head; and that the answer given, though not inexpedient, was the result rather of an accidental concurrence than of a concerted plan. His opinion was, that ten persons be elected, who should preside in the management of their affairs, and, in the style of military dignity, that they should be called tribunes of the soldiers." When that honour was offered to himself in the first instance, he replied, "Reserve for an occasion more favourable to you and to me those your kind opinions of me. My daughter being unavenged, neither allows any honour to be satisfactory to me, nor in the disturbed state of things is it useful that those should be at your head who are most obnoxious to party malice. If there will be any use of me, such use will be derived not in a less degree from me in a private station." They then elect military tribunes ten in number. Nor was the army among the Sabines inactive. There also, at the instance of Icilius and Numitorius, a secession from the decemvirs took place, the commotion of men's minds on recollecting the murder of Siccius being not less than that, which the recent account of the barbarous attempt made on the maiden to gratify l.u.s.t had enkindled. When Icilius heard that tribunes of the soldiers were elected on Mount Aventine, lest the election-a.s.sembly in the city might follow the precedent of the military a.s.sembly, by electing the same persons tribunes of the commons, being well versed in popular intrigues and having an eye to that office, he also takes care, before they proceeded to the city, that the same number be elected by his own party with an equal power. They entered the city through the Colline gate in military array, and proceeded in a body to the Aventine through the middle of the city. There, joined to the other army, they commissioned the twenty tribunes of the soldiers to select two out of their number, who should hold the command in chief. They choose Marcus Oppius and s.e.xtus Manilius. The patricians, alarmed for the general safety, though there was a meeting every day, waste the time in wrangling more frequently than in deliberation. The murder of Siccius, the l.u.s.t of Appius, and the disgraces incurred in war were urged as charges against the decemvirs. It was resolved that Valerius and Horatius should proceed to the Aventine. They refused to go on any other conditions, than that the decemvirs should lay down the badges of that office, which had expired the year before. The decemvirs, complaining that they were now being degraded, stated that they would not resign their office, until those laws were pa.s.sed on account of which they had been appointed.

52. The people being informed through Marcus Duilius, who had been tribune of the people, that by reason of their continual contentions no business was transacted, pa.s.ses from the Aventine to the Sacred mount; Duilius affirming that serious concern for business would not enter the minds of the patricians, until they saw the city deserted. That the Sacred mount would remind them of the people's firmness; that they would then know, that matters could not be restored to concord without the restoration of (the tribunitian) power. Having set out along the Nomentan way, which was then called the Ficulnean, they pitched their camp on the Sacred mount, imitating the moderation of their fathers by committing no violence. The commons followed the army, no one whose age would permit him declining to go. Their wives and children attended their steps, piteously asking to whom would they leave them, in a city in which neither chast.i.ty nor liberty were respected? When the unusual solitude rendered every place in Rome void; when there was in the forum no one but a few old men; when, the patricians being convened into the senate, the forum appeared deserted; more now besides Horatius and Valerius began to exclaim, "What will ye now wait for, conscript fathers? If the decemvirs do not put an end to their obstinacy, will ye suffer all things to go to wreck and ruin? What power is that, decemvirs, which ye embrace and hold so firmly? do you mean to administer justice to walls and mere houses? Are you not ashamed that an almost greater number of your lictors is to be seen in the forum than of the other citizens? What are ye to do, in case the enemy should approach the city? What, if the commons should come presently in arms, if we seem not to be moved by their secession? do you mean to conclude your power by the fall of the city? But (the case is this,) either we must not have the commons, or they must have their tribunes. We would sooner dispense with our patrician magistrates, than they with their plebeian. That power, when new and untried, they wrested from our fathers; much less will they, now that they have tested the sweets of it, endure its loss: more especially since we make not a moderate use of our power, so that they may not stand in need of (tribunitian) aid." When these arguments were thrown out from every quarter, the decemvirs, overpowered by the united opinions of all, declare that, since such seems to be the feeling, they would submit to the authority of the patricians. All they ask is, that they may be protected from popular rage; they give a warning, that they should not through shedding their blood habituate the people to inflict punishment on the patricians.

53. Then Valerius and Horatius, having been sent to bring back the people on such terms as might seem fit, and to adjust all differences, are directed to make provision also for the decemvirs from the resentment and violence of the mult.i.tude. They set forward and are received into the camp with great joy by the people, as being their liberators beyond all doubt, both at the commencement of the disturbance and at the termination of the matter. In consideration of these things, thanks were returned to them on their arrival. Icilius speaks in the name of the people. When the terms came to be considered, the amba.s.sadors inquiring what were the demands of the people, the same individual, having already concerted the plan before the arrival of the amba.s.sadors, stated demands of such a nature, that it became evident, that more hope was placed in the justice of their case than in arms. For they demanded back the tribunitian office and the right of appeal, which, before the appointment of decemvirs, had been the props of the people, and that it should not be visited with injury to any one, to have instigated the soldiers or the commons to seek back their liberty by a secession. Concerning the punishment only of the decemvirs was their demand immoderate; for they thought it but just that they should be delivered up to them; and they threatened that they would burn them alive. In answer the amba.s.sadors say, the demands which have been the result of deliberation are so reasonable, that they should be voluntarily offered to you; for you seek them as safeguards to your liberty, not as means of licentious power to a.s.sail others. Your resentment we must rather pardon than indulge; seeing that from your hatred of cruelty ye rush into cruelty, and almost before you are free yourselves, you wish already to lord it over your enemies. Shall our state never enjoy rest from punishments, either of the patricians on the Roman commons, or of the commons on the patricians? you have occasion for a shield rather than for a sword. He is sufficiently and abundantly humble, who lives in a state on an equal footing, neither inflicting nor suffering injury. Moreover, "should you feel disposed to render yourselves formidable, when, having recovered your magistrates and laws, decisions on our lives and fortunes shall be in your hands; then you shall determine according to the merits of each case; now it is sufficient that your liberty be restored."

54. All permitting them to act just as they think proper, the amba.s.sadors a.s.sure them that they would speedily return, having completed every matter. When they went and laid before the patricians the message of the commons, the other decemvirs, since, contrary to their own expectation, no mention was made of their punishment, raised no objection. Appius, being of a truculent disposition and a particular object of detestation, measuring the rancour of others towards him by his own towards them, says, "I am aware of the fate which hangs over me.

I see that the contest against us is deferred, until our arms are delivered up to our adversaries. Blood must be offered up to popular rage. Not even do I demur to resign my decemvirate." A decree of the senate is then pa.s.sed, "that the decemvirs should without delay resign their office; that Quintus Furius, chief pontiff, should hold an election of plebeian tribunes, and that the secession of the soldiers and commons should not be visited on any one." These decrees being finished, the senate being dismissed, the decemvirs come forth into the a.s.sembly, and resign their office, to the great joy of all. News of this is carried to the commons. All the people remaining in the city escort the amba.s.sadors. This crowd was met by another joyous body from the camp; they congratulate each other on the restoration of peace and concord to the state. The deputies address the a.s.sembly: "Be it advantageous, fortunate, and happy for you and the republic, return into your country to your household G.o.ds, your wives and children; but carry into the city the same modesty which you observed here, where, amid the consumption of so many matters necessary for so large a number of persons, no man's field has been injured. Go to the Aventine, whence ye set out. In that auspicious place, where ye took the first step towards liberty, ye shall elect tribunes of the people. The chief pontiff will be at hand to hold the elections." Great was their a.s.sent and joy, as evinced in their approbation of every measure. They then hastily raise their standards, and having set out for Rome, vie in exultation with all they met. There, the chief pontiff holding the meeting for the elections, they elected as their tribunes of the people, first of all A.

Virginius, then Lucius Icilius, and Publius Numitorius the uncle of Virginia, the advisers of the secession. Then Caius Sicinius, the offspring of him who is recorded to have been elected first tribune of the commons on the Sacred mount; and Marcus Duilius, who had pa.s.sed through a distinguished tribuneship before the creation of the decemvirs, and was never wanting to the commons in their contests with the decemvirs. Marcus t.i.tinius, Marcus Pomponius, Caius Ap.r.o.nius, Publius Villius, and Caius Oppius, were elected more from hope (entertained of them) than from any services (performed). When he entered on his tribuneship, Lucius Icilius proposed to the commons, and the commons ordered, that the secession from the decemvirs which had taken place should not prove detrimental to any individual. Immediately after Duilius carried a proposition for electing consuls, with right of appeal. All these things were transacted in an a.s.sembly of the commons in the Flaminian meadows, which they now call the Flaminian circus.

55. Then through an interrex Lucius Valerius and Marcus Horatius were elected consuls, who immediately entered on their office; whose consulship was popular without any actual injury to the patricians, though not without their displeasure; for whatever provision was made for securing the liberty of the commons, that they considered to be a diminution made in their own power. First of all, when it was as it were a point in controversy, whether patricians were bound by regulations enacted in an a.s.sembly of the commons, they proposed a law in the a.s.sembly of the centuries, that whatever the commons ordered collectively, should bind the entire people; by which law a most keen-edged weapon was given to motions introduced by tribunes. Then another law made by a consul concerning the right of appeal, a singular security to liberty, and subverted by the decemviral power, they not only restore, but guard it also for the time to come, by enacting a new law, "that no one should appoint any magistrate without a right of appeal; if any person should so elect, it would be lawful and right that he be put to death; and that such killing should not be deemed a capital offence." And when they had sufficiently secured the commons by the right of appeal on the one hand, by tribunitian aid on the other, they renewed for the tribunes themselves (the privilege) that they should be held sacred and inviolable, the memory of which matter had now been almost lost, reviving certain ceremonies which had been long disused; and they rendered them inviolable both by the religious inst.i.tution, as well as by a law, enacting, that "whoever should offer injury to tribunes of the people, aediles, judges, decemvirs, his person should be devoted to Jupiter, and his property be sold at the temple of Ceres, Liber and Libera." Commentators deny that any person is by this law sacrosanct; but that he who may do an injury to any of them, is deemed to be devoted; therefore that an aedile may be arrested and carried to prison by superior magistrates, which, though it be not expressly warranted by law, for an injury is done to a person to whom it is not lawful to do an injury according to this law, yet it is a proof that an aedile is not considered as sacred; that the tribunes were sacred and inviolable by an ancient oath of the commons, when first they created that office. There have been persons who supposed that by this same Horatian law provision was made for the consuls also and the praetors, because they were elected under the same auspices as the consuls; for that a consul was called a judge. Which interpretation is refuted, because at this time it was not yet the custom for the consul to be styled judge, but the praetor. These were the laws proposed by the consuls. It was also regulated by the same consuls, that decrees of the senate should be deposited with the aediles of the commons in the temple of Ceres; which before that used to be suppressed and altered at the pleasure of the consuls. Marcus Duilius then, tribune of the commons, proposed to the people, and the people ordered, that "whoever left the people without tribunes, and whoever caused a magistrate to be elected without the right of appeal, should be punished with stripes and beheaded." All these matters, though against the feelings of the patricians, pa.s.sed off without opposition from them, because no severity was aimed at any particular individual.

56. Then both the tribunitian power and the liberty of the commons being firmly established, the tribunes now deeming it both safe and seasonable to attack individuals, single out Virginius as the first prosecutor and Appius as defendant. When Virginius appointed a day for Appius, and Appius came down to the forum, accompanied by some young patricians, the memory of his most profligate exercise of power was instantly revived in the minds of all, as soon as they beheld himself and his satellites.

Then Virginius says, "Long speeches have been invented for matters of a doubtful nature. Accordingly I shall neither waste time in dwelling on the guilt of this man before you, from whose cruelty ye have rescued yourselves by force of arms, nor shall I suffer him to add impudence to his other enormous crimes in defending himself. Wherefore, Appius Claudius, I remit to you the acc.u.mulated impious and nefarious deeds you have had the effrontery to commit for the last two years; with respect to one charge only, unless you will appoint a judge, (and prove) that you have not, contrary to the laws, sentenced a free person to be a slave, I order that you be taken into custody." Neither in the aid of the tribunes, nor in the judgment of the people, could Appius place any hope: still he both appealed to the tribunes, and, when no one regarded him, being seized by the bailiff, he exclaims, "I appeal." The hearing of this one expression, that safeguard of liberty, uttered from that mouth by which a free citizen was so recently consigned to slavery, occasioned general silence. And, whilst they observe to each other, that "at length there are G.o.ds, and that they do not disregard human affairs; and that punishments await tyranny and cruelty, which, though late, are still by no means light; that he now appealed, who had abolished all right of appeal; and that he implored the protection of the people, who had trampled down all the rights of the people; and that he was dragged off to prison, dest.i.tute of the rights of liberty, who had doomed a free person to slavery." Amid the murmurs of the a.s.sembly, the voice of Appius was heard imploring the protection of the Roman people. He enumerated the services of his ancestors to the state, at home and abroad; his own unfortunate zeal towards the Roman commons; that he had resigned the consulship, to the great displeasure of the patricians, for the purpose of equalizing the laws; (he then mentioned) his laws; which, though they still remained in force, the framer of them was dragged to a prison. But the peculiar advantages and disadvantages of his case he would then make trial of, when an opportunity would be afforded him of stating his defence. At present, he, a Roman citizen, demanded, by the common right of citizenship, that he be allowed to speak on the day appointed, and to appeal to the judgment of the Roman people. That he did not dread popular rage so much as not to place any hope in the equity and compa.s.sion of his fellow citizens. But if he were led to prison without being heard, that he once more appealed to the tribunes of the people, and warned them not to imitate those whom they hated. But if the tribunes acknowledge themselves bound in the same confederacy for abolishing the right of appeal, which they charged the decemvirs with having formed, then he appealed to the people: he implored the benefit of the laws pa.s.sed that very year, both by the consuls and tribunes, regarding the right of appeal. For who would appeal, if this were not allowed a person as yet uncondemned, whose case has not been heard? what plebeian and humble individual would find protection in the laws, if Appius Claudius could not? that he would afford a proof, whether tyranny or liberty was established by the new laws; and whether the right of appeal and of challenge against the injustice of magistrates was only held out in empty words, or effectually granted.

57. Virginius, on the other hand, affirmed that Appius Claudius was the only person not ent.i.tled to a partic.i.p.ation in the laws, nor in civil or human society. That men should look to the tribunal, the fortress of all villanies; where that perpetual decemvir, venting his fury on the properties, backs, and blood of the citizens, threatening all with his rods and axes, a despiser of G.o.ds and men, attended with executioners, not lictors, changing his mind from rapine and murder to l.u.s.t, before the eyes of the Roman people, tore a free-born maiden, as if a prisoner of war, from the embraces of her father, and gave her as a present to a dependant, the pander to his secret pleasures. Where by a cruel decree, and by a most villainous decision, he armed the right hand of the father against the daughter: where he ordered the spouse and uncle, on their raising the lifeless body of the girl, to be taken off to a prison; moved more at the interruption to his sensual gratification than at her untimely death. That the prison was built for him also, which he used to call the domicile of the Roman commons. Wherefore, though he may appeal again and oftener, he would as frequently refer him to a judge, on the charge of having sentenced a free person to slavery; if he would not go before a judge, that he ordered him to be taken to prison as one condemned. He was thrown into prison, and though without the disapprobation of any individual, yet not without considerable emotions of the public mind, when, in consequence of the punishment of so distinguished a man, their own liberty began to appear to the commons themselves as excessive. The tribune deferred the day of trial. Whilst these matters are going on, amba.s.sadors from the Hernicians and Latins came to Rome to present their congratulations on the harmony subsisting between the patricians and commons; and as an offering on that account to Jupiter, the best and greatest, they brought into the Capitol a golden crown, of small weight, as riches at that time did not abound, and the duties of religion were performed rather with piety than magnificence. From the same source it was ascertained that the aequans and Volscians were preparing for war with the utmost energy. The consuls were therefore ordered to divide the provinces between them. The Sabines fell to the lot of Horatius, the aequans and Volscians to that of Valerius. On their proclaiming a levy for these wars, through the good wishes of the commons, not only the younger men, but of those who had served out their time, a considerable portion as volunteers, attended to give in their names: and hence the army was stronger not only by the number, but also by the kind of soldiers, veterans being mixed with them. Before they marched out of the city, they engraved on bra.s.s, and fixed up in public view, the decemviral laws, which have received the name of "the twelve tables." There are some who state that the aediles discharged that office by order of the tribunes.

58. Caius Claudius, who, detesting the crimes of the decemvirs and, above all, incensed at the arrogant conduct of his brother's son, had retired to Regillum,