bridge.  Then he plunged into the river in his armour and swam to the other bank, though wounded by an Etruscan spear in the thigh.  Poplicola, in admiration of his valour, at once proposed and passed a decree that every Roman should give him the price of one day’s provisions.  Moreover, he gave him as much land as he could plough in one day.  And a brazen statue of him was placed in the temple of Vulcan, by which honourable allusion was made to the lameness caused by his wound.

XVII.  As Porsena pressed the siege, the Romans suffered from famine, and another separate army of Etruscans invaded their territory.  But Poplicola, who was now consul for the third time, though he thought it his chief duty to remain stedfast and hold out the city against Porsena, did nevertheless sally out and attack these men, routing them with a loss of five thousand.  Now as to the legend of Mucius, it is told in many different ways, but I will relate it as it seems most probable that it happened.  He was a man of great courage, and very daring in war, who, meaning to assassinate Porsena, stole into the camp in an Etruscan dress and speaking the Etruscan language.  When he arrived at the raised platform on which the king was sitting, he did not exactly know which was he, and being afraid to ask, he drew his sword and killed the man who of all the party looked most as if he were the king.  Hereupon, he was seized and questioned.  A fire was burning close by in a brazier which had been brought for Porsena to offer sacrifice.  Mucius held his right hand over this, and while the flesh was being consumed looked at Porsena cheerfully and calmly, until he in astonishment acquitted him and restored him his sword, which Mucius took with his left hand.  On account of this he is said to have been named Scaevola, which means left-handed.  He then said that though he did not fear Porsena, he was conquered by his generosity, and out of kindness would tell him what torture would have failed to extort:  “Three hundred young Romans like-minded with myself are at present concealed in your camp.  I was chosen by lot to make the first attempt, and am not grieved that I failed to kill a man of honour, who ought to be a friend rather than an enemy to the Romans.”  Porsena, hearing this, believed it to be true, and became much more inclined to make peace, not, I imagine, so much for fear of the three hundred, as out of admiration for the spirit and valour of the Romans.  This Mucius is called Scaevola by all writers, but Athenodorus, the son of Sandon, in his book which is dedicated to Octavia, the sister of Caesar Augustus, says that he was also named Posthumus.