[Footnote A:  The habit of erecting trophies on a field of battle in token of victory appears to have been originally confined to the Greeks, who usually, as in the text, lopped the branches off a tree, placed it in the ground in some conspicuous place, and hung upon it the shields and other spoils taken from the enemy.  In later times the Romans adopted the habit of commemorating a victory by erecting some building on the field of battle.  Under the emperors, victory was commemorated by a triumphal arch at Rome, many of which now exist.  The Greek trophies were always formed of perishable materials, and it was contrary to their custom to repair them, that they might not perpetuate national enmities.]

XVII.  After the capture of the Ceninete tribe, while the rest of the Sabines were still engaged in preparation for war, the inhabitants of Fidenae and Crustumerium and Antemna attacked the Romans.  A battle took place in which they were all alike worsted, after which they permitted Romulus to take their cities, divide their lands, and incorporate them as citizens.  Romulus divided all the lands among the citizens, except that which was held by the fathers of any of the maidens who had been carried off, which he allowed them to retain.

The remainder of the Sabines, angry at these successes, chose Tatius as their general and marched against Rome.  The city was hard to attack, as the Capitol stood as an advanced fort to defend it.  Here was placed a garrison, and Tarpeius was its commander, not the maiden Tarpeia, as some write, who make out Romulus a fool; but it was this Tarpeia, the daughter of the captain of the garrison, who betrayed the capital to the Sabines, for the sake of the golden bracelets which she saw them wearing.  She asked as the price of her treachery that they should give her what they wore on their left arms.  After making an agreement with Tatius, she opened a gate at night and let in the Sabines.  Now it appears that Antigonus was not singular when he said that he loved men when they were betraying, but hated them after they had betrayed; as also Caesar said, in the case of Rhymitalkes the Thracian, that he loved the treachery but hated the traitor; but this seems a common reflection about bad men by those who have need of them, just as we need the poison of certain venomous beasts; for they appreciate their value while they are making use of them, and loathe their wickedness when they have done with them.  And that was how Tarpeia was treated by Tatius.  He ordered the Sabines to remember their agreement, and not to grudge her what was on their left arms.  He himself first of all took off his gold armlet, and with it flung his great oblong shield.  As all the rest did the like, she perished, being pelted with the gold bracelets and crushed by the number and weight of the shields.  Tarpeius also was convicted of treachery by Romulus, according to Juba’s version of the history of Sulpicius Galba.  The other legends about Tarpeia are improbable; amongst them that which is told by Antigonus, that she was the daughter of Tatius the Sabine leader, abducted by Romulus, and treated by her father as is related above.  Simylus the poet talks utter nonsense when he says that it was not the Sabines but the Gauls to whom Tarpeia betrayed the Capitol, because she was in love with their king.  His verses run as follows: