Nevertheless, the Ten were still obstinate, affirming that they would not resign their authority till they had finished the work for which they had been appointed, namely, the drawing up of the twelve tables of the laws.  And when the army perceived this they marched from the Aventine and took up their abode on the Sacred Hill, all the commons following them, so that there was not left in the city a single man that had ability to move; nor did the women and children stay behind, but all, as many as could move, bare them company; for Duilius, that had been tribune, said, “Unless the Senate see the city deserted, they will take no heed of your complaints.”  And indeed, when these perceived what had taken place, they were more urgent than before that the Ten should resign their office.  And these at last consented.  “Only,” said they, “do not suffer us to perish from the rage of the commons.  It will be an ill day for the nobles when the people shall learn to take vengeance on them.”  And the Senate so wrought that though at the first the commons in their great fury demanded that the Ten should be burned alive, yet they were persuaded to yield, it being agreed that each man should be judged by the law according to his deserts.  Appius, therefore, was accused by Virginius, and being cast into prison, slew himself before the day appointed for the trial.  Oppius also, another of the Ten, whom the commons hated for his misdeeds next after Appius, was accused and died in like manner.  As for Claudius, that had claimed Virginia for his slave, he was condemned to be banished.  And thus at the last, the guilty having been punished, the spirit of Virginia had rest.

THE SACRIFICE OF MARCUS CURTIUS

Adapted by Alfred J. Church

In the three hundred and ninety-third year after the building of the city there was seen suddenly to open in the market-place a great gulf of a deepness that no man could measure.  And this gulf could not be filled up, though all the people brought earth and stones and the like to cast into it.  But at the last there was sent a message from the Gods that the Romans must inquire what was that by which more than all things the state was made strong.  “For,” said the soothsayer, “this thing must be dedicated to the Gods in this place if the commonwealth of Rome is to stand fast forever.”  And while they doubted, one Marcus Curtius, a youth that had won great renown in war, rebuked them, saying, “Can ye doubt that Rome hath nothing better than arms and valor?”

Then all the people stood silent; and Curtius, first beholding the temples of the immortal Gods that hung over the market-place and the Capitol, and afterward stretching forth his hands both to heaven above and to this gulf that opened its mouth to the very pit, as it were, of hell, devoted himself for his country; and so—­being clothed in armor and with arms in his hand, and having his horse arrayed as sumptuously as might be—­he leapt into the gulf; and the multitude, both of men and women, threw in gifts and offerings of the fruits of the earth, and afterward the earth closed together.