The next king was of Roman birth, and was named Tullus Hostilius.  He was a great warrior, and had a war with the Albans until it was agreed that the two cities should join together in one, as the Romans and Sabines had done before; but there was a dispute which should be the greater city in the league and it was determined to settle it by a combat.  In each city there was a family where three sons had been born at a birth, and their mothers were sisters.  Both sets were of the same age—­fine young men, skilled in weapons; and it was agreed that the six should fight together, the three whose family name was Horatius on the Roman side, the three called Curiatius on the Alban side, and whichever set gained the mastery was to give it to his city.

They fought in the plain between the camps, and very hard was the strife until two of the Horatii were killed and all the three Curiatii were wounded, but the last Horatius was entirely untouched.  He began to run, and his cousins pursued him, but at different distances, as one was less hindered by his wound than the others.  As soon as the first came up.  Horatius slew him, and so the second and the third:  as he cut down this last he cried out, “To the glory of Rome I sacrifice thee.”  As the Alban king saw his champion fall, he turned to Tullus Hostilius and asked what his commands were.  “Only to have the Alban youth ready when I need them,” said Tullus.

A wreath was set on the victor’s head, and, loaded with the spoil of the Curiatii, he was led into the city in triumph.  His sister came hurrying to meet him; she was betrothed to one of the Curiatii, and was in agony to know his fate; and when she saw the garment she had spun for him hanging blood-stained over her brother’s shoulders, she burst into loud lamentations.  Horatius, still hot with fury, struck her dead on the spot, crying, “So perish every Roman who mourns the death of an enemy of his country.”  Even her father approved the cruel deed, and would not bury her in his family tomb—­so stern were Roman feelings, putting the honor of the country above everything.  However, Horatius was brought before the king for the murder, and was sentenced to die; but the people entreated that their champion might be spared, and he was only made to pass under what was called the yoke, namely, spears set up like a doorway.

Tullus Hostilius gained several victories over his neighbors, but he was harsh and presuming, and offended the gods, and, when he was using some spell such as good Numa had used to hold converse with Jupiter, the angry god sent lightning and burnt up him and his family.  The people then chose Ancus Martins, the son of Numa’s daughter, who is said to have ruled in his grandfather’s spirit, though he could not avoid wars with the Latins.  The first bridge over the Tiber, named the Sublician, was said to have been built by him.  In his time there came to Rome a family called Tarquin.  Their father was a Corinthian, who had settled in an Etruscan