there seemed no doubt about the matter: Turnus was loaded with
chains, and forthwith a meeting of the Latins was summoned amid great
confusion. There, on the swords being exhibited in the midst, such
violent hatred arose against him, that, without being allowed a
defence, he was put to death in an unusual manner; he was thrown into
the basin of the spring of Ferentina, a hurdle was placed over him,
and stones being heaped up in it, he was drowned.
Tarquin then recalled the Latins to the meeting, and having applauded
them for having inflicted well-merited punishment on Turnus, as
one convicted of murder, by his attempt to bring about a change of
government, spoke as follows: That he could indeed proceed by a
long-established right; because, since all the Latins were sprung from
Alba, they were comprehended in that treaty by which, dating from the
time of Tullus, the entire Alban nation, with its colonies, had passed
under the dominion of Rome. However, for the sake of the interest of
all parties, he thought rather that that treaty should be renewed, and
that the Latins should rather share in the enjoyment of the prosperity
of the Roman people, than be constantly either apprehending or
suffering the demolition of their towns and the devastation of their
lands, which they had formerly suffered in the reign of Ancus, and
afterward in the reign of his own father. The Latins were easily
persuaded, though in that treaty the advantage lay on the side of
Rome: however, they both saw that the chiefs of the Latin nation sided
with and supported the king, and Turnus was a warning example, still
fresh in their recollections, of the danger that threatened each
individually, if he should make any opposition. Thus the treaty was
renewed, and notice was given to the young men of the Latins that,
according to the treaty, they should attend in considerable numbers
in arms, on a certain day, at the grove of Ferentina. And when they
assembled from all the states according to the edict of the Roman
king, in order that they should have neither a general of their own,
nor a separate command, nor standards of their own, he formed mixed
companies of Latins and Romans so as out of a pair of companies to
make single companies, and out of single companies to make a pair: and
when the companies had thus been doubled, he appointed centurions over
them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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