The Children's Hour, Volume 3 (of 10): Stories from the Classics
General
The Children's Hour, Volume 3 (of 10): Stories from the Classics
Children's stories; Classical literature -- Adaptations
Thus the Sabines had possession of the citadel; and the next day King
Romulus set the battle in array on the plain that lay between the hill of
the Capitol and the hill of the Palatine. And first the Romans were very
eager to recover the citadel, a certain Hostilius being their leader. But
when this man, fighting in the forefront of the battle, was slain, the
Romans turned their backs and fled before the Sabines, even unto the gate
of the Palatine. Then King Romulus (for he himself had been carried away
by the crowd of them that fled) held up his sword and his spear to the
heavens, and cried aloud, "O Jupiter, here in the Palatine didst thou
first, by the tokens which thou sentest me, lay the foundations of my
city. And lo! the Sabines have taken the citadel by wicked craft, and have
crossed the valley, and are come up even hither. But if thou sufferest
them so far, do thou at the least defend this place against them, and stay
this shameful flight of my people. So will I build a temple for thee in
this place, even a temple of Jupiter the Stayer, that may be a memorial to
after generations of how thou didst this day save this city." And when he
had so spoken, even as though he knew that the prayer had been heard, he
cried, "Ye men of Rome, Jupiter bids you stand fast in this place and
renew the battle." And when the men of Rome heard these words, it was as
if a voice from heaven had spoken to them, and they stood fast, and the
king himself went forward and stood among the foremost. Now the leader of
the Sabines was one Curtius. This man, as he drave the Romans before him,
cried out to his comrades, "See, we have conquered these men, false hosts
and feeble foes that they are! Surely now they know that it is one thing
to carry off maidens and another to fight with men." But whilst he boasted
himself thus, King Romulus and a company of the youth rushed upon him. Now
Curtius was fighting on horseback, and being thus assailed he fled,
plunging into a certain pool which lay between the Palatine hill and the
Capitol. Thus did he barely escape with his life, and the lake was called
thereafter Curtius' pool. And now the Sabines began to give way to the
Romans, when suddenly the women for whose sake they fought, having their
hair loosened and their garments rent, ran in between them that fought,
crying out, "Shed ye not each other's blood, ye that are fathers-in-law
and sons-in-law to each other. But if ye break this bond that is between
you, slay us that are the cause of this trouble. And surely it were better
for us to die than to live if we be bereaved of our fathers or of our
husbands." With these words they stirred the hearts both of the chiefs and
of the people, so that there was suddenly made a great silence. And
afterward the leaders came forth to make a covenant; and these indeed so
ordered matters that there was not peace only, but one state where there
had been two. For the Sabines came to Rome and dwelt there; and King
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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