Плутарх - Plutarch's Lives - Volume I

Porsena, after making peace with the Romans, among many other instances of generosity, ordered his army to carry back nothing but their arms when they retired, leaving the entrenched camp full of food and property of every kind for the Romans. For this reason, at the present day, whenever there is a sale of any public property, especially that which is taken in war, proclamation is always made, "Porsena's goods for sale," so that the Romans have never forgotten the kindness which they received from him. A brazen statue of him used to stand near the senate house, of plain and oldfashioned workmanship.

XX. After this the Sabines invaded the country. Marcus Valerius, Poplicola's brother, and Posthumius Tubertus were then consuls, and Marcus, acting by the advice of Poplicola, who was present, won two great battles, in the second of which he slew thirteen thousand of the enemy without the Romans losing a man. He was rewarded for this, in addition to his triumph, by having a house built for him upon the Palatine Hill at the public expense. And whereas all other street doors open inwards, the doors of that house were made to open outwards, as a perpetual memorial of the honour paid him by the people, who thus made way for him. It is said that all the doors in Greece used once to open this way, arguing from the comedies, in which those who are coming out of a house always knock at the door, to warn those who are passing or standing near not to be struck by the leaves of the door, as they open.

XXI. Next year Poplicola was consul for the fourth time. There was an expectation of a war against the Latins and Sabines combined.

Moreover the city seemed to have displeased the gods; for all the pregnant women were delivered prematurely, and of imperfectly formed children. Poplicola, after appeasing the gods below according to the injunctions of the Sibylline books, re–established certain games in accordance with an oracle, brought the city into a more hopeful state of mind, and began to consider what he had to fear from earthly foes, for the enemy's army was large and formidable. There was one Appius Clausus, a Sabine, of great wealth and remarkable personal strength, and a virtuous and eloquent man, who, like all great men, was the object of envy and ill–will to many. He was accused by his enemies of having put an end to the war, because he wished to increase the power of Rome, in order to enable him the more easily to triumph over the liberties of his own country, and make himself king of it. Perceiving that the populace eagerly listened to these tales, and that he was an object of dislike to the war party and the army, he began to fear impeachment: so, having numerous followers, besides his personal friends and relatives, he was able to divide the state into two parties. This caused great delay in the Sabines' preparations for attacking the Romans, and Poplicola, feeling it to be his duty not merely to watch but to assist Clausus, sent envoys, who spoke to him as follows: "Poplicola feels that you are a man of honour, who would be unwilling to take vengeance upon your countrymen, although you have been shamefully treated by them. But if you choose to put yourself in safety by leaving your country and a people that hates you, he will receive you, both in his public and his private capacity, in a manner worthy of your own high character and of the dignity of Rome." After much deliberation, Clausus decided that he could not do better than accept this offer, and assembled all his friends. They in their turn influenced many others, so that he was able to transplant to Rome five thousand of the most peaceful and respectable families of the Sabine nation. Poplicola, who had notice of their arrival, welcomed them kindly and graciously. He made them all citizens of Rome, and gave each of them two acres of land along the river Anio. He gave Clausus twenty–five acres, and enrolled him among the Senators. Clausus afterwards became one of the first men in Rome for wisdom and power, and his descendants, the Claudian family, was one of the most illustrious in history.

XXII. Though the disputes of the Sabines were settled by this migration, yet their popular orators would not let them rest, but vehemently urged that they ought not to let Appius, a deserter and an enemy, prevail upon them to let the Romans go unpunished—a thing which he could not persuade them to do when he was present among them. They proceeded to Fidenae with a great army and encamped there, and laid two thousand men in ambush before Rome, in wooded and broken ground, meaning in the morning to send out a few horsemen to plunder ostentatiously. These men were ordered to ride up close to Rome, and then to retire till their pursuers were drawn into the snare. Poplicola heard of this plan the same day from deserters, and quickly made all necessary arrangements. At evening he sent Postumius Balbus, his son–in–law, with three thousand men to occupy the tops of the hills under which the Sabine ambush was placed. His colleague, Lucretius, was ordered to take the swiftest–footed and noblest youth of the city, and pursue the plundering horsemen, while he himself with the rest of the forces made a circuitous march and outflanked the enemy. It chanced that a thick mist came on about dawn, in the midst of which Postumius charged down from the hills upon the men in ambush with a loud shout, while Lucretius sent his men to attack the cavalry, and Poplicola fell upon the enemy's camp. The Sabines were routed in every quarter, and even when fighting no longer were cut down by the Romans, their rash confidence proving ruinous to them. Each party thought that the others must be safe, and did not care to stay and fight where they were, but those who were in the camp ran to those in the ambush, and those in the ambush towards the camp, each of them meeting those with whom they hoped to take refuge, and finding that those who they had hoped would help them needed help themselves. The Sabines would have been all put to the sword, had not the neighbouring city of Fidenae afforded them a refuge, especially for the men from the camp. Such as could not reach Fidenae were either put to death or taken prisoners.

XXIII. The Romans, accustomed as they are to refer all great success to the intervention of Heaven, thought that the whole glory of this achievement was due to the general. The first thing heard was the victorious soldiers declaring that Poplicola had delivered up the enemy to them blind and lame, and all but in chains, for them to slaughter at their ease. The people were enriched by the plunder and the sale of the prisoners for slaves. Poplicola enjoyed a triumph, and previously delivering over the administration of the city to the two succeeding consuls, died shortly afterwards, having attained to the highest pitch of glory that man can reach. The people, as if they had done nothing during his life to honour him as he deserved, and were now for the first time to show their gratitude, decreed him a public funeral, and moreover that every person should contribute the coin called quadrans , to show him respect. The women also made a common agreement to wear mourning for him for a whole year. He was buried by a decree of the people within the city near the place called Velia, and all his family were given the privilege of burial there. At the present day not one of the family is actually buried there, but the corpse is carried thither, and laid down, while some one places a lighted torch under it for a moment, after which it is carried away. By this ceremony they claim the right, although they forego it, and bury the corpse outside the city.

I. It is a point peculiar to this comparison, and which does not occur in any of the other Lives which I have written, that in turn one imitates and the other bears witness to his fellow's deeds. Observe, for instance, Solon's definition of happiness before Croesus, how much better it suits Poplicola than Tellus. He says that Tellus was fortunate because of his good luck, his virtue, and his noble children; but yet he makes no mention of him or of his children in his poetry, and he never was a man of any renown, or held any high office.