Stories From Livy. Alfred John Church
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it was day, all things being now ready after the custom of such sacrifices, the King commanded that both armies should be called to an assembly. And the heralds summoned the men of Alba first, so that they might be in the inner place; to which also they came of their own accord, for they sought to be near the King, greatly desiring to hear what he should say. And the King so ordered it to the end that the army of Rome might surround them on all sides. Also he gave his commands to certain captains of hundreds that they fulfil without delay whatsoever commands he should give them. After this the King spoke in this fashion, "Men of Rome, if ever before ye had occasion to give thanks for victory won, first to the immortal Gods, and secondly to your own valour, such occasion ye found in the battle of yesterday. For ye fought not only with the enemy, but with that from which there is peril greater by far, even treachery in allies. I would not have you ignorant of the truth. It was not by any ordering of mine that the men of Alba went towards the mountains. I gave no such command; yet did I feign that I had given it to this end, that ye might not know that ye were deserted, and so might fight with the better courage, and that our enemies, thinking that they should be assailed from behind, might be stricken with fear and so fly before us. Yet I say not that all the men of Alba are guilty of this matter. They followed their captain, even as ye, men of Rome, would have followed me whithersoever I might have led you. Mettus only is guilty. He contrived this departure, even as he brought about this war, and brake the covenant that was between Alba and Rome. And what he hath done others may dare hereafter, if I do not so deal with him that he shall be an ensample for all that come after." Then the captains of hundreds, having arms in their hands, laid hold upon Mettus. After this the King spake again: "May the Gods bless to the people of Rome, and to me, and to you also, men of Alba, that which I purpose to do. For my purpose is to carry away the people of Alba to Rome; the commons of Alba will I make citizens of Rome, and the nobles will I number among our Senators. So shall there be one city and one commonwealth." When the men of Alba heard these words, all had not the same mind about the matter, but all kept silence, fearing to speak, because being without arms they were compassed on every side with armed men.
Then said the King, "Mettus, if indeed thou couldst learn faith and the keeping of treaties, I had suffered thee to live that thou mightest have such teaching from me. But now, seeing that thy disease is past healing, thou shalt teach other men to hold in reverence the holy things which thou hast despised. For even as thou wast divided in heart between Rome and Fidenæ, so shall thy body be divided." Then at the King's bidding, they brought two chariots, with four horses harnessed to each of them; and binding the body of Mettus to the chariots, they drave the horses divers ways so that the man was torn asunder.
In the meanwhile there had been sent horsemen to Alba who should bring the people to Rome; and now the army also was led thither that they might destroy the city utterly. Great sorrow was there in Alba that day, men knowing not for fear and grief what they should carry with them or leave behind. For a while, indeed, they wandered through their houses, knowing that they should not see them any more. But when the horsemen shouted to them that they should depart, and the crash of houses which men were now destroying began to be heard, and the dust rising up from the outskirts of the city covered all things as with a cloud, then they snatched up in haste each such things as they could, and so departed the home in which they had been born and bred. Very lamentable was their cry as they went, more especially of the women, when they saw armed men in the temples wherein they had been wont to worship, the very gods themselves being left, as it seemed, in captivity. And when the people were now gone forth from their city the Romans left not one stone upon another of all that was in the city; so that that which had been four hundred years in building (for so long had Alba endured) perished in one hour. Nevertheless they harmed not the temples, for so the King had commanded.
But because Alba was thus brought to destruction, Rome increased greatly; for the number of the citizens was increased twofold. The Coelian hill was added to the city, in which hill, that others might the more readily dwell there, the King himself commanded that they should build him a palace. Also the chief houses of Alba, as the house of Julius and of Servilius, were chosen into the Senate; and that there might be a place of meeting for the Senate being thus multiplied, the King built a temple and called it Hostilia, after his own name. Also ten squadrons of horsemen were chosen out of the men of Alba. But after certain days, when the Romans had now conquered the Sabines, and had made treaties of peace with the Etrurians, and were in great peace and prosperity, they and their King, there was brought tidings to Rome that there had fallen a shower of stones on Mount Alba. Which when men could scarce believe, they sent messengers to learn if these things were true, who having come to Alba, found the stones lying on the ground, even as it had been hail. Also there was heard a voice from the grove that was on the top of the hill, saying, "Let the men of Alba do worship after the manner of their fathers;" for they having left their country, had left also their gods, and did worship after the manner of the Romans, or for wrath at that which had befallen them, as is wont to be with men in such case, had ceased from worship altogether. The Romans also, by reason of this same voice that was heard on Mount Alba, or by warning of the soothsayers, kept a festival of nine days. And this became a custom for the time to come, that when there came tidings of such marvels to Rome, there was kept a like festival. Now the end of King Tullus was this. There came a pestilence upon the land. And when for this cause the people were wearied of war, nevertheless the King, both because he delighted in war, and because he believed that the young men should have better health if they went abroad than if they tarried at home, gave them no rest But after a while he also fell into a tedious sickness, which so brake him both in body and mind that, whereas in time past he thought it unworthy of a King to busy himself with matters of religion, now he gave himself up wholly to superstition, and filled the minds of his people also with the like thoughts, so that they regarded nothing but this, how they should make atonement to the Gods, and so be rid of their present distress. As for the King himself, men say that reading the sacred book of King Numa he found therein certain sacrifices, very secret and solemn, that should be done to Jupiter by such as would bring him down from heaven, and that he shut himself up to do these sacrifices; but because he set not about them rightly or did them not in due form, there appeared to him no similitude of the immortal gods (for such he had hoped to see); but Jupiter, having great wrath at such unlawful dealings, struck him with lightning, and consumed both him and his house.
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