2.13
Mucius was accordingly
dismissed; afterwards he received the soubriquet of
Scaevola, from the loss of his right hand. Envoys
from Porsena followed him to Rome. The king's narrow
escape from the first of many attempts; which was
owing solely to the mistake of his assailant, and
the prospect of having to meet as many attacks as
there were conspirators, so unnerved him that he
made proposals of peace to Rome. One for the
restoration of the Tarquins was put forward, more
because he could not well refuse their request than
because he had any hope of its being granted. The
demand for the restitution of their territory to the
Veientines, and that for the surrender of hostages
as a condition of the withdrawal of the detachment
from the Janiculum, were felt by the Romans to be
inevitable, and on their being accepted and peace
concluded, Porsena moved his troops from the
Janiculum and evacuated the Roman territory. As a
recognition of his courage the senate gave C. Mucius
a piece of land across the river, which was
afterwards known as the Mucian Meadows. The honour
thus paid to courage incited even women to do
glorious things for the State. The Etruscan camp was
situated not far from the river, and the maiden
Cloelia, one of the hostages, escaped, unobserved,
through the guards and at the head of her sister
hostages swam across the river amidst a shower of
javelins and restored them all safe to their
relatives. When the news of this incident reached
him, the king was at first exceedingly angry and
sent to demand the surrender of Cloelia; the others
he did not care about. Afterwards his feelings
changed to admiration; he said that the exploit
surpassed those of Cocles and Mucius, and announced
that whilst on the one hand he should consider the
treaty broken if she were not surrendered, he would
on the other hand, if she were surrendered, send her
back to her people unhurt. Both sides behaved
honourably; the Romans surrendered her as a pledge
of loyalty to the terms of the treaty; the Etruscan
king showed that with him courage was not only safe
but honoured, and after eulogising the girl's
conduct, told her that he would make her a present
of half the remaining hostages, she was to choose
whom she would. It is said that after all had been
brought before her, she chose the boys of tender
age; a choice in keeping with maidenly modesty, and
one approved by the hostages themselves, since they
felt that the age which was most liable to
ill-treatment should have the preference in being
rescued from hostile hands. After peace was thus
re-established, the Romans rewarded the
unprecedented courage shown by a woman by an
unprecedented honour, namely an equestrian statue.
On the highest part of the Sacred Way a statue was
erected representing the maiden sitting on
horseback.