Pinnock's improved edition of Dr. Goldsmith's History of Rome. Oliver Goldsmith
towards altering the constitution; and was thrown headlong from the Tarpei'an rock,84 by those very people whose interests he had endeavoured to extend.
Questions for Examination.
1. What were the consequences of the late separation?
2. What measures were taken to remedy these misfortunes, and to whom was the blame of them attributed?
3. What happened to remove the popular discontent?
4. What circumstances raised a fresh commotion?
5. Did Coriolanus obey the summons?
6. What was the issue of the trial?
7. To what sensations did this sentence give rise?
8. What circumstance attended his departure?
9. In what manner did he commence his revenge?
10. Was this information believed?
11. What use did Tullus make of this order?
12. To whom was the conduct of the war committed?
13. Was this invasion vigorously opposed?
14. Was Coriolanus uniformly successful?
15. What did this good fortune induce him to undertake?
16. What measures did the senate adopt on this emergency?
17. How were these proposals received?
18. Were they repeated?
19. What was the next step adopted?
20. Did the Romans boldly resolve to oppose force by force?
21. What new expedient was proposed?
22. Was this proposal adopted?
23. What was the conduct of Coriola'nus on the occasion?
24. Describe this interview.
25. What was the result?
26. Did the Volscians approve of this measure?
27. What followed this happy deliverance?
SECTION II
Like rigid Cincinnatus, nobly poor. —Thomson.
1. The year following, the two consuls of the former year, Man'lius and Fa'bius, were cited by the tribunes to appear before the people. The Agra'rian law, which had been proposed some time before, for equally dividing the lands of the commonwealth among the people, was the object invariably pursued, and they were accused of having made unjustifiable delays in putting it off.
2. The Agra'rian law was a grant the senate could not think of making to the people. The consuls, therefore, made many delays and excuses, till at length they were once more obliged to have recourse to a dictator; and they fixed upon Quintus Cincinna'tus, a man who had for some time, given up all views of ambition, and retired to his little farm, where the deputies of the senate found him holding the plough, and dressed in the mean attire of a labouring husbandman. 3. He appeared but little elevated with the addresses of ceremony, and the pompous habits they brought him; and, upon declaring to him the senate's pleasure, he testified rather a concern that his aid should be wanted. He naturally preferred the charms of a country retirement to the fatiguing splendors of office, and only said to his wife, as they were leading him away, "I fear, my Atti'lia, that for this year our little fields must remain unsown." 4. Then, taking a tender leave, he departed for the city, where both parties were strongly inflamed against each other. However, he resolved to side with neither; but, by a strict attention to the interests of his country, instead of gaining the confidence of faction, to seize the esteem of all. 5. Thus, by threats and well-timed submission, he prevailed upon the tribunes to put off their law for a time, and conducted himself so as to be a terror to the multitude whenever they refused to enlist, and their greatest encourager whenever their submission deserved it. 6. Having, by these means, restored that tranquillity to the people which he so much loved himself, he again gave up the splendors of ambition, to enjoy it with a greater relish on his little farm.
U.C. 295.
7. Cincinna'tus had not long retired from his office, when a fresh exigence of the state once more required his assistance; and the Æ'qui and the Vol'sci, who, although always worsted, were still for renewing the war, made new inroads into the territories of Rome. 8. Minu'tius, one of the consuls who succeeded Cincinna'tus, was sent to oppose them; but being naturally timid, and rather more afraid of being conquered than desirous of victory, his army was driven into a defile between two mountains, from which, except through the enemy, there was no egress. 9. This, however, the Æ'qui had the precaution to fortify, by which the Roman army was so hemmed in on every side, that nothing remained but submission to the enemy, famine, or immediate death. 10. Some knights who found means of getting away privately through the enemy's camp, were the first that brought the account of this disaster to Rome. 11. Nothing could exceed the consternation of all ranks of people when informed of it: the senate at first thought of the other consul; but not having sufficient experience of his abilities, they unanimously turned their eyes upon Cincinna'tus, and resolved to make him dictator. 12. Cincinna'tus, the only person on whom Rome could now place her whole dependence, was found, as before, by the messengers of the senate, labouring in his field with cheerful industry. 13. He was at first astonished at the ensigns of unbounded power, with which the deputies came to invest him; but still more at the approach of the principal of the senate, who came out to attend him.
14. A dignity so unlooked for, however, had no effect upon the simplicity or integrity of his manners; and being now possessed of absolute power, and called upon to nominate his master of the horse, he chose a poor man named Tarqui'tius, one who, like himself, despised riches when they led to dishonour. Thus the saving a great nation was devolved upon a husbandman taken from the plough, and an obscure sentinel found among the dregs of the army. 15. Upon entering the city, the dictator put on a serene look, and entreated all those who were able to bear arms, to repair, before sunset, to the Cam'pus Mar'tius (the place where the levies were made) with necessary arms, and provisions for five days. 16. He put himself at the head of these, and, marching all night with great expedition, arrived early the next day within sight of the enemy. Upon his approach, he ordered his soldiers to raise a loud shout, to apprise the consul's army of the relief that was at hand. 17. The Æ'qui were not a little amazed when they saw themselves between two enemies; but still more when they perceived Cincinna'tus making the strongest entrenchments beyond them, to prevent their escape, and enclosing them as they had enclosed the consul. 18. To prevent this, a furious combat ensued; but the Æ'qui, being attacked on both sides, and unable longer to resist or fly, begged a cessation of arms. 19. They offered the dictator his own terms: he gave them their lives, and obliged them, in token of servitude, to pass under the yoke, which was two spears set upright, and another across, in the form of a gallows, beneath which the vanquished were to march. Their captains and generals he made prisoners of war, being reserved to adorn his triumph. 20. As for the plunder of the enemy's camp, that he gave entirely up to his own soldiers, without reserving any part for himself, or permitting those of the delivered army to have a share. 21. Thus having rescued a Roman army from inevitable destruction, having defeated a powerful enemy, having taken and fortified their city, and still more, having refused any part of the spoil, he resigned his dictatorship, after having enjoyed it but fourteen days. The senate would have enriched him, but he declined their proffers, choosing to retire once more to his farm and his cottage, content with competency and fame.
22. But this repose from foreign invasion did not lessen the tumults of the city within. The clamours for the Agra'rian law still continued, and still more fiercely, when Sic'cius Denta'tus, a plebeian advanced in years, but of an admirable person and military deportment, came forward to enumerate his hardships and his merits. This old soldier made no scruple of extolling the various achievements of his youth; indeed, his merits more than supported his ostentation. 23. He had served his country in the wars forty years: he had been an officer thirty, first a centurion, and then a tribune; he had fought one hundred and twenty battles, in which, by the force of his single arm, he had saved a multitude of lives; he had gained fourteen civic,
Tarpe'ian Rock, or Tarpei'us Mons, a hill at Rome, about eighty feet in perpendicular height, whence the Romans threw down their condemned criminals.