ht that this must be the king; so he stabbed him to the heart. Then
the guards seized him and dragged him before the king, who was greatly
enraged, and ordered them to burn him alive if he would not confess the
whole affair. Then Mucius stood before the king and said: "See how
little thy tortures can avail to make a brave man tell the secrets
committed to him"; and so saying, he thrust his right hand into the fire
of the altar, and held it in the flame with unmoved countenance. Then
the king marvelled at his courage, and ordered him to be spared, and
sent away in safety: "for," said he, "thou art a brave man, and hast
done more harm to thyself than to me." Then Mucius replied: "Thy
generosity, O king, prevails more with me than thy threats. Know that
three hundred Roman youths have sworn thy death: my lot came first. But
all the rest remain, prepared to do and suffer like myself." So he was
let go, and returned home, and was called "Scaevola," or "The
Left-handed," because his right hand had been burnt off.

King Porsenna was greatly moved by the danger he had escaped, and
perceiving the obstinate determination of the Romans, he offered to make
peace. The Romans gladly gave ear to his words, for they were hard
pressed, and they consented to give back all the land which they had won
from the Etruscans beyond the Tiber. And they gave hostages to the king
in pledge that they would obey him as they had promised, ten youths and
ten maidens. But one of the maidens, named Cloelia, had a man's heart,
and she persuaded all her fellows to escape from the king's camp and
swim across the Tiber. At first King Porsenna was wroth; but then he was
much amazed, even more than at the deeds of Horatius and Mucius. So when
the Romans sent back Cloelia and her fellow-maidens--for they would not
break faith with the king--he bade her return home again, and told her
she might take whom she pleased of the youths who were hostages; and she
chose those who were yet boys, and restored them to their parents.

So the Roman people gave certain lands to young Mucius, and they set up
an equestrian statue to the bold Cloelia at the top of the Sacred Way.
And King Porsenna returned home; and thus the third and most formidable
attempt to bring back Tarquin failed.

When Tarquin now found that he had no hopes of further assistance from
Porsenna and his Etruscan friends, he went and dwelt at Tusculum, where
Mamilius Octavius, his son-in-law, was still chi