have some greater
purpose in my heart." So the Fathers giving their consent, he hid a
dagger under his garment and set forth; and having made his way into
the camp, he took his stand where the crowd was thickest, hard by
the judgment-seat of the King. Now it chanced that the soldiers were
receiving their wages. There sat by the King's side a scribe, and the
man wore garments like unto the King's garments. And Mucius, seeing that
the man was busy about many things, and that the soldiers for the most
part spake with him rather than with the other, and fearing to ask which
of the two might be the King, lest he should so show himself to be a
stranger, left the matter to chance, and slew the scribe. Then he turned
to flee, making a way for himself through the crowd with his bloody
sword; but the ministers of the King laid hands on him, and set him
before the judgment-seat. Thereupon he cried, "I am a citizen of Rome,
and men call me Caius Mucius. Thou art my enemy, O King, and I sought to
slay thee; and now, as I feared not to smite, so I fear not to die. We
men of Rome have courage both to do and to suffer. Think not that I only
have this purpose against thee; there are many coming after me that seek
honour in this same fashion by slaying thee. Prepare thee, therefore, to
stand in peril of thy life every hour, and know that thou hast an enemy
waiting ever at thy door. The youth of Rome declares war against thee,
and this war it will wage, not by battle, but by such deeds as I would
have done this day."

[Illustration: Mutius before King Porsenna 132]

King Porsenna, when he heard these words, was greatly moved both by
wrath and by fear and bade them bring fire, as though he would have
burned the young man alive, unless he should speedily reveal what that
danger which he threatened against the King might be. Then said Mucius,
"See now and learn how cheaply they hold their bodies that set great
glory before their eyes," and he thrust his right hand into a fire that
had been lighted for sacrifice. And as he stood and seemed to have no
feeling of the pain, the King, greatly marvelling at the thing, leapt
from his seat and bade them take, away the young man from the altar.
"Depart thou hence," he cried, "for I see that thou darest even worse
things against thyself than against me. I would bid thee go on and
prosper with thy courage wert thou a friend and not an enemy. And now I
send thee away free and unharmed." Then said Muci