whithersoever he went, until, protected by the
crowd of persons attending him, he reached the gate. Icilius and
Numitorius take up the lifeless body and exhibit it to the people: they
deplore the villany of Appius, the fatal beauty of the maiden, and the
dire necessity of the father. The matrons who followed exclaim, "Was
this the condition of rearing children? were these the rewards of
chastity?" and other things which female grief on such occasions
suggests, when their complaints are so much the more affecting, in
proportion as (their grief) is more intense from the natural tenderness
of their minds. The voice of the men, and more especially of Icilius,
entirely turned on the tribunitian power, on the right of appeal to the
people which had been taken from them, and on the indignities thrown
upon the state.

49. The multitude was excited partly by the atrocious nature of the
deed, partly by the hope of recovering their liberty through a
favourable opportunity. Appius now orders Icilius to be summoned before
him, now on refusing to come to be seized; at length, when an
opportunity of approaching him was not afforded to the beadles, he
himself proceeding through the crowd with a body of young patricians,
orders him to be taken into confinement. Now not only the multitude, but
Lucius Valerius and Marcus Horatius, the leaders of the multitude, stood
around Icilius: who, having repulsed the lictor, stated, that "if he
meant to proceed by law, they would protect Icilius from one who was but
a private citizen; if he desired to employ force, that they would be no
bad match for him even then." Hence arises a furious scuffle. The
decemvir's lictor attacks Valerius and Horatius: the fasces are broken
by the people. Appius ascends the tribunal; Horatius and Valerius follow
him. To them the assembly pays attention, they drown with clamour the
voice of the decemvir. Now Valerius authoritatively ordered the lictors
to depart from one who was but a private citizen: when Appius, whose
spirits were now broken, being alarmed for his life, betook himself into
a house in the vicinity of the forum, unknown to his enemies, with his
head covered up. Spurius Oppius, in order to assist his colleague,
rushes into the forum from the opposite side; he sees their authority
overpowered by force. Distracted then by various counsels between which
he wavered, by assenting to several advisers from every side, he
eventually ordered the senate to be con