wars, famine, or disease, or
any of the other evils which men refer to the anger of heaven, as the
severest of public calamities. Two young men courted a maiden of a
plebeian family, highly distinguished for beauty: one of them on a level
with the maid in point of birth, and favoured by her guardians, who were
themselves of the same rank; the other of noble birth, captivated by
nothing but her beauty. The latter was aided by the good wishes of the
nobles, through which party disputes made their way even into the girl's
family. The nobleman was preferred in the judgment of the mother, who
was anxious that her daughter should have the most splendid match
possible: the guardians, mindful of party even in that transaction,
strove for the person of their own order. As the matter could not be
settled within the walls of the house, they proceeded to a court of
justice. On hearing the claim of the mother and of the guardians, the
magistrate decides the right of marriage in conformity with the wish of
the mother. But violence was the more powerful. For the guardians,
having harangued openly in the forum among persons of their own faction,
on the injustice of the decree, collected a party and carry off the girl
from her mother's house: against whom a body of nobles having arisen
more incensed than before, attends the young man rendered furious by the
outrage. A desperate battle takes place; the commons in no respect like
to the Roman commons were worsted, and having set out from the city in
arms, and taken possession of a hill, make excursions into the lands of
the nobles with fire and sword. The city too, which had been previously
free from all contest, they set about besieging, having induced, by the
hope of plunder, a multitude of artisans to join them: nor was any
appearance or calamity of war absent; as if the whole state were
infested by the mad rage of the two young men, who sought the
accomplishment of the fatal match through their country's ruin. The arms
and war at home seemed insufficient to both parties. The nobles called
in the Romans to the relief of their besieged city; the commons called
upon the Volscians to join them in storming Ardea. The Volscians, under
the command of Claelius, an AEquan, came first to Ardea, and drew a line
of circumvallation around the enemy's walls. When news of this was
brought to Rome, Marcus Geganius, the consul, having set out immediately
at the head of an army, selected a place for his