e night she opened one of the gates and received the Sabines in.
And truly Antigonus, it would seem, was not solitary in saying he
loved betrayers, but hated those who had betrayed; nor Caesar, who
told Rhymitalces the Thracian that he loved the treason, but hated the
traitor; but it is the general feeling of all who have occasion for
wicked men's services, as people have for the poison of venomous beasts;
they are glad of them while they are of use, and abhor their baseness
when it is over. And so did Tatius behave towards Tarpeia, for he
commanded the Sabines, in regard to their contract, not to refuse her
the least part of what they wore on their left arms; and he himself
first took his bracelet off his arm, and threw that, together with his
buckler, at her; and all the rest following, she, being borne down and
quite buried with the multitude of gold and their shields, died under
the weight and pressure of them; Tarpeius also himself, being prosecuted
by Romulus, was found guilty of treason, and that part of the Capitol
they still call the Tarpeian Rock, from which they used to cast down
malefactors.

The Sabines being possessed of the hill, Romulus, in great fury, bade
them battle, and Tatius was confident to accept it. There were many
brief conflicts, we may suppose, but the most memorable was the last, in
which Romulus having received a wound on his head by a stone, and being
almost felled to the ground by it, and disabled, the Romans gave way,
and, being driven out of the level ground, fled towards the Palatium.
Romulus, by this time recovering from his wound a little, turned
about to renew the battle, and, facing the fliers, with a loud voice
encouraged them to stand and fight. But being overborne with numbers,
and nobody daring to face about, stretching out his hands to heaven, he
prayed to Jupiter to stop the army, and not to neglect but maintain the
Roman cause, now in extreme danger. The prayer was no sooner made
than shame and respect for their king checked many; the fears of the
fugitives changed suddenly into confidence. The place they first
stood at was where now is the temple of Jupiter Stator (which may
be translated the Stayer); there they rallied again into ranks, and
repulsed the Sabines to the place called now Regia, and to the temple
of Vesta; where both parties, preparing to begin a second battle, were
prevented by a spectacle, strange to behold, and defying description.
For the daughters of the