right hand into the fire on the altar, and
there let it burn, to show how little he heeded pain. Astonished at his
courage, the king bade him depart in peace; and Mucius, out of
gratitude, advised him to make peace with Rome, since three hundred
noble youths, he said, had sworn to take the life of the king, and he
was the first upon whom the lot had fallen. Mucius was henceforward
called Scaevola, or the _Left-handed_, because his right hand had been
burnt off. Porsena, alarmed for his life, which he could not secure
against so many desperate men, forthwith offered peace to the Romans on
condition of their restoring to the Veientines the land which they had
taken from them. These terms were accepted, and Porsena withdrew his
troops from the Janiculum after receiving ten youths and ten maidens as
hostages from the Romans. Cloelia, one of the maidens, escaped from
the Etruscan camp, and swam across the Tiber to Rome. She was sent back
by the Romans to Porsena, who was so amazed at her courage that he not
only set her at liberty, but allowed her to take with her those of the
hostages whom she pleased.

Thus ended the second attempt to restore the Tarquins by force.[12]

After Porsena quitted Rome, Tarquin took refuge with his son-in-law,
Octavius Mamilius, of Tusculum. The thirty Latin cities now espoused the
cause of the exiled king, and declared war against Rome. The contest was
decided by the battle of the Lake Regillus, which was long celebrated
in Roman story, and the account of which resembles one of the battles in
the Iliad. The Romans were commanded by the Dictator,[13] A. Postumius,
and by T. AEbutius, the Master of the Horse; at the head of the Latins
were Tarquin and Octavius Mamilius. The struggle was fierce and bloody,
but the Latins at length fled. Almost all the chiefs on either side fell
in the conflict, or were grievously wounded. Titus, the son of Tarquin,
was killed; and the aged king was wounded, but escaped with his life. It
was related in the old tradition that the Romans gained this battle by
the assistance of the gods Castor and Pollux, who were seen charging the
Latins at the head of the Roman cavalry, and who afterward carried to
Rome the tidings of the victory. A temple was built in the forum on the
spot where they appeared, and their festival was celebrated yearly.

This was the third and last attempt to restore the Tarquins. The Latins
were completely humbled by this victory. Tarquinius Superb