father then prayed the Decemvir to be allowed to speak one word to the
nurse in his daughter's hearing, in order to ascertain whether she was
really his daughter. The request was granted. Virginius drew them both
aside, and, snatching up a butcher's-knife from one of the stalls,
plunged it into his daughter's breast, exclaiming, "There is no way but
this to keep thee free." In vain did Appius call out to stop him. The
crowd made way for him, and, holding his bloody knife on high, he rushed
to the gate of the city and hastened to the army. His comrades espoused
his cause, expelled their commanders, and marched toward Rome. They were
soon joined by the other army, to whom Numitorius and Icilius had
carried the tidings. The Plebeians in the city flocked to them, and they
all resolved to retire once more to the Sacred Mount.

This second secession extorted from the Patricians the second great
charter of the Plebeian rights. The Patricians compelled the Decemvirs
to resign, and sent L. Valerius and M. Horatius, two of the most eminent
men of their order, to negotiate with the Plebeians. It was finally
agreed that the Tribunes should be restored, that the authority of the
Comitia Tributa should be recognized, and that the right of appeal to
the people against the power of the supreme magistrates should be
confirmed. The Plebeians now returned to the city, and elected, for the
first time, ten Tribunes instead of five, a number which remained
unchanged down to the latest times. Virginius, Icilius, and Numitorius
were among the new Tribunes.

Two Consuls were elected in place of the Decemvirs, and the choice of
the Comitia Centuriata naturally fell upon Valerius and Horatius. The
new Consuls now redeemed their promises to the Plebeians by bringing
forward the laws which are called after them, the Valerian and Horatian
Laws. These celebrated laws enacted:

1. That every Roman citizen should have the right of appeal against the
sentence of the supreme magistrate. This was, in fact, a solemn
confirmation of the old law of Valerius Publicola, passed in the first
year of the republic. It was enacted again a third time in B.C. 300, on
the proposal of M. Valerius, the Consul. These repeated enactments gave
a still farther sanction to the law. In the same way the Great Charter
of England was ratified several times.

2. That the _Plebiscita_, or resolutions passed by the Plebeians in the
Comitia Tributa, should have the force of laws