V
While he was still speaking, she, in a burst of anger, and holding her hands up to heaven, invoked their household gods. Two processions of women, said she, have set forth from Rome in the deepest affliction, one in the time of King Tatius, the other in that of Gaius Marcius. Of these two Tatius, a stranger and downright enemy, had respect for the women and yielded to them. Marcius scorns a like delegation of women, including his wife, and his mother besides. May no mother, unblessed in her son, ever again be reduced to the necessity of throwing herself at his feet. This I must submit to. I must prostrate myself before yours. So speaking she flung herself on the ground. He burst into tears, sprang forward and lifted her up, exclaiming with the deepest emotion: Mother, you have gained the victory, but it is a victory by which you have lost your son. So saying he led back the army, in order to give his reasons to the Volsci and to make peace between the two nations. There was some hope that he might be able to persuade the Volsci, but on account of the jealousy of their leader Attius he was put to death. The tale of Coriolanus is found in Livy, ii. 35-41, and at greater length in Dionysius of Halicarnassus, book viii.; also in Plutarch, Life of Coriolanus.
Vb
Marcius did not think proper to gainsay either of these [demands].
VI
Y.R. 275(The Fabii) were as much to be pitied for their misfortunes B.C. 479 as they were worthy of praise for their bravery. For it was a great misfortune to the Romans, on account of their number, the dignity of a noble house, and its total destruction. The day on which it happened was ever after considered unlucky.The tale of the Fabian family and their voluntary assumption of the war against the Veientians, and their total destruction in an ambuscade is related in Livy, ii. 48-50.
