ssisted only by two more, for some time
sustained the whole fury of the assault, till the bridge was broken
down behind him. When he found the communication thus cut off,
plunging with his arms into the torrent of the Tiber, he swam back
victorious to his fellow-soldiers, and was received with just
applause.[2]

18. Still, however, Porsen'na was determined upon taking the city; and
though five hundred of his men were slain in a sally of the Romans, he
reduced it to the greatest straits, and turning the siege into a
blockade, resolved to take it by famine. 19. The distress of the
besieged soon began to be insufferable, and all things seemed to
threaten a speedy surrender, when another act of fierce bravery, still
superior to that which had saved the city before again brought about
its safety and freedom.

20. Mu'tius, a youth of undaunted courage, was resolved to rid his
country of an enemy that so continued to oppress it; and, for this
purpose, disguised in the habit of an Etru'rian peasant, entered the
camp of the enemy, resolving to die or to kill the king. 21. With this
resolution he made up to the place where Porsen'na was paying his
troops, with a secretary by his side; but mistaking the latter for the
king, he stabbed him to the heart, and was immediately apprehended and
brought into the royal presence. 22. Upon Porsen'na's demanding
who he was, and the cause of so heinous an action, Mu'tius, without
reserve, informed him of his country and his design, and at the same
time thrusting his right hand into a fire that was burning upon the
altar before him, "You see," cried he, "how little I regard the
severest punishment your cruelty can inflict. A Roman knows not only
how to act, but how to suffer; I am not the only person you have to
fear; three hundred Roman youths, like me, have conspired your
destruction; therefore prepare for their attempts." 23. Porsen'na,
amazed at so much intrepidity, had too noble a mind not to acknowledge
merit, though found in an enemy; he therefore ordered him to be safely
conducted back to Rome, and offered the besieged conditions of
peace.[3] 24. These were readily accepted on their side, being neither
hard nor disgraceful, except that twenty hostages were demanded; ten
young men, and as many virgins, of the best families in Rome. 25. But
even in this instance also, as if the gentler sex were resolved to be
sharers in the desperate valour of the times, Cle'lia, one of the
hostages, e