oo were defeated. The prisoners were taken into Rome
and made citizens of the new commonwealth.

But it was the Sabines who had most to deplore, for they had come in
much the greatest number, and it was principally the Sabine virgins whom
the Romans had borne off from the games. Titus Tatius, the king of the
Sabines, therefore resolved upon a signal revenge, and took time to
gather a large army, with which he marched against Rome.

The war that followed was marked by two romantic incidents. Near the
Tiber is a hill,--afterwards known as the Capitoline Hill,--which was
divided from the Palatine Hill by a low and swampy valley. On this hill
Romulus had built a fortress, as a sort of outwork of his new city. It
happened that Tarpeius, the chief who held this fortress, had a daughter
named Tarpeia, who was deeply affected by that love of finery which has
caused abundant mischief since her day. When she saw the golden collars
and bracelets which many of the Sabines wore, her soul was filled with
longing, and she managed to let them know that she would betray the
fortress into their hands if they would give her the bright things which
they wore upon their arms.

They consented, and she secretly opened to them a gate of the fortress.
But as they marched through the gate, and the traitress waited to
receive her reward, the Sabine soldiers threw on her the bright shields
which they wore on their arms, and she was crushed to death beneath
their weight. The steep rock of the Capitoline Hill from which traitors
were afterwards thrown was called, after her, the Tarpeian Rock.

[Illustration: ROME FROM THE DOME OF ST. PETER'S.]

The fortress thus captured, the valley between the hill and the city
became the scene of battle. Here the Sabines repulsed the Romans,
driving them back to one of their gates, through which the fugitives
rushed in confusion, shutting it hastily behind them. But--if we may
trust the legend--the gate refused to stay shut. It opened again of its
own accord. They closed it twice more, and twice more it swung open. The
victorious Sabines, who had now reached it, began to rush in; but just
then, from the Temple of Janus, near by, there burst forth a mighty
stream of water, which swept the Sabines away and saved Rome from
capture. Therefore, in after-days, the gates of the Temple of Janus
stood always wide open in time of war, that the god might go out, if he
would, to fight for the Romans.

Another battle too