m level their lances and slay all, friend or
foe, whose faces were turned towards them. There was to be no mercy for
a Roman whose face was turned from the field. This onset stopped the
flight, and Aulus charged fiercely upon the Tarquins, praying, as he did
so, to the divine warriors Castor and Pollux, to whom he vowed to
dedicate a temple if they would aid him in the fight. And he promised
the soldiers that the two who should first break into the camp of the
enemy should receive a rich reward.

Then suddenly, at the head of the chosen band, appeared two unknown
horsemen, in the first bloom of youth and taller and fairer than mortal
men, while the horses they rode were white as the driven snow. On went
the charge, led by these two noble strangers, before whom the enemy fled
in mortal terror, while Titus, the last of the sons of King Tarquin,
fell dead from his steed. The camp of the Latins being reached, these
two horsemen were the first to break into it, and soon the whole army of
the enemy was in disorderly flight and the battle won.

Aulus now sought the two strange horsemen, to give them the reward he
had promised; but he sought in vain; they were not to be found, among
either the living or the dead, and no man had set eyes upon them since
the camp was won. They had vanished as suddenly as they had appeared.
But on the hard black rock which surrounds the lake was visible the mark
of a horse's hoof, such as no earthly steed could ever have made. For
ages afterwards this mark remained.

But the strangers appeared once again. It was known in Rome that the
armies were joined in battle, and the longing for tidings from the field
grew intense. Suddenly, as the sun went down behind the city walls,
there were seen in the Forum two horsemen on milk-white steeds, taller
and fairer than the tallest and fairest of men. Their horses were bathed
in foam, and they looked like men fresh from battle.

Alighting near the Temple of Vesta, where a spring of water bubbles from
the ground, these men, whom no Romans had ever seen before, washed from
their persons the battle-stains. As they did so men crowded round and
eagerly questioned them. In reply, they told them how the battle had
been fought and won,--though in truth the battle ended only as the sun
went down over Lake Regillus. They then mounted their horses and rode
from the Forum, and were seen no more. Men sought them far and wide, but
no one set eyes on them again.

Then