wing severe terms: "We will give you no peace till you restore
to the Volscians all the land and cities which Rome has ever taken from
them, and till you make them citizens of Rome, and give them all the
rights in your city which you have yourselves."

These conditions the deputies had no power to accept, and they threw the
senate into dismay. The deputies were sent again, instructed to ask for
gentler terms, but now, Coriolanus refused even to let them enter his
camp.

This harsh repulse plunged Rome into mortal terror. The senate, helpless
to resist, now sent the priests of the gods and the augurs, all clothed
in their sacred garments, and bearing the sacred emblems from the
temples. But even this solemn delegation Coriolanus refused to receive,
and sent them back to Rome unheard.

Where all this time was the Roman army, which always before and after
made itself heard and felt? This we are not told. We are in the land of
legend, and cannot look for too much consistency. For once in its
history Rome seems to have forgotten that its mission was not to plead,
but to fight. Perhaps its armies had been beaten and demoralized in
previous battles. At any rate we can but tell the story as it is told to
us.

The help of delegates, priests, and augurs having proved unavailing,
that of women was next sought. A noble lady, Valeria by name, who with
other suppliants had sought the Temple of Jupiter, was inspired by a
sudden thought, which seemed sent by the god himself. Rising, and
bidding the other noble ladies to accompany her, she proceeded to the
house of Volumnia, the mother of Coriolanus, whom she found with
Virgilia, his wife, and his little children.

"We have come to ask you to join us," she said, "in order that we women,
without aid from man, may deliver our country, and win for ourselves a
name more glorious even than that of the Sabine wives of old, who
stopped the battle between their husbands and fathers. Come with us to
the camp of Caius, and let us pray him to show us mercy."

"It is well thought of; we shall go with you," said Volumnia, and, with
Virgilia and her children, the noble matron prepared to seek the camp
and tent of her exiled son.

It was a sad and solemn spectacle, as this train of noble ladies, clad
in their habiliments of woe, and with bent heads and sorrowful faces,
wound through the hostile camp, from which they were not excluded, like
the men. Even the Volscian soldiers watched them with