more glorious for the Volscians because their
superiority in the field has put them in a position to grant us the
greatest of blessings, peace and concord, in which they also will share
alike with us. You will be chiefly to be thanked for these blessings, if
we obtain them, and chiefly to be blamed if we do not. For though the
issue of war is always doubtful, this much is evident, that if you
succeed, you will become your country's evil genius, and if you fail,
you will have inflicted the greatest miseries on men who are your
friends and benefactors, merely in order to gratify your own private
spite."

XXXVI. While Volumnia spoke thus, Marcius listened to her in silence.
After she had ceased, he stood for a long while without speaking, until
she again addressed him. "Why art thou silent, my son? Is it honourable
to make everything give way to your rancorous hatred, and is it a
disgrace to yield to your mother, when she pleads for such important
matters? Does it become a great man to remember that he has been ill
treated, and does it not rather become him to recollect the debt which
children owe to their parents. And yet no one ought to be more grateful
than you yourself, who punish ingratitude so bitterly: in spite of
which, though you have already taken a deep revenge on your country for
its ill treatment of you, you have not made your mother any return for
her kindness. It would have been right for me to gain my point without
any pressure, when pleading in such a just and honourable cause; but if
I cannot prevail by words, this resource alone is left me." Saying this,
she fell at his feet, together with his wife and children. Marcius,
crying out, "What have you done to me, mother?" raised her from the
ground, and pressing her hand violently, exclaimed, "You have conquered;
your victory is a blessed one for Rome, but ruinous to me, for I shall
retreat conquered by you alone." After speaking thus, and conferring for
a short time in private with his mother and his wife, he at their own
request sent them back to Rome, and the following night led away the
Volscian army. Various opinions were current among the Volscians about
what had taken place. Some blamed him severely, while others approved,
because they wished for peace. Others again, though they disliked what
he had done, yet did not regard him as a traitor, but as a soft-hearted
man who had yielded to overwhelming pressure. However, no one disobeyed
him, but all foll