in two. A statue of Attus, with his head veiled,
was erected in the comitium, close to the steps on the left of the
senate-house, on the spot where the event occurred. They say also that
the whetstone was deposited in the same place that it might remain as
a record of that miracle to posterity. Without doubt so much honour
accrued to auguries and the college of augurs, that nothing was
subsequently undertaken either in peace or war without taking the
auspices, and assemblies of the people, the summoning of armies, and
the most important affairs of state were put off, whenever the
birds did not prove propitious. Nor did Tarquin then make any other
alteration in the centuries of horse, except that he doubled the
number of men in each of these divisions, so that the three centuries
consisted of one thousand eight hundred knights; only, those that were
added were called "the younger," but by the same names as the
earlier, which, because they have been doubled, they now call the six
centuries.

This part of his forces being augmented, a second engagement took
place with the Sabines. But, besides that the strength of the Roman
army had been thus augmented, a stratagem also was secretly resorted
to, persons being sent to throw into the river a great quantity of
timber that lay on the banks of the Anio, after it had been first set
on fire; and the wood, being further kindled by the help of the wind,
and the greater part of it, that was placed on rafts, being driven
against and sticking in the piles, fired the bridge. This accident
also struck terror into the Sabines during the battle, and, after they
were routed, also impeded their flight. Many, after they had escaped
the enemy, perished in the river: their arms floating down the Tiber
to the city, and being recognised, made the victory known almost
before any announcement of it could be made. In that action the chief
credit rested with the cavalry: they say that, being posted on the
two wings, when the centre of their own infantry was now being driven
back, they charged so briskly in flank, that they not only checked
the Sabine legions who pressed hard on those who were retreating, but
suddenly put them to flight. The Sabines made for the mountains in
disordered flight, but only a few reached them; for, as has been
said before, most of them were driven by the cavalry into the river.
Tarquin, thinking it advisable to press the enemy hard while in a
state of panic, having sent