quite insensible to any feeling of pain, the king,
well-nigh astounded at this surprising sight, leaped from his seat and
commanded the young man to be removed from the altar. "Depart," said
he, "thou who hast acted more like an enemy toward thyself than toward
me. I would bid thee go on and prosper in thy valour, if that valour
were on the side of my country. I now dismiss thee unharmed and
unhurt, exempt from the right of war." Then Mucius, as if in return
for the kindness, said: "Since bravery is held in honour with you,
that you may obtain from me by your kindness that which you could not
obtain by threats, know that we are three hundred, the chief of the
Roman youth, who have conspired to attack you in this manner. The
lot fell upon me first. The rest will be with you each in his turn,
according to the fortune that shall befall me who drew the first lot,
until fortune on some favourable opportunity shall have delivered you
into their hands."

Mucius, to whom the surname of Scaevola[13] was afterward given from
the loss of his right hand, was let go and ambassadors from Porsina
followed him to Rome. The danger of the first attempt, in which
nothing had protected him but the mistake of his secret assailant,
and the thought of the risk of life he would have to run so often in
proportion to the number of surviving conspirators that remained, made
so strong an impression upon him that of his own accord he offered
terms of peace to the Romans. In these terms the restoration of the
Tarquins to the throne was proposed and discussed without success,
rather because he felt he could not refuse that to the Tarquins, than
from ignorance that it would be refused him by the Romans. In regard
to the restoration of territory to the Veientines his request was
granted, and the obligation of giving hostages, if they wished the
garrison to be withdrawn from the Janiculum, was extorted from the
Romans. Peace being concluded on these terms, Porsina led his troops
down from the Janiculum, and withdrew from Roman territory. The
fathers bestowed upon Gaius Mucius, in reward for his valour, some
land on the other side of the Tiber, which was afterward called the
Mucian meadows. By this honour paid to valour women also were roused
to deeds that brought glory to the state. Among others, a young woman
named Claelia, one of the hostages, escaped her keepers, and, as the
camp of the Etruscans had been pitched not far from the bank of the
Tiber,