Quirites, I do so." The herald was Marcus Valerius, who appointed
Spurius Fusius pater patratus,[21] touching his head and hair with
the vervain.[22] The pater patratus was appointed ad iusiurandum
patrandum, that is, to ratify the treaty; and he went through it in a
lengthy preamble, which, being expressed in a long set form, it is not
worth while to repeat. After having set forth the conditions, he said:
"Hear, O Jupiter; hear, O pater patratus of the Alban people, and ye,
O Alban people, give ear. As those conditions, from first to last,
have been publicly recited from those tablets or wax without wicked
or fraudulent intent, and as they have been most correctly understood
here this day, the Roman people will not be the first to fail to
observe those conditions. If they shall be the first to do so by
public consent, by fraudulent intent, on that day do thou, O Jupiter,
so strike the Roman people, as I shall here this day strike this
swine; and do thou strike them so much the more, as thou art more
mighty and more powerful." When he said this, he struck the swine with
a flint stone. The Albans likewise went through their own set form and
oath by the mouth of their own dictator and priests.

The treaty being concluded, the twin-brothers, as had been agreed,
took arms. While their respective friends exhorted each party,
reminding them that their country's gods, their country and parents,
all their fellow-citizens both at home and in the army, had their eyes
then fixed on their arms, on their hands, being both naturally brave,
and animated by the shouts and exhortations of their friends, they
advanced into the midst between the two lines. The two armies on both
sides had taken their seats in front of their respective camps, free
rather from danger for the moment than from anxiety: for sovereign
power was at stake, dependent on the valour and fortune of so few.
Accordingly, therefore, on the tip-toe of expectation, their attention
was eagerly fixed on a spectacle far from pleasing. The signal was
given: and the three youths on each side, as if in battle array,
rushed to the charge with arms presented, bearing in their breasts the
spirit of mighty armies. Neither the one nor the other heeded their
personal danger, but the public dominion or slavery was present to
their mind, and the thought that the fortune of their country would be
such hereafter as they themselves should have made it. Directly their
arms clashed at the f