hom
were yet very young, went accordingly in a body to the senate-chamber,
and asked to be admitted. The doors were opened to them, and they went
in. They all appeared to be in great distress and agitation. The grief
and anxiety which they had suffered during the progress of the war
still continued, and they begged the Senate to let them go out to the
camp of the Sabines, and endeavor to persuade them to make peace. The
Senate were disposed to consent. The women wished to take their
children with them, but some of the Romans imagined that there might,
perhaps, be danger, that under pretense of interceding for peace, they
were really intending to make their escape from Rome altogether. So it
was insisted that they should leave their children behind them as
hostages for their return, excepting that such as had two children
were allowed to take one, which plan it was thought would aid them in
moving the compassion of their Sabine relatives.

The women, accordingly, left the senate-chamber, and with their
children in their arms, their hair disheveled, their robes disordered,
and their countenances wan with grief, went in mournful procession out
through the gate of the city. They passed across the plain and
advanced toward the citadel. They were admitted, and after some delay,
were ushered into the council of the Sabines. Here their tears and
exclamations of grief broke forth anew. When silence was in some
measure restored, Hersilia addressed the Sabine chieftains, saying,
that she and her companions had come to beg their countrymen to put an
end to the war. "We know," said she, "that you are waging it on our
account, and we see in all that you have done proofs of your love for
us. In fact, it was our supposed interests which led you to commence
it, but now our real interests require that it should be ended. It is
true that when we were first seized by the Romans we felt greatly
wronged, but having submitted to our fate, we have now become settled
in our new homes, and are contented and happy in them. We love our
husbands and love our children; and we are treated with the utmost
kindness and respect by all. Do not then, under a mistaken kindness
for us, attempt to tear us away again, or continue this dreadful war,
which, though ostensibly on our account, and for our benefit, is
really making us inexpressibly miserable."

This intercession produced the effect which might have been expected
from it. The Sabines and Romans im