he
Volscians, persuaded his countrymen to appoint Coriolanus their general.
Nothing could check his victorious progress; town after town fell before
him; and he advanced within five miles of the city, ravaging the lands
of the Plebeians, but sparing those of the Patricians. The city was
filled with despair. The ten first men in the Senate were sent in hopes
of moving his compassion. But they were received with the utmost
sternness, and told that the city must submit to his absolute will. Next
day the pontiffs, augurs, flamens, and all the priests, came in their
robes of office, and in vain prayed him to spare the city. All seemed
lost; but Rome was saved by her women. Next morning the noblest matrons,
headed by Veturia, the aged mother of Corolanus, and by his wife
Volumnia, holding her little children by the hand, came to his tent.
Their lamentations turned him from his purpose. "Mother," he said,
bursting into tears, "thou hast saved Rome, but lost thy son!" He then
led the Volscians home, but they put him to death because he had spared
Rome. Others relate that he lived among the Volscians to a great age,
and was often heard to say that "none but an old man can feel how
wretched it is to live in a foreign land."

[Illustration: The Environs of Rome.]

2. THE FABIA GENS AND THE VEIENTINES, B.C. 477.--The Fabii were one of
the most powerful of the Patrician houses. For seven successive years
one of the Consuls was always a Fabius. The Fabii had been among the
leading opponents of the Agrarian Law; and Kaeso Fabius had taken an
active part in obtaining the condemnation of Sp. Cassius. But shortly
afterward we find this same Kaeso the advocate of the popular rights, and
proposing that the Agrarian Law of Cassius should be carried into
effect. He was supported in his new views by his powerful house, though
the reasons for their change of opinion we do not know. But the Fabii
made no impression upon the great body of the Patricians, and only
earned for themselves the hearty hatred of their order. Finding that
they could no longer live in peace at Rome, they determined to leave the
city, and found a separate settlement, where they might still be useful
to their native land. One of the most formidable enemies of the republic
was the Etruscan city of Veii, situated about twelve miles from Rome.
Accordingly, the Fabian house, consisting of 306 males of full age,
accompanied by their wives and children, clients and dependents,