ch. 102.10 [Note] On the appearance of the
enemy the country people fled into the City as best they
could. The weak places in the defences were occupied by
military posts; elsewhere the walls and the Tiber were deemed
sufficient protection. The enemy would have forced their way
over the Sublician bridge had it not been for one man,
Horatius Cocles. The good fortune of Rome provided him as her
bulwark on that memorable day. He happened to be on guard at
the bridge when he saw the Janiculum taken by a sudden
assault and the
enemy rushing down from it to the river, whilst his own men,
a panic-struck mob, were deserting their posts and throwing
away their arms. He reproached them one after another for
their cowardice, tried to stop them, appealed to them in
heaven's name to stand, declared that it was in vain for them
to seek safety in flight whilst leaving the bridge open
behind them, there would very soon be more of the enemy on
the Palatine and the Capitol than there were on the
Janiculum. So he shouted to them to break down the bridge by
sword or fire, or by whatever means they could, he would meet
the enemies' attack so far as one man could keep them at bay.
He advanced to the head of the bridge. Amongst the fugitives,
whose backs alone were visible to the enemy, he was
conspicuous as he fronted them armed for fight at close
quarters. The enemy were astounded at his preternatural
courage. Two men were kept by a sense of shame from deserting
him—Sp. Lartius and T. Herminius—both of them men of high
birth and renowned courage. With them he sustained the first
tempestuous shock and wild confused onset, for a brief
interval. Then, whilst only a small portion of the bridge
remained and those who were cutting it down called upon them
to retire, he insisted upon these, too, retreating. Looking
round with eyes dark with menace upon the Etruscan chiefs, he
challenged them to single combat, and reproached them all
with being the slaves of tyrant kings, and whilst unmindful
of their own liberty coming to attack that of others. For
some time they hesitated, each looking round upon the others
to begin. At length shame roused them to action, and raising
a shout they hurled their javelins from all sides on their
solitary foe. He caught them on his outstretched shield, and
with unshaken resolution kept his place on the bridge with
firmly planted foot. They were just attempting to dislodge
him by a charge when the crash of the broken bridge and the
shout which the Romans raised at seeing the work completed
stayed the attack by filling them with sudden panic. Then
Cocles said, Tiberinus, holy father, I pray thee to receive
into thy propitious stream these arms and this thy warrior.
So, fully armed, he leaped into the Tiber, and though many
missiles fell over him he swam across in safety to his
friends: an act of daring more famous than credible with
posterity. The State showed its gratitude for such courage;
his statue was set up in the Comitium, and as much land given
to him as he could drive the plough round in one day. Besides
this public honour, the
citizens individually showed their feeling; for, in spite of
the great scarcity, each, in proportions to his means,
sacrificed what he could from his own store as a gift to
Cocles.
