Caius Marcius Coriolanus

I have won no other prize for all the toils and perils which I have undergone than the name which is a badge of my enmity to your people. This, indeed, cannot be taken away from me; but of everything else I have been stripped, through the envy and insolence of the Roman people, and the cowardly treachery of the magistrates and those of my own order. I have been driven into exile, too, and am become a suppliant at thy hearth, not for the sake of security and safety,—for why should I come hither if I were afraid of death ?—but with a desire to take vengeance on those who have driven me forth, which I take at once when I put myself in thy power.

If; then, thou art eager to assail thine enemies, come, good Sir, take advantage of my calamities, and make my individual misfortune the good fortune of all the Volscians; I shall fight better for you than I have against you, in just so far as those who know the secrets of their enemies fight better than those who do not. But if thou hast given up hope, neither do I wish to live, nor is it for thine advantage to spare one who has long been an enemy and a foe, and now is unprofitable and useless.

When Tullus heard this, he was wonderfully pleased, and giving him his right hand, said: Rise up, Marcius, and be of good courage. In giving thyself to us, thou bringest us a great good, and thou mayest expect a greater one still from the Volscians. Then he entertained Marcius at table with every mark of kindness, and during the ensuing days they took counsel together concerning the war.[*](Livy simply says that Marcius was kindly received by the Volscians, and that he lodged with Tullus (ii. 35, 6). Chapters xxi.-xxiii. agree closely with Dionysius Hal. vii. 67 and viii. 1. )

But at Rome, owing to the hatred of the people by the patricians, who were especially embittered by the condemnation of Marcius, there were great commotions, and many signs from heaven were reported by seers, priests, and private persons, which could not be ignored. One of these is said to have been as follows. There was one Titus Latinus,[*](The story is found in Livy, ii. 36, and in Valerius Maximus, i. 7, 4. ) a man of no great prominence, but of quiet and modest life in general, and free from superstitious fears, as he was also, and yet more, from vain pretensions.