656 THE NATURE OF ROMAN MYTHOLOGY
the king of the Sabine town of Caenina and dedicated his armor to Jupiter Fer-
etrius (perhaps Jupiter "to whom one brings"). This was the first of only three
occasions in the history of the Roman Republic that a Roman commander ded-
icated the armor of an enemy commander whom he had personally slain; such
dedications were known as the spolia opima (the finest trophy). In the second bat-
tle, when Romulus was again victorious, Hersilia, the wife of Romulus, acted as
conciliator and persuaded her husband to accept the defeated Sabines as Roman
citizens.
Finally the Sabines attacked Rome itself and through the treachery of Tarpeia
captured the Capitoline Hill. In the legend Tarpeia was the daughter of the Ro-
man commander upon the Capitol; greedy for gold, she agreed to let the Sabines
in if they would give her "what they had upon their left arms"—meaning their
gold bracelets. After the capture, they crushed her to death under their shields,
for the left arm is the shield arm. Although they were masters of the citadel, the
Sabines could not capture the Forum—its entrance was barred by miraculous
jets of boiling water emitted by Janus. In the low ground where the Forum lay,
fierce fighting took place, and the Sabines were successful until Romulus turned
the tide of battle by vowing a temple to Jupiter Stator (Jupiter the Stayer).
The next stage of the battle is associated with a cavity in the Roman Forum
called the Lacus Curtius. The fiercest of the Sabine soldiers was Mettus Curtius,
who rode on his horse into the marshy ground and miraculously escaped from
his pursuers. The low-lying depression was named after him. Livy also gives
another (more patriotic) account of the Lacus Curtius, which has proved more
popular. In 362 B.C. a chasm mysteriously opened up in the Forum, and the
soothsayers announced that it could be closed only by putting into it that which
was most valuable to Rome; if it were so filled, the Roman state would endure
forever. A young Roman, Marcus Curtius, realized that military courage was
Rome's greatest treasure, and in full panoply and before the assembled people
he prayed to the gods and rode into the chasm. Thus it was closed, and the place
took its name from the hero who had been swallowed up by the earth.
The battle between Romulus and the Sabines was brought to an end by the
Sabine women themselves, wives (and now mothers) of Romans and daughters
of Sabines. They ran into the middle of the battle and by their direct appeals
brought about a truce. Peace was made, and the Sabines and Romans agreed to
live together at Rome, with Titus Tatius becoming Romulus' colleague in the
kingship, while the Sabines provided the name by which the Roman citizens
were addressed, Quirites.^9
Thus the unification of the two peoples was achieved. Titus Tatius was killed
some years later by the people of Lavinium. Romulus himself, after a long reign,
disappeared while reviewing his army in the Campus Martius, amid thunder
and lightning. He became the god Quirinus, and appeared to a farmer, Procu-
lus Julius, who reported his final words. They eloquently embody the ideals that
later Romans attributed to the founder of their state (Livy 1. 16):