§1.26.1priusquam inde digrederentur, roganti Mettio, ex foedere icto quid imperaret, imperat Tullus, uti iuventutem in armis habeat; usurum se eorum opera, si bellum cum Veientibus foret.
Before they departed thence, to Mettius asking what he commanded according to the struck treaty, Tullus commands that he keep the youth under arms; [saying that] he would use their service if there should be war with the Veientes.
ita exercitus inde domos abducti. §1.26.2princeps Horatius ibat trigemina spolia prae se gerens; cui soror virgo, quae desponsa uni ex Curiatiis fuerat, obvia ante portam Capenam fuit; cognitoque super umeros fratris paludamento sponsi, quod ipsa confecerat, solvit crines et flebiliter nomine sponsum mortuum appellat. §1.26.3movet feroci iuveni animum conploratio sororis in victoria sua tantoque gaudio publico.
Thus the armies were led away thence to their homes. Horatius went at the head, carrying the triple spoils before him; his maiden sister, who had been betrothed to one of the Curiatii, met him before the Capena Gate; and having recognized on her brother's shoulders her betrothed's cloak, which she herself had made, she loosened her hair and tearfully called her dead betrothed by name. In the midst of his victory and such great public joy, the sister's lamentation moved the mind of the fierce youth.
stricto itaque gladio simul verbis increpans transfigit puellam. §1.26.4“abi hinc cum inmaturo amore ad sponsum” inquit, “oblita fratrum mortuorum vivique, oblita patriae. §1.26.5sic eat, quaecumque Romana lugebit hostem. ” atrox visum id facinus patribus plebique, sed recens meritum facto obstabat.
And so, with drawn sword, at the same time rebuking her with words, he ran the girl through. "Go hence with your untimely love to your betrothed," he said, "forgetful of your dead brothers and the living one, forgetful of your country. Thus may every Roman woman go who shall mourn an enemy." This deed seemed atrocious to the fathers and the plebeians, but his recent service stood in the way of the deed.
tamen raptus in ius ad regem.
Nevertheless, he was dragged to court before the king.
rex, ne ipse tamen tristis ingratique ad vulgus iudicii ac secundum iudicium supplicii auctor esset, concilio populi advocato “duumviros” inquit, “qui Horatio perduellionem iudicent, secundum legem facio. ” §1.26.6lex horrendi carminis erat: duumviri perduellionem iudicent; si a duumviris provocarit, provocatione certato; si vincent, caput obnubito; infelici arbori reste suspendito; verberato vel intra pomerium vel extra pomerium. §1.26.7hac lege duumviri creati.
The king, lest he himself should be the author of a judgment grim and unpopular with the common people, and of the punishment following the judgment, having summoned an assembly of the people, said: "I appoint, according to the law, duumvirs to judge Horatius for high treason." The law of the dreadful formula was: "Let the duumvirs judge treason; if he appeals from the duumvirs, let him contend by appeal; if they win, let [the lictor] cover his head; hang him with a rope from a barren tree; scourge him either within the pomerium or outside the pomerium." Under this law, the duumvirs were created.
qui se absolvere non rebantur ea lege ne innoxium quidem posse, cum condemnassent, tum alter ex iis “P. Horati, tibi perduellionem iudico” inquit; §1.26.8“i, lictor, conliga manus. ” accesserat lictor iniciebatque laqueum.
Since they did not think that they could acquit even an innocent person under that law, when they had condemned him, then one of them said: "Publius Horatius, I judge you guilty of treason. Go, lictor, bind his hands." The lictor had approached and was throwing the noose.
tum Horatius auctore Tullo, clemente legis interprete, “provoco” inquit. §1.26.9ita provocatione certatum ad populum est.
Then Horatius, on the advice of Tullus, a merciful interpreter of the law, said: "I appeal." Thus the contest was carried by appeal to the people.
moti homines sunt in eo iudicio maxime P. Horatio patre proclamante se filiam iure caesam iudicare; ni ita esset, patrio iure in filium animadversurum fuisse.
In that trial, many were moved especially by the father, Publius Horatius, crying out that he judged his daughter to have been lawfully slain; [and that] if it were not so, he would have punished his son by his fatherly right.
orabat deinde, ne se, quem paulo ante cum egregia stirpe conspexissent, orbum liberis facerent. §1.26.10inter haec senex iuvenem amplexus, spolia Curiatiorum fixa eo loco, qui nunc pila Horatia appellatur, ostentans “huncine” aiebat, “quem modo decoratum ovantemque victoria incedentem vidistis, Quirites, eum sub furca vinctum inter verbera et cruciatus videre potestis? quod vix Albanorum oculi tam deforme spectaculum ferre possent.
He then begged that they would not make him bereft of children, whom they had seen a little before with an excellent offspring. Meanwhile the old man, having embraced the youth, pointing to the spoils of the Curiatii fixed in that place which is now called the Horatian Pillars, was saying: "Can you, Quirites, behold this man bound under the fork amid scourging and tortures, whom you saw just now marching adorned and triumphing in victory?
§1.26.11i, lictor, conliga manus, quae paulo ante armatae imperium populo Romano pepererunt.
A sight so hideous that even the eyes of the Albans could scarcely bear it. Go, lictor, bind the hands which, armed a little while ago, won dominion for the Roman people.
i, caput obnube liberatoris urbis huius; arbore infelici suspende; verbera vel intra pomerium, modo inter illa pila et spolia hostium, vel extra pomerium, modo inter sepulcra Curiatiorum.
Go, cover the head of the savior of this city; hang him from the barren tree; scourge him either within the pomerium, provided it be among those pillars and spoils of the enemy, or outside the pomerium, provided it be among the tombs of the Curiatii!
quo enim ducere hunc iuvenem potestis, ubi non sua decora eum a tanta foeditate supplicii vindicent?” §1.26.12non tulit populus nec patris lacrimas nec ipsius parem in omni periculo animum, absolveruntque admiratione magis virtutis quam iure causae.
For whither can you lead this young man, where his own honors would not rescue him from such hideousness of punishment?" The people could bear neither the father's tears nor the youth's own spirit, equal in every danger, and they acquitted him, more out of admiration for his courage than because of the justice of his cause.
itaque, ut caedes manifesta aliquo tamen piaculo lueretur, imperatum patri, ut filium expiaret pecunia publica. §1.26.13is quibusdam piacularibus sacrificiis factis, quae deinde genti Horatiae tradita sunt, transmisso per viam tigillo capite adoperto velut sub iugum misit iuvenem.
And so, in order that the manifest murder might nevertheless be expiated by some atonement, it was commanded to the father that he should expiate his son at public expense. He, having performed certain expiatory sacrifices, which were thereafter handed down to the Horatian gens, a beam having been laid across the street, sent the youth with covered head under it as if under a yoke.
id hodie quoque publice semper refectum manet; sororium tigillum vocant. §1.26.14Horatiae sepulcrum, quo loco corruerat icta, constructum est saxo quadrato.
This remains today also, always rebuilt at public expense; they call it the "Sister's Beam". The tomb of Horatia was built of squared stone in the place where she had fallen, struck down.