The peasants between Rome and Alba
[Footnote: Alba became the chief of a league of thirty Latin cities,
lying in the southern part of the great basin through which the Tiber
finds its way to the sea, between Etruria and Campania.] afforded him
the first pretext, by plundering each other's lands. The Albans were
ready to settle the difficulty in a peaceful manner, but Tullus,
determined upon aggrandizement, refused all overtures. It was much like
a civil war, for both nations were of Trojan origin, according to the
traditions. The Albans pitched their tents within five miles of Rome,
and built a trench about the city. The armies were drawn up ready for
battle, when the Alban leader came out and made a speech, in which he
said that as both Romans and Sabines were surrounded by strange nations
who would like to see them weakened, as they would undoubtedly be by
the war, he proposed that the question which should rule the other,
ought to be decided in some less destructive way.
[Illustration: MONUMENT OF THE HORATII AND THE CURIATII]
It happened that there were in the army of the Romans three brothers
known as the Horatii, of the same age as three others in the Alban army
called the Curiatii, and it was agreed that these six should fight in
the place of the two armies.
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