At the first clash of arms two of the
Romans fell lifeless, though every one of the Curiatii was wounded.
This caused the Sabines to exult, especially as they saw the remaining
Roman apparently running away. The flight of Horatius was, however,
merely feigned, in order to separate the opposing brothers, whom he met
as they followed him, and killed in succession. As he struck his sword
into the last of the Albans, he exclaimed: "Two have I offered to the
shades of my brothers; the third will I offer to the cause of this war,
that the Roman may rule over the Alban!" A triumph [Footnote: A
"triumph" was a solemn rejoicing after a victory, and included a
_pompa_, or procession of the general and soldiers on foot with
their plunder. Triumphs seem to have been celebrated in some style in
the earliest days of Rome. In later times they increased very much in
splendor and costliness.] followed; but it appears that a sister of
Horatius, named Horatia, [Footnote: The Romans seem in one respect to
have had little ingenuity in the matter of names, though generally they
had too many of them, and formed that of a woman from the name of a man
by simply changing the end of it from the masculine form to the
feminine.] was to have married one of the Curiatii, and when she met
her victorious brother bearing as his plunder the military robe of her
lover that she had wrought with her own hands, she tore her hair and
uttered bitter exclamations.
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