Now Tarquin and his party, foreseeing that this would be done,
laid an ambush on the further bank and attacked those who were
escorting the girls with superior numbers. Still they made a stout
defence, and meanwhile Valeria, the daughter of Poplicola, made her way
through the combatants and escaped, and three slaves who also got away
took care of her. The others were mixed up with the fight, and were in
considerable danger, when Aruns, Porsena's son, came to the rescue, put
the enemy to the rout, and saved the Romans. When the girls were brought
before Porsena, he asked which it was that had conceived the attempt to
escape and encouraged the others. Being told that it was Cloelia, he
smiled kindly upon her, and presented her with one of his own horses,
splendidly caparisoned. This is relied upon by those who say that it was
Cloelia alone who rode on horseback over the river, as proving their
case. Others say that it was not because she used a horse, but to honour
her manly spirit that the Etruscan king made her this present. A statue
of her, on horseback, stands in the Sacred Way as you go up to the
Palatine Hill, which by some is said not to be a statue of Cloelia, but
of Valeria.
Porsena, after making peace with the Romans, among many other instances
of generosity, ordered his army to carry back nothing but their arms
when they retired, leaving the entrenched camp full of food and property
of every kind for the Romans.
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