It
arose from concentrated rage and fury, which many do not know to be an
expression of great grief. When the mind is inflamed with this passion,
it casts out all ideas of submission or of quiet. Hence an angry man is
courageous, just as a fever patient is hot, because of the inflamed
throbbing excitement of his mind. And Marcius soon showed that this was
his own condition. He went home, embraced his weeping wife and mother,
bade them bear this calamity with patience, and at once proceeded to the
city gates, escorted by the patricians in a body. Thence, taking nothing
with him, and asking no man for any thing, he went off, accompanied by
three or four of his clients. He remained for a few days at some farms
near the city, agitated deeply by conflicting passions. His anger
suggested no scheme by which he might benefit himself, but only how to
revenge himself on the Romans. At length he decided that he would raise
up a cruel war against them, and proceeded at once to make application
to the neighbouring nation of the Volscians, whom he knew to be rich and
powerful, and only to have suffered sufficiently by their late defeats
to make them desirous of renewing their quarrel with Rome.
XXII. There was a certain citizen of Antium named Tullus Aufidius, who,
from his wealth, courage, and noble birth, was regarded as the most
important man in the whole Volscian nation. Marcius knew that this man
hated him more than any other Roman; for in battle they had often met,
and by challenging and defying one another, as young warriors are wont
to do, they had, in addition to their national antipathy, gained a
violent personal hatred for one another.
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