Livy 1.13

Tum Sabīnae muliērēs, quārum ex iniūriā bellum ortum erat, crīnibus passīs scissāque veste, victō malīs muliebrī pavōre, ausae sē inter tēla volantia inferre, ex transversō impetū factō dīrimere infestās aciēs, dīrimere īrās, hinc patrēs, hinc virōs ōrantēs, nē sē sanguine nefandō socerī generīque respergerent, nē parricīdiō maculārent partūs suōs, nepōtum illī, hī līberum prōgeniem. “Sī adfīnitātis inter vōs, sī cōnūbiī piget, in nōs vertite īrās; nōs causa bellī, nōs vulnerum ac caedium virīs ac parentibus sumus; melius perībimus quam sine alterīs vestrum viduae aut orbae vīvēmus”. movet rēs cum multitūdinem tum ducēs; silentium et repentīna fit quiēs; inde ad foedus faciendum ducēs prōdeunt. nec pācem modo sed cīvitātem ūnam ex duābus faciunt. regnum consociant: imperium omne conferunt Rōmam. ita geminātā urbe ut Sabīnīs tamen aliquid darētur Quirītēs ā Curibus appellātī. monumentum eius pugnae, ubi prīmum ex profundā ēmersus palūde equus Curtium in vadō statuit, Curtium lacum appellārunt.

Then the Sabine women, through injustice to whom the war had arisen, with their hair flowing loose and their clothing torn, with womanish fear overcome by their sufferings, dared to place themselves among the flying weapons and, by rushing in from the side, to split the opposing ranks, and to calm their angry passions, begging on the one side their fathers, on the other their husbands, that they should not spatter themselves with the criminally spilled blood of a father-in-law or of a son-in-law, nor stain their own offspring with the killing of family members, the ones their grandchildren, the others their own children. “If you regret your kinship with us, if you regret your marriage with us, turn your anger against us; we are the cause of the war, we are the cause of the wounds and slaughtering of our husbands and fathers. Better for us to die than to live without either of you, as widows or as orphans”. The incident moves both the rank-and-file and the leaders; there is silence and a sudden cessation of fighting. Then the leaders advance to make a treaty. They make not only peace, but one state out of two. They share the rule. They bestow all authority on Rome. The city was doubled in such a way that the Sabines were given something: the citizens were called Quirites after the Sabine town of Cures. As a memorial to that battle, the place where his horse first emerged from the deep marsh and set Curtius in shallow water they called Curtius’ lake.

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