In reality, we had personally promised you nothing and had to believe that<hr>
even in the interest of Rome, it was necessary to leave your camp, for being Romans, the<hr>
city could have suffered an insult through the circumstances of our captivity.<hr>
       With the glory of Rome being tied to ours, we felt it just to risk our lives to<hr>
protect both, and without a doubt, we would do the same if the opportunity presented itself again.<hr>
The misfortune of Lucretia taught us to anticipate such dramas. And I can assure you<hr>
that if we were to die, we would at least die innocent. There is no rule without<hr>
exception. Lying, which is a form of cowardice, is sometimes glorious. I am convinced<hr>
that no one criticised the noble Mucius when he assured you while watching his hand burn<hr>
with prodigious composure that there were three hundred men in our camp who intended to kill you, even though he was in reality alone. This admirable courage that inspired<hr>
Horatius Coclès to hold firm alone against your entire army and then forced him to throw himself<hr>
into the Tiber, armed as he was, is not considered reckless folly. The firmness<hr>
of Brutus in sentencing his own children to death because they were traitors to their<hr>
homeland will be seen more as the judgement of a good citizen than the horrendous sentiment of a father.<hr>
Why is it undesirable that the interest of honour and the public good, which justifies<hr>
Mucius' lie, Cocles' recklessness and Brutus' insensitivity, also justifies the<hr>
flight of Clèlie and her companions since their sole objective was the preservation of<hr>
their honour and homeland? If Mucius bravely burnt his hand, if Coclès was<hr>
completely devoted to salvation, if Brutus gave the blood of his children and if we also<hr>
risked our lives for the same reason, why can we not claim<hr>
the same recognition? Why would Lucretia have deserved an immortal reputation for<hr>
stabbing herself after her offence while we would be unworthy for risking our lives<hr>
in order to die innocent!?<hr>
       No, no, it can not be so. Posterity will be more just and I even believe<hr>
that if you scrutinize your feelings carefully, you will notice that they do not judge us.<hr>
We have never seen the gods strike down the victims who escape from<hr>
sacrifice. So why, Porsenna, would you want to demean girls who, seeing themselves neglected by their guards, or rather their enemies, sought safety at the cost of<hr>
their lives? You could argue that my points are valid and that we did not do wrong<hr>
in doing this, but it seems thereafter that our parents did not make the right decision by<hr>
sending us back. Yet, this notion is not justified, and I will explain why in a few words. I<hr>
have already told you that it was honour that motivated our flight, and it was this same honour that triggered our return. In fact, it was our fathers who gave you their word, it was them<hr>
who offered us as hostages, it was them who negotiated with you, it was them who agreed<hr>
to the terms of peace. It is therefore their duty to respect everything they promised you<hr>
in order to oblige you to do the same.<hr>
<hr>
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                                                   132<hr>