Page:Dio's Roman History, tr. Cary - Volume 1.djvu/83

Rh abase him and to bring his art into contempt. So, putting into his bosom a whetstone and a razor, and having in mind the thought of the whetstone being cut by the razor, — a thing that is impossible, — he came before the assembly. After he had said all that he wished, and when Attus very stoutly opposed him, he exclaimed, still without yielding in the least: "If you are not opposing me out of quarrelsomeness, but are speaking the truth, answer me in the presence of all these witnesses, whether what I have in mind to do shall be performed." Attus, after taking an augury on almost the very spot, replied immediately: "Verily, O King, what you intend shall be accomplished." "Well, then," said the other, "take this whetstone and cut it through with this razor; this is what I have had in mind should come to pass." Attus at once took the stone and cut it through. Tarquinius, marvelling, heaped various honours upon him, accorded him the distinction of a bronze statue, and did not again make any change in the established order of the State, but employed Attus as a counsellor in all matters.

He fought against the Latins who had revolted, and afterwards against the Sabines, who, aided by the Etruscans as allies, had invaded the Roman territory; and he conquered them all. When he discovered that one of the priestesses of Vesta, who are required by custom to remain virgins for life, had been seduced by a man, he arranged a kind of oblong underground chamber, and after placing in it a bed, a lamp, and a table well filled with food, he brought thither the unchaste woman, escorted by a procession, and after placing her alive in the room, walled it up. From that time this plan of punishing