When he found the communication thus cut off,
plunging with his arms into the torrent of the Tiber, he swam back
victorious to his fellow-soldiers, and was received with just
applause.[2]
18. Still, however, Porsen'na was determined upon taking the city; and
though five hundred of his men were slain in a sally of the Romans, he
reduced it to the greatest straits, and turning the siege into a
blockade, resolved to take it by famine. 19. The distress of the
besieged soon began to be insufferable, and all things seemed to
threaten a speedy surrender, when another act of fierce bravery, still
superior to that which had saved the city before again brought about
its safety and freedom.
20. Mu'tius, a youth of undaunted courage, was resolved to rid his
country of an enemy that so continued to oppress it; and, for this
purpose, disguised in the habit of an Etru'rian peasant, entered the
camp of the enemy, resolving to die or to kill the king. 21. With this
resolution he made up to the place where Porsen'na was paying his
troops, with a secretary by his side; but mistaking the latter for the
king, he stabbed him to the heart, and was immediately apprehended and
brought into the royal presence.
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