At length, it was resolved to send a messenger,
entreating the people to return home, and declare their grievances;
promising, at the same time, an oblivion of all that had passed.
7. This message not succeeding, Mene'nias Agrip'pa, one of the wisest
and best of the senators, was of opinion, that the demands of the
people were to be complied with. It was resolved, therefore, to enter
into a treaty, and to make them such offers as should induce them to
return. 8. Ten commissioners were deputed. The dignity and popularity
of the ambassadors procured them a very respectful reception among the
soldiers, and a conference began. They employed all their oratory;
while Sicin'ius and Lu'cius Ju'nius, who were speakers for the
soldiery, aggravated their distresses with all that masculine
eloquence which is the child of nature.
9. The conference had now continued for a long time, when Mene'nius
Agrip'pa, who had been originally a plebe'ian himself, a shrewd man,
and who, consequently, knew what kind of eloquence was most likely to
please the people, addressed them with that celebrated fable of the
body and the members, which is so finely told by Livy.
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