24. The place in which he was tried was near the Capitol,
whither, when he was accused of sedition, and of aspiring to
sovereignty, he turned his eyes, and pointing to that edifice, put
them in mind of what he had there done for his country. 25. The
multitude, whose compassion or whose justice seldom springs from
rational motives, refused to condemn him, so long as he pleaded in
sight of the Capitol; but when he was brought from thence to the
Pe'teline grove, where the Capitol was no longer in view, they
condemned him to be thrown headlong from the Tarpe'ian rock.[16] 26.
Thus, the place which had been the theatre of his glory, became that
of his punishment and infamy. His house, in which his conspiracies had
been secretly carried on, and which had been built as the reward of
his valour, was ordered to be razed to the ground, and his family were
forbidden ever after to assume the name of Man'lius.
27. Thus the Romans went gradually forward, with a mixture of
turbulence and superstition within their walls, and successful
enterprises without.
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