Horatius Cocles
Encyclopedia
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
who famously defended the Pons Sublicius
Pons Sublicius
The earliest known bridge of ancient Rome, Italy, the Pons Sublicius, spanned the Tiber River near the Forum Boarium downstream from the Tiber Island, near the foot of the Aventine Hill. According to tradition, its construction was ordered by Ancus Martius around 642 BC, but this date is...
from the invading army of Lars Porsena
Lars Porsena
Lars Porsena, in Etruscan Pursenas, was an Etruscan king known for his war against the city of Rome. He ruled over the city of Clusium...
, king of Clusium
Clusium
Clusium was an ancient city in Italy, one of several found at the site. The current municipality of Chiusi partly overlaps this Roman walled city. The Roman city remodeled an earlier Etruscan city, Clevsin, found in the territory of a prehistoric culture, possibly also Etruscan or proto-Etruscan...
in the late 6th century BC
6th century BC
The 6th century BC started the first day of 600 BC and ended the last day of 501 BC.Pāṇini, in India, composed a grammar for Sanskrit, in this century or slightly later...
, during the war between Rome and Clusium.
Background
The army of Clusium marched on Rome and attacked the city. Concentrating his forces on the Etruscan side of the TiberTiber
The Tiber is the third-longest river in Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Umbria and Lazio to the Tyrrhenian Sea. It drains a basin estimated at...
, Porsenna assaulted the Janiculum and took it from the terrified Roman recruits with all its stores. An Etruscan garrison was detailed to hold it. Porsenna's army made for the Pons Sublicius
Pons Sublicius
The earliest known bridge of ancient Rome, Italy, the Pons Sublicius, spanned the Tiber River near the Forum Boarium downstream from the Tiber Island, near the foot of the Aventine Hill. According to tradition, its construction was ordered by Ancus Martius around 642 BC, but this date is...
, but found there a Roman line of battle across the bend of the river. Porsenna drew up a line of battle opposite it, apparently without hindrance, relying on numerical superiority to cow the Romans. The Tarquins commanded the Etruscan left wing facing the troops of Spurius Larcinus and Titus Herminius. Octavius Mamilius
Octavius Mamilius
Octavius Mamilius was princeps of Tusculum, an ancient city of Latium. He was the son-in-law of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last king of Rome...
took the Etruscan right commanding rebel Latins, facing Marcus Valerius Volusus
Marcus Valerius Volusus
Marcus Valerius Volusus was a Roman consul with Publius Postumius Tubertus in 505 BC....
and Titus Lucretius Tricipitinus
Titus Lucretius Tricipitinus
Titus Lucretius Tricipitinus is a figure of the Roman Republic. Twice, in the years 508 and 504 BC, he was Roman Consul, both times with Publius Valerius Poplicola...
. Porsena commanded the Etruscan center, facing the two consuls.
The two lines closed. After a "considerable time", Valerius and Lucretius having been carried wounded off the field in full view of the troops, the army was struck by a panic and ran for the bridge. The enemy effected a slaughter at first among the troops milling around at the entrance to the bridge but then began to mingle with them in hope of crossing.
Horatius at the bridge
Perceiving the danger, three officers (of noble rank) stood shoulder-to-shoulder to allow their own troops to pass and block the passage of the enemy: Spurius LartiusSpurius Lartius
Spurius Lartius, surnamed either Flavus or Rufus, was one of the leading men of the early Roman Republic, of which he was twice consul...
and Titus Herminius Aquilinus
Titus Herminius Aquilinus
Titus Herminius, surnamed Aquilinus, was one of the heroes of the Roman Republic. He participated in two of the most famous conflicts that attended the birth of the Republic, and was elected consul in 506 BC...
, commanders of the right wing (equivalent to colonels or lieutenant generals), and Publius Horatius, a more junior officer of unspecified rank. He was a patrician, and the nephew of consul Marcus Horatius Pulvillus
Marcus Horatius Pulvillus
Marcus Horatius Pulvillus was a figure in Ancient Rome at the time of the overthrow of the Roman monarchy. He was consul in 509 BC and again in 507 BC.-Biography:...
and had lost an eye in a previous battle (hence his agnomen
Agnomen
An agnomen , in the Roman naming convention, was a nickname, just as the cognomen was initially. However, the cognomina eventually became family names, so agnomina were needed to distinguish between similarly named persons...
"Cocles". He was also said to have been a descendant of one of the Horatii
Horatii
According to Livy, the Horatii were male triplets from Rome. During a war between Rome and Alba Longa during the reign of Tullus Hostilius , it was agreed that settlement of the war would depend on the outcome of a battle between the Horatii and the Curiatii...
who had fought the Curiatii of Alba Longa
Alba Longa
Alba Longa – in Italian sources occasionally written Albalonga – was an ancient city of Latium in central Italy southeast of Rome in the Alban Hills. Founder and head of the Latin League, it was destroyed by Rome around the middle of the 7th century BC. In legend, Romulus and Remus, founders of...
. Livy defines his station in the defense as "on guard at the bridge when he saw the Janiculum taken by a sudden assault and the enemy rushing down from it to the river ...." The three defenders of the bridge withstood sword and missile attacks until the troops had all crossed.
In the abbreviated (one section) and skeptical version of Livy, no battle took place, but "his own men, a panic-struck mob, were deserting their posts and throwing away their arms.". Apparently Rome had placed its defense in the hands of an entire army of cowards, which not only could not hold one hill but after drawing up a line of battle could not stand even the first charge of the enemy. Cocles, in this view, was the only man in the entire army with the courage to stand up, motivating two veteran generals only through a sense of shame to assist him momentarily. Livy gives no clue as to what such men were doing on the field in the first place and, though finding Cocles' feats incredible, apparently sees no contradiction between the rank, experience and character of the generals and their supposed behavior on the field.
Dionysius goes on to say, "Herminius and Lartius, their defensive arms being now rendered useless by the continual blows they received, began to retreat gradually." They called on Horatius to retreat but perceiving the tactical difficulty of allowing the enemy to cross he stood his ground, directing them to tell the consuls to tear up the bridge. The enemy view of him as a madman determined to commit suicide taking them with him protected him to some extent, as did his taking refuge behind the pile of slain. He returned enemy missiles. Finally wounded all over and having received a spear in the buttocks he heard a shout from the other bank that the bridge was torn up. He "leaped with his arms into the river and swimming across ... he emerged upon the shore without having lost any of his arms." Livy's version has him uttering this prayer: "Tiberinus, holy father, I pray thee to receive into thy propitious stream these arms and this thy warrior," which is not inconsistent with Roman beliefs in the genius
Genius (mythology)
In ancient Roman religion, the genius was the individual instance of a general divine nature that is present in every individual person, place or thing.-Nature of the genius:...
of a place.
Wounded as he was Horatius was honorably crowned and conducted into the city by a singing crowd while the populace streamed into the streets to see him. A bronze statue was later erected to him in the comitium
Comitium
The Comitium in Rome is the location of the original founding of the city. The area is marked by a number of shrines, temples, altars and churches today from throughout its history. The location was lost due to the cities growth and development over a thousand years, but was excavated at the turn...
because of his heroic act; he was given "as much of the public land as he himself could plow around in one day with a yoke of oxen." Every citizen of Rome gave him one day's ration of food, although Dionysius of Halicarnassus does not explain what logistically such a contribution should mean and how and when it was delivered. Horatius was now disabled and could not by law remain in the army or hold public office.
Polybius
Polybius
Polybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...
' brief notice of the story uses Horatius as an example of the men who have "devoted themselves to inevitable death ... to save the lives of other citizens. ... he threw himself into the river with his armor, and there lost his life as he had designed." Though Horatius did not perish in the river, the disability he suffered (and subsequent honorable discharge from the army) ended the life he had previously pursued.
Aftermath
Horatius' action at the bridge halted the Etruscan attack and forced Lars Porsena to engage in a protracted siege of Rome rather than sacking it outright, which was later concluded by peace treaty with the city intact.Skeptical points of view
Although the story appears in many different credible ancient sources, such as PlutarchPlutarch
Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
, Dionysius of Halicarnassus
Dionysius of Halicarnassus
Dionysius of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Caesar Augustus. His literary style was Attistic — imitating Classical Attic Greek in its prime.-Life:...
, and Livy
Livy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
, with variations, many historians have been skeptical of the story.
Tacitus
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
mentions in passing that Porsenna, "when the city was surrendered," did not violate the seat of Jupiter
Jupiter (mythology)
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Jupiter or Jove is the king of the gods, and the god of the sky and thunder. He is the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon....
" (the Capitol). This could mean that perhaps Rome surrendered during or after the battle.
Livy viewed the story as legendary; that is, he repeated accounts that he had read unable to vouch for their authority. Livy found the swimming event hard to believe, quipping "though many missiles fell over him he swam across in safety to his friends, an act of daring more famous than credible with posterity." Florus
Florus
Florus, Roman historian, lived in the time of Trajan and Hadrian.He compiled, chiefly from Livy, a brief sketch of the history of Rome from the foundation of the city to the closing of the temple of Janus by Augustus . The work, which is called Epitome de T...
has something similar to say: "It was on this occasion that those three prodigies and marvels of Rome made their appearance, Horatius, Mucius and Cloelia
Cloelia
Cloelia is a semi-legendary woman from the early history of ancient Rome.As part of the peace treaty which ended the war between Rome and Clusium in 508 BC, Roman hostages were taken by Lars Porsena. One of the hostages, a young woman named Cloelia, fled the Clusian camp, leading away a group of...
, who, were they not recorded in our annals, would seem fabulous characters at the present day."
To account for his presence in numerous histories T.J. Cornell further presumes that they relied on "unscrupulous annalists" who "did not hesitate to invent a series of face-saving victories in the immediate aftermath of these defeats" such as the presumed defeat of Rome at the Naevian Meadow. Furthermore, "The annalists of the first century BC are thus seen principally as entertainers...." Cornell, however, cites no criterion for distinguishing what narratives of annalists or historians are to be considered mere entertainment.
Later uses of the theme
The story is retold in Horatius from the Lays of Ancient RomeLays of Ancient Rome
The Lays of Ancient Rome is a once-famous collection of four lays by Thomas Babington Macaulay describing semi-mythical heroic episodes in Roman history with strong dramatic and tragic themes...
by Lord Macaulay
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay PC was a British poet, historian and Whig politician. He wrote extensively as an essayist and reviewer, and on British history...
, a poem of great popularity in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Being still well-known today it appears at least in part in the curricula of many secondary schools. The details of the poem often vary from the traditional tale by poetic license.
The phrase 'Romans on the Bridge' is used to refer to a valiant defence against impossible odds.
See also
- Horatia (gens)Horatia (gens)The gens Horatia was an ancient patrician family at Rome. In legend, the gens dates back to the time of Tullus Hostilius, the third King of Rome. One of its members, Marcus Horatius Pulvillus, was consul suffectus in 509 BC, the first year of the Republic, and again in 507...
- VulcanalVulcanalThe Shrine of Vulcan — or Vulcanal, or Volcanal — was an 8th century BC sacred precinct on the future site of the Roman Forum...
, a statue in honor of Horatius Cocles was said to have been set up here.
Sources
- Dionysius of HalicarnassusDionysius of HalicarnassusDionysius of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Caesar Augustus. His literary style was Attistic — imitating Classical Attic Greek in its prime.-Life:...
, Roman Antiquities, V:1-39 - LivyLivyTitus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
, Ab urbe conditaAb Urbe condita (book)Ab urbe condita libri — often shortened to Ab urbe condita — is a monumental history of ancient Rome written in Latin sometime between 27 and 25 BC by the historian Titus Livius. The work covers the time from the stories of Aeneas, the earliest legendary period from before the city's founding in c....
, 2.10