Mettius Fufetius was a dictator 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...

, an ancient town in central Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 near Rome

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

. He was appointed after the death of king Gaius Cluilius

Gaius Cluilius

Gaius Cluilius was the king of Alba Longa during the reign of the Roman king Tullus Hostilius in the middle of the seventh century B.C. Alba Longa was an ancient city of Latium in central Italy southeast of Rome....

 and was defeated by Rome.

Mettius Fufetius subsequently betrayed the Romans in battle. For this, he was torn in two by chariots running in opposite directions by the Roman king Tullus Hostilius

Tullus Hostilius

Tullus Hostilius was the legendary third of the Kings of Rome. He succeeded Numa Pompilius, and was succeeded by Ancus Marcius...

, who destroyed Alba Longa.

Mettius had an alliance with the Romans while they were rivals of the Alba Longa, but in an important battle he withheld his support. It is for this that he is punished; Vergil later recounts this betrayal and its punishment in the Aeneid

Aeneid

The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It is composed of roughly 10,000 lines in dactylic hexameter...

.

In the battle itself, Mettius, having provoked the inhabitants of Fidenae

Fidenae

Fidenae, or Fidenes, home of the Fidenates, was an ancient town of Latium, situated about 8 km north of Rome on the Via Salaria, which ran between it and the Tiber. As the Tiber was the border between Etruria and Latium, the left-bank settlement of Fidenae represented an extension of Etruscan...

to attack Rome, retreated to a hilltop with his Alban forces where he waited to see which force would be victorious; he then planned to join the winning side. Tullus Hostilius, the third king of Rome and the king at that time, after winning the battle said that since Mettius was torn between the two cities, so would his body be: his arms where then attached to two chariots that then ran in opposite directions. The result was naturally fatal and remained a sign to all future allies of Rome not to betray her.