[8,39] Αἱ δὲ γυναῖκες αὐτῶν, ὡς ἐγγὺς ὄντος ἤδη τοῦ δεινοῦ, καταλιποῦσαι τῆς οἴκοι μονῆς τὸ εὐπρεπὲς ἔθεον ἐπὶ τὰ τεμένη τῶν θεῶν ὀλοφυρόμεναί τε καὶ προκυλιόμεναι τῶν ξοάνων· καὶ ἦν ἅπας μὲν ἱερὸς τόπος οἰμωγῆς τε καὶ ἱκετείας γυναικῶν ἀνάπλεως, μάλιστα δὲ τὸ τοῦ Καπετωλίου Διὸς ἱερόν. ἔνθα δή τις αὐτῶν γένει τε καὶ ἀξιώματι προὔχουσα καὶ ἡλικίας ἐν τῷ κρατίστῳ τότ´ οὖσα καὶ φρονῆσαι τὰ δέοντα ἱκανωτάτη, Οὐαλερία μὲν ὄνομα, Ποπλικόλα δὲ τοῦ συνελευθερώσαντος ἀπὸ τῶν βασιλέων τὴν πόλιν ἀδελφή, θείῳ τινὶ παραστήματι κινηθεῖσα ἐπὶ τῆς ἀνωτάτω κρηπῖδος ἔστη τοῦ νεὼ καὶ προσκαλεσαμένη τὰς ἄλλας γυναῖκας πρῶτον μὲν παρεμυθήσατο καὶ παρεθάρρυνεν ἀξιοῦσα μὴ καταπεπλῆχθαι τὸ δεινόν· ἔπειτα ὑπέσχετο μίαν εἶναι σωτηρίας ἐλπίδα τῇ πόλει, ταύτην δ´ ἐν αὐταῖς εἶναι μόναις καταλειπομένην, ἐὰν ἐθελήσωσι πράττειν, ἃ δεῖ. καί τις εἶπεν ἐξ αὐτῶν· Καὶ τί πράττουσαι ἂν ἡμεῖς αἱ γυναῖκες διασῶσαι δυνηθείημεν τὴν πατρίδα τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀπειρηκότων; τίς ἡ τοσαύτη περὶ ἡμᾶς τὰς ἀσθενεῖς καὶ ταλαιπώρους ἐστὶν ἰσχύς; Οὐχὶ ὅπλων, ἔφησεν ἡ Οὐαλερία, καὶ χειρῶν δεομένη· τούτων μὲν γὰρ ἀπολέλυκεν ἡμᾶς ἡ φύσις· ἀλλ´ εὐνοίας καὶ λόγου. βοῆς δὲ μετὰ τοῦτο γενομένης καὶ δεομένων ἁπασῶν φανερὸν ποιεῖν, ἥτις ἐστὶν ἡ ἐπικουρία, λέγει πρὸς αὐτάς· Ταύτην ἔχουσαι τὴν πιναράν τε καὶ ἄκοσμον ἐσθῆτα καὶ τὰς ἄλλας παραλαβοῦσαι γυναῖκας καὶ τὰ τέκνα ἐπαγόμεναι βαδίζωμεν ἐπὶ τὴν Οὐετουρίας τῆς Μαρκίου μητρὸς οἰκίαν· καὶ πρὸ τῶν γονάτων αὐτῆς τὰ τέκνα θεῖσαι, δεώμεθα μετὰ δακρύων ἡμᾶς τ´ οἰκτείρασαν τὰς μηθενὸς κακοῦ αἰτίας καὶ τὴν ἐν ἐσχάτοις κινδύνοις οὖσαν πατρίδα προελθεῖν ἐπὶ τὸν χάρακα τῶν πολεμίων, ἄγουσαν τούς θ´ υἱωνοὺς καὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτῶν καὶ ἡμᾶς ἁπάσας· ἀκολουθῶμεν γὰρ αὐτῇ τὰ παιδία ἐπαγόμεναι· ἔπειτα ἱκέτιν γενομένην τοῦ τέκνου, ἀξιοῦν καὶ δεῖσθαι μηδὲν ἀνήκεστον κατὰ τῆς πατρίδος ἐξεργάσασθαι. ὀλοφυρομένης γὰρ αὐτῆς καὶ ἀντιβολούσης οἶκτός τις εἰσελεύσεται τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ λογισμὸς ἥμερος. οὐχ οὕτω στερρὰν καὶ ἄτρωτον ἔχει καρδίαν, ὥστ´ ἀνασχέσθαι μητέρα πρὸς τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ γόνασι κυλιομένην.

[8,39] In the meantime their wives, seeing the danger now at hand and abandoning the sense of propriety that kept them in the seclusion of their homes, ran to the shrines of the gods with lamentations and threw themselves at the feet of their statues. And every holy place, particularly the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, was filled with the cries and supplications of women. Then it was that one of them, a matron distinguished in birth and rank, who was then in the vigour of life and quite capable of discreet judgement, Valeria by name and sister to Publicola, one of the men who had freed the commonwealth from the kings, moved by some divine inspiration, took her stand upon the topmost step of the temple, and calling the rest of the women to her, first comforted and encouraged them, bidding them not to be alarmed at the danger that threatened. Then she assured them that there was just one hope of safety for the commonwealth and that this hope rested in them alone, if they would do what required to be done. Upon this one of them asked: "And what can we women do to save our country, when the men have given it up for lost? What strength so (p115) great do we weak and miserable women possess?" "A strength," replied Valeria, "that calls, not for weapons or hands — for Nature has excused us from the use of these — but for goodwill and speech." And when all cried out and begged of her to explain what this assistance was, Valeria said: "Wearing this squalid and shabby garb and taking with us the rest of the women and our children, let us go to the house of Veturia, the mother of Marcius; and placing the children at her knees, let us entreat her with tears to have compassion both upon us, who have given her no cause for grief, and upon our country, now in the direst peril, and beg of her to go to the enemy's camp, taking along her grandchildren and their mother and all of us — for we must attend her with our children — and becoming the suppliant of her son, to ask and implore him not to inflict any irreparable mischief on his country. For while she is lamenting and entreating, a feeling of compassion and a tender reasonableness will come over the man. His heart is not so hard and invulnerable that he can hold out against a mother who grovels at his knees."