CHAPTER IX
THE MYSTERIOUS GATE
The fortress on the Capitoline hill was now in the hands
of the Sabines, but they had still to fight with the Romans
who dwelt on the Palatine hill.
Romulus was, indeed, already to be seen leading his men into the valley that lay between the two mountains.
The battle was long and fierce, and disaster well-nigh overtook the Sabines.
In the valley was a swamp, and in this swamp the whole of the enemy's army would have been engulfed, had not Curtius, one of their most gallant soldiers, warned them of danger.
He himself had been carried by his horse into the mire. Nobly he tried to free his steed, but his efforts were all in vain. The more the animal struggled, the deeper it sank into the swamp, until at length Curtius was forced to leave his horse that he might save himself. This swamp was ever after known as the Curtian Lake.
Hour after hour the battle raged, until at last Romulus and his followers were driven backward. In their dismay the Roman army rushed through one of the gates into their city, hastily shutting it behind them, that the foe might not also enter.
But lo! so says the legend, the gate would not remain shut, but opened, as it seemed, of its own accord.
Twice again the terrified Romans tried to close it, and twice it opened as mysteriously as before.
The Sabines reached the gate as it opened for the last time.
