the Capitol stood as an advanced fort to defend it. Here was placed a
garrison, and Tarpeius was its commander, not the maiden Tarpeia, as
some write, who make out Romulus a fool; but it was this Tarpeia, the
daughter of the captain of the garrison, who betrayed the capital to the
Sabines, for the sake of the golden bracelets which she saw them
wearing. She asked as the price of her treachery that they should give
her what they wore on their left arms. After making an agreement with
Tatius, she opened a gate at night and let in the Sabines. Now it
appears that Antigonus was not singular when he said that he loved men
when they were betraying, but hated them after they had betrayed; as
also Caesar said, in the case of Rhymitalkes the Thracian, that he loved
the treachery but hated the traitor; but this seems a common reflection
about bad men by those who have need of them, just as we need the poison
of certain venomous beasts; for they appreciate their value while they
are making use of them, and loathe their wickedness when they have done
with them. And that was how Tarpeia was treated by Tatius. He ordered
the Sabines to remember their agreement, and not to grudge her what was
on their left arms. He himself first of all took off his gold armlet,
and with it flung his great oblong shield. As all the rest did the like,
she perished, being pelted with the gold bracelets and crushed by the
number and weight of the shields. Tarpeius also was convicted of
treachery by Romulus, according to Juba's version of the history of
Sulpicius Galba. The other legends about Tarpeia are improbable; amongst
them that which is told by Antigonus, that she was the daughter of
Tatius the Sabine leader, abducted by Romulus, and treated by her father
as is related above. Simylus the poet talks utter nonsense when he says
that it was not the Sabines but the Gauls to whom Tarpeia betrayed the
Capitol, because she was in love with their king. His verses run as
follows: