(? 7th - 6th century BC)
To ensure the peace with Rome, Lars Porsenna, the Etruscan king of Clusium, had been given a number of young Romans to hold as hostages. One of the hostages, a young woman named Cloelia, escaped her guards and led a number of other Roman girls to safety as well. Versions vary as to how they escaped, either by swimming the Tiber river or on horseback.
Porsenna was very angry when he learned of the hostages' escape but after a time came to admire the courage of this young woman. Rather than consider that the treaty had been broken, he promised that Cloelia would be safe in his camp if she were returned, and he further promised that he would return her unharmed to her parents when his troops were safely out of Roman territory. Cloelia returned and remained at Porsenna's camp and was even allowed to select other hostages to be returned to Rome. She asked that the little boy hostages be returned, since they would suffer most from the separation from their families.
Upon the achievement of peace, the Romans celebrated Cloelia's courage with a statue on the Via Sacra depicting a young maiden astride a horse.
D. Fite, 2001.
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