“Listen, citizens, and mark this well—courage is not the gift of men alone! A girl—aye, a Roman girl—once shamed kings and warriors alike!”

The year was dark, the time was bitter. Our young Republic reeled like a ship in storm, for Lars Porsenna, king of Etruria, pressed hard upon Rome’s throat. The swords had clashed, treaties were sworn—and among the terms of peace, hostages were given: sons and daughters of Rome, pledged to the enemy’s camp as bonds of truce.

Among them was Cloelia, a maiden in her bloom, but with the heart of a she-wolf. She went with the others across the river to the Etruscan tents—but her soul burned with shame. “Am I Roman,” she thought, “to sit and sew while men barter our freedom?” Nay! The spirit of Lucretia, the fire of Vesta, whispered in her blood: “Dare!”

One evening, when the watch grew dull and the Tiber shone like molten gold, Cloelia rose. She called the other maidens—aye, the little doves who quaked in fear—and she said: "Come! The river calls us home! Better to drown in our Tiber than breathe the air of slaves!"

Then—by the gods!—she flung herself into the flood! Armor she had none, nor spear, nor shield—only the limbs that Mars had made strong and the will that no tyrant could bind. Arrows hissed from the bank, men shouted, the current foamed like an angry bull—but Cloelia struck the waves, her hair streaming like a dark banner, and one by one, she drew the girls across! Rome’s daughters, saved by a daughter’s daring!

When the news reached Lars Porsenna, the camp roared for vengeance. “Bring her back in chains!” they cried. But the king—by strange fortune—laughed. “Chains?” he said. “By Hercules, I would sooner chain the winds! Let her return with honour, for no foe of mine ever showed such valour!”

And so Cloelia came back—not in fetters, but in triumph. The king kept his word, the peace endured—and Rome? Rome raised a statue of her astride a horse, in the Sacred Way, that all might know: “Virtue is not in the beard or the sword—but in the soul that dares all for freedom!”