Page 85 - Unit 4 - Exercise 1

Page 85 - Unit 4 - Exercise 1

Horatius and the bridge

We always think of Rome as the centre of a huge empire, but in its early days, it was just a small city on the banks of the River Tiber. At that time, they had a king called Tarquin the Proud, but he was very bad. Finally, the Roman people decided that they didn’t want a king any more and they all agreed to throw him out.

Tarquin, however, tried to get his throne back, and his friend, Porsena, the King of Clusium, offered to help him. Porsena gathered a large army and started marching towards Rome.

When the Romans saw the army approaching, their hearts sank. There were thousands of knights and soldiers coming over the hill on the other side of the Tiber. They knew that they couldn’t win a battle against such a large army. ‘We must stay inside the city,’ said the Roman leaders. ‘But they’ll cross the bridge and then we won’t stand a chance,’ someone said.

At that time, there was only one narrow wooden bridge across the river, and Porsena’s army was marching straight towards it.

Three Roman soldiers were guarding the far end of the bridge. One of them was called Horatius. He turned to the people and shouted: ‘We must destroy the bridge. My two companions and I will defend this end of the bridge while you cut down the bridge behind us.’ The people of Rome fetched axes and saws and started to cut down the bridge, while the three soldiers faced Porsena’s army with just their swords and shields.

Fortunately the bridge was very narrow, so only a few of Porsena’s men could attack at one time. Again and again they tried to cross the bridge, but Horatius and his companions pushed them back. All the time they could hear the Romans chopping and sawing the bridge behind them.

Finally, they felt the bridge moving under their feet. ‘The bridge is starting to fall,’ people shouted to the three men. ‘Come back!’ But Horatius refused to move, because Porsena’s soldiers were attacking again.

‘Run back,’ he shouted to his two companions. ‘I will stay here on the bank until you’re safely across.’ The two men rushed back across the bridge. Just as they reached the other side, the bridge started to fall. When Horatius heard it crashing into the Tiber, he knew that the city was safe. He started moving backwards towards the edge of the river. Then he turned, threw down his sword, shield and helmet and jumped in. Spears and arrows from Porsena’s men followed him as he disappeared under the water. He was still wearing his heavy armour and he was badly wounded, so nobody expected to see him again.

For several minutes they waited and then somebody shouted: ‘There he is!’ Everybody turned and saw Horatius swimming towards the river bank. All the Romans cheered and shouted. Then Porsena’s men started cheering and shouting, too, because Horatius was so brave.

Tarquin never got his throne back. And for hundreds of years after that, Roman parents told their children the story of how Horatius and his two companions held the bridge and saved the city of Rome.