CHAP. 5.—PERSONS PRESENTED WITH A CROWN OF LEAVES.
Romulus presented Hostus Hostilius
1 with a crown of leaves,
for being the first to enter Fidense. This Hostus was the
grandfather of King Tullus Hostilius. P. Decius the elder,
the military tribune, was presented with a crown of leaves by
the army which had been saved by his valour, under the command of Cornelius Cossus,
2 the consul, in the war with the
Samnites. This crown was made at first of the leaves of the
holm oak, but afterwards those of the æsculus
3 were preferred, as being a tree sacred to Jupiter: this, however, was
soon employed indifferently with the quercus, according as
each might happen to present itself, the honourable distinction
given to the acorn being the only thing observed. Rigorous
laws were, however, enacted, to maintain the lofty glories of
this wreath, by which it was placed upon an equality even
with the supreme honours of the wreath that is given by
Greece in presence of Jove
4 himself, and to receive which the
exulting city of the victor is wont to break
5 a passage through
its very walls. These laws are to the effect that the life of a
fellow-citizen must be preserved, and an enemy slain; that
the spot where this takes place must have been held by the
enemy that same day; that the person saved shall admit the
fact, other witnesses being of no use at all; and that the person
saved shall have been a Roman citizen.
To preserve an ally merely, even though it should be the
life of a king that is so saved, confers no right to this high reward, nor is the honour at all increased, even if it is the
Roman general that has been thus preserved, it being the intention of the framers of the law that it should be the status
of the citizen that is everything. When a man has received
this wreath, it is his privilege to wear it for the rest of his
life. When he makes his appearance at the celebration of the
games,
6 it is customary for the Senate even to rise from their
seats, and he has the right of taking his seat next to the senators.
Exemption, too, from all civic duties is conferred upon him as
well as his father and his father's father. Siccius Dentatus, as we
have already mentioned
7 on an appropriate occasion, received
fourteen civic crowns, and Manlius Capitolinus
8 six,
9 one,
among the rest, for having saved the life of his general, Servilius. Scipio Africanus declined to accept the civic crown
for having saved the life of his father at the battle of Trebia.
Times these, right worthy of our everlasting admiration,
which accorded honour alone as the reward of exploits so
mighty, and which, while other crowns were recommended by
being made of gold, disdained to set a price upon the safety of
a citizen, and loudly proclaimed thereby that it is unrighteous
to save the life of a man for motives of lucre.