Leonora
LEONORA A Novel by ARNOLD BENNETT Author of _The Grand Babylon Hotel_, _The Gates of Wrath_, _Anna of the Five Towns_, etc. 1903 CONTENTS
The Tarpeian Rock was a precipice about fifty feet high, which is still
to be seen in Rome, from which the worst of state criminals were
sometimes thrown. They were taken up to the top by a stair, and were
then hurled from the summit, to die miserably, writhing in agony after
their fall, upon the rocks below.
[Sidenote: The story of Tarpeia.]
[Sidenote: Subterranean passages.]
The Tarpeian Rock received its name from the ancient story of Tarpeia.
The tale is, that Tarpeia was a Roman girl, who lived at a time in the
earliest periods of the Roman history, when the city was besieged by an
army from are of the neighboring nations. Besides their shields, the
story is that the soldiers had golden bracelets upon their arms. They
wished Tarpeia to open the gates and let them in. She promised to do so
if they would give her their bracelets; but, as she did not know the
name of the shining ornaments, the language she used to designate them
was, "Those things you have upon your arms." The soldiers acceded to her
terms; she opened the gates, and they, instead of giving her the
bracelets, threw their _shields_ upon her as they passed, until the poor
girl was crushed down with them and destroyed. This was near the
Tarpeian Rock, which afterward took her name. The rock is now found to
be perforated by a great many subterranean passages, the remains,
probably, of ancient quarries. Some of these galleries are now walled
up; others are open; and the people who live around the spot believe, it
LEONORA A Novel by ARNOLD BENNETT Author of _The Grand Babylon Hotel_, _The Gates of Wrath_, _Anna of the Five Towns_, etc. 1903 CONTENTS