The proofs being clear, the
prisoners stood quite silent, and pleaded only by their tears. Three
times their father called upon them to plead their cause, but tears were
still their only answer. Many of the senators were touched with
compassion, and implored for their banishment rather than their deaths.
All the people stood trembling, in expectation of the sentence. Their
stern father at length arose, and with a steady voice, uninterrupted by
a single sigh, said: "Lictors, I deliver them over to you; the rest is
your part." At these words, the whole assembly groaned aloud; distress
showed itself in every face, and the mournful looks of the people
pleaded for pity: but neither their intercessions, nor the bitter
lamentations of the young men, who called upon their father by the most
endearing names, could soften the inflexible judge. The heads of the
young men were struck off by the lictors, Brutus all the while gazing on
the cruel spectacle, with a steady look and composed countenance."
"Oh! my dear father," exclaimed Ferdinand, "surely Brutus must have been
a cruel, hard-hearted man."
"In his feelings as a patriot," returned Mr. Bernard, "those of the
father appear to have been absorbed. What became of the other prisoners,
Edward?"
_Edward_. Excepting the ambassadors, they all shared the fate of the
sons of Brutus. His severity towards his children, greatly increased his
authority in Rome; and when he was, some time after, slain in battle by
Aruns, the son of Tarquin, the citizens were inconsolable for his loss.
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