He began to run, and his cousins pursued him, but at different distances, as one was less hindered by his wound than the others.

As soon as the first came up.
Horatius slew him, and so the second and the third: as he cut down this last he cried out, "To the glory of Rome I sacrifice thee." As the Alban king saw his champion fall, he turned to Tullus Hostilius and asked what his commands were.

"Only to have the Alban youth ready when I need them," said Tullus.
A wreath was set on the victor's head, and, loaded with the spoil of the Curiatii, he was led into the city in triumph.

His sister came hurrying to meet him; she was betrothed to one of the Curiatii, and was in agony to know his fate; and when she saw the garment she had spun for him hanging blood-stained over her brother's shoulders, she burst into loud lamentations.

Horatius, still hot with fury, struck her dead on the spot, crying, "So perish every Roman who mourns the death of an enemy of his country." Even her father approved the cruel deed, and would not bury her in his family tomb--so stern were Roman feelings, putting the honor of the country above everything.