The Sabines are in possession of the citadel, purchased by fraud.
From thence they are now advancing hither, sword in hand, having already passed the middle of the valley.

But do thou, father of gods and men, keep back the enemy at least from hence, dispel the terror of the Romans, and stop their shameful flight.

Here I solemnly vow to build a temple to thee as Jupiter Stator, as a monument to posterity, that this city was saved by thy immediate aid." Having offered up this prayer, as if he had felt that his prayers were heard, he cries out, "At this spot, Romans, Jupiter, supremely good and great, commands you to halt, and renew the fight." The Romans halted as if they had been commanded by a voice from heaven; Romulus himself flies to the foremost ranks.

Mettus Curtius, on the part of the Sabines, had rushed down at the head of his army from the citadel, and driven the Romans in disorder over the whole ground now occupied by the forum.

He was already not far from the gate of the Palatium, crying out, "We have defeated these perfidious strangers, these dastardly enemies.