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In the centre of the Forum was the plain called the Curtian Lake, where Curtius is said to have cast himself into a chasm or gulf, which closed on him, and so he saved his country.
The people rushed after him to the brink, flung in their offerings, and with a surge the lips of the gap came together, and the gulf was forever closed. The place was afterwards known by the name of the Curtian Lake, in honor of this sacrifice. There are two other stories of this date worth repeating, as giving rise to two great names in Rome.
Now it was a great mistake to think as many people at this time did, both in Yorkshire and Derbyshire that the gulf of connubial cares had swallowed the great Roman hero Mordacks. Unarmed, and even without his gallant roadster to support him, he had leaped into that Curtian lake, and had fought a good fight at the bottom of it.
When they met on the second Sunday it would be unfair to criticise the first Curtian plunge they made 14 persons, including the preacher, put in an appearance; but the number gradually extended; courage slowly accumulated, and eventually in September, 1867 the Rev.
Silence being made, looking to the temples of the immortal gods, which command a view of the forum, and towards the Capitol, and extending his hands at one time towards heaven, at another towards the infernal gods, through the gaping aperture of the earth, he devoted himself: then, mounted on a horse accoutred in the most gorgeous style possible, he plunged in full armour into the opening, and offerings and the fruits of the earth were thrown in over him by the multitude of men and women, and the lake was called Curtian not from Curtius Mettus, the ancient soldier of Titus Tatius, but from this circumstance.
It happened, too, the river having overflowed not many days before, there was left behind in the plain, where now the forum stands, a deep blind mud and slime, which, though it did not appear much to the eye, and was not easily avoided, at bottom was deceitful and dangerous; upon which the Sabines being unwarily about to enter, met with a piece of good fortune; for Curtius, a gallant man, eager of honor, and of aspiring thoughts, being mounted on horseback, was galloping on before the rest, and mired his horse here, and, endeavoring for awhile by whip and spur and voice to disentangle him, but finding it impossible, quitted him and saved himself; the place from him to this very time is called the Curtian Lake.
In the centre of the forum was a place called the Curtian Lake, either from a Sabine general called Curtius, said to have been smothered in the marsh which was once there; or from the Roman knight who plunged into a gulf that opened suddenly on the spot. The celebrated temple of Ja'nus, built entirely of bronze, stood in the Forum; it is supposed to have been erected by Numa.
He was slain near the Curtian Lake , and there left, until a common soldier returning from the receipt of his allowance of corn, throwing down the load which he carried, cut off his head.
I say nothing of the decrees of the senate in his honour, which may seem to have resulted from compulsion or deference. The Roman knights voluntarily, and with one accord, always celebrated his birth for two days together; and all ranks of the people, yearly, in performance of a vow they had made, threw a piece of money into the Curtian lake , as an offering for his welfare.
Then, drawing his toga close, as if to avoid a contaminating touch, he strode by to join the approaching band of young men, leaving his opponent vicious to snarl, but powerless to bite. After the usual greetings and inquiries concerning his health, they walked on together toward the Curtian Pool, and Sergius' thoughts took on a deeper colour from the despondent speech of his friends.
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