SCAEVOLA
Porsenna's army now besieges Rome and the city is starving. A young noble, Gaius Mucius, asks the Senate's leave to slip into the enemy camp and kill the king. He reaches the royal tent, but two men sit there dressed alike, and he strikes down the king's secretary instead. Dragged before Porsenna, he does not beg. He tells the king that three hundred young Romans have sworn to try the same, one after another. Then he thrusts his right hand into the altar fire and holds it there without a sound. The king, shaken, sets him free and soon makes peace with Rome. Mucius is remembered as Scaevola, 'Left-Hand'.
Legend. Some think the story grew to explain the family name Scaevola. Porsenna's war with Rome is historical, and some ancient writers even admit he took the city, which the legend leaves out.