Horatius

The story begins a long time ago when the last Roman king was cruel. They got so mad at the king and then finally, they kicked him out. The king of the Etruscans heard of this and decided he wanted to rule Rome too. The Romans did not want a king at all, "No more kings!" The Etruscan King, who lived across the Tiber River, made a great big army to attack Rome. The Romans were not strong enough and did not have enough people, so they set soldiers to watch all the places, especially the bridge over the Tiber River. The rest of the people hid inside the walls. One morning, some guards saw the Etruscan army nearby, very close, comming towards the bridge. Horatius, a brave Roman soldier, was guarding the bridge. He told them to cut down the bridge as fast as they could. He said, "me and two other soldiers, guarding the bridge, will keep the army away." They cut down the bridge and the other soldiers ran back to the other side while Horatius fought the soldiers. The bridge collapsed and Horatius knew that the city of Rome was safe. Then a soldier threw a dart and hit Horatius' eye and got his eye out. Horatius jumped in the water because he saw his house and it encouraged him. He sank because his heavy armor was on. The people thought that they would not see Horatius again. But Horatius made it across because he was the best swimmer in Rome. The Romans felt really happy that their friend made it across the Tiber River and they gave him as much land as he could plow in a day and they made a statue to honor him. They called him One-Eyed Horatius.

I thought this story was very nice. I think Horatius was a very good man and he was a strong, saving man. If I was Horatius I would take my armor off first or while I was under the water.