If he could burn us all into one coal,
We have deserved it.
(IV. vi. 137.)
Partly, too, there has been no time for preparation, for, as we have seen, the invasion is a bolt from the blue, and after it has first struck there is no convenient truce of thirty days before its recurrence. Entreaty, says Sicinius, might help
More than the instant army we can make;
(V. i. 37.)
and it is the opinion of all.
Partly, too, the inertness of Rome is a tribute to the greatness of the adversary, which is enhanced beyond the hyperboles of Plutarch, and with which to inspire them the Volscians are irresistible.
He is their god: he leads them like a thing
Made by some other deity than nature