THE REPUBLICAN PARADIGM: HEROINES OF EARLY ROME discusses the story of Cloelia and Livy's comment "an act of courage - new in a woman".

Livy (History of Rome, 2:9-13) does not mention swimming with a horse, but Plutarch does, also Seneca (ad Marciam 16). Its possible that this was added to the story later, once people were familiar with the equestrian statue and saw it as a depiction of events rather than a formalized honor.

The Oxford Classical Dictionary adds that "Critics who dismiss the story as legend believe that the statue was dedicated to a goddess (Venus Equestris) and that later Romans wrongly associated it with Cloelia".