30. In the city efforts were made by the tribunes of the people that

military tribunes with consular power should be elected; nor could the

point be carried. Lucius Papirius Crassus and Lucius Junius were made

consuls. When the ambassadors of the Æquans solicited a treaty from the

senate, and instead of a treaty a surrender was pointed out to them,

they obtained a truce for eight years. The affairs of the Volscians, in

addition to the disaster sustained at Algidum, were involved in strifes

and seditions by an obstinate contention between the advocates for peace

and those for war. The Romans enjoyed tranquillity on all sides. The

consuls, having ascertained through the information of one of the

college, that a law regarding the appraising of the fines,[157] which

was very acceptable to the people, was about to be introduced by the

tribunes, took the lead themselves in proposing it. The new consuls were

Lucius Sergius Fidenas a second time, and Hostus Lucretius Tricipitinus.

During their consulate nothing worth mentioning occurred. The consuls

who followed them were Aulus Cornelius Cossus and Titus Quintius Pennus

a second time. The Veientians made excursions into the Roman territory.

A report existed that some of the youth of the Fidenatians had been

participators in that depredation; and the cognizance of that matter was

left to Lucius Sergius, and Quintus Servilius and Mamercus Æmilius. Some

of them were sent into banishment to Ostia, because it did not appear

sufficiently clear why during these days they had been absent from

Fidenæ. A number of new settlers was added, and the land of those who

had fallen in war was assigned to them. There was very great distress

that year in consequence of drought; there was not only a deficiency of

rain; but the earth also destitute of its natural moisture, scarcely

enabled the rivers to flow. In some places the want of water occasioned

heaps of cattle, which had died of thirst, around the springs and

rivulets which were dried up; others were carried off by the mange; and

the distempers spread by infection to the human subject, and first

assailed the husbandmen and slaves; soon after the city becomes filled

with them; and not only were men's bodies afflicted by the contagion,

but superstitions of various kinds, and most of them of foreign growth,

took possession of their minds; persons, to whom minds enslaved by

superstition were a source of gain, introducing by pretending to

divination new modes of sacrificing; until a sense of public shame now

reached the leading men of the state, seeing in all the streets and

chapels extraneous and unaccustomed ceremonies of expiation for the

purpose of obtaining the favour of the gods. A charge was then given to

the ædiles, that they should see that no other than Roman gods should be

worshipped, nor in any other manner, save that of the country. Their

resentment against the Veientians was deferred till the following year,

Caius Servilius Ahala and Lucius Papirius Mugillanus being consuls. Then

also superstitious influences prevented the immediate declaration of war

or the armies being sent; they deemed it necessary that heralds should

be first sent to demand restitution. There had been battles fought

lately with the Veientians at Nomentum and Fidenæ; and after that a

truce, not a peace, had been concluded; of which both the time had

expired and they had renewed hostilities before the expiration. Heralds

however were sent; and when, according to ancient usage, they were sworn

and demanded restitution, their application was not listened to. Then

arose a dispute whether a war should be declared by order of the people,

or whether a decree of the senate would be sufficient. The tribunes, by

threatening that they would stop the levy, so far prevailed that the

consuls should take the sense of the people concerning the war. All the

centuries voted for it. In this particular also the commons showed a

superiority by gaining this point, that consuls should not be elected

for the next year.

[Footnote 157: _Fines_. The fines imposed in early times were certain

numbers of sheep or oxen; afterwards it was ordered by law that these

fines should be appraised and the value paid in money. Another law fixed

a certain rate at which the cattle should be estimated, 100 asses for an

ox, 10 for a sheep.]

31. Four military tribunes with consular authority were elected--Titus

Quintius Pennus, from the consulship, Caius Furius, Marcus Postumius,

and Aulus Cornelius Cossus. Of these Cossus held the command in the

city. The other three, after the levy was held, set out to Veii, and

were an instance how mischievous in military affairs is a plurality of

commanders. By insisting each on his own plans, whilst they severally

entertained different views, they left an opportunity open to the enemy

to take them at advantage. For the Veientians, taking an opportunity,

attacked their line whilst still uncertain as to their movements, some

ordering the signal to be given, others a retreat to be sounded: their

camp, which was nigh at hand, received them in their confusion and

turning their backs. There was more disgrace therefore than loss. The

state, unaccustomed to defeat, was become melancholy; they hated the

tribunes, they insisted on a dictator, the hopes of the state now seemed

to rest on him. When a religious scruple interfered here also, lest a

dictator could not be appointed except by a consul, the augurs on being

consulted removed that scruple. Aulus Cornelius nominated Mamercus

Æmilius, and he himself was nominated by him master of the horse. So

little did censorial animadversion avail, so as to prevent them from

seeking a regulator of their affairs from a family unmeritedly censured,

as soon as the condition of the state stood in need of genuine merit.

The Veientians elated with their success, having sent ambassadors around

the states of Etruria, boasting that three Roman generals had been

beaten by them in an engagement, though they could not effect a public

co-operation in their designs, procured volunteers from all quarters

allured by the hope of plunder. The state of the Fidenatians alone

determined on renewing hostilities; and as if it would be an impiety to

commence war unless with guilt, after staining their arms with the blood

of the new settlers there, as they had on a former occasion with that of

the ambassadors, they join the Veientians. After this the leading men of

the two states consulted whether they should select Veii or Fidenæ as

the seat of war. Fidenæ appeared the more convenient. Accordingly,

having crossed the Tiber, the Veientians transferred the war thither.

There was great consternation at Rome. The army being recalled from

Veii, and that same army dispirited in consequence of their defeat, the

camp is pitched before the Colline gate, and armed soldiers are posted

along the walls, and a suspension of all civil business is proclaimed in

the forum, and the shops were closed; and every place becomes more like

to a camp than a city.

32. Then the dictator, having sent criers through the streets, and

having summoned the alarmed citizens to an assembly, began to chide them

"that they allowed their minds to depend on such slight impulses of

fortune, that, on the receipt of a trifling loss, which itself was

sustained not by the bravery of the enemy, nor by the cowardice of the

Roman army, but by the disagreement of the generals, they now dreaded

the Veientian enemy, six times vanquished, and Fidenæ, which was almost

taken oftener than attacked. That both the Romans and the enemies were

the same as they were for so many ages: that they retained the same

spirits, the same bodily strength, the same arms. That he himself,

Mamercus Æmilius, was also the same dictator, who formerly defeated the

armies of the Veientians and Fidenatians, with the additional support of

the Faliscians, at Nomentum. That his master of the horse, Aulus

Cornelius, would be the same in the field, he who, as military tribune

in a former war, slew Lar Tolumnius, king of the Veientians, in the

sight of both armies, and brought the _spolia opima_ into the temple of

Jupiter Feretrius. Wherefore that they should take up arms, mindful that

with them were triumphs, with them spoils, with them victory; with the

enemy the guilt of murdering the ambassadors contrary to the law of

nations, the massacre of the Fidenatian colonists in time of peace, the

infraction of truces, a seventh unsuccessful revolt. As soon as they

should bring their camp near them, he was fully confident that the joy

of these most impious enemies at the disgrace of the Roman army would

not be of long continuance, and that the Roman people would be convinced

how much better those persons deserved of the republic, who nominated

him dictator for the third time, than those who, in consequence of his

abolishing the despotism of the censorship, would cast a slur on his

second dictatorship." Having offered up his vows and set out on his

march, he pitches his camp fifteen hundred paces on this side of Fidenæ,

covered on his right by mountains, on his left by the river Tiber. He

orders Titus Quintius Pennus to take possession of the mountains, and to

post himself secretly on some eminence which might be in the enemy's

rear. On the following day, when the Etrurians had marched out to the

field, full of confidence in consequence of their accidental success of

the preceding day, rather than of their good fighting, he himself,

having delayed a little until the senate brought back word that Quintius

had gained an eminence nigh to the citadel of Fidenæ, puts his troops

into motion and led on his line of infantry in order of battle in their

quickest pace against the enemy: the master of the horse he directs not

to commence the fight without orders; that, when it would be necessary,

he would give the signal for the aid of the cavalry; then that he would

conduct the action, mindful of his fight with the king, mindful of the

rich oblation, and of Romulus and Jupiter Feretrius. The legions begin

the conflict with impetuosity. The Romans, fired with hatred, gratified

that feeling both with deeds and words, calling the Fidenatian impious,

the Veientian robbers, truce-breakers, stained with the horrid murder of

ambassadors, sprinkled with the blood of their own brother-colonists,

treacherous allies, and dastardly enemies.

33. In the very first onset they had made an impression on the enemy;

when on a sudden, the gates of Fidenæ flying open, a strange sort of

army sallies forth, unheard of and unseen before that time. An immense

multitude armed with fire and all blazing with fire-brands, as if urged

on by fanatical rage, rush on the enemy: and the form of this unusual

mode of fighting frightened the Romans for the moment. Then the

dictator, having called to him the master of the horse and the cavalry,

and also Quintius from the mountains animating the fight, hastens

himself to the left wing, which, more nearly resembling a conflagration

than a battle, had from terror given way to the flames, and exclaims

with a loud voice, "Vanquished by smoke, driven from your ground as if a

swarm of bees, will ye yield to an unarmed enemy? will ye not extinguish

the fires with the sword? or if it is with fire, not with weapons, we

are to fight, will ye not, each in his post, snatch those brands, and

hurl them on them? Come, mindful of the Roman name, of the valour of

your fathers, and of your own, turn this conflagration against the city

of your enemy, and destroy Fidenæ by its own flames, which ye could not

reclaim by your kindness. The blood of your ambassadors and colonists

and the desolation of your frontiers suggest this." At the command of

the dictator the whole line advanced; the firebrands that were

discharged are partly caught up; others are wrested by force: the armies

on either side are now armed with fire. The master of the horse too, on

his part, introduces among the cavalry a new mode of fighting; he

commands his men to take the bridles off their horses: and he himself at

their head, putting spurs to his own, dashing forward, is carried by the

unbridled steed into the midst of the fires: the other horses also being

urged on carry their riders with unrestrained speed against the enemy.

The dust being raised and mixed with smoke excluded the light from the

eyes of both men and horses. That appearance which had terrified the

soldiers, no longer terrified the horses. The cavalry therefore,

wherever they penetrated, produced a heap of bodies like a ruin. A new

shout then assailed their ears; and when this attracted the attention of

the two armies looking with amazement at each other, the dictator cries

out "that his lieutenant-general and his men had attacked the enemy on

the rear:" he himself, on the shout being renewed, advances against them

with redoubled vigour. When two armies, two different battles pressed on

the Etrurians, now surrounded, in front and rear, and there was now no

means of flight back to their camp, nor to the mountains, where new

enemies were ready to oppose them, and the horses, now freed from their

bridles, had scattered their riders in every direction, the principal

part of the Veientians make precipitately for the Tiber. Such of the

Fidenatians as survived, bend their course to the city of Fidenæ. Their

flight hurries them in their state of panic into the midst of slaughter;

they are cut to pieces on the banks; others, when driven into the water,

were carried off by the eddies; even those who could swim were weighed

down by fatigue, by their wounds, and by fright; a few out of the many

make their way across. The other party make their way through the camp

into the city. In the same direction their impetuosity carries the

Romans in pursuit; Quintius more especially, and with him those who had

just come down from the mountain, being the soldiers who were freshest

for labour, because they had come up towards the close of the

engagement.

34. These, after they entered the gate mixed with the enemy, make their

way to the walls, and raise from their summit a signal to their friends

of the town being taken. When the dictator saw this, (for he had now

made his way into the deserted camp of the enemy,) he leads on the

soldiers, who were now anxious to disperse themselves in quest of booty,

entertaining a hope of a greater spoil in the city, to the gate; and

being admitted within the walls, he proceeds to the citadel, whither he

saw the crowds of fugitives hurrying. Nor was the slaughter in the city

less than in the battle; until, throwing down their arms, begging

nothing but their life, they surrendered to the dictator. The city and

camp are plundered. On the following day, one captive being allotted to

each horseman and centurion, and two to those whose valour had been

conspicuous, and the rest being sold by auction, the dictator in triumph

led back to Rome his army victorious and enriched with spoil; and having

ordered the master of the horse to resign his office, he immediately

resigned his own on the sixteenth day (after he had obtained it);

surrendering in peace that authority which he had received during war

and trepidations. Some annals have reported that there was a naval

engagement with the Veientians at Fidenæ, a thing as difficult as it was

incredible, the river even now not being broad enough for such a

purpose; and at that time, as we learn from old writers, being

considerably narrower: except that perhaps in disputing the passage of

the river, magnifying, as will happen, the scuffle of a few ships, they

sought the empty honour of a naval victory.

35. The following year had as military tribunes with consular power

Aulus Sempronius Atratinus, Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus, Lucius Furius

Medullinus, Lucius Horatius Barbatus. To the Veientians a truce for

twenty years was granted, and one for three years to the Æquans, though

they had solicited one for a longer term. There was quiet also from city

riots. The year following, though not distinguished either by war abroad

or by disturbance at home, was rendered celebrated by the games which

had been vowed during the war, both through the magnificence displayed

in them by the military tribunes, and also through the concourse of the

neighbouring states. The tribunes with consular power were Appius

Claudius Crassus, Spurius Nautilus Rutilus, Lucius Sergius Fidenas,

Sextus Julius Iulus. The exhibition, besides that they had come with the

public concurrence of their states, was rendered still more grateful to

the strangers by the courtesy of their hosts. After the games seditious

harangues were delivered by the tribunes of the commons upbraiding the

multitude; "that stupified with admiration of those persons whom they

hated, they kept themselves in a state of eternal bondage; and they not

only had not the courage to aspire to the recovery of their hopes of a

share in the consulship, but even in the electing of military tribunes,

which elections lay open to both patricians and commons, they neither

thought of themselves nor of their party. That they must therefore cease

feeling surprised why no one busied himself about the interests of the

commons: that labour and danger would be expended on objects whence

emolument and honour might be expected. That there was nothing men would

not attempt if great rewards were proposed for those who make great

attempts. That any tribune of the commons should rush blindly at great

risk and with no advantage into contentions, in consequence of which he

may rest satisfied that the patricians against whom he should strive,

will persecute him with inexpiable war, whilst with the commons in whose

behalf he may have contended he will not be one whit the more honoured,

was a thing neither to be expected nor required. That by great honours

minds became great. That no plebeian would think meanly of himself, when

they ceased to be despised by others. That the experiment should be at

length made in the case of one or two, whether there were any plebeian

capable of sustaining a high dignity, or whether it were next to a

miracle and a prodigy that any one sprung from the commons should be a

brave and industrious man. That by the utmost energy the point had been

gained, that military tribunes with consular power might be chosen from

among the commons also. That men well approved both in the civil and

military line had stood as candidates. That during the first years they

were hooted at, rejected, and ridiculed by the patricians: that at

length they had ceased to expose themselves to insult. Nor did he for

his part see why the law itself might not be repealed; by which that was

made lawful which never could take place; for that there would be less

cause for blushing at the injustice of the law, than if they were to be

passed over through their own want of merit."

36. Harangues of this kind, listened to with approbation, induced some

persons to stand for the military tribuneship, each avowing that if in

office he would propose something to the advantage of the commons. Hopes

were held out of a distribution of the public land, of colonies to be

planted, and of money to be raised for the pay of the soldiers, by a tax

imposed on the proprietors of estates. Then an opportunity was laid

hold of by the military tribunes, so that during the absence of most

persons from the city, when the patricians who were to be recalled by a

private intimation were to attend on a certain day, a decree of the

senate might be passed in the absence of the tribunes of the commons;

that a report existed that the Volscians had gone forth into the lands

of Hernici to commit depredations, the military tribunes were to set out

to examine into the matter, and that an assembly should be held for the

election of consuls. Having set out, they leave Appius Claudius, son of

the decemvir, as prefect of the city, a young man of great energy, and

one who had ever from his cradle imbibed a hatred of the tribunes and

the commons. The tribunes of the commons had nothing for which they

should contend, either with those persons now absent, who had procured

the decree of the senate, nor with Appius, the matter being now all

over.

37. Caius Sempronius Atratinus, Quintus Fabius Vibulanus were elected

consuls. An affair in a foreign country, but one deserving of record, is

stated to have happened in that year. Vulturnum, a city of the

Etrurians, which is now Capua, was taken by the Samnites; and was called

Capua from their leader, Capys, or, what is more probable, from its

champaign grounds. But they took possession of it, after having been

admitted into a share of the city and its lands, when the Etrurians had

been previously much harassed in war; afterwards the new-comers attacked

and massacred during the night the old inhabitants, when on a festival

day they had become heavy with wine and sleep. After those transactions

the consuls whom we have mentioned entered on office on the ides of

December. Now not only those who had been expressly sent, reported that

a Volscian war was impending; but ambassadors also from the Latins and

Hernicians brought word, "that never at any former period were the

Volscians more intent either in selecting commanders, or in levying an

army; that they commonly observed either that arms and war were to be

for ever consigned to oblivion, and the yoke to be submitted to; or that

they must not yield to those, with whom they contended for empire,

either in valour, perseverance, or military discipline." The accounts

they brought were not unfounded; but neither the senate were so much

affected by the circumstance; and Caius Sempronius, to whom the province

fell by lot, relying on fortune, as if a most constant object, because

he was the leader of a victorious state against one frequently

vanquished, executed all his measures carelessly and remissly; so that

there was more of the Roman discipline in the Volscian than in the Roman

army. Success therefore, as on many other occasions, attended merit. In

the first battle, which was entered on by Sempronius without either

prudence or caution, they met, without their lines being strengthened by

reserves, or their cavalry being properly stationed. The shout was the

first presage which way the victory would incline; that raised by the

enemy was louder and more continued; that by the Romans, being

dissonant, uneven, and frequently repeated in a lifeless manner,

betrayed the prostration of their spirits. The enemy advancing the more

boldly on this account, pushed with their shields, brandished their

swords; on the other side the helmets drooped, as the men looked around,

and disconcerted they waver, and keep close to the main body. The

ensigns at one time standing their ground are deserted by their

supporters, at another time they retreat between their respective

companies. As yet there was no absolute flight, nor was there victory.

The Romans rather covered themselves than fought. The Volscians

advanced, pushed against their line, saw more of the enemy slain than

running away.

38. They now give way in every direction, the consul Sempronius in vain

chiding and exhorting them; neither his authority nor his dignity

availed any thing; and they would presently have turned their backs to

the enemy, had not Sextus Tempanius, a commander of a troop of horse,

with great presence of mind brought them support, when matters were now

desperate. When he called out aloud, "that the horsemen who wished for

the safety of the commonwealth should leap from their horses," the

horsemen of all the troops being moved, as if by the consul's orders, he

says, "unless this cohort by its arms can stop the progress of the

enemy, there is an end of the empire. Follow my spear as your standard.

Show to the Romans and Volscians, that no cavalry are equal to you as

cavalry, nor infantry to you as infantry." When this exhortation was

approved by a loud shout, he advances, holding his spear aloft. Wherever

they go, they open a passage for themselves; putting forward their

targets they force on to the place where they saw the distress of their

friends greatest. The fight is restored in every part, as far as their

onset reached; nor was there a doubt but that if so few could,

accomplish every thing at the same time, the enemy would have turned

their backs.

39. And when they could now be withstood in no part, the Volscian

commander gives a signal, that an opening should be made for the

targeteers, the enemy's new cohort; until carried away by their

impetuosity they should be cut off from their own party. When this was

done, the horsemen were intercepted; nor were they able to force their

way in the same direction as that through which they had passed; the

enemy being thickest in that part through which they had made their way;

and the consul and Roman legions, when they could no where see that

party which had lately been a protection to the entire army, lest the

enemy should cut down so many men of distinguished valour by cutting

them off, push forward at all hazards. The Volscians, forming two

fronts, sustained the attack of the consul and the legions on the one

hand, with the other front pressed on Tempanius and the horsemen: and

when they after repeated attempts were unable to force their way to

their own party, they took possession of an eminence, and defended

themselves by forming a circle, not without taking vengeance on their

enemies. Nor was there an end of the battle before night. The consul

also, never relaxing his efforts as long as any light remained, kept the

enemy employed. The night at length separated them undecided as to

victory; and such a panic seized both camps, from their uncertainty as

to the issue, that, leaving behind their wounded and a great part of the

baggage, both armies, as if vanquished, betook themselves to the

adjoining mountains. The eminence, however, continued to be besieged

till beyond midnight; but when word was brought to the besiegers that

the camp was deserted, supposing that their own party had been defeated,

they too fled, each whithersoever his fears carried him in the dark.

Tempanius, through fear of an ambush, detained his men till daylight.

Then having himself descended with a few men to look about, when he

ascertained by inquiring from some of the wounded enemy that the camp of

the Volscians was deserted, he joyously calls down his men from the

eminence, and makes his way into the Roman camp: where, when he found

every thing waste and deserted, and the same unsightliness as with the

enemy, before the discovery of this mistake should bring back the

Volscians, taking with him all the wounded he could, and not knowing

what route the consul had taken, he proceeds by the shortest roads to

the city.

40. The report of the unsuccessful battle and of the abandonment of the

camp had already reached there; and, above all other objects, the

horsemen were mourned not more with private than with public grief; and

the consul Fabius, the city also being now alarmed, stationed guards

before the gates; when the horsemen, seen at a distance, not without

some degree of terror by those who doubted who they were, but soon being

recognised, from a state of dread produced such joy, that a shout

pervaded the city, of persons congratulating each other on the horsemen

having returned safe and victorious; and from the houses a little before

in mourning, as they had given up their friends for lost, persons were

seen running into the street; and the affrighted mothers and wives,

forgetful of all ceremony through joy, ran out to meet the band, each

one rushing up to her own friends, and through extravagance of delight

scarcely retaining power over body or mind. The tribunes of the people

who had appointed a day of trial for Marcus Postumius and Titus

Quintius, because of the unsuccessful battle fought near Veii by their

means, thought that an opportunity now presented itself for renewing the

public odium against them by reason of the recent displeasure felt

against the consul Sempronius. Accordingly, a meeting being convened,

when they exclaimed aloud that the commonwealth had been betrayed at

Veii by the generals, that the army was afterwards betrayed by the

consul in the country of the Volscians, because they had escaped with

impunity, that the very brave horsemen were consigned to slaughter, that

the camp was shamefully deserted; Caius Julius, one of the tribunes,

ordered the horseman Tempanius to be cited, and in presence of them he

says, "Sextus Tempanius, I ask of you, whether do you think that Caius

Sempronius the consul either commenced the battle at the proper time, or

strengthened his line with reserves, or that he discharged any duty of a

good consul? or did you yourself, when the Roman legions were beaten, of

your own judgment dismount the cavalry and restore the fight? then when

you and the horsemen with you were cut off from our army, did either the

consul himself come to your relief, or did he send you succour? Then

again, on the following day, had you any assistance any where? or did

you and your cohort by your own bravery make your way into your camp?

Did you find a consul or an army in the camp, or did you find the camp

forsaken, the wounded soldiers left behind? These things are to be

declared by you this day, as becomes your valour and honour, by which

alone the republic has stood its ground on this day. In a word, where is

Caius Sempronius, where are our legions? Have you been deserted, or have

you deserted the consul and the army? In a word, have we been defeated,

or have we gained the victory?"

41. In answer to these questions the language of Tempanius is said to

have been entirely devoid of elegance, but firm as became a soldier, not

vainly parading his own merits, nor exulting in the inculpation of

others: "How much military skill Caius Sempronius possessed, that it was

not his business as a soldier to judge with respect to his commander,

but the business of the Roman people when they were choosing consuls at

the election. Wherefore that they should not require from him a detail

of the plans to be adopted by a general, nor of the qualifications to be

looked for in a consul; which matters required to be considered by great

minds and great capacities; but what he saw, that he could state. That

before he was separated from his own party, he saw the consul fighting

in the first line, encouraging his men, actively employed amid the Roman

ensigns and the weapons of the enemy; that he was afterwards carried out

of sight of his friends. That from the din and shouting he perceived

that the contest was protracted till night; nor did he think it

possible, from the great numbers of the enemy, that they could force

their way to the eminence which he had seized on. Where the army might

be, he did not know; he supposed that as he protected himself and his

men, by advantage of situation when in danger, in the same way the

consul, for the purpose of preserving his army, had selected a more

secure place for his camp. Nor did he think that the affairs of the

Volscians were in a better condition than those of the Roman people.

That fortune and the night had occasioned a multitude of mistakes on

both sides:" and then when he begged that they would not detain him,

fatigued with toil and wounds, he was dismissed with high encomiums, not

more on his bravery than his modesty. While these things were going on,

the consul was at the temple of Rest on the road leading to Lavici.

Waggons and other modes of conveyance were sent thither from the city,

and took up the army, exhausted by the action and the travelling by

night. Soon after the consul entered the city, not more anxious to

remove the blame from himself, than to bestow on Tempanius the praises

so well deserved. Whilst the citizens were still sorrowful in

consequence of their ill success, and incensed against their leaders,

Marcus Postumius, being arraigned and brought before them, he who had

been military tribune with consular power at Veii, is condemned in a

fine of ten thousand _asses_ in weight, of brass. His colleague, Titus

Quintius, who endeavoured to shift the entire blame of that period on

his previously condemned colleague, was acquitted by all the tribes,

because both in the country of the Volscians, when consul, he had

conducted business successfully under the auspices of the dictator,

Postumius Tubertus, and also at Fidenæ, as lieutenant-general of another

dictator, Mamercus Æmilius. The memory of his father, Cincinnatus, a man

highly deserving of veneration, is said to have been serviceable to him,

as also Capitolinus Quintius, now advanced in years, humbly entreating

that they would not suffer him who had so short a time to live to be the

bearer of such dismal tidings to Cincinnatus.

42. The commons elected as tribunes of the people, though absent, Sextus

Tempanius, Aulus Sellius, Sextus Antistius, and Spurius Icilius, whom

the horsemen by the advice of Tempanius had appointed to command them as

centurions. The senate, inasmuch as the name of consuls was now becoming

displeasing through the hatred felt towards Sempronius, ordered that

military tribunes with consular power should be elected. Those elected

were Lucius Manlius Capitolinus, Quintus Antonius Merenda, Lucius

Papirius Mugillanus. At the very commencement of the year, Lucius

Hortensius, a tribune of the people, appointed a day of trial for Caius

Sempronius, a consul of the preceding year, and when his four

colleagues, in sight of the Roman people, entreated him that he would

not involve in vexation their unoffending general, in whose case

nothing but fortune could be blamed, Hortensius took offence, thinking

it to be a trying of his perseverance, and that the accused depended not

on the entreaties of the tribunes, which were merely used for show, but

on their protection. Therefore now turning to him, he asked, "Where were

those patrician airs, where the spirit supported and confiding in

conscious innocence; that a man of consular dignity took shelter under

the shade of the tribunes?" Another time to his colleagues, "What do you

intend doing, if I go on with the prosecution; will you wrest their

jurisdiction from the people and overturn the tribunitian authority?"

When they said that, "both with respect to Sempronius and all others,

the power of the Roman people was supreme; that they had neither the

will nor the power to do away with the judgment of the people; but if

their entreaties for their commander, who was to them in the light of a

parent, were to prove of no avail, that they would change their apparel

along with him:" then Hortensius says, "The commons of Rome shall not

see their tribunes in the garb of culprits. To Caius Sempronius I have

nothing more to say, since when in office he has attained this good

fortune, to be so dear to his soldiers." Nor was the dutiful attachment

of the four tribunes more grateful alike to the commons and patricians,

than was the temper of Hortensius, which yielded so readily to their

just entreaties. Fortune no longer indulged the Æquans, who had embraced

the doubtful victory of the Volscians as their own.

43. In the year following, when Numerius Fabius Vibulanus and Titus

Quintius Capitolinus, son of Capitolinus, were consuls, nothing worth

mentioning was performed under the conduct of Fabius, to whom that

province had fallen by lot. When the Æquans had merely showed their

dastardly army, they were routed by a shameful flight, without any great

honour to the consul; therefore a triumph is refused. However in

consequence of having effaced the ignominy of Sempronius's defeat, he

was allowed to enter the city with an ovation. As the war was terminated

with less difficulty than they had apprehended, so in the city, from a

state of tranquillity, an unexpected mass of dissensions arose between

the commons and patricians, which commenced with doubling the number of

quæstors. When the patricians approved most highly of this measure,

(viz. that, besides the two city quæstors, two should attend the

consuls to discharge some duties of the military service,) after it was

moved by the consuls, the tribunes of the commons contended in

opposition to the consuls, that half of the quæstors should be appointed

from the commons; for up to that time all patricians were appointed.

Against this proceeding both the consuls and patricians at first strove

with all their might; then by making a concession that the will of the

people should be equally free in the case of quæstors, as they enjoyed

in the election of tribunes with consular power, when they produced but

little effect, they gave up the entire matter about increasing the

number of quæstors. When relinquished, the tribunes take it up, and

other seditious schemes are continually started, among which is that of

the agrarian law. On account of these disturbances the senate was

desirous that consuls should be elected rather than tribunes, but no

decree of the senate could be passed in consequence of the protests of

the tribunes; the government from being consular came to an interregnum,

and not even that without a great struggle (for the tribunes prevented

the patricians from meeting). When the greater part of the following

year was wasted in contentions by the new tribunes of the commons and

some interreges, the tribunes at one time hindering the patricians from

assembling to declare an interrex, at another time preventing the

interrex from passing a decree regarding the election of consuls; at

length Lucius Papirius Mugillanus, being nominated interrex, censuring

now the patricians, now the tribunes of the people, asserted "that the

state, deserted and forsaken by man, being taken up by the providence

and care of the gods, subsisted by the Veientian truce and the

dilatoriness of the Æquans. From which quarter if any alarm of danger be

heard, did it please them that the state, left without a patrician

magistrate, should be taken by surprise? that there should be no army,

nor general to enlist one? Will they repel a foreign war by an intestine

one? And if they both meet, the Roman state can scarcely be saved, even

by the aid of the gods, from being overwhelmed. That they, by resigning

each a portion of their strict right, should establish concord by a

compromise; the patricians, by suffering military tribunes with consular

authority to be elected; the tribunes of the commons, by ceasing to

protest against the four quæstors being elected promiscuously from the

commons and patricians by the free suffrage of the people."

44. The election of tribunes was first held. There were chosen tribunes

with consular power, Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus a third time, Lucius

Furius Medullinus a second time, Marcus Manlius, Aulus Sempronius

Atratinus. On the last-named tribune presiding at the election of

quæstors, and among several other plebeians a son of Antistius, a

plebeian tribune, and a brother of Sextus Pompilius, also a tribune of

the commons, becoming candidates, neither the power nor interest of the

latter at all availed so as to prevent those, whose fathers and

grandfathers they had seen consuls, from being preferred for their high

birth. All the tribunes of the commons became enraged, above all

Pompilius and Antistius were incensed at the rejection of their

relatives. "What could this mean? that neither through their own

kindnesses, nor in consequence of the injurious treatment of the

patricians, nor even through the natural desire of making use of their

new right, as that is now allowed which was not allowed before, was any

individual of the commons elected if not a military tribune, not even a

quæstor. That the prayers of a father in behalf of a son, those of one

brother in behalf of another, had been of no avail, though proceeding

from tribunes of the people, a sacrosanct power created for the support

of liberty. There must have been some fraud in the matter, and Aulus

Sempronius must have used more of artifice at the elections than was

compatible with honour." They complained that by the unfairness of his

conduct their friends had been kept out of office. Accordingly as no

attack could be made on him, secured by his innocence and by the office

he then held, they turned their resentment against Caius Sempronius,

uncle to Atratinus; and, with the aid of their colleague Marcus

Cornelius, they entered a prosecution against him on account of the

disgrace sustained in the Volscian war. By the same tribunes mention was

frequently made in the senate concerning the division of the lands,

(which scheme Caius Sempronius had always most vigorously opposed,) they

supposing, as was really the case, that the accused, should he give up

the question, would become less valued among the patricians, or by

persevering up to the period of trial he would give offence to the

commons. He preferred to expose himself to the torrent of popular

prejudice, and to injure his own cause, than to be wanting to the public

cause; and he stood firm in the same sentiment, "that no largess should

be made, which was sure to turn to the benefit of the three tribunes;

that it was not land was sought for the people, but odium for him. That

he too would undergo that storm with a determined mind; nor should

either himself, nor any other citizen, be of so much consequence to the

senate, that in showing tenderness to an individual, a public injury may

be done." When the day of trial came, he, having pleaded his own cause

with a spirit by no means subdued, is condemned in a fine of fifteen

thousand _asses_, though the patricians tried every means to make the

people relent. The same year Postumia, a Vestal virgin, is tried for a

breach of chastity, though guiltless of the charge; having fallen under

suspicion in consequence of her dress being too gay and her manners less

reserved than becomes a virgin, not avoiding the imputation with

sufficient care. The case was first deferred, she was afterwards

acquitted; but the chief pontiff, by the instruction of the college,

commanded her to refrain from indiscreet mirth, and to dress with more

regard to sanctity than elegance. In the same year Cumæ, a city which

the Greeks then occupied, was taken by the Campanians.

45. The following year had for military tribunes with consular power,

Agrippa Menenius Lanatus, Publius Lucretius Tricipitinus, Spurius

Nautius Rutilus: to the good fortune of the Roman people, the year was

remarkable rather by great danger than by losses. The slaves conspire to

set fire to the city in several quarters, and whilst the people should

be intent in bearing assistance to the houses in every direction, to

take up arms and seize the citadel and Capitol. Jupiter frustrated their

horrid designs; and the offenders, being seized on the information of

two (accomplices), were punished. Ten thousand _asses_ in weight of

brass paid out of the treasury, a sum which at that time was considered

wealth, and their freedom, was the reward conferred on the parties who

discovered. The Æquans then began to prepare for a renewal of

hostilities; and an account was brought to Rome from good authority,

that new enemies, the Lavicanians, were forming a coalition with the old

ones. The state had now become habituated, as it were, to the

anniversary arms of the Æquans. When ambassadors were sent to Lavici

and brought back from thence an evasive answer, from which it became

evident that neither war was intended there, nor would peace be of long

continuance, instructions were given to the Tusculans, that they should

observe attentively, lest any new commotion should arise at Lavici. To

the military tribunes, with consular power, of the following year,

Lucius Sergius Fidenas, Marcus Papirius Mugillanus, Caius Servilius the

son of Priscus, in whose dictatorship Fidenæ had been taken, ambassadors

came from Tusculum, just as they entered on their office. The

ambassadors brought word that the Lavicanians had taken arms, and having

ravaged the Tusculan territory in conjunction with the army of the

Æquans, that they had pitched their camp at Algidum. Then war was

proclaimed against the Lavicanians; and a decree of the senate having

been passed, that two of the tribunes should proceed to the war, and

that one should manage affairs at Rome, a contest suddenly sprung up

among the tribunes. Each represented himself as a fitter person to take

the lead in the war, and scorned the management of the city as

disagreeable and inglorious. When the senate beheld with surprise the

indecent contention between the colleagues, Quintus Servilius says,

"Since there is no respect either for this house, or for the

commonwealth, parental authority shall set aside this altercation of

yours. My son, without having recourse to lots, shall take charge of the

city. I wish that those who are so desirous of managing the war, may

conduct it with more consideration and harmony than they covet it."

46. It was determined that the levy should not be made out of the entire

body of the people indiscriminately. Ten tribes were drawn by lot; the

two tribunes enlisted the younger men out of these, and led them to the

war. The contentions which commenced between them in the city, were,

through the same eager ambition for command, carried to a much greater

height in the camp: on no one point did they think alike; they contended

strenuously for their own opinion; they desired their own plans, their

own commands only to be ratified; they mutually despised each other, and

were despised, until, on the remonstrances of the lieutenant-generals,

it was at length so arranged, that they should hold the supreme command

on alternate days. When an account of these proceedings was brought to

Rome, Quintus Servilius, taught by years and experience, is said to

have prayed to the immortal gods, that the discord of the tribunes might

not prove more detrimental to the commonwealth than it had done at Veii:

and, as if some certain disaster was impending over them, he pressed his

son to enlist soldiers and prepare arms. Nor was he a false prophet. For

under the conduct of Lucius Sergius, whose day of command it was, being

suddenly attacked by the Æquans on disadvantageous ground near the

enemy's camp, after having been decoyed thither by the vain hope of

taking it, because the enemy had counterfeited fear and betaken

themselves to their rampart, they were beaten down a declivity, and

great numbers were overpowered and slaughtered by their tumbling one

over the other rather than by flight: and the camp, retained with

difficulty on that day, was, on the following day, deserted by a

shameful flight through the opposite gate, the enemy having invested it

in several directions. The generals, lieutenant-generals, and such of

the main body of the army as kept near the colours, made their way to

Tusculum; others, dispersed in every direction through the fields,

hastened to Rome by different roads, announcing a heavier loss than had

been sustained. There was less of consternation, because the result

corresponded to the apprehensions of persons; and because the

reinforcements, which they could look to in this distressing state of

things, had been prepared by the military tribune: and by his orders,

after the disturbance in the city was quieted by the inferior

magistrates, scouts were instantly despatched, and brought intelligence

that the generals and the army were at Tusculum; that the enemy had not

removed their camp. And, what raised their spirits most, Quintus

Servilius Priscus was created dictator in pursuance of a decree of the

senate; a man whose judgment in public affairs the state had experienced

as well on many previous occasions, as in the issue of that war, because

he alone had expressed his apprehensions of the result of the disputes

among the tribunes, before the occurrence of the misfortune; he having

appointed for his master of the horse, by whom, as military tribune, he

had been nominated dictator, his own son, as some have stated, (for

others mention that Ahala Servilius was master of the horse that year;)

and setting out to the war with his newly-raised army, after sending for

those who were at Tusculum, chose ground for his camp at the distance

of two miles from the enemy.

47. The arrogance and negligence arising from success, which had

previously existed in the Roman generals, were now transferred to the

Æquans. Accordingly, when in the very first engagement the dictator had

thrown the enemy's van into disorder by a charge of his cavalry, he

immediately ordered the infantry to advance, and slew one of his own

standard-bearers who hesitated in so doing. So great was the ardour to

fight, that the Æquans did not stand the shock; and when, vanquished in

the field, they made for their camp in a precipitate flight, the taking

of it was shorter in time and less in trouble than the battle had been.

After the camp had been taken and plundered, and the dictator had given

up the spoil to the soldiers, and the cavalry, who had pursued the enemy

in their flight, brought back intelligence that all the Lavicanians were

vanquished, and that a considerable number of the Æquans had fled to

Lavici, the army was marched to Lavici on the following day; and the

town, being invested on all sides, was taken by storm and plundered. The

dictator, having marched back his victorious army to Rome, resigned his

office on the eighth day after he had been appointed; and before

agrarian disturbances could be raised by the tribunes of the commons,

allusion having been made to a division of the Lavicanian land, the

senate very opportunely voted in full assembly that a colony should be

conducted to Lavici. One thousand five hundred colonists were sent from

the city, and received each two acres. Lavici being taken, and

subsequently Agrippa Menenius Lanatus, and Lucius Servilius Structus,

and Publius Lucretius Tricipitinus, all these a second time, and Spurius

Rutilius Crassus being military tribunes with consular authority, and on

the following year Aulus Sempronius Atratinus a third time, and Marcus

Papirius Mugillanus and Spurius Nautius Rutilus both a second time,

affairs abroad were peaceable for two years, but at home there was

dissension from the agrarian laws.

48. The disturbers of the commons were Spurius Mæcilius a fourth time,

and Spurius Mætilius a third time, tribunes of the people, both elected

during their absence. And after they had proposed a bill, that the land

taken from the enemy should be divided man by man, and the property of

a considerable part of the nobles would be confiscated by such a

measure; for there was scarcely any of the land, considering the city

itself was built on a strange soil, that had not been acquired by arms;

nor had any other persons except the commons possession of that which

had been sold or publicly assigned, a violent contest between the

commons and patricians seemed to be at hand; nor did the military

tribunes discover either in the senate, or in the private meetings of

the nobles, any line of conduct to pursue; when Appius Claudius, the

grandson of him who had been decemvir for compiling the laws, being the

youngest senator of the meeting, is stated to have said; "that he

brought from home an old and a family scheme, for that his

great-grandfather, Appius Claudius, had shown the patricians one method

of baffling tribunitian power by the protests of their colleagues; that

men of low rank were easily led away from their opinions by the

influence of men of distinction, if language were addressed to them

suitable to the times, rather than to the dignity of the speakers. That

their sentiments were regulated by their circumstances. When they should

see that their colleagues, having the start in introducing the measure,

had engrossed to themselves the whole credit of it with the commons, and

that no room was left for them, that they would without reluctance

incline to the interest of the senate, through which they may conciliate

the favour not only of the principal senators, but of the whole body."

All expressing their approbation, and above all, Quintius Servilius

Priscus eulogizing the youth, because he had not degenerated from the

Claudian race, a charge is given, that they should gain over as many of

the college of the tribunes as they could, to enter protests. On the

breaking up of the senate the tribunes are applied to by the leading

patricians: by persuading, admonishing, and assuring them "that it would

be gratefully felt by them individually, and gratefully by the entire

senate, they prevailed on six to give in their protests." And on the

following day, when the proposition was submitted to the senate, as had

been preconcerted, concerning the sedition which Mæcilius and Mætilius

were exciting by urging a largess of a most mischievous precedent, such

speeches were delivered by the leading senators, that each declared

"that for his part he had no measure to advise, nor did he see any

other resource in any thing, except in the aid of the tribunes. That to

the protection of that power the republic, embarrassed as it was, fled

for succour, just as a private individual in distress. That it was

highly honourable to themselves and to their office that there resided

not in the tribuneship more strength to harass the senate and to excite

disunion among the several orders, than to resist their perverse

colleagues." Then a shout arose throughout the entire senate, when the

tribunes were appealed to from all parts of the house: then silence

being established, those who had been prepared through the interest of

the leading men, declare that they will protest against the measure

which had been proposed by their colleagues, and which the senate

considers to tend to the dissolution of the state. Thanks were returned

to the protestors by the senate. The movers of the law, having convened

a meeting, and styling their colleagues traitors to the interests of the

commons and the slaves of the consulars, and after inveighing against

them in other abusive language, relinquished the measure.

49. The following year, on which Publius Cornelius Cossus, Caius

Valerius Potitus, Quintus Quintius Cincinnatus, Numerius Fabius

Vibulanus were military tribunes with consular power, would have brought

with it two continual wars, had not the Veientian campaign been deferred

by the religious scruples of the leaders, whose lands were destroyed,

chiefly by the ruin of the country-seats, in consequence of the Tiber

having overflowed its banks. At the same time the loss sustained three

years before prevented the Æquans from affording assistance to the

Bolani, a state belonging to their own nation. Excursions had been made

from thence on the contiguous territory of Lavici, and hostilities were

committed on the new colony. As they had expected to be able to defend

this act of aggression by the concurrent support of all the Æquans, when

deserted by their friends they lost both their town and lands, after a

war not even worth mentioning, through a siege and one slight battle. An

attempt made by Lucius Sextius, tribune of the people, to move a law by

which colonists might be sent to Bolæ also, in like manner as to Lavici,

was defeated by the protests of his colleagues, who declared openly that

they would suffer no order of the commons to be passed, unless with the

approbation of the senate. On the following year the Æquans, having

recovered Bolæ, and sent a colony thither, strengthened the town with

additional fortifications, the military tribunes with consular power at

Rome being Cneius Cornelius Cossus, Lucius Valerius Potitus, Quintus

Fabius Vibulanus a second time, Marcus Postumius Regillensis. The war

against the Æquans was intrusted to the latter, a man of depraved mind,

which victory manifested more effectually than war. For having with

great activity levied an army and marched it to Bolæ, after breaking

down the spirits of the Æquans in slight engagements, he at length

forced his way into the town. He then turned the contest from the enemy

to his countrymen; and when during the assault he had proclaimed, that

the plunder should belong to the soldiers, after the town was taken he

broke his word. I am more inclined to believe that this was the cause of

the displeasure of the army, than that in a city lately sacked and in a

colony still young there was less booty found than the tribune had

represented. An expression of his heard in the assembly, which was very

silly and almost insane, after he returned into the city on being sent

for on account of some tribunitian disturbances, increased this bad

feeling; on Sextus, a tribune of the commons, proposing an agrarian law,

and at the same time declaring that he would also propose that colonists

should be sent to Bolæ; for that those who had taken them by their arms

were deserving that the city and lands of Bolæ should belong to them, he

exclaimed, "Woe to my soldiers, if they are not quiet;" which words,

when heard, gave not greater offence to the assembly, than they did soon

after to the patricians. And the plebeian tribune being a sharp man and

by no means devoid of eloquence, having found among his adversaries this

haughty temper and unbridled tongue, which by irritating and exciting he

could urge into such expressions as might prove a source of odium not

only to himself, but to his cause and to the entire body, he strove to

draw Postumius into discussion more frequently than any of the college

of military tribunes. Then indeed, after so brutal and inhuman an

expression, "Romans," says he, "do ye hear him threatening woe to his

soldiers as to slaves? Yet this brute will appear to you more deserving

of so high an honour than those who send you into colonies, after having

granted to you cities and lands; who provide a settlement for your old

age, who fight against such cruel and arrogant adversaries in defence

of your interests. Begin then to wonder why few persons now undertake

your cause. What are they to expect from you? is it honours which you

give to your adversaries rather than to the champions of the Roman

people. You felt indignant just now, on hearing an expression of this

man? What matters that, if you will prefer this man who threatens woe to

you, to those who are desirous to secure for you lands, settlements, and

property?"

50. This expression of Postumius being conveyed to the soldiers, excited

in the camp much greater indignation. "Did the embezzler of the spoils

and the defrauder threaten woe also to the soldiers?" Accordingly, when

the murmur of indignation now became avowed, and the quæstor, Publius

Sestius, thought that the mutiny might be quashed by the same violence

by which it had been excited; on his sending a lictor to one of the

soldiers who was clamorous, when a tumult and scuffle arose from the

circumstance, being struck with a stone he retired from the crowd; the

person who had given the blow, further observing with a sneer, "That the

quæstor got what the general had threatened to the soldiers." Postumius

being sent for in consequence of the disturbance, exasperated every

thing by the severity of his inquiries and the cruelty of his

punishment. At last, when he set no bounds to his resentment, a crowd

collecting at the cries of those whom he had ordered to be put to death

under a hurdle, he himself madly ran down from his tribunal to those who

were interrupting the execution. There, when the lictors, endeavouring

to disperse them, as also the centurions, irritated the crowd, their

indignation burst forth to such a degree, that the military tribune was

overwhelmed with stones by his own army. When an account was brought to

Rome of so heinous a deed, the military tribunes endeavouring to procure

a decree of the senate for an inquiry into the death of their colleague,

the tribunes of the people entered their protest. But that contention

branched out of another subject of dispute; because the patricians had

become uneasy lest the commons, through dread of the inquiries and

through resentment, might elect military tribunes from their own body:

and they strove with all their might that consuls should be elected.

When the plebeian tribunes did not suffer the decree of the senate to

pass, and when they also protested against the election of consuls, the

affair was brought to an interregnum. The victory was then on the side

of the patricians.

51. Quintus Fabius Vibulanus, interrex, presiding in the assembly, Aulus

Cornelius Cossus, Lucius Furius Medullinus were elected consuls. During

their office, at the commencement of the year, a decree of the senate

was passed that the tribunes should, at the earliest opportunity,

propose to the commons an inquiry into the murder of Postumius, and that

the commons should appoint whomsoever they thought proper to conduct the

inquiry. The office is intrusted to the consuls by the commons with the

consent of the people at large, who, after having executed the task with

the utmost moderation and lenity by punishing only a few, who there are

sufficient grounds for believing put a period to their own lives, still

could not succeed so as to prevent the people from feeling the utmost

displeasure. "That constitutions, which were enacted for their

advantages, lay so long unexecuted; while a law passed in the mean time

regarding their blood and punishment was instantly put into execution

and possessed full force." This was a most seasonable time, after the

punishment of the mutiny, that the division of the territory of Bolæ

should be presented as a soother to their minds; by which proceeding

they would have diminished their eagerness for an agrarian law, which

tended to expel the patricians from the public land unjustly possessed

by them. Then this very indignity exasperated their minds, that the

nobility persisted not only in retaining the public lands, which they

got possession of by force, but would not even distribute to the commons

the unoccupied land lately taken from the enemy, and which would, like

the rest, soon become the prey of a few. The same year the legions were

led out by the consul Furius against the Volscians, who were ravaging

the country of the Hernicians, and finding no enemy there, they took

Ferentinum, whither a great multitude of the Volscians had betaken

themselves. There was less plunder than they had expected; because the

Volscians, seeing small hopes of keeping it, carried off their effects

and abandoned the town. It was taken on the following day, being nearly

deserted. The land itself was given to the Hernicians.

52. The year, tranquil through the moderation of the tribunes, was

succeeded by one in which Lucius Icilius was plebeian tribune, Quintus

Fabius Ambustus, Caius Furius Pacilus being consuls. When this man, at

the very commencement of the year, began to excite disturbances by the

publication of agrarian laws, as if such was the task of his name and

family, a pestilence broke out, more alarming however than deadly, which

diverted men's thoughts from the forum and political disputes to their

domestic concerns and the care of their personal health; and persons

think that it was less mischievous than the disturbance would have

proved. The state being freed from this (which was attended) with a very

general spread of illness, though very few deaths, the year of

pestilence was followed by a scarcity of grain, the cultivation of the

land having been neglected, as usually happens, Marcus Papirius

Atratinus, Caius Nautius Rutilus being consuls. The famine would now

have proved more dismal than the pestilence, had not the scarcity been

relieved by sending envoys around all the states, which border on the

Tuscan Sea and the Tiber, to purchase the corn. The envoys were

prevented from trading in an insolent manner by the Samnitians, who were

in possession of Capua and Cumæ; on the contrary, they were kindly

assisted by the tyrants of Sicily. The Tiber brought down the greatest

supplies, through the very active zeal of the Etrurians. In consequence

of the sickness, the consuls laboured under a paucity of hands in

conducting the government; when not finding more than one senator for

each embassy, they were obliged to attach to it two knights. Except from

the pestilence and the scarcity, there was no internal or external

annoyance during those two years. But as soon as these causes of anxiety

disappeared, all those evils by which the state had hitherto been

distressed, started up, discord at home, war abroad.

53. In the consulship of Mamercus Æmilius and Caius Valerius Potitus,

the Æquans made preparations for war; the Volscians, though not by

public authority, taking up arms, and entering the service as volunteers

for pay. When on the report of these enemies having started up, (for

they had now passed into the Latin and Hernican land,) Marcus Mænius, a

proposer of an agrarian law, would obstruct Valerius the consul when

holding a levy, and when no one took the military oath against his own

will under the protection of the tribune; an account is suddenly brought

that the citadel of Carventa had been seized by the enemy. The disgrace

incurred by this event was both a source of odium to Mænius in the hands

of the fathers, and it moreover afforded to the other tribunes, already

pre-engaged as protestors against an agrarian law, a more justifiable

pretext for resisting their colleague. Wherefore after the matter had

been protracted for a long time by wrangling, the consuls calling gods

and men to witness, that whatever disgrace or loss had either been

already sustained or hung over them from the enemy, the blame of it

would be imputed to Mænius, who hindered the levy; Mænius, on the other

hand, exclaiming "that if the unjust occupiers would yield up possession

of the public land, he would cause no delay to the levy:" the nine

tribunes interposing a decree, put an end to the contest; and they

proclaimed as the determination of their college, "that they would, for

the purposes of the levy, in opposition to the protest of their

colleague, afford their aid to Caius Valerius the consul in inflicting

fines and other penalties on those who refused to enlist." When the

consul, armed with this decree, ordered into prison a few who appealed

to the tribune, the rest took the military oath from fear. The army was

marched to the citadel of Carventa, and though hated by and disliking

the consul, they on their first arrival recovered the citadel in a

spirited manner, having dislodged those who were protecting it; some in

quest of plunder having straggled away through carelessness from the

garrison, afforded an opportunity for attacking them. There was

considerable booty from the constant devastations, because all had been

collected into a safe place. This the consul ordered the quæstors to

sell by auction and carry it into the treasury, declaring that the army

should then participate in the booty, when they had not declined the

service. The exasperation of the commons and soldiers against the consul

was then augmented. Accordingly, when by a decree of the senate the

consul entered the city in an ovation, rude verses in couplets were

thrown out with military licence; in which the consul was severely

handled, whilst the name of Mænius was cried up with encomiums, when at

every mention of the tribune the attachment of the surrounding people

vied by their applause and commendation with the loud praises of the

soldiers. And that circumstance occasioned more anxiety to the

patricians, than the wanton raillery of the soldiers against the

consul, which was in a manner a usual thing; and the election of Mænius

among the military tribunes being deemed as no longer questionable, if

he should become a candidate, he was kept out of it by an election for

consuls being appointed.

54. Cneius Cornelius Cossus and Lucius Furius Medullinus were elected

consuls. The commons were not on any other occasion more dissatisfied at

the election of tribunes not being conceded to them. This sense of

annoyance they both manifested at the nomination of quæstors, and

avenged by then electing plebeians for the first time as quæstors; so

that in electing four, room was left for only one patrician; whilst

three plebeians, Quintus Silius, Publius Aelius, and Publius Pupius,

were preferred to young men of the most illustrious families. I learn

that the principal advisers of the people, in this so independent a

bestowing of their suffrage, were the Icilii, three out of this family

most hostile to the patricians having been elected tribunes of the

commons for that year, by their holding out the grand prospect of many

and great achievements to the people, who became consequently most

ardent; after they had affirmed that they would not stir a step, if the

people would not, even at the election of quæstors, the only one which

the senate had left open to the commons and patricians, evince

sufficient spirit to accomplish that which they had so long wished for,

and which was allowed by the laws. This therefore the people considered

an important victory; and that quæstorship they estimated not by the

extent of the honour itself; but an access seemed opened to new men to

the consulship and the honours of a triumph. The patricians, on the

other hand, expressed their indignation not so much at the honours of

the state being shared, but at their being lost; they said that, "if

matters be so, children need no longer be educated; who being driven

from the station of their ancestors, and seeing others in the possession

of their dignity, would be left without command or power, as mere salii

and flamens, with no other employment than to offer sacrifices for the

people." The minds of both parties being irritated, since the commons

had both assumed new courage, and had now three leaders of the most

distinguished reputation for the popular side; the patricians seeing

that the result of all the elections would be similar to that for

quæstors, wherever the people had the choice from both sides, strove

vigorously for the election of consuls, which was not yet open to them.

The Icilii, on the contrary, said that military tribunes should be

elected, and that posts of honour should be at length imparted to the

commons.

55. But the consuls had no proceeding on hand, by opposing which they

could extort that which they desired; when by an extraordinary and

favourable occurrence an account is brought that the Volscians and

Æquans had proceeded beyond their frontiers into the Latin and Hernican

territory to commit depredations. For which war when the consuls

commence to hold a levy in pursuance of a decree of the senate, the

tribunes then strenuously opposed them, affirming that such a fortunate

opportunity was presented to them and to the commons. There were three,

and all very active men, and of respectable families, considering they

were plebeians. Two of them choose each a consul, to be watched by them

with unremitting assiduity; to one is assigned the charge sometimes of

restraining, sometimes of exciting, the commons by his harangues.

Neither the consuls effected the levy, nor the tribunes the election

which they desired. Then fortune inclining to the cause of the people,

expresses arrive that the Æquans had attacked the citadel of Carventa,

the soldiers who were in garrison having straggled away in quest of

plunder, and had put to death the few left to guard it; that others were

slain as they were returning to the citadel, and others who were

dispersed through the country. This circumstance, prejudicial to the

state, added force to the project of the tribunes. For, assailed by

every argument to no purpose that they would then at length desist from

obstructing the war, when they yielded neither to the public storm, nor

to the odium themselves, they succeed so far as to have a decree of the

senate passed for the election of military tribunes; with an express

stipulation, however, that no candidate should be considered, who was

tribune of the people that year, and that no one should be re-elected

plebeian tribune for the year following; the senate undoubtedly pointing

at the Icilians, whom they suspected of aiming at the consular

tribuneship as the reward of their turbulent tribuneship of the commons.

Then the levy began to proceed, and preparations for war began to be

made with the concurrence of all ranks. The diversity of the statements

of writers leaves it uncertain whether both the consuls set out for the

citadel of Carventa, or whether one remained behind to hold the

elections; those facts in which they do not disagree are to be received

as certain, that they retired from the citadel of Carventa, after having

carried on the attack for a long time to no purpose: that Verrugo in the

Volscian country was taken by the same army, and that great devastation

had been made, and considerable booty captured both amongst the Æquans

and in the Volscian territory.

56. At Rome, as the commons gained the victory so far as to have the

kind of elections which they preferred, so in the issue of the elections

the patricians were victorious; for, contrary to the expectation of all,

three patricians were elected military tribunes with consular power,

Caius Julius Julus, Publius Cornelius Cossus, Caius Servilius Ahala.

They say that an artifice was employed by the patricians (with which the

Icilii charged them even at the time); that by intermixing a crowd of

unworthy candidates with the deserving, they turned away the thoughts of

the people from the plebeian through the disgust excited by the

remarkable meanness of some. Then tidings are brought that the Volscians

and Æquans, whether the retention of the citadel of Carventa raised

their hopes, or the loss of the garrison at Verrugo excited their

resentment, united in making preparations for war with the utmost

energy: that the Antians were the chief promoters of the project; that

their ambassadors had gone about the states of both these nations,

upbraiding their dastardly conduct; that shut up within their walls,

they had on the preceding year suffered the Romans to carry their

depredations throughout their country, and the garrison of Verrugo to be

overpowered. That now not only armed troops but colonies also were sent

into their territories; and that not only the Romans distributed among

themselves and kept their property, but that they had made a present to

the Hernici of Ferentinum what had been taken from them. After their

minds were inflamed by these remonstrances, according as they made

applications to each, a great number of young men were enlisted. Thus

the youth of all the states were drawn together to Antium: there they

pitched their camp and awaited the enemy. When these accounts are

reported at Rome with much greater alarm than the circumstance

warranted, the senate instantly ordered a dictator to be nominated,

which was their last resource in perilous circumstances. They say that

Julius and Cornelius were much offended at this proceeding, and that the

matter was accomplished with great warmth of temper: when the leading

men of the patricians, complaining fruitlessly that the military

tribunes would not conform to the judgment of the senate, at last

appealed even to the tribunes of the commons, and stated that force had

been used even with the consuls by that body on a similar occasion. The

plebeian tribunes, overjoyed at the dissension among the patricians,

said, "that there was no support in persons who were not held in the

rank of citizens, nor even of human beings; if ever the posts of honour

were open, and the administration of government were shared, that they

should then see that the decrees of the senate should not be invalidated

by the arrogance of magistrates; that in the mean while, the patricians,

unrestrained as they were by respect for laws or magistrates, must

manage the tribunitian office also by themselves."

57. This contention occupied men's thoughts at a most unseasonable time,

when a war of such importance was on hand: until when Julius and

Cornelius descanted for a long time by turns, on "how unjust it was that

a post of honour conferred on them by the people was now to be wrested

from them, since they were generals sufficiently qualified to conduct

that war." Then Ahala Servilius, military tribune, says, "that he had

remained silent for so long a time, not because he was uncertain as to

his opinion, (for what good citizen can separate his own interests from

those of the public,) but because he wished that his colleagues should

of their own accord yield to the authority of the senate, rather than

suffer the tribunitian power to be suppliantly appealed to against them.

That even then, if circumstances permitted, he would still give them

time to retract an opinion too pertinaciously adhered to. But since the

exigences of war do not await the counsels of men, that the public weal

was of deeper importance to him than the good will of his colleagues,

and if the senate continued in the same sentiments, he would, on the

following night, nominate a dictator; and if any one protested against a

decree of the senate being passed, that he would be content with its

authority."[158] When by this conduct he bore away the well-merited

praises and good will of all, having named Publius Cornelius dictator,

he himself being appointed by him as master of the horse, served as an

instance to those who considered his case and that of his colleagues,

how much more attainable public favour and honour sometimes were to

those who evinced no desire for them. The war was in no respect a

memorable one. The enemy were beaten at Antium in one, and that an easy

battle; the victorious army laid waste the Volscian territory; their

fort at the lake Fucinus was taken by storm, and in it three thousand

men made prisoners; the rest of the Volscians being driven within the

walls, and not defending the lands. The dictator having conducted the

war in such a manner as to show that he was not negligent of fortune's

favours, returned to the city with a greater share of success than of

glory, and resigned his office. The military tribunes, without making

any mention of an election of consuls, (through pique, I suppose, for

the appointment of a dictator,) issued a proclamation for the election

of military tribunes. Then indeed the perplexity of the patricians

became still greater, as seeing their cause betrayed by their own party.

Wherefore, as on the year before, by bringing forward as candidates the

most unworthy individuals from amongst the plebeians, they produced a

disgust against all, even those who were deserving; so then by engaging

such of the patricians as were most distinguished by the splendour of

their character and by their influence to stand as candidates, they

secured all the places; so that no plebeian could get in. Four were

elected, all of them men who had already served the office, Lucius

Furius Medullinus, Caius Valerius Potitus, Numerius Fabius Vibulanus,

Caius Servilius Ahala. The last had the honour continued to him by

re-election, as well in consequence of his other deserts, as on account

of his recent popularity, acquired by his singular moderation.

[Footnote 158: The passing of a _senatus-consultum_, or decree of the

senate, might be prevented in several ways; as, for instance, by the

want of a sufficiently full meeting, &c.; in such cases the judgment of

the majority was recorded, and that was called _auctoritas senatûs_.]

58. In that year, because the term of the truce with the Veientian

nation was expired, restitution began to be demanded through ambassadors

and heralds, who on coming to the frontiers were met by an embassy from

the Veientians. They requested that they would not proceed to Veii,

until they should first have access to the Roman senate. They obtained

from the senate, that, because the Veientians were distressed by

intestine dissension, restitution would not be demanded from them; so

far were they from seeking, in the troubles of others, an opportunity

for advancing their own interest. In the Volscian territory also a

disaster was sustained in the loss of the garrison at Verrugo; where so

much depended on time, that when the soldiers who were besieged there,

and were calling for succour, might have been relieved, if expedition

had been used, the army sent to their aid only came in time to surprise

the enemy, who were straggling in quest of plunder, just after their

putting [the garrison] to the sword. The cause of the dilatoriness was

less referrible to the tribunes than to the senate, who, because word

was brought that they were holding out with the most vigorous

resistance, did not duly reflect that there is a limit to human

strength, which no bravery can exceed. These very gallant soldiers,

however, were not without revenge, both before and after their death. In

the following year, Publius and Cneius Cornelius Cossus, Numerius Fabius

Ambustus, and Lucius Valerius Potitus, being military tribunes with

consular power, the Veientian war was commenced on account of an

insolent answer of the Veientian senate, who, when the ambassadors

demanded restitution, ordered them to be told, that if they did not

speedily quit the city and the territories, they should give them what

Lars Tolumnius had given them. The senate, indignant at this, decreed

that the military tribunes should, on as early a day as possible,

propose to the people the proclaiming war against the Veientians. When

this was first made public, the young men expressed their

dissatisfaction. "That the war with the Volscians was not yet over; that

a little time ago two garrisons were utterly destroyed, and that [one of

the forts] was with great risk retained. That there was not a year in

which they had not to fight in the field: and, as if they were

dissatisfied at the insufficiency of these toils, a new war was now set

on foot with a neighbouring and most powerful nation, who were likely to

rouse all Etruria." These discontents, first discussed among themselves,

were further aggravated by the plebeian tribunes. These constantly

affirm that the war of the greatest moment was that between the

patricians and commons. That the latter was designedly harassed by

military service, and exposed to be butchered by the enemy; that they

were kept at a distance from the enemy, and as it were banished, lest

during the enjoyment of rest at home, mindful of liberty and of

establishing colonies, they may form plans for obtaining some of the

public land, or for giving their suffrages freely; and taking hold of

the veterans, they recounted the campaigns of each, and their wounds and

scars, frequently asking what sound spot was there on their body for the

reception of new wounds? what blood had they remaining which could be

shed for the commonwealth? When by discussing these subjects in private

conversations, and also in public harangues, they produced in the people

an aversion to undertaking a war, the time for proposing the law was

adjourned; which would obviously have been rejected, if it had been

subjected to the feeling of discontent then prevailing.

59. In the mean time it was determined that the military tribunes should

lead an army into the Volscian territory. Cneius Cornelius alone was

left at Rome. The three tribunes, when it became evident that the

Volscians had not established a camp any where, and that they would not

venture an engagement, separated into three different parties to lay

waste the country. Valerius makes for Antium, Cornelius for Ecetræ.

Wherever they came, they committed extensive devastations on the houses

and lands, so as to separate the Volscians: Fabius, without committing

any devastation, proceeded to attack Auxur, which was a principal object

in view. Auxur is the town now called Tarracinæ; a city built on a

declivity leading to a morass: Fabius made a feint of attacking it on

that side. When four cohorts sent round under Caius Servilius Ahala took

possession of a hill which commanded the city, they attacked the walls

with a loud shout and tumult, from the higher ground where there was no

guard of defence. Those who were defending the lower parts of the city

against Fabius, astounded at this tumult, afforded him an opportunity of

applying the scaling ladders, and every place soon became filled with

the enemy, and a dreadful slaughter continued for a long time,

indiscriminately of those who fled and those who resisted, of the armed

or unarmed. The vanquished were therefore obliged to fight, there being

no hope for those who gave way, when a proclamation suddenly issued,

that no persons except those with arms in their hands should be injured,

induced all the remaining multitude voluntarily to lay down their arms;

of whom two thousand five hundred are taken alive. Fabius kept his

soldiers from the spoil, until his colleagues should come; affirming

that Auxur had been taken by these armies also, who had diverted the

other Volscian troops from the defence of that place. When they came,

the three armies plundered the town, which was enriched with wealth of

many years' accumulation; and this generosity of the commanders first

reconciled the commons to the patricians. It was afterwards added, by a

liberality towards the people on the part of the leading men the most

seasonable ever shown, that before any mention should be made of it by

the commons or tribunes, the senate should decree that the soldiers

should receive pay out of the public treasury, whereas up to that period

every one had discharged that duty at his own expense.

60. It is recorded that nothing was ever received by the commons with so

much joy; that they ran in crowds to the senate-house, and caught the

hands of those coming out, and called them fathers indeed; acknowledging

that the result of such conduct was that no one would spare his person

or his blood, whilst he had any strength remaining, in defence of a

country so liberal. Whilst the prospect of advantage pleased them, that

their private property should remain unimpaired at the time during which

their bodies should be devoted and employed for the interest of the

commonwealth, it further increased their joy very much, and rendered

their gratitude for the favour more complete, because it had been

offered to them voluntarily, without ever having been agitated by the

tribunes of the commons, or made the subject of a demand in their own

conversations. The tribunes of the commons, the only parties who did not

participate in the general joy and harmony prevailing through the

different ranks, denied "that this measure would prove so much a matter

of joy, or so honourable to the patricians,[159] as they themselves

might imagine. That the measure at first sight was better than it would

prove by experience. For from what source was that money to be raised,

except by levying a tax on the people. That they were generous to some

therefore at the expense of others; and even though others may endure

it, those who had already served out their time in the service, would

never endure that others should serve on better terms than they

themselves had served; and that these same individuals should have to

bear the expense of their own service, and then that of others." By

these arguments they influenced a part of the commons. At last, when the

tax was now announced, the tribunes publicly declared, that they would

afford protection to any one who should refuse to contribute his

proportion for the pay of the soldiers. The patricians persisted in

supporting a matter so happily commenced. They themselves were the first

to contribute; and because there was as yet no coined silver, some of

them conveying their weighed brass to the treasury in waggons, rendered

their contribution very showy. After the senate had contributed with the

utmost punctuality according to their rated properties, the principal

plebeians, friends of the nobility, according to a concerted plan, began

to contribute. And when the populace saw these men highly applauded by

the patricians, and also looked up to as good citizens by men of the

military age, scorning the support of the tribunes, an emulation

commenced at once about paying the tax. And the law being passed about

declaring war against the Veientians, the new military tribunes with

consular power marched to Veii an army consisting in a great measure of

volunteers.

[Footnote 159: The reading of the original here is decidedly incorrect.

Various emendations have been attempted, but none can be deemed

satisfactory.]

61. The tribunes were Titus Quintius Capitolinus, Publius Quintius

Cincinnatus, Caius Julius Julus a second time, Aulus Manlius, Lucius

Furius Medullinus a second time, and Manius Æmilius Mamercinus. By these

Veii was first invested. A little before the commencement of this siege,

when a full meeting of the Etrurians was held at the temple of Voltumna,

it was not finally determined whether the Veientians were to be

supported by the public concurrence of the whole confederacy. The siege

was less vigorous in the following year, some of the tribunes and their

army being called off to the Volscian war. The military tribunes with

consular power in this year were Caius Valerius Potitus a third time,

Manius Largius Fidenas, Publius Cornelius Maluginensis, Cneius Cornelius

Cossus, Kæso Fabius Ambustus, Spurius Nautius Rutilus a second time. A

pitched battle was fought with the Volscians between Ferentinum and

Ecetra; the result of the battle was favourable to the Romans. Artena

then, a town of the Volscians, began to be besieged by the tribunes.

Thence during an attempt at a sally, the enemy being driven back into

the town, an opportunity was afforded to the Romans of forcing in; and

every place was taken except the citadel. Into the fortress, well

protected by nature, a body of armed men retired. Beneath the fortress

many were slain and made prisoners. The citadel was then besieged; nor

could it either be taken by storm, because it had a garrison sufficient

for the size of the place, nor did it hold out any hope of surrender,

all the public corn having been conveyed to the citadel before the city

was taken; and they would have retired from it, being wearied out, had

not a slave betrayed the fortress to the Romans: the soldiers being

admitted by him through a place difficult of access, took it; by whom

when the guards were being killed, the rest of the multitude,

overpowered with sudden panic, surrendered. After demolishing both the

citadel and city of Artena, the legions were led back from the Volscian

territory; and the whole Roman power was turned against Veii. To the

traitor, besides his freedom, the property of two families was given as

a reward. His name was Servius Romanus. There are some who think that

Artena belonged to the Veientians, not to the Volscians. What occasions

the mistake is that there was a city of the same name between Cære and

Veii. But the Roman kings destroyed it; and it belonged to the

Cæretians, not to the Veientians. The other of the same name, the

demolition of which has been mentioned, was in the Volscian territory.