42.9
The same
ungovernable temper which the consul had displayed towards the Ligurians
he now showed in refusing to obey the senate. He at once sent the legions
into winter quarters at Pisae and returned to Rome angry with the senate and
furious with the praetors. Immediately on his arrival he convened the senate
in the temple of Bellona, where he delivered a long an bitter harangue
against the praetor. He ought, he said, to have asked the senate to decree
honours to the immortal gods for the successes he had won, instead of which
he had induced the senate to pass a resolution in favour of the enemy by
which he transferred his (the speaker's) victory to the Ligurians and
practically ordered the consul to surrender to them. He therefore imposed a
fine on him and asked the senators to make an order rescinding the
resolution against him and also to do, now that he was in Rome, what they
ought to have done when he was away, immediately they received his
despatch, namely, to decree a solemn thanksgiving, first as honouring the
gods and then as showing at least some regard for him. Some of the senators
attacked him to his face quite as severely as they had done in his absence,
and he returned to his province without either of his demands being
conceded. The other consul, Postumius, spent the summer in surveying the
fields and returned to Rome for the elections without even having seen his
province. The new consuls were C. Popilius Laenas and P. Aelius Ligus. The
new praetors were C. Licinius Crassus, M. Junius Pennus, Sp. Lucretius, Sp.
Cluvius, Cn. Sicinius, and C. Memmius for the second time.