3.35
But after notice had been
given that the election of decemvirs would be held
on the third market day, such eagerness to be
amongst those elected displayed itself, that even
the foremost men of the State began an individual
canvass as humble suitors for an office which they
had previously with all their might opposed, seeking
it at the hands of that very plebs with which they
had hitherto been in conflict. I think they feared
that if they did not fill posts of such great
authority, they would be open to men who were not
worthy of them. Appius Claudius was keenly alive to
the chance that he might not be re-elected, in spite
of his age and the honours he had enjoyed. You could
hardly tell whether to consider him as a decemvir or
a candidate. Sometimes he was more like one who
sought office than one who actually held it; he
abused the nobility, and extolled all the candidates
who had neither birth nor personal weight to
recommend them; he used to bustle about the Forum
surrounded by ex-tribunes of the Duellius and
Scilius stamp and through them made overtures to the
plebeians, until even his colleagues, who till then
had been wholly devoted to him, began to watch him,
wondering what he meant. They were convinced that
there was no sincerity about it, it was certain that
so haughty a man would not exhibit such affability
for nothing. They regarded this demeaning of himself
and hobnobbing with private individuals as the
action of a man who was not so keen to resign office
as to discover some way of prolonging it. Not
venturing to thwart his aims openly, they tried to
moderate his violence by humouring him. As he was
the youngest member of their body, they unanimously
conferred on him the office of presiding over the
elections. By this artifice they hoped to prevent
him from getting himself elected; a thing which no
one except the tribunes of the plebs had ever done,
setting thereby the worst of precedents. However, he
gave out that, if all went well, he should hold the
elections, and he seized upon what should have been
an impediment as a good opportunity for effecting
his purpose. By forming a coalition he secured the
rejection of the two Quinctii -Capitolinus and
Cincinnatus -his own uncle, C. Claudius, one of the
firmest supporters of the nobility, and other
citizens of the same rank. He procured the election
of men who were very far from being their equals
either socially or politically, himself amongst the
first, a step which respectable men disapproved of,
all the more because no one had supposed that he
would have the audacity to take it. With him were
elected M. Cornelius Maluginensis, M. Sergius, L.
Minucius, Q. Fabius Vibulanus, Q. Poetilius, T.
Antonius Merenda, K. Duillius, Sp. Oppius Cornicen,
and Manlius Rabuleius.