10.13
During
the year a colony was settled at Carseoli, in the country of the Aequicoli.
The consul Fulvius celebrated a triumph over the Samnites. Just as the
consular elections were coming on, a rumour spread that the Etruscans and
Samnites were levying immense armies. According to the reports which were
sent, the leaders of the Etruscans were attacked in all the cantonal council
meetings for not having brought the Gauls over on any terms whatever to
take part in the war; the Samnite government were abused for having
employed against the Romans a force which was only raised to act against
the Lucanians; the enemy was arising in his own strength and in that of his
allies to make war on Rome, and matters would not be settled without a
conflict on a very much larger scale than formerly. Men of distinction were
amongst the candidates for the consulship, but the gravity of the danger
turned all eyes to Quintus Fabius Maximus. He at first simply declined to
become a candidate, but when he saw the trend of popular feeling he
distinctly refused to allow his name to stand: "Why," he asked, "do you want
an old man like me, who has finished his allotted tasks and gained all the
rewards they have brought? I am not the man I was either in strength of
body or mind, and I fear lest some god should even deem my good fortune
too great or too unbroken for human nature to enjoy. I have grown up to the
measure of the glory of my seniors, and I would gladly see others rising to
the height of my own renown. There is no lack of honours in Rome for the
strongest and most capable men, nor is there any lack of men to win the
honour." This display of modesty and unselfishness only made the popular
feeling all the keener in his favour by showing how rightly it was directed.
Thinking that the best way of checking it would be to appeal to the
instinctive reverence for law, he ordered the law to be rehearsed which
forbade any man from being re-elected consul within ten years. Owing to the
clamour the law was hardly heard, and the tribunes of the plebs declared that
there was no impediment here; they would make a proposition to the
Assembly that he should be exempt from its provisions. He, however,
persisted in his refusal, and repeatedly asked what was the object in making
laws if they were deliberately broken by those who made them; "we," said
he, "are now ruling the laws instead of the laws ruling us." Notwithstanding
his opposition the people began to vote, and as each century was called in, it
declared without the slightest hesitation for Fabius. At last, yielding to the
general desire of his countrymen, he said, "May the gods approve what you
have done and what you are going to do. Since, however, you are going to
have your own way as far as I am concerned, give me the opportunity of
using my influence with you so far as my colleague is concerned. I ask you
to elect as my fellow-consul, P. Decius, a man whom I have found to work
with me in perfect harmony, a man who is worthy of your confidence,
worthy of his illustrious sire." The recommendation was felt to be well
deserved, and all the centuries which had not yet voted elected Q. Fabius and
P. Decius consuls. During the year a large number of people were
prosecuted by the aediles for occupying more than the legal quantity of land.
Hardly one could clear himself from the charge, and a very strong curb was
placed upon inordinate covetousness.