3.63
So they resumed the
struggle which they were giving up and recovered the
ground they had lost, and in a moment not only was
the battle restored but the Sabines on that wing
were even forced back. The cavalry returned to their
horses, protected by the infantry through whose
ranks they passed, and galloped off to the other
wing to announce their success to their comrades. At
the same time they made a charge on the enemy, who
were now demoralised through the defeat of their
strongest wing. None showed more brilliant courage
in that battle. The consul's eyes were everywhere,
he commended the brave, had words of rebuke wherever
the battle seemed to slacken. Those whom he censured
displayed at once the energy of brave men, they were
stimulated by a sense of shame, as much as the
others by his commendation. The battle-cry was again
raised, and by one united effort on the part of the
whole army they repulsed the enemy; the Roman attack
could no longer be withstood. The Sabines were
scattered in all directions through the fields, and
left their camp as a spoil to the enemy. What the
Romans found there was not the property of their
allies, as had been the case on Algidus, but their
own, which had been lost in the ravaging of their
homesteads. For this double victory, won in two
separate battles, the senate decreed thanksgivings
on behalf of the consuls, but their jealousy
restricted them to one day. The people, however,
without receiving orders, went on the second day
also in vast crowds to the temples, and this
unauthorised and spontaneous thanksgiving was
celebrated with almost greater enthusiasm than the
former.
The consuls had mutually agreed to approach
the City during these two days and convene a meeting
of the senate in the Campus Martius. Whilst they
were making their report there on the conduct of the
campaigns, the leaders of the senate entered a
protest against their session being held in the
midst of the troops, in order to intimidate them. To
avoid any ground for this charge the consuls
immediately adjourned the senate to the Flaminian
Meadows, where the temple of Apollo -then called
the Apollinare -now stands. The senate by a large
majority refused the consuls the honour of a
triumph, whereupon L. Icilius, as tribune of the
plebs, brought the question before the people. Many
came forward to oppose it, particularly C. Claudius,
who exclaimed in excited tones that it was over the
senate, not over the enemy, that the consuls wished
to celebrate their triumph. It was demanded as an
act of gratitude for a private service rendered to a
tribune, not as an honour for merit. Never before
had a triumph been ordered by the people, it had
always lain with the senate to decide whether one
was deserved or not; not even kings had infringed
the prerogative of the highest order in the State.
The tribunes must not make their power pervade
everything, so as to render the existence of a
council of State impossible. The State will only be
free, the laws equal, on condition that each order
preserves its own rights, its own power and dignity.
Much to the same effect was said by the senior
members of the senate, but the tribes unanimously
adopted the proposal. That was the first instance of
a triumph being celebrated by order of the people
without the authorisation of the senate.