33.22
The
consuls arrived in Rome both at the same time and convened the senate at
the temple of Bellona. On their demanding a triumph for their military
successes, they were opposed by two of the tribunes of the plebs, who
insisted on the proposal being submitted to the House by each consul
separately. They would not permit a joint proposal to be made on the ground
that in that case equal honours would be conferred when the services were
far from equal. Q. Minucius replied that Italy had been assigned to them both
and he and his colleague had conducted their operations with one mind and
one policy. C. Cornelius added that when the Boii crossed the Po to assist
the Insubres and the Cenomanni it was through his colleague's action in
laying waste their fields and villages that they were compelled to return and
defend their own country. The tribunes admitted that the achievements of C.
Cethegus were such that there could be no more hesitation about according
him a triumph than about paying honours to the immortal gods. Neither
Cethegus, however, nor any other citizen possessed so much influence and
power that he could, after obtaining a well-deserved triumph for himself,
grant the same honour to a colleague who did not deserve it, and whose
request for it was an affront. Q. Minucius, they declared, had fought some
insignificant actions, hardly worth talking about, amongst the Ligurians and
had lost a large number of men in Gaul. Two military tribunes, T. Juventius
and Cneius Ligurius, both attached to the fourth legion, had fallen in an
unsuccessful battle in company with many other brave men, both citizens and
allies. A few towns and villages had ostensibly surrendered for the time
being, without giving any guarantee of good faith. These altercations
between the consuls and the tribunes took up two days. At last the
pertinacity of the tribunes won the day and the consuls submitted their
requests separately.