Livy's History of Rome: Book 2
The Early Years of the Republic
2.1
It is
of a Rome henceforth free that I am to write the
history -her civil administration and the conduct
of her wars, her annually elected magistrates, the
authority of her laws supreme over all her citizens.
The tyranny of the last king made this liberty all
the more welcome, for such had been the rule of the
former kings that they might not undeservedly be
counted as founders of parts, at all events, of the
city; for the additions they made were required as
abodes for the increased population which they
themselves had augmented. There is no question that
the Brutus who won such glory through the expulsion
of Superbus would have inflicted the gravest injury
on the State had he wrested the sovereignty from any
of the former kings, through desire of a liberty for
which the people were not ripe. What would have been
the result if that horde of shepherds and
immigrants, fugitives from their own cities, who had
secured liberty, or at all events impunity, in the
shelter of an inviolable sanctuary, -if, I say,
they had been freed from the restraining power of
kings and, agitated by tribunician storms, had begun
to foment quarrels with the patricians in a City
where they were aliens before sufficient time had
elapsed for either family ties or a growing love for
the very soil to effect a union of hearts? The
infant State would have been torn to pieces by
internal dissension. As it was, however, the
moderate and tranquilising authority of the kings
had so fostered it that it was at last able to bring
forth the fair fruits of liberty in the maturity of
its strength. But the origin of liberty may be
referred to this time rather because the consular
authority was limited to one year than because there
was any weakening of the authority which the kings
had possessed. The first consuls retained all the
old jurisdiction and insignia of office, one only,
however, had the "fasces," to prevent the fear which
might have been inspired by the sight of both with
those dread symbols. Through the concession of his
colleague, Brutus had them first, and he was not
less zealous in guarding the public liberty than he
had been in achieving it. His first act was to
secure the people, who were now jealous of their
newly-recovered liberty, from being influenced by
any entreaties or bribes from the king. He therefore
made them take an oath that they would not suffer
any man to reign in Rome. The senate had been
thinned by the murderous cruelty of Tarquin, and
Brutus' next care was to strengthen its influence by
selecting some of the leading men of equestrian rank
to fill the vacancies; by this means he brought it
up to the old number of three hundred. The new
members were known as "conscripti," the old ones
retained their designation of "patres." This measure
had a wonderful effect in promoting harmony in the
State and bringing the patricians and plebeians
together.
2.2
He next gave his attention
to the affairs of religion. Certain public functions
had hitherto been executed by the kings in person;
with the view of supplying their place a "king for
sacrifices" was created, and lest he should become
king in anything more than name, and so threaten
that liberty which was their first care, his office
was made subordinate to the Pontifex Maximus. I
think that they went to unreasonable lengths in
devising safeguards for their liberty, in all, even
the smallest points. The second consul -L.
Tarquinius Collatinus -bore an unpopular name -this was his sole offence -and men said that the
Tarquins had been too long in power. They began with
Priscus; then Servius Tullius reigned, and Superbus
Tarquinius, who even after this interruption had not
lost sight of the throne which another filled,
regained it by crime and violence as the hereditary
possession of his house. And now that he was
expelled, their power was being wielded by
Collatinus; the Tarquins did not know how to live in
a private station, the very name was a danger to
liberty. What were at first whispered hints became
the common talk of the City, and as the people were
becoming suspicious and alarmed, Brutus summoned an
assembly. He first of all rehearsed the people's
oath, that they would suffer no man to reign or to
live in Rome by whom the public liberty might be
imperilled. This was to be guarded with the utmost
care, no means of doing so were to be neglected.
Personal regard made him reluctant to speak, nor
would he have spoken had not his affection for the
commonwealth compelled him. The Roman people did
consider that their freedom was not yet fully won;
the royal race, the royal name, was still there, not
only amongst the citizens but in the government; in
that fact lay an injury, an obstacle to full
liberty. Turning to his brother consul: "These
apprehensions it is for you, L. Tarquinius, to
banish of your own free will. We have not forgotten,
I assure you, that you expelled the king's family,
complete your good work, remove their very name.
Your fellow-citizens will, on my authority, not only
hand over your property, but if you need anything,
they will add to it with lavish generosity. Go, as
our friend, relieve the commonwealth from a, perhaps
groundless, fear: men are persuaded that only with
the family will the tyranny of the Tarquins depart."
At first the consul was struck dumb with
astonishment at this extraordinary request; then,
when he was beginning to speak, the foremost men in
the commonwealth gathered round him and repeatedly
urged the same plea, but with little success. It was
not till Spurius Lucretius, his superior in age and
rank, and also his father-in-law, began to use every
method of entreaty and persuasion that he yielded to
the universal wish. The consul, fearing lest after
his year of office had expired and he returned to
private life, the same demand should be made upon
him, accompanied with loss of property and the
ignominy of banishment, formally laid down the
consulship, and after transferring all his effects
to Lanuvium, withdrew from the State. A decree of
the senate empowered Brutus to propose to the people
a measure exiling all the members of the house of
Tarquin. He conducted the election of a new consul,
and the centuries elected as his colleague Publius
Valerius, who had acted with him in the expulsion of
the royal family.
2.3
Though no one doubted that
war with the Tarquins was imminent, it did not come
as soon as was universally expected. What was not
expected, however, was that through intrigue and
treachery the new-won liberty was almost lost. There
were some young men of high birth in Rome who during
the late reign had done pretty much what they
pleased, and being boon companions of the young
Tarquins were accustomed to live in royal fashion.
Now that all were equal before the law, they missed
their former licence and complained that the liberty
which others enjoyed had become slavery for them; as
long as there was a king, there was a person from
whom they could get what they wanted, whether lawful
or not, there was room for personal influence and
kindness, he could show severity or indulgence,
could discriminate between his friends and his
enemies. But the law was a thing, deaf and
inexorable, more favourable to the weak than to the
powerful, showing no indulgence or forgiveness to
those who transgressed; human nature being what it
was, it was a dangerous plan to trust solely to
one's innocence. When they had worked themselves
into a state of disaffection, envoys from the royal
family arrived, bringing a demand for the
restoration of their property without any allusion
to their possible return. An audience was granted
them by the senate, and the matter was discussed for
some days; fears were expressed that the
non-surrender would be taken as a pretext for war,
while if surrendered it might provide the means of
war. The envoys, meantime, were engaged on another
task: whilst ostensibly seeking only the surrender
of the property they were secretly hatching schemes
for regaining the crown. Whilst canvassing the young
nobility in favour of their apparent object, they
sounded them as to their other proposals, and
meeting with a favourable reception, they brought
letters addressed to them by the Tarquins and
discussed plans for admitting them secretly at night
into the City.
2.4
The project was at first
entrusted to the brothers Vitellii and Aquilii. The
sister of the Vitellii was married to the consul
Brutus, and there were grown-up children from this
marriage -Titus and Tiberius. Their uncles took
them into the conspiracy, there were others besides,
whose names have been lost. In the meantime the
opinion that the property ought to be restored was
adopted by the majority of the senate, and this
enabled the envoys to prolong their stay, as the
consuls required time to provide vehicles for
conveying the goods. They employed their time in
consultations with the conspirators and they
insisted on getting a letter which they were to give
to the Tarquins, for without such a guarantee, they
argued, how could they be sure that their envoys had
not brought back empty promises in a matter of such
vast importance? A letter was accordingly given as a
pledge of good faith, and this it was that led to
the discovery of the plot. The day previous to the
departure of the envoys they happened to be dining
at the house of the Vitellii. After all who were not
in the secret had left, the conspirators discussed
many details respecting their projected treason,
which were overheard by one of the slaves who had
previously suspected that something was afoot, but
was waiting for the moment when the letter should be
given, as its seizure would be a complete proof of
the plot. When he found that it had been given, he
disclosed the affair to the consuls. They at once
proceeded to arrest the envoys and the conspirators,
and crushed the whole plot without exciting any
alarm. Their first care was to secure the letter
before it was destroyed. The traitors were forthwith
thrown into prison; there was some hesitation in
dealing with the envoys, and although they had
evidently been guilty of a hostile act, the rights
of international law were accorded them.
2.5
The question of the
restoration of the property was referred anew to the
senate, who yielding to their feelings of resentment
prohibited its restoration, and forbade its being
brought into the treasury; it was given as plunder
to the plebs, that their share in this spoliation
might destroy for ever any prospect of peaceable
relations with the Tarquins. The land of the
Tarquins, which lay between the City and the Tiber,
was henceforth sacred to Mars and known as the
Campus Martius. There happened, it is said, to be a
crop of corn there which was ripe for the harvest,
and as it would have been sacrilege to consume what
was growing on the Campus, a large body of men were
sent to cut it. They carried it, straw and all, in
baskets to the Tiber and threw it into the river. It
was the height of the summer and the stream was low,
consequently the corn stuck in the shallows, and
heaps of it were covered with mud; gradually as the
debris which the river brought down collected there,
an island was formed. I believe that it was
subsequently raised and strengthened so that the
surface might be high enough above the water and
firm enough to carry temples and colonnades. After
the royal property had been disposed of, the
traitors were sentenced and executed. Their
punishment created a great sensation owing to the
fact that the consular office imposed upon a father
the duty of inflicting punishment on his own
children; he who ought not to have witnessed it was
destined to be the one to see it duly carried out.
Youths belonging to the noblest families were
standing tied to the post, but all eyes were turned
to the consul's children, the others were unnoticed.
Men did not grieve more for their punishment than
for the crime which had incurred it -that they
should have conceived the idea, in that year above
all, of betraying to one, who had been a ruthless
tyrant and was now an exile and an enemy, a newly
liberated country, their father who had liberated
it, the consulship which had originated in the
Junian house, the senate, the plebs, all that Rome
possessed of human or divine. The consuls took their
seats, the lictors were told off to inflict the
penalty; they scourged their bared backs with rods
and then beheaded them. During the whole time, the
father's countenance betrayed his feelings, but the
father's stern resolution was still more apparent as
he superintended the public execution. After the
guilty had paid the penalty, a notable example of a
different nature was provided to act as a deterrent
of crime, the informer was assigned a sum of money
from the treasury and he was given his liberty and
the rights of citizenship. He is said to have been
the first to be made free by the "vindicta." Some
suppose this designation to have been derived from
him, his name being Vindicius. After him it was the
rule that those who were made free in this way were
considered to be admitted to the citizenship.
2.6
A detailed report of these
matters reached Tarquin. He was not only furious at
the failure of plans from which he had hoped so
much, but he was filled with rage at finding the way
blocked against secret intrigues; and consequently
determined upon open war. He visited the cities of
Etruria and appealed for help; in particular, he
implored the people of Veii and Tarquinii not to
allow one to perish before their eyes who was of the
same blood with them, and from being a powerful
monarch was now, with his children, homeless and
destitute. Others, he said, had been invited from
abroad to reign in Rome; he, the king, whilst
extending the rule of Rome by a successful war, had
been driven out by the infamous conspiracy of his
nearest kinsmen. They had no single person amongst
them deemed worthy to reign, so they had distributed
the kingly authority amongst themselves, and had
given his property as plunder to the people, that
all might be involved in the crime. He wanted to
recover his country and his throne and punish his
ungrateful subjects. The Veientines must help him
and furnish him with resources, they must set about
avenging their own wrongs also, their legions so
often cut to pieces, their territory torn from them.
This appeal decided the Veientines, they one and all
loudly demanded that their former humiliations
should be wiped out and their losses made good, now
that they had a Roman to lead them. The people of
Tarquinii were won over by the name and nationality
of the exile; they were proud of having a countryman
as king in Rome. So two armies from these cities
followed Tarquin to recover his crown and chastise
the Romans. When they had entered the Roman
territory the consuls advanced against them;
Valerius with the infantry in phalanx formation,
Brutus reconnoitring in advance with the cavalry.
Similarly the enemy's cavalry was in front of his
main body, Arruns Tarquin, the king's son, in
command; the king himself followed with the
legionaries. Whilst still at a distance Arruns
distinguished the consul by his escort of lictors;
as they drew nearer he clearly recognised Brutus by
his features, and in a transport of rage exclaimed,
"That is the man who drove us from our country; see
him proudly advancing, adorned with our insignia! Ye
gods, avengers of kings, aid me!" With these words,
he dug spurs into his horse and rode straight at the
consul. Brutus saw that he was making for him. It
was a point of honour in those days for the leaders
to engage in single combat, so he eagerly accepted
the challenge, and they charged with such fury,
neither of them thinking of protecting himself, if
only he could wound his foe, that each drove his
spear at the same moment through the other's shield,
and they fell dying from their horses, with the
spears sticking in them. The rest of the cavalry at
once engaged, and not long after the infantry came
up. The battle raged with varying fortune, the two
armies being fairly matched; the right wing of each
was victorious, the left defeated. The Veientes,
accustomed to defeat at the hands of the Romans,
were scattered in flight, but the Tarquinians, a new
foe, not only held their ground, but forced the
Romans to give way.
2.7
After the battle had gone
in this way, so great a panic seized Tarquin and the
Etruscans that the two armies of Veii and Tarquinii,
on the approach of night, despairing of success,
left the field and departed for their homes. The
story of the battle was enriched by marvels. In the
silence of the next night a great voice is said to
have come from the forest of Arsia, believed to be
the voice of Silvanus, which spoke thus: "The fallen
of the Tusci are one more than those of their foe;
the Roman is conqueror." At all events the Romans
left the field as victors; the Etruscans regarded
themselves as vanquished, for when daylight appeared
not a single enemy was in sight. P. Valerius, the
consul, collected the spoils and returned in triumph
to Rome. He celebrated his colleague's obsequies
with all the pomp possible in those days, but far
greater honour was done to the dead by the universal
mourning, which was rendered specially noteworthy by
the fact that the matrons were a whole year in
mourning for him, because he had been such a
determined avenger of violated chastity. After this
the surviving consul, who had been in such favour
with the multitude, found himself -such is its
fickleness -not only unpopular but an object of
suspicion, and that of a very grave character. It
was rumoured that he was aiming at monarchy, for he
had held no election to fill Brutus' place, and he
was building a house on the top of the Velia, an
impregnable fortress was being constructed on that
high and strong position. The consul felt hurt at
finding these rumours so widely believed, and
summoned the people to an assembly. As he entered
the "fasces" were lowered, to the great delight of
the multitude, who understood that it was to them
that they were lowered as an open avowal that the
dignity and might of the people were greater than
those of the consul. Then, after securing silence,
he began to eulogise the good fortune of his
colleague who had met his death, as a liberator of
his country, possessing the highest honour it could
bestow, fighting for the commonwealth, whilst his
glory was as yet undimmed by jealousy and distrust.
Whereas he himself had outlived his glory and fallen
on days of suspicion and opprobrium; from being a
liberator of his country he had sunk to the level of
the Aquilii and Vitellii. "Will you," he cried,
"never deem any man's merit so assured that it
cannot be tainted by suspicion? Am I, the most
determined foe to kings to dread the suspicion of
desiring to be one myself? Even if I were dwelling
in the Citadel on the Capitol, am I to believe it
possible that I should be feared by my
fellow-citizens? Does my reputation amongst you hang
on so slight a thread? Does your confidence rest
upon such a weak foundation that it is of greater
moment where I am than who I am? The house of
Publius Valerius shall be no check upon your
freedom, your Velia shall be safe. I will not only
move my house to level ground, but I will move it to
the bottom of the hill that you may dwell above the
citizen whom you suspect. Let those dwell on the
Velia who are regarded as truer friends of liberty
than Publius Valerius." All the materials were
forthwith carried below the Velia and his house was
built at the very bottom of the hill where now
stands the temple of Vica Pota.
2.8
Laws were passed which not
only cleared the consul from suspicion but produced
such a reaction that he won the people's affections,
hence his soubriquet of Publicola. The most popular
of these laws were those which granted a right of
appeal from the magistrate to the people and devoted
to the gods the person and property of any one who
entertained projects of becoming king. Valerius
secured the passing of these laws while still sole
consul, that the people might feel grateful solely
to him; afterwards he held the elections for the
appointment of a colleague. The consul elected was
Sp. Lucretius. But he had not, owing to his great
age, strength enough to discharge the duties of his
office, and within a few days he died. M. Horatius
Pulvillus was elected in his place. In some ancient
authors I find no mention of Lucretius, Horatius
being named immediately after Brutus; as he did
nothing of any note during his office, I suppose,
his memory has perished. The temple of Jupiter on
the Capitol had not yet been dedicated, and the
consuls drew lots to decide which should dedicate
it. The lot fell to Horatius. Publicola set out for
the Veientine war. His friends showed unseemly
annoyance at the dedication of so illustrious a fane
being assigned to Horatius, and tried every means of
preventing it. When all else failed, they tried to
alarm the consul, whilst he was actually holding the
door-post during the dedicatory prayer, by a wicked
message that his son was dead, and he could not
dedicate a temple while death was in his house. As
to whether he disbelieved the message, or whether
his conduct simply showed extraordinary
self-control, there is no definite tradition, and it
is not easy to decide from the records. He only
allowed the message to interrupt him so far that he
gave orders for the body to be burnt; then, with his
hand still on the door-post, he finished the prayer
and dedicated the temple. These were the principal
incidents at home and in the field during the first
year after the expulsion of the royal family. The
consuls elected for the next year were P. Valerius,
for the second time, and T. Lucretius.
2.9
The Tarquins had now taken
refuge with Porsena, the king of Clusium, whom they
sought to influence by entreaty mixed with warnings.
At one time they entreated him not to allow men of
Etruscan race, of the same blood as himself, to
wander as penniless exiles; at another they would
warn him not to let the new fashion of expelling
kings go unpunished. Liberty, they urged, possessed
fascination enough in itself; unless kings defend
their authority with as much energy as their
subjects show in quest of liberty, all things come
to a dead level, there will be no one thing
pre-eminent or superior to all else in the State;
there will soon be an end of kingly power, which is
the most beautiful thing, whether amongst gods or
amongst mortal men. Porsena considered that the
presence of an Etruscan upon the Roman throne would
be an honour to his nation; accordingly he advanced
with an army against Rome. Never before had the
senate been in such a state of alarm, so great at
that time was the power of Clusium and the
reputation of Porsena. They feared not only the
enemy but even their own fellow-citizens, lest the
plebs, overcome by their fears, should admit the
Tarquins into the City, and accept peace even though
it meant slavery. Many concessions were made at that
time to the plebs by the senate. Their first care
was to lay in a stock of corn, and commissioners
were despatched to Vulsi and Cumae to collect
supplies. The sale of salt, hitherto in the hands of
private individuals who had raised the price to a
high figure, was now wholly transferred to the
State. The plebs were exempted from the payment of
harbour-dues and the war-tax, so that they might
fall on the rich, who could bear the burden; the
poor were held to pay sufficient to the State if
they brought up their children. This generous action
of the senate maintained the harmony of the
commonwealth through the subsequent stress of siege
and famine so completely that the name of king was
not more abhorrent to the highest than it was to the
lowest, nor did any demagogue ever succeed in
becoming so popular in after times as the senate was
then by its beneficent legislation.
2.10
On the appearance of the
enemy the country people fled into the City as best
they could. The weak places in the defences were
occupied by military posts; elsewhere the walls and
the Tiber were deemed sufficient protection. The
enemy would have forced their way over the Sublician
bridge had it not been for one man, Horatius Cocles.
The good fortune of Rome provided him as her bulwark
on that memorable day. He happened to be on guard at
the bridge when he saw the Janiculum taken by a
sudden assault and the enemy rushing down from it to
the river, whilst his own men, a panic-struck mob,
were deserting their posts and throwing away their
arms. He reproached them one after another for their
cowardice, tried to stop them, appealed to them in
heaven's name to stand, declared that it was in vain
for them to seek safety in flight whilst leaving the
bridge open behind them, there would very soon be
more of the enemy on the Palatine and the Capitol
than there were on the Janiculum. So he shouted to
them to break down the bridge by sword or fire, or
by whatever means they could, he would meet the
enemies' attack so far as one man could keep them at
bay. He advanced to the head of the bridge. Amongst
the fugitives, whose backs alone were visible to the
enemy, he was conspicuous as he fronted them armed
for fight at close quarters. The enemy were
astounded at his preternatural courage. Two men were
kept by a sense of shame from deserting him -Sp.
Lartius and T. Herminius -both of them men of high
birth and renowned courage. With them he sustained
the first tempestuous shock and wild confused onset,
for a brief interval. Then, whilst only a small
portion of the bridge remained and those who were
cutting it down called upon them to retire, he
insisted upon these, too, retreating. Looking round
with eyes dark with menace upon the Etruscan chiefs,
he challenged them to single combat, and reproached
them all with being the slaves of tyrant kings, and
whilst unmindful of their own liberty coming to
attack that of others. For some time they hesitated,
each looking round upon the others to begin. At
length shame roused them to action, and raising a
shout they hurled their javelins from all sides on
their solitary foe. He caught them on his
outstretched shield, and with unshaken resolution
kept his place on the bridge with firmly planted
foot. They were just attempting to dislodge him by a
charge when the crash of the broken bridge and the
shout which the Romans raised at seeing the work
completed stayed the attack by filling them with
sudden panic. Then Cocles said, "Tiberinus, holy
father, I pray thee to receive into thy propitious
stream these arms and this thy warrior." So, fully
armed, he leaped into the Tiber, and though many
missiles fell over him he swam across in safety to
his friends: an act of daring more famous than
credible with posterity. The State showed its
gratitude for such courage; his statue was set up in
the Comitium, and as much land given to him as he
could drive the plough round in one day. Besides
this public honour, the citizens individually showed
their feeling; for, in spite of the great scarcity,
each, in proportion to his means, sacrificed what he
could from his own store as a gift to Cocles.
2.11
Repulsed in his first
attempt, Porsena changed his plans from assault to
blockade. After placing a detachment to hold the
Janiculum he fixed his camp on the plain between
that hill and the Tiber, and sent everywhere for
boats, partly to intercept any attempt to get corn
into Rome and partly to carry his troops across to
different spots for plunder, as opportunity might
serve. In a short time he made the whole of the
district round Rome so insecure that not only were
all the crops removed from the fields but even the
cattle were all driven into the City, nor did any
one venture to take them outside the gates. The
impunity with which the Etruscans committed their
depredations was due to strategy on the part of the
Romans more than to fear. For the consul Valerius,
determined to get an opportunity of attacking them
when they were scattered in large numbers over the
fields, allowed small forages to pass unnoticed,
whilst he was reserving himself for vengeance on a
larger scale. So to draw on the pillagers, he gave
orders to a considerable body of his men to drive
cattle out of the Esquiline gate, which was the
furthest from the enemy, in the expectation that
they would gain intelligence of it through the
slaves who were deserting, owing to the scarcity
produced by the blockade. The information was duly
conveyed, and in consequence they crossed the river
in larger numbers than usual in the hope of securing
the whole lot. P. Valerius ordered T. Herminius with
a small body of troops to take up a concealed
position at a distance of two miles on the Gabian
road, whilst Sp. Lartius with some light-armed
infantry was to post himself at the Colline gate
until the enemy had passed him and then to intercept
their retreat to the river. The other consul, T.
Lucretius, with a few maniples made a sortie from
the Naevian gate; Valerius himself led some picked
cohorts from the Caelian hill, and these were the
first to attract the enemy's notice. When Herminius
became aware that fighting was begun, he rose from
ambush and took the enemy who were engaged with
Valerius in rear. Answering cheers arose right and
left, from the Colline and the Naevian gates and the
pillagers, hemmed in, unequal to the fight, and with
every way of escape blocked, were cut to pieces.
That put an end to these irregular and scattered
excursions on the part of the Etruscans.
2.12
The blockade, however,
continued, and with it a growing scarcity of corn at
famine prices. Porsena still cherished hopes of
capturing the City by keeping up the investment.
There was a young noble, C. Mucius, who regarded it
as a disgrace that whilst Rome in the days of
servitude under her kings had never been blockaded
in any war or by any foe, she should now, in the day
of her freedom, be besieged by those very Etruscans
whose armies she had often routed. Thinking that
this disgrace ought to be avenged by some great deed
of daring, he determined in the first instance to
penetrate into the enemy's camp on his own
responsibility. On second thoughts, however, he
became apprehensive that if he went without orders
from the consuls, or unknown to any one, and
happened to be arrested by the Roman outposts, he
might be brought back as a deserter, a charge which
the condition of the City at the time would make
only too probable. So he went to the senate. "I
wish," he said, "Fathers, to swim the Tiber, and, if
I can, enter the enemy's camp, not as a pillager nor
to inflict retaliation for their pillagings. I am
purposing, with heaven's help, a greater deed." The
senate gave their approval. Concealing a sword in
his robe, he started. When he reached the camp he
took his stand in the densest part of the crowd near
the royal tribunal. It happened to be the soldiers'
pay-day, and a secretary, sitting by the king and
dressed almost exactly like him, was busily engaged,
as the soldiers kept coming to him incessantly.
Afraid to ask which of the two was the king, lest
his ignorance should betray him, Mucius struck as
fortune directed the blow and killed the secretary
instead of the king. He tried to force his way back
with his blood-stained dagger through the dismayed
crowd, but the shouting caused a rush to be made to
the spot; he was seized and dragged back by the
king's bodyguard to the royal tribunal. Here, alone
and helpless, and in the utmost peril, he was still
able to inspire more fear than he felt. "I am a
citizen of Rome," he said, "men call me C. Mucius.
As an enemy I wished to kill an enemy, and I have as
much courage to meet death as I had to inflict it.
It is the Roman nature to act bravely and to suffer
bravely. I am not alone in having made this resolve
against you, behind me there is a long list of those
who aspire to the same distinction. If then it is
your pleasure, make up your mind for a struggle in
which you will every hour have to fight for your
life and find an armed foe on the threshold of your
royal tent. This is the war which we the youth of
Rome, declare against you. You have no serried
ranks, no pitched battle to fear, the matter will be
settled between you alone and each one of us
singly." The king, furious with anger, and at the
same time terrified at the unknown danger,
threatened that if he did not promptly explain the
nature of the plot which he was darkly hinting at he
should be roasted alive. "Look," Mucius cried, "and
learn how lightly those regard their bodies who have
some great glory in view." Then he plunged his right
hand into a fire burning on the altar. Whilst he
kept it roasting there as if he were devoid of all
sensation, the king, astounded at his preternatural
conduct, sprang from his seat and ordered the youth
to be removed from the altar. "Go," he said, "you
have been a worse enemy to yourself than to me. I
would invoke blessings on your courage if it were
displayed on behalf of my country; as it is, I send
you away exempt from all rights of war, unhurt, and
safe." Then Mucius, reciprocating, as it were, this
generous treatment, said, "Since you honour courage,
know that what you could not gain by threats you
have obtained by kindness. Three hundred of us, the
foremost amongst the Roman youth, have sworn to
attack you in this way. The lot fell to me first,
the rest, in the order of their lot, will come each
in his turn, till fortune shall give us a favourable
chance against you."
2.13
Mucius was accordingly
dismissed; afterwards he received the soubriquet of
Scaevola, from the loss of his right hand. Envoys
from Porsena followed him to Rome. The king's narrow
escape from the first of many attempts; which was
owing solely to the mistake of his assailant, and
the prospect of having to meet as many attacks as
there were conspirators, so unnerved him that he
made proposals of peace to Rome. One for the
restoration of the Tarquins was put forward, more
because he could not well refuse their request than
because he had any hope of its being granted. The
demand for the restitution of their territory to the
Veientines, and that for the surrender of hostages
as a condition of the withdrawal of the detachment
from the Janiculum, were felt by the Romans to be
inevitable, and on their being accepted and peace
concluded, Porsena moved his troops from the
Janiculum and evacuated the Roman territory. As a
recognition of his courage the senate gave C. Mucius
a piece of land across the river, which was
afterwards known as the Mucian Meadows. The honour
thus paid to courage incited even women to do
glorious things for the State. The Etruscan camp was
situated not far from the river, and the maiden
Cloelia, one of the hostages, escaped, unobserved,
through the guards and at the head of her sister
hostages swam across the river amidst a shower of
javelins and restored them all safe to their
relatives. When the news of this incident reached
him, the king was at first exceedingly angry and
sent to demand the surrender of Cloelia; the others
he did not care about. Afterwards his feelings
changed to admiration; he said that the exploit
surpassed those of Cocles and Mucius, and announced
that whilst on the one hand he should consider the
treaty broken if she were not surrendered, he would
on the other hand, if she were surrendered, send her
back to her people unhurt. Both sides behaved
honourably; the Romans surrendered her as a pledge
of loyalty to the terms of the treaty; the Etruscan
king showed that with him courage was not only safe
but honoured, and after eulogising the girl's
conduct, told her that he would make her a present
of half the remaining hostages, she was to choose
whom she would. It is said that after all had been
brought before her, she chose the boys of tender
age; a choice in keeping with maidenly modesty, and
one approved by the hostages themselves, since they
felt that the age which was most liable to
ill-treatment should have the preference in being
rescued from hostile hands. After peace was thus
re-established, the Romans rewarded the
unprecedented courage shown by a woman by an
unprecedented honour, namely an equestrian statue.
On the highest part of the Sacred Way a statue was
erected representing the maiden sitting on
horseback.
2.14
Quite inconsistent with
this peaceful withdrawal from the City on the part
of the Etruscan king is the custom which, with other
formalities, has been handed down from antiquity to
our own age of "selling the goods of King Porsena."
This custom must either have been introduced during
the war and kept up after peace was made, or else it
must have a less bellicose origin than would be
implied by the description of the goods sold as
"taken from the enemy." The most probable tradition
is that Porsena, knowing the City to be without food
owing to the long investment, made the Romans a
present of his richly-stored camp, in which
provisions had been collected from the neighbouring
fertile fields of Etruria. Then, to prevent the
people seizing them indiscriminately as spoils of
war, they were regularly sold, under the description
of "the goods of Porsena," a description indicating
rather the gratitude of the people than an auction
of the king's personal property, which had never
been at the disposal of the Romans. To prevent his
expedition from appearing entirely fruitless,
Porsena, after bringing the war with Rome to a
close, sent his son Aruns with a part of his force
to attack Aricia. At first the Aricians were
dismayed by the unexpected movement, but the
succours which in response to their request were
sent from the Latin towns and from Cumae so far
encouraged them that they ventured to offer battle.
At the commencement of the action the Etruscans
attacked with such vigour that they routed the
Aricians at the first charge. The Cuman cohorts made
a strategical flank movement, and when the enemy had
pressed forward in disordered pursuit, they wheeled
round and attacked them in the rear. Thus the
Etruscans, now all but victorious, were hemmed in
and cut to pieces. A very small remnant, after
losing their general, made for Rome, as there was no
nearer place of safety. Without arms, and in the
guise of suppliants, they were kindly received and
distributed amongst different houses. After
recovering from their wounds, some left for their
homes, to tell of the kind hospitality they had
received; many remained behind out of affection for
their hosts and the City. A district was assigned to
them to dwell in, which subsequently bore the
designation of "the Tuscan quarter."
2.15
The new consuls were Sp.
Lartius and T. Herminius. This year Porsena made the
last attempt to effect the restoration of the
Tarquins. The ambassadors whom he had despatched to
Rome with this object were informed that the senate
were going to send an embassy to the king, and the
most honourable of the senators were forthwith
despatched. They stated that the reason why a select
number of senators had been sent to him in
preference to a reply being given to his ambassadors
at Rome was not that they had been unable to give
the brief answer that kings would never be allowed
in Rome, but simply that all mention of the matter
might be for ever dropped, that after the
interchange of so many kindly acts there might be no
cause of irritation, for he, Porsena, was asking for
what would be against the liberty of Rome. The
Romans, if they did not wish to hasten their own
ruin, would have to refuse the request of one to
whom they wished to refuse nothing. Rome was not a
monarchy, but a free City, and they had made up
their minds to open their gates even to an enemy
sooner than to a king. It was the universal wish
that whatever put an end to liberty in the City
should put an end to the City itself. They begged
him, if he wished Rome to be safe, to allow it to be
free. Touched with a feeling of sympathy and
respect, the king replied, "Since this is your fixed
and unalterable determination, I will not harass you
by fruitless proposals, nor will I deceive the
Tarquins by holding out hopes of an assistance which
I am powerless to render. Whether they insist on war
or are prepared to live quietly, in either case they
must seek another place of exile than this, to
prevent any interruption of the peace between you
and me." He followed up his words by still stronger
practical proofs of friendship, for he returned the
remainder of the hostages and restored the Veientine
territory which had been taken away under the
treaty. As all hope of restoration was cut off,
Tarquin went to his son-in-law Mamilius Octavius at
Tusculum. So the peace between Rome and Porsena
remained unbroken.
2.16
The new consuls were M.
Valerius and P. Postumius. This year a successful
action was fought with the Sabines; the consuls
celebrated a triumph. Then the Sabines made
preparations for war on a larger scale. To oppose
them and also at the same time to guard against
danger in the direction of Tusculum, from which
place war, though not openly declared, was still
apprehended, the consuls elected were P. Valerius
for the fourth time and T. Lucretius for the second.
A conflict which broke out amongst the Sabines
between the peace party and the war party brought an
accession of strength to the Romans. Attius Clausus,
who was afterwards known in Rome as Appius Claudius,
was an advocate for peace, but, unable to maintain
his ground against the opposing faction, who were
stirring up war, he fled to Rome with a large body
of clients. They were admitted to the citizenship
and received a grant of land lying beyond the Anio.
They were called the Old Claudian tribe, and their
numbers were added to by fresh tribesmen from that
district. After his election into the senate it was
not long before Appius gained a prominent position
in that body. The consuls marched into the Sabine
territory, and by their devastation of the country
and the defeats which they inflicted so weakened the
enemy that no renewal of the war was to be feared
for a long time. The Romans returned home in
triumph. The following year, in the consulship of
Agrippa Menenius and P. Postumius, P. Valerius died.
He was universally admitted to be first in the
conduct of war and the arts of peace, but though he
enjoyed such an immense reputation, his private
fortune was so scanty that it could not defray the
expenses of his funeral. They were met by the State.
The matrons mourned for him as a second Brutus. In
the same year two Latin colonies, Pometia and Cora,
revolted to the Auruncans. War commenced, and after
the defeat of an immense army which had sought to
oppose the advance of the consuls into their
territory, the whole war was centered round Pometia.
There was no respite from bloodshed after the battle
any more than during the fighting, many more were
killed than were taken prisoners; the prisoners were
everywhere butchered; even the hostages, three
hundred of whom they had in their hands, fell a
victim to the enemy's bloodthirsty rage. This year
also there was a triumph in Rome.
2.17
The consuls who
succeeded, Opiter Verginius and Sp. Cassius, tried
at first to take Pometia by storm, then they had
recourse to regular siege-works. Actuated more by a
spirit of mortal hatred than by any hope or chance
of success, the Auruncans made a sortie. The greater
number were armed with blazing torches, and they
carried flames and death everywhere. The "vineae"
were burnt, great numbers of the besiegers were
killed and wounded, they nearly killed one of the
consuls -the authorities do not give his name -after he had fallen from his horse severely wounded.
After this disaster the Romans returned home, with a
large number of wounded, amongst them the consul,
whose condition was critical. After an interval,
long enough for the recovery of the wounded and the
filling up of the ranks, operations were resumed at
Pometia in stronger force and in a more angry
temper. The vineae were repaired and the other vast
works were made good, and when everything was ready
for the soldiers to mount the walls, the place
surrendered. The Auruncans, however, were treated
with no less rigour after they had surrendered the
city than if it had been taken by assault; the
principal men were beheaded, the rest of the
townsfolk sold as slaves. The town was razed, the
land put up for sale. The consuls celebrated a
triumph more because of the terrible vengeance they
had inflicted than on account of the importance of
the war now terminated.
2.18
The following year had as
consuls Postumius Cominius and T. Lartius. During
this year an incident occurred which, though small
in itself, threatened to lead to the renewal of a
war more formidable than the Latin war which was
dreaded. During the games at Rome some courtesans
were carried off by Sabine youths in sheer
wantonness. A crowd gathered, and a quarrel arose
which became almost a pitched battle. The alarm was
increased by the authentic report that at the
instigation of Octavius Mamilius the thirty Latin
towns had formed a league. The apprehensions felt by
the State at such a serious crisis led to
suggestions being made for the first time for the
appointment of a dictator. It is not, however,
clearly ascertained in what year this office was
created, or who the consuls were who had forfeited
the confidence of the people owing to their being
adherents of the Tarquins -for this, too, is part
of the tradition -or who was the first dictator. In
the most ancient authorities I find that it was T.
Lartius, and that Sp. Cassius was his master of the
horse. Only men of consular rank were eligible under
the law governing the appointment. This makes me
more inclined to believe that Lartius, who was of
consular rank, was set over the consuls to restrain
and direct them rather than Manlius Valerius, the
son of Marcus and grandson of Volesus. Besides, if
they wanted the dictator to be chosen from that
family especially, they would have much sooner
chosen the father, M. Valerius, a man of proved
worth and also of consular rank. When, for the first
time, a Dictator was created in Rome, a great fear
fell on the people, after they saw the axes borne
before him, and consequently they were more careful
to obey his orders. For there was not, as in the
case of the consuls, each of whom possessed the same
authority, any chance of securing the aid of one
against the other, nor was there any right of
appeal, nor in short was there any safety anywhere
except in punctilious obedience. The Sabines were
even more alarmed at the appointment of a Dictator
than the Romans, because they were convinced that it
was in their account that he had been created.
Accordingly envoys were sent with proposals for
peace. They begged the Dictator and the senate to
pardon what was a youthful escapade, but were told
in reply that young men could be pardoned, but not
old men, who were continually stirring up fresh
wars. However, the negotiations continued and peace
would have been secured if the Sabines could have
made up their minds to comply with the demand to
make good the expenses of the war. War was
proclaimed; an informal truce kept the year
undisturbed.
2.19
The next consuls were
Ser. Sulpicius and Manlius Tullius. Nothing worth
recording took place. The consuls of the following
year were T. Aebutius and C. Vetusius. During their
consulship Fidenae was besieged; Crustumeria
captured; Praeneste revolted from the Latins to
Rome. The Latin war which had been threatening for
some years now at last broke out. A. Postumius, the
Dictator, and T. Aebutius, Master of the Horse,
advanced with a large force of infantry and cavalry
to the Lake Regillus in the district of Tusculum and
came upon the main army of the enemy. On hearing
that the Tarquins were in the army of the Latins,
the passions of the Romans were so roused that they
determined to engage at once. The battle that
followed was more obstinately and desperately fought
than any previous ones had been. For the commanders
not only took their part in directing the action,
they fought personally against each other, and
hardly one of the leaders in either army, with the
exception of the Roman Dictator, left the field
unwounded. Tarquinius Superbus, though now enfeebled
by age, spurred his horse against Postumius, who in
the front of the line was addressing and forming his
men. He was struck in the side and carried off by a
body of his followers into a place of safety.
Similarly on the other wing Aebutius, Master of the
Horse, directed his attack against Octavius
Mamilius; the Tusculan leader saw him coming and
rode at him full speed. So terrific was the shock
that Aebutius' arm was pierced, Mamilius was speared
in the breast, and led off by the Latins into their
second line. Aebutius, unable to hold a weapon with
his wounded arm, retired from the fighting. The
Latin leader, in no way deterred by his wound,
infused fresh energy into the combat, for, seeing
that his own men were wavering, he called up the
cohort of Roman exiles, who were led by Lucius
Tarquinius. The loss of country and fortune made
them fight all the more desperately; for a short
time they restored the battle, and the Romans who
were opposed to them began to give ground.
2.20
M. Valerius, the brother
of Publicola, catching sight of the fiery young
Tarquin conspicuous in the front line, dug spurs
into his horse and made for him with levelled lance,
eager to enhance the pride of his house, that the
family who boasted of having expelled the Tarquins
might have the glory of killing them. Tarquin evaded
his foe by retiring behind his men. Valerius, riding
headlong into the ranks of the exiles, was run
through by a spear from behind. This did not check
the horse's speed, and the Roman sank dying to the
ground, his arms falling upon him. When the Dictator
Postumius saw that one of his principal officers had
fallen, and that the exiles were rushing on
furiously in a compact mass whilst his men were
shaken and giving ground, he ordered his own cohort
-a picked force who formed his bodyguard -to treat
any of their own side whom they saw in flight as
enemy. Threatened in front and rear the Romans
turned and faced the foe, and closed their ranks.
The Dictator's cohort, fresh in mind and body, now
came into action and attacked the exhausted exiles
with great slaughter. Another single combat between
the leaders took place; the Latin commander saw the
cohort of exiles almost hemmed in by the Roman
Dictator, and hurried to the front with some
maniples of the reserves. T. Herminius saw them
coming, and recognised Mamilius by his dress and
arms. He attacked the enemies' commander much more
fiercely than the Master of the Horse had previously
done, so much so, in fact, that he killed him by a
single spear-thrust through his side. Whilst
despoiling the body he himself was struck by a
javelin, and after being carried back to the camp,
expired whilst his wound was being dressed. Then the
Dictator hurried up to the cavalry and appealed to
them to relieve the infantry, who were worn out with
the struggle, by dismounting and fighting on foot.
They obeyed, leaped from their horses, and
protecting themselves with their targes, fought in
front of the standards. The infantry recovered their
courage at once when they saw the flower of the
nobility fighting on equal terms and sharing the
same dangers with themselves. At last the Latins
were forced back, wavered, and finally broke their
ranks. The cavalry had their horses brought up that
they might commence the pursuit, the infantry
followed. It is said that the Dictator, omitting
nothing that could secure divine or human aid,
vowed, during the battle, a temple to Castor and
promised rewards to those who should be the first
and second to enter the enemies' camp. Such was the
ardour which the Romans displayed that in the same
charge which routed the enemy they carried their
camp. Thus was the battle fought at Lake Regillus.
The Dictator and the Master of the Horse returned in
triumph to the City.
2.21
For the next three years
there was neither settled peace nor open war. The
consuls were Q. Cloelius and T. Larcius. They were
succeeded by A. Sempronius and M. Minucius. During
their consulship a temple was dedicated to Saturn
and the festival of the Saturnalia instituted. The
next consuls were A. Postumius and T. Verginius. I
find in some authors this year given as the date of
the battle at Lake Regillus, and that A. Postumius
laid down his consulship because the fidelity of his
colleague was suspected, on which a Dictator was
appointed. So many errors as to dates occur, owing
to the order in which the consuls succeeded being
variously given, that the remoteness in time of both
the events and the authorities make it impossible to
determine either which consuls succeeded which, or
in what year any particular event occurred. Ap.
Claudius and P. Servilius were the next consuls.
This year is memorable for the news of Tarquin's
death. His death took place at Cuma, whither he had
retired, to seek the protection of the tyrant
Aristodemus after the power of the Latins was
broken. The news was received with delight by both
senate and plebs. But the elation of the patricians
was carried to excess. Up to that time they had
treated the commons with the utmost deference, now
their leaders began to practice injustice upon them.
The same year a fresh batch of colonists was sent to
complete the number at Signia, a colony founded by
King Tarquin. The number of tribes at Rome was
increased to twenty-one. The temple of Mercury was
dedicated on May 15.
2.22
The relations with the
Volscians during the Latin war were neither friendly
nor openly hostile. The Volscians had collected a
force which they were intending to send to the aid
of the Latins had not the Dictator forestalled them
by the rapidity of his movements, a rapidity due to
his anxiety to avoid a battle with the combined
armies. To punish them the consuls led the legions
into the Volscian country. This unexpected movement
paralysed the Volscians, who were not expecting
retribution for what had been only an intention.
Unable to offer resistance, they gave as hostages
three hundred children belonging to their nobility,
drawn from Cora and Pometia. The legions,
accordingly, were marched back without fighting.
Relieved from the immediate danger, the Volscians
soon fell back on their old policy, and after
forming an armed alliance with the Hernicans, made
secret preparations for war. They also despatched
envoys through the length and breadth of Latium to
induce that nation to join them. But after their
defeat at Lake Regillus the Latins were so incensed
against every one who advocated a resumption of
hostilities that they did not even spare the
Volscian envoys, who were arrested and conducted to
Rome. There they were handed over to the consuls and
evidence was produced showing that the Volscians and
Hernicans were preparing for war with Rome. When the
matter was brought before the senate, they were so
gratified by the action of the Latins that they sent
back six thousand prisoners who had been sold into
slavery, and also referred to the new magistrates
the question of a treaty which they had hitherto
persistently refused to consider. The Latins
congratulated themselves upon the course they had
adopted, and the advocates of peace were in high
honour. They sent a golden crown as a gift to the
Capitoline Jupiter. The deputation who brought the
gift were accompanied by a large number of the
released prisoners, who visited the houses where
they had worked as slaves to thank their former
masters for the kindness and consideration shown
them in their misfortunes, and to form ties of
hospitality with them. At no previous period had the
Latin nation been on more friendly terms both
politically and personally with the Roman
government.
2.23
But a war with the
Volscians was imminent, and the State was torn with
internal dissensions; the patricians and the
plebeians were bitterly hostile to one another,
owing mainly to the desperate condition of the
debtors. They loudly complained that whilst fighting
in the field for liberty and empire they were
oppressed and enslaved by their fellow-citizens at
home; their freedom was more secure in war than in
peace, safer amongst the enemy than amongst their
own people. The discontent, which was becoming of
itself continually more embittered, was still
further inflamed by the signal misfortunes of one
individual. An old man, bearing visible proofs of
all the evils he had suffered, suddenly appeared in
the Forum. His clothing was covered with filth, his
personal appearance was made still more loathsome by
a corpse-like pallor and emaciation, his unkempt
beard and hair made him look like a savage. In spite
of this disfigurement he was recognised by the
pitying bystanders; they said that he had been a
centurion, and mentioned other military distinctions
he possessed. He bared his breast and showed the
scars which witnessed to many fights in which he had
borne an honourable part. The crowd had now almost
grown to the dimensions of an Assembly of the
people. He was asked, "Whence came that garb, whence
that disfigurement?" He stated that whilst serving
in the Sabine war he had not only lost the produce
of his land through the depredations of the enemy,
but his farm had been burnt, all his property
plundered, his cattle driven away, the war-tax
demanded when he was least able to pay it, and he
had got into debt. This debt had been vastly
increased through usury and had stripped him first
of his father's and grandfather's farm, then of his
other property, and at last like a pestilence had
reached his person. He had been carried off by his
creditor, not into slavery only, but into an
underground workshop, a living death. Then he showed
his back scored with recent marks of the lash.
On seeing and hearing all this a great outcry
arose; the excitement was not confined to the Forum,
it spread everywhere throughout the City. Men who
were in bondage for debt and those who had been
released rushed from all sides into the public
streets and invoked "the protection of the
Quirites." Every one was eager to join the
malcontents, numerous bodies ran shouting through
all the streets to the Forum. Those of the senators
who happened to be in the Forum and fell in with the
mob were in great danger of their lives. Open
violence would have been resorted to, had not the
consuls, P. Servilius and Ap. Claudius, promptly
intervened to quell the outbreak. The crowd surged
round them, showed their chains and other marks of
degradation. These, they said, were their rewards
for having served their country; they tauntingly
reminded the consuls of the various campaigns in
which they had fought, and peremptorily demanded
rather than petitioned that the senate should be
called together. Then they closed round the
Senate-house, determined to be themselves the
arbiters and directors of public policy. A very
small number of senators, who happened to be
available, were got together by the consuls, the
rest were afraid to go even to the Forum, much more
to the Senate-house. No business could be transacted
owing to the requisite number not being present. The
people began to think that they were being played
with and put off, that the absent senators were not
kept away by accident or by fear, but in order to
prevent any redress of their grievances, and that
the consuls themselves were shuffling and laughing
at their misery. Matters were reaching the point at
which not even the majesty of the consuls could keep
the enraged people in check, when the absentees,
uncertain whether they ran the greater risk by
staying away or coming, at last entered the
Senate-house. The House was now full, and a division
of opinion showed itself not only amongst the
senators but even between the two consuls. Appius, a
man of passionate temperament, was of opinion that
the matter ought to be settled by a display of
authority on the part of the consuls; if one or two
were brought up for trial, the rest would calm down.
Servilius, more inclined to gentle measures, thought
that when men's passions are aroused it was safer
and easier to bend them than to break them.
2.24
In the middle of these
disturbances, fresh alarm was created by some Latin
horsemen who galloped in with the disquieting
tidings that a Volscian army was on the march to
attack the City. This intelligence affected the
patricians and the plebeians very differently; to
such an extent had civic discord rent the State in
twain. The plebeians were exultant, they said that
the gods were preparing to avenge the tyranny of the
patricians; they encouraged each other to evade
enrolment, for it was better for all to die together
than to perish one by one. "Let the patricians take
up arms, let the patricians serve as common
soldiers, that those who get the spoils of war may
share its perils." The senate, on the other hand,
filled with gloomy apprehensions by the twofold
danger from their own fellow-citizens and from their
enemy, implored the consul Servilius, who was more
sympathetic towards the people, to extricate the
State from the perils that beset it on all sides. He
dismissed the senate and went into the Assembly of
the plebs. There he pointed out how anxious the
senate were to consult the interests of the plebs,
but their deliberations respecting what was
certainly the largest part, though still only a
part, of the State had been cut short by fears for
the safety of the State as a whole. The enemy were
almost at their gates, nothing could be allowed to
take precedence of the war, but even if the attack
were postponed, it would not be honourable on the
part of the plebeians to refuse to take up arms for
their country till they had been paid for doing so,
nor would it be compatible with the self-respect of
the senate to be actuated by fear rather than by
good-will in devising measures for the relief of
their distressed fellow-citizens. He convinced the
Assembly of his sincerity by issuing an edict that
none should keep a Roman citizen in chains or duress
whereby he would be prevented from enrolling for
military service, none should distrain or sell the
goods of a soldier as long as he was in camp, or
detain his children or grandchildren. On the
promulgation of this edict those debtors who were
present at once gave in their names for enrolment,
and crowds of persons running in all quarters of the
City from the houses where they were confined, as
their creditors had no longer the right to detain
them, gathered together in the Forum to take the
military oath. These formed a considerable force,
and none were more conspicuous for courage and
activity in the Volscian war. The consul led his
troops against the enemy and encamped a short
distance from them.
2.25
The very next night the
Volscians, trusting to the dissensions amongst the
Romans, made an attempt on the camp, on the chance
of desertions taking place, or the camp being
betrayed, in the darkness. The outposts perceived
them, the army was aroused, and on the alarm being
sounded they rushed to arms, so the Volscian attempt
was foiled; for the rest of the night both sides
kept quiet. The following day, at dawn, the
Volscians filled up the trenches and attacked the
rampart. This was already being torn down on all
sides while the consul, in spite of the shouts of
the whole army -of the debtors most of all -demanding the signal for action, delayed for a few
minutes, in order to test the temper of his men.
When he was quite satisfied as to their ardour and
determination, he gave the signal to charge and
launched his soldiery, eager to engage, upon the
foe. They were routed at the very first onset, the
fugitives were cut down as far as the infantry could
pursue them, then the cavalry drove them in
confusion to their camp. They evacuated it in their
panic, the legions soon came up, surrounded it,
captured and plundered it. The following day the
legions marched to Suessa Pometia, whither the enemy
had fled, and in a few days it was captured and
given up to the soldiers to pillage. This to some
extent relieved the poverty of the soldiers. The
consul, covered with glory, led his victorious army
back to Rome. Whilst on the march he was visited by
envoys from the Volscians of Ecetra, who were
concerned for their own safety after the capture of
Pometia. By a decree of the senate, peace was
granted to them, some territory was taken from them.
2.26
Immediately afterwards a
fresh alarm was created at Rome by the Sabines, but
it was more a sudden raid than a regular war. News
was brought during the night that a Sabine army had
advanced as far as the Anio on a predatory
expedition, and that the farms in that neighbourhood
were being harried and burnt. A. Postumius, who had
been the Dictator in the Latin war, was at once sent
there with the whole of the cavalry force; the
consul Servilius followed with a picked body of
infantry. Most of the enemy were surrounded by the
cavalry while scattered in the fields; the Sabine
legion offered no resistance to the advance of the
infantry. Tired out with their march and the
nocturnal plundering -a large proportion of them
were in the farms full of food and wine -they had
hardly sufficient strength to flee. The Sabine war
was announced and concluded in one night, and strong
hopes were entertained that peace had now been
secured everywhere. The next day, however, envoys
from the Auruncans came with a demand for the
evacuation of the Volscian territory, otherwise they
were to proclaim war. The army of the Auruncans had
begun their advance when the envoys left home, and
the report of its having been seen not far from
Aricia created so much excitement and confusion
amongst the Romans that it was impossible either for
the senate to take the matter into formal
consideration, or for a favourable reply to be given
to those who were commencing hostilities, since they
were themselves taking up arms to repel them. They
marched to Aricia; not far from there they engaged
the Auruncans and in one battle finished the war.
2.27
After the defeat of the
Auruncans, the Romans, who had, within a few days,
fought so many successful wars, were expecting the
fulfilment of the promises which the consul had made
on the authority of the senate. Appius, partly from
his innate love of tyranny and partly to undermine
the confidence felt in his colleague, gave the
harshest sentences he could when debtors were
brought before him. One after another those who had
before pledged their persons as security were now
handed over to their creditors, and others were
compelled to give such security. A soldier to whom
this happened appealed to the colleague of Appius. A
crowd gathered round Servilius, they reminded him of
his promises, upbraided him with their services in
war and the scars they had received, and demanded
that he should either get an ordinance passed by the
senate, or, as consul, protect his people; as
commander, his soldiers. The consul sympathised with
them, but under the circumstances he was compelled
to temporise; the opposite policy was so recklessly
insisted on not only by his colleague but by the
entire party of the nobility. By taking a middle
course he did not escape the odium of the plebs nor
did he win the favour of the patricians. These
regarded him as a weak popularity-hunting consul,
the plebeians considered him false, and it soon
became apparent that he was as much detested as
Appius.
A dispute had arisen between the consuls as
to which of them should dedicate the temple of
Mercury. The senate referred the question to the
people, and issued orders that the one to whom the
dedication was assigned by the people should preside
over the corn-market and form a guild of merchants
and discharge functions in the presence of the
Pontifex Maximus. The people assigned the dedication
of the temple to M. Laetorius, the first centurion
of the legion, a choice obviously made not so much
to honour the man, by conferring upon him an office
so far above his station, as to bring discredit on
the consuls. One of them, at all events, was
excessively angry, as were the senate, but the
courage of the plebs had risen, and they went to
work in a very different method from that which they
had adopted at first. For as any prospect of help
from the consuls or the senate was hopeless, they
took matters into their own hands, and whenever they
saw a debtor brought before the court, they rushed
there from all sides, and by their shouts and uproar
prevented the consul's sentence from being heard,
and when it was pronounced no one obeyed it. They
resorted to violence, and all the fear and danger to
personal liberty was transferred from the debtors to
the creditors, who were roughly handled before the
eyes of the consul. In addition to all this there
were growing apprehensions of a Sabine war. A levy
was decreed, but no one gave in his name. Appius was
furious; he accused his colleague of courting the
favour of the people, denounced him as a traitor to
the commonwealth because he refused to give sentence
where debtors were brought before him, and moreover
he refused to raise troops after the senate had
ordered a levy. Still, he declared, the ship of
State was not entirely deserted nor the consular
authority thrown to the winds; he, single-handed,
would vindicate his own dignity and that of the
senate. Whilst the usual daily crowd were standing
round him, growing ever bolder in licence, he
ordered one conspicuous leader of the agitation to
be arrested. As he was being dragged away by the
lictors, he appealed. There was no doubt as to what
judgment the people would give, and he would not
have allowed the appeal had not his obstinacy been
with great difficulty overcome more by the prudence
and authority of the senate than by the clamour of
the people, so determined was he to brave the
popular odium. From that time the mischief became
more serious every day, not only through open
clamour but, what was far more dangerous, through
secession and secret meetings. At length the
consuls, detested as they were by the plebs, went
out of office -Servilius equally hated by both
orders, Appius in wonderful favour with the
patricians.
2.28
Then A. Verginius and T.
Vetusius took office. As the plebeians were doubtful
as to what sort of consuls they would have, and were
anxious to avoid any precipitate and ill-considered
action which might result from hastily adopted
resolutions in the Forum, they began to hold
meetings at night, some on the Esquiline and others
on the Aventine. The consuls considered this state
of things to be fraught with danger, as it really
was, and made a formal report to the senate. But any
orderly discussion of their report was out of the
question, owing to the excitement and clamour with
which the senators received it, and the indignation
they felt at the consuls throwing upon them the
odium of measures which they ought to have carried
on their own authority as consuls. "Surely," it was
said, "if there were really magistrates in the
State, there would have been no meetings in Rome
beyond the public Assembly; now the State was broken
up into a thousand senates and assemblies, since
some councils were being held on the Esquiline and
others on the Aventine. Why, one man like Appius
Claudius, who was worth more than a consul, would
have dispersed these gatherings in a moment." When
the consuls, after being thus censured, asked what
they wished them to do, as they were prepared to act
with all the energy and determination that the
senate desired, a decree was passed that the levy
should be raised as speedily as possible, for the
plebs was waxing wanton through idleness. After
dismissing the senate, the consuls ascended the
tribunal and called out the names of those liable to
active service. Not a single man answered to his
name. The people, standing round as though in formal
assembly, declared that the plebs could no longer be
imposed upon, the consuls should not get a single
soldier until the promise made in the name of the
State was fulfilled. Before arms were put into their
hands, every man's liberty must be restored to him,
that they might fight for their country and their
fellow-citizens and not for tyrannical masters. The
consuls were quite aware of the instructions they
had received from the senate, but they were also
aware that none of those who had spoken so bravely
within the walls of the Senate-house were now
present to share the odium which they were
incurring. A desperate conflict with the plebs
seemed inevitable. Before proceeding to extremities
they decided to consult the senate again. Thereupon
all the younger senators rushed from their seats,
and crowding round the chairs of the consuls,
ordered them to resign their office and lay down an
authority which they had not the courage to
maintain.
2.29
Having had quite enough
of trying to coerce the plebs on the one hand and
persuading the senate to adopt a milder course on
the other, the consuls at last said: "Senators, that
you may not say you have not been forewarned, we
tell you that a very serious disturbance is at hand.
We demand that those who are the loudest in charging
us with cowardice shall support us whilst we conduct
the levy. We will act as the most resolute may wish,
since such is your pleasure." They returned to the
tribunal and purposely ordered one of those who were
in view to be called up by name. As he stood silent,
and a number of men had closed round him to prevent
his being seized, the consuls sent a lictor to him.
The lictor was pushed away, and those senators who
were with the consuls exclaimed that it was an
outrageous insult and rushed down from the tribunal
to assist the lictor. The hostility of the crowd was
diverted from the lictor, who had simply been
prevented from making the arrest, to the senators.
The interposition of the consuls finally allayed the
conflict. There had, however, been no stones thrown
or weapons used, it had resulted in more noise and
angry words than personal injury. The senate was
summoned and assembled in disorder; its proceedings
were still more disorderly. Those who had been
roughly handled demanded an inquiry, and all the
more violent members supported the demand by
shouting and uproar quite as much as by their votes.
When at last the excitement had subsided, the
consuls censured them for showing as little calm
judgment in the senate as there was in the Forum.
Then the debate proceeded in order. Three different
policies were advocated. P. Valerius did not think
the general question ought to be raised; he thought
they ought only to consider the case of those who,
in reliance on the promise of the consul P.
Servilius, had served in the Volscian, Auruncan, and
Sabine wars. Titus Larcius considered that the time
had passed for rewarding only men who had served,
the whole plebs was overwhelmed with debt, the evil
could not be arrested unless there was a measure for
universal relief. Any attempt to differentiate
between the various classes would only kindle fresh
discord instead of allaying it. Appius Claudius,
harsh by nature, and now maddened by the hatred of
the plebs on the one hand and the praises of the
senate on the other, asserted that these riotous
gatherings were not the result of misery but of
licence, the plebeians were actuated by wantonness
more than by anger. This was the mischief which had
sprung from the right of appeal, for the consuls
could only threaten without the power to execute
their threats as long as a criminal was allowed to
appeal to his fellow-criminals. "Come," said he,
"let us create a Dictator from whom there is no
appeal, then this madness which is setting
everything on fire will soon die down. Let me see
any one strike a lictor then, when he knows that his
back and even his life are in the sole power of the
man whose authority he attacks."
2.30
To many the sentiments
which Appius uttered seemed cruel and monstrous, as
they really were. On the other hand, the proposals
of Verginius and Larcius would set a dangerous
precedent, that of Larcius at all events, as it
would destroy all credit. The advice given by
Verginius was regarded as the most moderate, being a
middle course between the other two. But through the
strength of his party, and the consideration of
personal interests which always have injured and
always will injure public policy, Appius won the
day. He was very nearly being himself appointed
Dictator, an appointment which would more than
anything have alienated the plebs, and that too at a
most critical time when the Volscians, the Aequi,
and the Sabines were all in arms together. The
consuls and the older patricians, however, took care
that a magistracy clothed with such tremendous
powers should be entrusted to a man of moderate
temper. They created M. Valerius, the son of
Volesus, Dictator. Though the plebeians recognised
that it was against them that a Dictator had been
created, still, as they held their right of appeal
under a law which his brother had passed, they did
not fear any harsh or tyrannical treatment from that
family. Their hopes were confirmed by an edict
issued by the Dictator, very similar to the one made
by Servilius. That edict had been ineffective, but
they thought that more confidence could be placed in
the person and power of the Dictator, so, dropping
all opposition, they gave in their names for
enrolment. Ten legions, were formed, a larger army
than had ever before been assembled. Three of them
were assigned to each of the consuls, the Dictator
took command of four.
The war could no longer be delayed. The Aequi
had invaded the Latin territory. Envoys sent by the
Latins asked the senate either to send help or allow
them to arm for the purpose of defending their
frontier. It was thought safer to defend the unarmed
Latins than to allow them to re-arm themselves. The
consul Vetusius was despatched, and that was the end
of the raids. The Aequi withdrew from the plains,
and trusting more to the nature of the country than
to their arms, sought safety on the mountain ridges.
The other consul advanced against the Volscians, and
to avoid loss of time, he devastated their fields
with the object of forcing them to move their camp
nearer to his and so bringing on an engagement. The
two armies stood facing each other, in front of
their respective lines, on the level space between
the camps. The Volscians had considerably the
advantage in numbers, and accordingly showed their
contempt for their foe by coming on in disorder. The
Roman consul kept his army motionless, forbade their
raising an answering shout, and ordered them to
stand with their spears fixed in the ground, and
when the enemy came to close quarters, to spring
forward and make all possible use of their swords.
The Volscians, wearied with their running and
shouting, threw themselves upon the Romans as upon
men benumbed with fear, but when they felt the
strength of the counter-attack and saw the swords
flashing before them, they retreated in confusion
just as if they had been caught in an ambush, and
owing to the speed at which they had come into
action, they had not even strength to flee. The
Romans, on the other hand, who at the beginning of
the battle had remained quietly standing, were fresh
and vigorous, and easily overtook the exhausted
Volscians, rushed their camp, drove them out, and
pursued them as far as Velitrae, victors and
vanquished bursting pell-mell into the city. A
greater slaughter of all ranks took place there than
in the actual battle; a few who threw down their
arms and surrendered received quarter.
2.31
Whilst these events were
occurring amongst the Volscians, the Dictator, after
entering the Sabine territory, where the most
serious part of the war lay, defeated and routed the
enemy and chased them out of their camp. A cavalry
charge had broken the enemy's centre which, owing to
the excessive lengthening of the wings, was weakened
by an insufficient depth of files, and while thus
disordered the infantry charged them. In the same
charge the camp was captured and the war brought to
a close. Since the battle at Lake Regillus no more
brilliant action had been fought in those years. The
Dictator rode in triumph into the City. In addition
to the customary distinctions, a place was assigned
in the Circus Maximus to him and to his posterity,
from which to view the Games, and the sella curulis
was placed there. After the subjugation of the
Volscians, the territory of Velitrae was annexed and
a body of Roman citizens was sent out to colonise
it. Some time later, an engagement took place with
the Aequi. The consul was reluctant to fight as he
would have to attack on unfavourable ground, but his
soldiers forced him into action. They accused him of
protracting the war in order that the Dictator's
term of office might expire before they returned
home, in which case his promises would fall to the
ground, as those of the consul had previously done.
They compelled him to march his army up the mountain
at all hazards; but owing to the cowardice of the
enemy this unwise step resulted in success. They
were so astounded at the daring of the Romans that
before they came within range of their weapons they
abandoned their camp, which was in a very strong
position, and dashed down into the valley in the
rear. So the victors gained a bloodless victory and
ample spoil.
Whilst these three wars were thus brought to
a successful issue, the course which domestic
affairs were taking continued to be a source of
anxiety to both the patricians and the plebeians.
The money-lenders possessed such influence and had
taken such skilful precautions that they rendered
the commons and even the Dictator himself powerless.
After the consul Vetusius had returned, Valerius
introduced, as the very first business of the
senate, the treatment of the men who had been
marching to victory, and moved a resolution as to
what decision they ought to come to with regard to
the debtors. His motion was negatived, on which he
said, "I am not acceptable as an advocate of
concord. Depend upon it, you will very soon wish
that the Roman plebs had champions like me. As far
as I am concerned, I will no longer encourage my
fellow-citizens in vain hopes nor will I be Dictator
in vain. Internal dissensions and foreign wars have
made this office necessary to the commonwealth;
peace has now been secured abroad, at home it is
made impossible. I would rather be involved in the
revolution as a private citizen than as Dictator."
So saying, he left the House and resigned his
dictatorship. The reason was quite clear to the
plebs; he had resigned office because he was
indignant at the way they were treated. The
non-fulfilment of his pledge was not due to him,
they considered that he had practically kept his
word, and on his way home they followed him with
approving cheers.
2.32
The senate now began to
feel apprehensive lest on the disbandment of the
army there should be a recurrence of the secret
conclaves and conspiracies. Although the Dictator
had actually conducted the enrolment, the soldiers
had sworn obedience to the consuls. Regarding them
as still bound by their oath, the senate ordered the
legions to be marched out of the City on the pretext
that war had been recommenced by the Aequi. This
step brought the revolution to a head. It is said
that the first idea was to put the consuls to death
that the men might be discharged from their oath;
then, on learning that no religious obligation could
be dissolved by a crime, they decided, at the
instigation of a certain Sicinius, to ignore the
consuls and withdraw to the Sacred Mount, which lay
on the other side of the Anio, three miles from the
City. This is a more generally accepted tradition
than the one adopted by Piso that the secession was
made to the Aventine. There, without any commander
in a regularly entrenched camp, taking nothing with
them but the necessaries of life, they quietly
maintained themselves for some days, neither
receiving nor giving any provocation. A great panic
seized the City, mutual distrust led to a state of
universal suspense. Those plebeians who had been
left by their comrades in the City feared violence
from the patricians; the patricians feared the
plebeians who still remained in the City, and could
not make up their minds whether they would rather
have them go or stay. "How long," it was asked,
"would the multitude who had seceded remain quiet?
What would happen if a foreign war broke out in the
meantime?" They felt that all their hopes rested on
concord amongst the citizens, and that this must be
restored at any cost.
The senate decided, therefore, to send as
their spokesman Menenius Agrippa, an eloquent man,
and acceptable to the plebs as being himself of
plebeian origin. He was admitted into the camp, and
it is reported that he simply told them the
following fable in primitive and uncouth fashion.
"In the days when all the parts of the human body
were not as now agreeing together, but each member
took its own course and spoke its own speech, the
other members, indignant at seeing that everything
acquired by their care and labour and ministry went
to the belly, whilst it, undisturbed in the middle
of them all, did nothing but enjoy the pleasures
provided for it, entered into a conspiracy; the
hands were not to bring food to the mouth, the mouth
was not to accept it when offered, the teeth were
not to masticate it. Whilst, in their resentment,
they were anxious to coerce the belly by starving
it, the members themselves wasted away, and the
whole body was reduced to the last stage of
exhaustion. Then it became evident that the belly
rendered no idle service, and the nourishment it
received was no greater than that which it bestowed
by returning to all parts of the body this blood by
which we live and are strong, equally distributed
into the veins, after being matured by the digestion
of the food." By using this comparison, and showing
how the internal disaffection amongst the parts of
the body resembled the animosity of the plebeians
against the patricians, he succeeded in winning over
his audience.
2.33
Negotiations were then
entered upon for a reconciliation. An agreement was
arrived at, the terms being that the plebs should
have its own magistrates, whose persons were to be
inviolable, and who should have the right of
affording protection against the consuls. And
further, no patrician should be allowed to hold that
office. Two "tribunes of the plebs" were elected, C.
Licinius and L. Albinus. These chose three
colleagues. It is generally agreed that Sicinius,
the instigator of the secession, was amongst them,
but who the other two were is not settled. Some say
that only two tribunes were created on the Sacred
Hill and that it was there that the lex sacrata was
passed. During the secession of the plebs Sp.
Cassius and Postumius Cominius entered on their
consulship. In their year of office a treaty was
concluded with the Latin towns, and one of the
consuls remained in Rome for the purpose. The other
was sent to the Volscian war. He routed a force of
Volscians from Antium, and pursued them to Longula,
which he gained possession of. Then he advanced to
Polusca, also belonging to the Volscians, which he
captured, after which he attacked Corioli in great
force.
Amongst the most distinguished of the young
soldiers in the camp at that time was Cnaeus
Marcius, a young man prompt in counsel and action,
who afterwards received the epithet of Coriolanus.
During the progress of the siege, while the Roman
army was devoting its whole attention to the
townspeople whom it had shut up within their walls,
and not in the least apprehending any danger from
hostile movements without, it was suddenly attacked
by Volscian legions who had marched from Antium. At
the same moment a sortie was made from the town.
Marcius happened to be on guard, and with a picked
body of men not only repelled the sortie but made a
bold dash through the open gate, and after cutting
down many in the part of the city nearest to him,
seized some fire and hurled it on the buildings
which abutted on the walls. The shouts of the
townsmen mingled with the shrieks of the terrified
women and children encouraged the Romans and
dismayed the Volscians, who thought that the city
which they had come to assist was already captured.
So the troops from Antium were routed and Corioli
taken. The renown which Marcius won so completely
eclipsed that of the consul, that, had not the
treaty with the Latins -which owing to his
colleague's absence had been concluded by Sp.
Cassius alone -been inscribed on a brazen column,
and so permanently recorded, all memory of Postumius
Cominius having carried on a war with the Volscians
would have perished. In the same year Agrippa
Menenius died, a man who all through his life was
equally beloved by the patricians and the plebeians,
and made himself still more endeared to the
plebeians after their secession. Yet he, the
negotiator and arbitrator of the reconciliation, who
acted as the ambassador of the patricians to the
plebs, and brought them back to the City, did not
possess money enough to defray the cost of his
funeral. He was interred by the plebeians, each man
contributing a sextans towards the expense.
2.34
The new consuls were T.
Geganius and P. Minucius. In this year, whilst all
abroad was undisturbed by war and the civic
dissensions at home were healed, the commonwealth
was attacked by another much more serious evil:
first, dearness of food, owing to the fields
remaining uncultivated during the secession, and
following on this a famine such as visits a besieged
city. It would have led to the perishing of the
slaves in any case, and probably the plebeians would
have died, had not the consuls provided for the
emergency by sending men in various directions to
buy corn. They penetrated not only along the coast
to the right of Ostia into Etruria, but also along
the sea to the left past the Volscian country as far
as Cumae. Their search extended even as far as
Sicily; to such an extent did the hostility of their
neighbours compel them to seek distant help. When
corn had been bought at Cumae, the ships were
detained by the tyrant Aristodemus, in lieu of the
property of Tarquin, to whom he was heir. Amongst
the Volscians and in the Pomptine district it was
even impossible to purchase corn, the corn merchants
were in danger of being attacked by the population.
Some corn came from Etruria up the Tiber; this
served for the support of the plebeians. They would
have been harassed by a war, doubly unwelcome when
provisions were so scarce, if the Volscians, who
were already on the march, had not been attacked by
a frightful pestilence. This disaster cowed the
enemy so effectually that even when it had abated
its violence they remained to some extent in a state
of terror; the Romans increased the number of
colonists at Velitrae and sent a new colony to
Norba, up in the mountains, to serve as a stronghold
in the Pomptine district.
During the consulship of M. Minucius and A.
Sempronius, a large quantity of corn was brought
from Sicily, and the question was discussed in the
senate at what price it should be given to the
plebs. Many were of opinion that the moment had come
for putting pressure on the plebeians, and
recovering the rights which had been wrested from
the senate through the secession and the violence
which accompanied it. Foremost among these was
Marcius Coriolanus, a determined foe to the
tribunitian power. "If," he argued, "they want their
corn at the old price, let them restore to the
senate its old powers. Why, then, do I, after being
sent under the yoke, ransomed as it were from
brigands, see plebeian magistrates, why do I see a
Sicinius in power? Am I to endure these indignities
a moment longer than I can help? Am I, who could not
put up with a Tarquin as king, to put up with a
Sicinius? Let him secede now! let him call out his
plebeians, the way lies open to the Sacred Hill and
to other hills. Let them carry off the corn from our
fields as they did two years ago; let them enjoy the
scarcity which in their madness they have produced!
I will venture to say that after they have been
tamed by these sufferings, they will rather work as
labourers themselves in the fields than prevent
their being cultivated by an armed secession." It is
not so easy to say whether they ought to have done
this as it is to express one's belief that it could
have been done, and the senators might have made it
a condition of lowering the price of the corn that
they should abrogate the tribunitian power and all
the legal restrictions imposed upon them against
their will.
2.35
The senate considered
these sentiments too bitter, the plebeians in their
exasperation almost flew to arms. Famine, they said,
was being used as a weapon against them, as though
they were enemies; they were being cheated out of
food and sustenance; the foreign corn, which fortune
had unexpectedly given them as their sole means of
support, was to be snatched from their mouths unless
their tribunes were given up in chains to Cn.
Marcius, unless he could work his will on the backs
of the Roman plebeians. In him a new executioner had
sprung up, who ordered them either to die or live as
slaves. He would have been attacked on leaving the
Senate-house had not the tribunes most opportunely
fixed a day for his impeachment. This allayed the
excitement, every man saw himself a judge with the
power of life and death over his enemy. At first
Marcius treated the threats of the tribunes with
contempt; they had the right of protecting not of
punishing, they were the tribunes of the plebs not
of the patricians. But the anger of the plebeians
was so thoroughly roused that the patricians could
only save themselves by the punishment of one of
their order. They resisted, however, in spite of the
odium: they incurred, and exercised all the powers
they possessed both collectively and individually.
At first they attempted to thwart proceedings by
posting pickets of their clients to deter
individuals from frequenting meetings and conclaves.
Then they proceeded in a body -you might suppose
that every patrician was impeached -and implored
the plebeians, if they refused to acquit a man who
was innocent, at least to give up to them, as
guilty, one citizen, one senator. As he did not put
in an appearance on the day of trial, their
resentment remained unabated, and he was condemned
in his absence. He went into exile amongst the
Volscians, uttering threats against his country, and
even then entertaining hostile designs against it.
The Volscians welcomed his arrival, and he became
more popular as his resentment against his
countrymen became more bitter, and his complaints
and threats were more frequently heard. He enjoyed
the hospitality of Attius Tullius, who was by far
the most important man at that time amongst the
Volscians and a life-long enemy of the Romans.
Impelled each by similar motives, the one by
old-standing hatred, the other by newly-provoked
resentment, they formed joint plans for war with
Rome. They were under the impression that the people
could not easily be induced, after so many defeats,
to take up arms again, and that after their losses
in their numerous wars and recently through the
pestilence, their spirits were broken. The hostility
had now had time to die down; it was necessary,
therefore, to adopt some artifice by which fresh
irritation might be produced.
2.36
It so happened that
preparations were being made for a repetition of the
"Great Games." The reason for their repetition was
that early in the morning, prior to the commencement
of the Games, a householder after flogging his slave
had driven him through the middle of the Circus
Maximus. Then the Games commenced, as though the
incident had no religious significance. Not long
afterwards, Titus Latinius, a member of the plebs,
had a dream. Jupiter appeared to him and said that
the dancer who commenced the Games was displeasing
to him, adding that unless those Games were repeated
with due magnificence, disaster would overtake the
City, and he was to go and report this to the
consuls. Though he was by no means free from
religious scruples, still his fears gave way before
his awe of the magistrates, lest he should become an
object of public ridicule. This hesitation cost him
dear, for within a few days he lost his son. That he
might have no doubt as to the cause of this sudden
calamity, the same form again appeared to the
distressed father in his sleep, and demanded of him
whether he had been sufficiently repaid for his
neglect of the divine will, for a more terrible
recompense was impending if he did not speedily go
and inform the consuls. Though the matter was
becoming more urgent, he still delayed, and while
thus procrastinating he was attacked by a serious
illness in the form of sudden paralysis. Now the
divine wrath thoroughly alarmed him, and wearied out
by his past misfortune and the one from which he was
suffering he called his relations together and
explained what he had seen and heard, the repeated
appearance of Jupiter in his sleep, the threatening
wrath of heaven brought home to him by his
calamities. On the strong advice of all present he
was carried in a litter to the consuls in the Forum,
and from there by the consuls' order into the
Senate-house. After repeating the same story to the
senators, to the intense surprise of all, another
marvel occurred. The tradition runs that he who had
been carried into the Senate-house paralysed in
every limb, returned home, after performing his
duty, on his own feet.
2.37
The senate decreed that
the Games should be celebrated on the most splendid
scale. At the suggestion of Attius Tullius, a large
number of Volscians came to them. In accordance with
a previous arrangement with Marcius, Tullius came to
the consuls, before the proceedings commenced, and
said that there were certain matters touching the
State which he wished to discuss privately with
them. When all the bystanders had been removed, he
began: "It is with great reluctance that I say
anything to the disparagement of my people. I do not
come, however, to charge them with having actually
committed any offence, but to take precautions
against their committing one. The character of our
citizens is more fickle than I should wish; we have
experienced this in many defeats, for we owe our
present security not to our own deserts but to your
forbearance. Here at this moment are a great
multitude of Volscians, the Games are going on, the
whole City will be intent on the spectacle. I
remember what an outrage was committed by the young
Sabines on a similar occasion, I shudder lest any
ill-advised and reckless incident should occur. For
our sakes, and yours, consuls, I thought it right to
give you this warning. As far as I am concerned, it
is my intention to start at once for home, lest, if
I stay, I should be involved in some mischief either
of speech or act." With these words he departed.
These vague hints, uttered apparently on good
authority, were laid by the consuls before the
senate. As generally happens, the authority rather
than the facts of the case induced them to take even
excessive precautions. A decree was passed that the
Volscians should leave the City, criers were sent
round ordering them all to depart before nightfall.
Their first feeling was one of panic as they ran off
to their respective lodgings to take away their
effects, but when they had started a feeling of
indignation arose at their being driven away from
the Games, from a festival which was in a manner a
meeting of gods and men, as though they were under
the curse of heaven and unfit for human society.
2.38
As they were going along
in an almost continuous stream, Tullius, who had
gone on in advance, waited for them at the Ferentine
Fountain. Accosting their chief men as they came up
in tones of complaint and indignation, he led them,
eagerly listening to words which accorded with their
own angry feelings, and through them the multitude,
down to the plain which stretched below the road.
There he began a speech: "Even though you should
forget the wrongs that Rome has inflicted and the
defeats which the Volscian nation has suffered,
though you should forget everything else, with what
temper, I should like to know, do you brook this
insult of yesterday, when they commenced their Games
by treating us with ignominy? Have you not felt that
they have won a triumph over you to-day, that as you
departed you were a spectacle to the townsfolk, to
the strangers, to all those neighbouring
populations; that your wives, your children, were
paraded as a gazing-stock before men's eyes? What do
you suppose were the thoughts of those who heard the
voice of the criers, those who watched us depart,
those who met this ignominious cavalcade? What could
they have thought but that there was some awful
guilt cleaving to us, so that if we had been present
at the Games we should have profaned them and made
an expiation necessary, and that this was the reason
why we were driven away from the abodes of these
good and religious people and from all intercourse
and association with them? Does it not occur to you
that we owe our lives to the haste with which we
departed, if we may call it a departure and not a
flight? And do you count this City as anything else
than the City of your enemies, where, had you
lingered a single day, you would all have been put
to death? War has been declared against you -to the
great misery of those who have declared it, if you
are really men." So they dispersed to their homes,
with their feelings of resentment embittered by this
harangue. They so worked upon the feelings of their
fellow-countrymen, each in his own city, that the
whole Volscian nation revolted.
2.39
By the unanimous vote of
the states, the conduct of the war was entrusted to
Attius Tullius and Cn. Marcius, the Roman exile, on
whom their hopes chiefly rested. He fully justified
their expectations, so that it became quite evident
that the strength of Rome lay in her generals rather
than in her army. He first marched against Cerceii,
expelled the Roman colony and handed it over to the
Volscians as a free city. Then he took Satricum,
Longula, Polusca, and Corioli, towns which the
Romans had recently acquired. Marching across
country into the Latin road, he recovered Lavinium,
and then, in succession, Corbio, Vetellia, Trebium
Labici, and Pedum. Finally, he advanced from Pedum
against the City. He entrenched his camp at the
Cluilian Dykes, about five miles distant, and from
there he ravaged the Roman territory. The raiding
parties were accompanied by men whose business it
was to see that the lands of the patricians were not
touched; a measure due either to his rage being
especially directed against the plebeians, or to his
hope that dissensions might arise between them and
the patricians. These certainly would have arisen -to such a pitch were the tribunes exciting the plebs
by their attacks on the chief men of the State -had
not the fear of the enemy outside -the strongest
bond of union -brought men together in spite of
their mutual suspicions and aversion. On one point
they disagreed; the senate and the consuls placed
their hopes solely in arms, the plebeians preferred
anything to war. Sp. Nautius and Sex. Furius were
now consuls. Whilst they were reviewing the legions
and manning the walls and stationing troops m
various places, an enormous crowd gathered together.
At first they alarmed the consuls by seditious
shouts, and at last they compelled them to convene
the senate and submit a motion for sending
ambassadors to Cn. Marcius. As the courage of the
plebeians was evidently giving way, the senate
accepted the motion, and a deputation was sent to
Marcius with proposals for peace. They brought back
the stern reply: If the territory were restored to
the Volscians, the question of peace could be
discussed; but if they wished to enjoy the spoils of
war at their ease, he had not forgotten the wrongs
inflicted by his countrymen nor the kindness shown
by those who were now his hosts, and would strive to
make it clear that his spirit had been roused, not
broken, by his exile. The same envoys were sent on a
second mission, but were not admitted into the camp.
According to the tradition, the priests also in
their robes went as suppliants to the enemies' camp,
but they had no more influence with him than the
previous deputation.
2.40
Then the matrons went in
a body to Veturia, the mother of Coriolanus, and
Volumnia his wife. Whether this was in consequence
of a decree of the senate, or simply the prompting
of womanly fear, I am unable to ascertain, but at
all events they succeeded in inducing the aged
Veturia to go with Volumnia and her two little sons
to the enemies' camp. As men were powerless to
protect the City by their arms, the women sought to
do so by their tears and prayers. On their arrival
at the camp a message was sent to Coriolanus that a
large body of women were present. He had remained
unmoved by the majesty of the State in the persons
of its ambassadors, and by the appeal made to his
eyes and mind in the persons of its priests; he was
still more obdurate to the tears of the women. Then
one of his friends, who had recognised Veturia,
standing between her daughter-in-law and her
grandsons, and conspicuous amongst them all in the
greatness of her grief, said to him, "Unless my eyes
deceive me, your mother and wife and children are
here." Coriolanus, almost like one demented, sprung
from his seat to embrace his mother. She, changing
her tone from entreaty to anger, said, "Before I
admit your embrace suffer me to know whether it is
to an enemy or a son that I have come, whether it is
as your prisoner or as your mother that I am in your
camp. Has a long life and an unhappy old age brought
me to this, that I have to see you an exile and from
that an enemy? Had you the heart to ravage this
land, which has borne and nourished you? However
hostile and menacing the spirit in which you came,
did not your anger subside as you entered its
borders? Did you not say to yourself when your eye
rested on Rome, 'Within those walls are my home, my
household gods, my mother, my wife, my children?'
Must it then be that, had I remained childless, no
attack would have been made on Rome; had I never had
a son, I should have ended my days a free woman in a
free country? But there is nothing which I can
suffer now that will not bring more disgrace to you
than wretchedness to me; whatever unhappiness awaits
me it will not be for long. Look to these, whom, if
you persist in your present course, an untimely
death awaits, or a long life of bondage." When she
ceased, his wife and children embraced him, and all
the women wept and bewailed their own and their
country's fate. At last his resolution gave way. He
embraced his family and dismissed them, and moved
his camp away from the City. After withdrawing his
legions from the Roman territory, he is said to have
fallen a victim to the resentment which his action
aroused, but as to the time and circumstances of his
death the traditions vary. I find in Fabius, who is
by far the oldest authority, that he lived to be an
old man; he relates a saying of his, which he often
uttered in his later years, that it is not till a
man is old that he feels the full misery of exile.
The Roman husbands did not grudge their wives the
glory they had won, so completely were their lives
free from the spirit of detraction and envy. A
temple was built and dedicated to Fortuna Muliebris,
to serve as a memorial of their deed. Subsequently
the combined forces of the Volscians and Aequi
re-entered the Roman territory. The Aequi, however,
refused any longer to accept the generalship of
Attius Tullius, a quarrel arose as to which nation
should furnish the commander of the combined army,
and this resulted in a bloody battle. Here the good
fortune of Rome destroyed the two armies of her
enemies in a conflict no less ruinous than
obstinate. The new consuls were T. Sicinius and C.
Aquilius. To Sicinius was assigned the campaign
against the Volscians, to Aquilius that against the
Hernici, for they also were in arms. In that year
the Hernici were subjugated, the campaign against
the Volscians ended indecisively.
2.41
For the next year Sp.
Cassius and Proculus Verginius were elected consuls.
A treaty was concluded with the Hernici, two-thirds
of their territory was taken from them. Of this
Cassius intended to give half to the Latins and half
to the Roman plebs. He contemplated adding to this a
quantity of land which, he alleged, though State
land, was occupied by private individuals. This
alarmed many of the patricians, the actual
occupiers, as endangering, the security of their
property. On public grounds, too, they felt anxious,
as they considered that by this largess the consul
was building up a power dangerous to liberty. Then
for the first time an Agrarian Law was proposed, and
never, from that day to the times within our own
memory, has one been mooted without the most
tremendous commotions. The other consul resisted the
proposed grant. In this he was supported by the
senate, whilst the plebs was far from unanimous in
its favour. They were beginning to look askance at a
boon so cheap as to be shared between citizens and
allies, and they often heard the consul Verginius in
his public speeches predicting that his colleague's
gift was fraught with mischief, the land in question
would bring slavery on those who took it, the way
was being prepared for a throne. Why were the
allies, he asked, and the Latin league included?
What necessity was there for a third part of the
territory of the Hernici, so lately our foes, being
restored to them, unless it was that these nations
might have Cassius as their leader in place of
Coriolanus?' The opponent of the Agrarian Law began
to be popular. Then both consuls tried who could go
furthest in humouring the plebs. Verginius said that
he would consent to the assignment of the lands
provided they were assigned to none but: Roman
citizens. Cassius had courted popularity amongst the
allies by including them in the distribution and had
thereby sunk in the estimation of his
fellow-citizens. To recover their favour he gave
orders for the money which had been received for the
corn from Sicily to be refunded to the people. This
offer the plebeians treated with scorn as nothing
else than the price of a throne. Owing to their
innate suspicion that he was aiming at monarchy, his
gifts were rejected as completely as if they had
abundance of everything. It is generally asserted
that immediately upon his vacating office he was
condemned and put to death. Some assert that his own
father was the author of his punishment, that he
tried him privately at home, and after scourging him
put him to death and devoted his private property to
Ceres. From the proceeds a statue of her was made
with an inscription, "Given from the Cassian
family." I find in some authors a much more probable
account, viz., that he was arraigned by the
quaestors Caeso Fabius and L. Valerius before the
people and convicted of treason, and his house
ordered to be demolished. It stood on the open space
in front of the temple of Tellus. In any case,
whether the trial was a public or a private one, his
condemnation took place in the consulship of Servius
Cornelius and Q. Fabius.
2.42
The popular anger against
Cassius did not last long. The attractiveness of the
Agrarian Law, though its author was removed, was in
itself sufficient to make the plebeians desire it,
and their eagerness for it was intensified by the
unscrupulousness of the senate, who cheated the
soldiers out of their share of the spoil which they
had won that year from the Volscians and Aequi.
Everything taken from the enemy was sold by the
consul Fabius and the amount realised paid into the
treasury. In spite of the hatred which this produced
in the plebs against the whole Fabian house, the
patricians succeeded in getting Caeso Fabius elected
with L. Aemilius as consuls for the next year. This
still further embittered the plebeians, and domestic
disturbances brought on a foreign war. For the time
civic quarrels were suspended, patricians and
plebeians were of one mind in resisting the Aequi
and Volscians, and a victorious action was fought
under Aemilius. The enemy lost more in the retreat
than in the battle, so hotly did the cavalry pursue
their routed foe. In the same year the temple of
Castor was dedicated on the 15th of July. It had
been vowed by the Dictator Postumius in the Latin
war; his son was appointed "duumvir" for its
dedication. In this year, too, the minds of the
plebeians were much exercised by the attractions
which the Agrarian Law held out for them, and the
tribunes made their office more popular by
constantly dwelling on this popular measure. The
patricians, believing that there was enough and more
than enough madness in the multitude as it was,
viewed with horror these bribes and incentives to
recklessness. The consuls led the way in offering a
most determined resistance, and the senate won the
day. Nor was the victory only a momentary one, for
they elected as consuls for the following year M.
Fabius, the brother of Caeso, and L. Valerius, who
was an object of special hatred on the part of the
plebs through his prosecution of Sp. Cassius. The
contest with the tribunes went on through the year;
the Law remained a dead letter, and the tribunes,
with their fruitless promises, turned out to be idle
boasters. The Fabian house gained an immense
reputation through the three successive consulships
of its members, all of whom had been uniformly
successful in their resistance to the tribunes. The
office remained like a safe investment, for some
time in the family. War now began with Veii, and the
Volscians rose again. The people possessed more than
sufficient strength for their foreign wars, but they
wasted it in domestic strife. The universal anxiety
was aggravated by supernatural portents, menacing
almost daily City and country alike. The
soothsayers, who were consulted by the State and by
private persons, declared that the divine wrath was
due to nothing else but the profanation of sacred
functions. These alarms resulted in the punishment
of Oppia, a Vestal virgin who was convicted of
unchastity.
2.43
The next consuls were Q.
Fabius and C. Julius. During this year the civic
dissensions were as lively as ever, and the war
assumed a more serious form. The Aequi took up arms,
and the Veientines made depredations on Roman
territory. Amidst the growing anxiety about these
wars Caeso Fabius and Sp. Furius were made consuls.
The Aequi were attacking Ortona, a Latin city; the
Veientines, laden with plunder, were now threatening
to attack Rome itself. This alarming condition of
affairs ought to have restrained, whereas it
actually increased, the hostility of the plebs, and
they resumed the old method of refusing military
service. This was not spontaneous on their part; Sp.
Licinius, one of their tribunes, thinking that it
was a good time for forcing the Agrarian Law upon
the senate through sheer necessity, had taken upon
him the obstruction of the levy. All the odium,
however, aroused by this misuse of the tribunitian
power recoiled upon the author, his own colleagues
were as much opposed to him as the consuls; through
their assistance the consuls completed the
enrolment. An army was raised for two wars at the
same time, one against the Veientines under Fabius,
the other against the Aequi under Furius. In this
latter campaign nothing happened worth recording.
Fabius, however, had considerably more trouble with
his own men than with the enemy. He, the consul,
single-handed, sustained the commonwealth, while his
army through their hatred of the consul were doing
their best to betray it. For, besides all the other
instances of his skill as a commander, which he had
so abundantly furnished in his preparation for the
war and his conduct of it, he had so disposed his
troops that he routed the enemy by sending only his
cavalry against them. The infantry refused to take
up the pursuit; not only were they deaf to the
appeals of their hated general, but even the public
disgrace and infamy which they were bringing upon
themselves at the moment, and the danger which would
come if the enemy were to rally were powerless to
make them quicken their pace, or, failing that, even
to keep their formation. Against orders they
retired, and with gloomy looks -you would suppose
that they had been defeated -they returned to camp,
cursing now their commander, now the work which the
cavalry had done. Against this example of
demoralisation the general was unable to devise any
remedy; to such an extent may men of commanding
ability be more deficient in the art of managing
their own people than in that of conquering the
enemy. The consul returned to Rome, but he had not
enhanced his military reputation so much as he had
aggravated and embittered the hatred of his soldiers
towards him. The senate, however, succeeded in
keeping the consulship in the family of the Fabii;
they made M. Fabius consul, Gnaeus Manlius was
elected as his colleague.
2.44
This year also found a
tribune advocating the Agrarian Law. It was Tiberius
Pontificius. He adopted the same course as Sp.
Licinius and for a short time stopped the enrolment.
The senate were again perturbed, but Appius Claudius
told them that the power of the tribunes had been
overcome in the previous year, it was actually so at
the present moment, and the precedent thus set would
govern the future, since it had been discovered that
its very strength was breaking it down. For there
would never be wanting a tribune who would be glad
to triumph over his colleague and secure the favour
of the better party for the good of the State. If
more were needed, more were ready to come to the
assistance of the consuls, even one was sufficient,
against the rest. The consuls and leaders of the
senate had only to take the trouble to secure, if
not all, at least some of the tribunes on the side
of the commonwealth and the senate. The senators
followed this advice, and whilst, as a body, they
treated the tribunes with courtesy and kindness, the
men of consular rank, in each private suit which
they instituted, succeeded, partly by personal
influence, partly by the authority their rank gave
them. in getting the tribunes to exert their power
for the welfare of the State. Four of the tribunes
were opposed to the one who was a hindrance to the
public good; by their aid the consuls raised the
levy.
Then they set out for the campaign against
Veii. Succours had reached this city from all parts
of Etruria, not so much out of regard for the
Veientines as because hopes were entertained of the
possible dissolution of the Roman State through
intestine discord. In the public assemblies
throughout the cities of Etruria the chiefs were
loudly proclaiming that the Roman power would be
eternal unless its citizens fell into the madness of
mutual strife. This, they said, had proved to be the
one poison, the one bane in powerful states which
made great empires mortal. That mischief had been
for a long time checked, partly by the wise policy
of the senate, partly by the forbearance of the
plebs, but now things had reached extremities. The
one State had been severed into two, each with its
own magistrates and its own laws. At first the
enrolments were the cause of the quarrel, but when
actually on service the men obeyed their generals.
As long as military discipline was maintained the
evil could be arrested, whatever the state of
affairs in the City, but now the fashion of
disobedience to the magistrates was following the
Roman soldier even into the camp. During the last
war, in the battle itself, at the crisis of the
engagement, the victory was by the common action of
the whole army transferred to the vanquished Aequi,
the standards were abandoned, the commander left
alone on the field, the troops returned against
orders into camp. In fact, if matters were pressed,
Rome could be vanquished through her own soldiers,
nothing else was needful than a declaration of war,
a show of military activity, the Fates and the gods
would do the rest.
2.45
Anticipations like these
had given the Etruscans fresh energy after their
many vicissitudes of defeat and victory. The Roman
consuls, too, dreaded nothing but their own strength
and their own arms. The recollection of the fatal
precedent set in the last war deterred them from any
action whereby they would have to fear a
simultaneous attack from two armies. They confined
themselves to their camp, and in face of the double
danger avoided an engagement, hoping that time and
circumstances might perhaps calm the angry passions
and bring about a more healthy state of mind. The
Veientines and Etruscans were all the more energetic
in forcing an engagement; they rode up to the camp
and challenged the Romans to fight. At last, as they
produced no effect by the taunts and insults
levelled at the army and consuls alike, they
declared that the consuls were using the pretext of
internal dissensions to veil the cowardice of their
men, they distrusted their courage more than they
doubted their loyalty. Silence and inactivity
amongst men in arms was a novel kind of sedition.
They also made reflections, true as well as false,
on the upstart quality of their nationality and
descent. They shouted all this out close up to the
ramparts and gates of the camp. The consuls took it
with composure, but the simple soldiery were filled
with indignation and shame, and their thoughts were
diverted from their domestic troubles. They were
unwilling that the enemy should go on with impunity,
they were equally unwilling that the patricians and
the consuls should win the day, hatred against the
enemy and hatred against their fellow-countrymen
struggled in their minds for the mastery. At length
the former prevailed, so contemptuous and insolent
did the mockery of the enemy become. They gathered
in crowds round the generals' quarters, they
insisted upon fighting, they demanded the signal for
action. The consuls put their heads together as
though deliberating, and remained for some time in
conference. They were anxious to fight, but their
anxiety had to be repressed and concealed in order
that the eagerness of the soldiers, once roused,
might be intensified by opposition and delay. They
replied that matters were not ripe, the time for
battle had not come, they must remain within their
camp. They then issued an order that there must be
no fighting, any one fighting against orders would
be treated as an enemy. The soldiers, dismissed with
this reply, became the more eager for battle the
less they thought the consuls wished for it. The
enemy became much more exasperating when it was
known that the consuls had determined not to fight,
they imagined that they could now insult with
impunity, that the soldiers were not entrusted with
arms, matters would reach the stage of mutiny, and
the dominion of Rome had come to an end. In this
confidence they ran up to the gates, flung
opprobrious epithets and hardly stopped short of
storming the camp. Naturally the Romans could brook
these insults no longer, they ran from all parts of
the camp to the consuls, they did not now prefer
their demand quietly through the first centurions as
before, they shouted them in all directions. Matters
were ripe, still the consuls hung back. At last Cn.
Manlius, fearing lest the increasing disturbance
might lead to open mutiny, gave way, and Fabius,
after ordering the trumpets to command silence,
addressed his colleague thus: "I know, Cn. Manlius,
that these men can conquer; it is their own fault
that I did not know whether they wished to do so. It
has, therefore, been resolved and determined not to
give the signal for battle unless they swear that
they will come out of this battle victorious. A
Roman consul was once deceived by his soldiers, they
cannot deceive the gods." Amongst the centurions of
the first rank who had demanded to be led to battle
was M. Flavoleius. "M. Fabius," he said, "I will
come back from the battle victorious." He invoked
the wrath of Father Jupiter and Mars Gradivus and
other deities if he broke his oath. The whole army
took the oath, man by man, after him. When they had
sworn, the signal was given, they seized their
weapons, and went into action, furious with rage and
confident of victory. They told the Etruscans to
continue their insults, and begged the enemy so
ready with the tongue to stand up to them now they
were armed. All, patricians and plebeians alike,
showed conspicuous courage on that day, the Fabian
house especially covered itself with glory. They
determined in that battle to win back the affection
of the plebs, which had been alienated through many
political contests.
2.46
The battle-line was
formed; neither the Veientines nor the legions of
Etruria declined the contest. They were almost
certain that the Romans would no more fight with
them than they fought with the Aequi, and they did
not despair of something still more serious
happening, considering the state of irritation they
were in and the double opportunity which now
presented itself. Things took a very different
course, for in no previous war had the Romans gone
into action with more grim determination, so
exasperated were they by the insults of the enemy
and the procrastination of the consuls. The
Etruscans had scarcely time to form their ranks
when, after the javelins had in the first confusion
been flung at random rather than thrown regularly,
the combatants came to a hand-to-hand encounter with
swords, the most desperate kind of fighting. Amongst
the foremost were the Fabii, who set a splendid
example for their countrymen to behold. Quintus
Fabius -the one who had been consul two years
previously -charged, regardless of danger, the
massed Veientines, and whilst he was engaged with
vast numbers of the enemy, a Tuscan of vast strength
and splendidly armed plunged his sword into his
breast, and as he drew it out Fabius fell forward on
the wound. Both armies felt the fall of this one
man, and the Romans were beginning to give ground,
when M. Fabius, the consul, sprang over the body as
it lay, and holding up his buckler, shouted, "Is
this what you swore, soldiers, that you would go
back to camp as fugitives? Are you more afraid of
this cowardly foe than of Jupiter and Mars, by whom
you swore? I, who did not swear, will either go back
victorious, or will fall fighting by you, Quintus
Fabius." Then Caeso Fabius, the consul of the
previous year, said to the consul, "Is it by words
like these, my brother, that you think you will make
them fight? The gods, by whom they swore, will do
that; our duty as chiefs, if we are to be worthy of
the Fabian name, is to kindle our soldiers' courage
by fighting rather than haranguing." So the two
Fabii dashed forward with levelled spears, and
carried the whole line with them.
2.47
Whilst the battle was
restored in one direction, the consul Cn. Manlius
was showing no less energy on the other wing, where
the fortunes of the day took a similar turn. For,
like Q. Fabius on the other wing, the consul Manlius
was here driving the enemy before him and his
soldiers were following up with great vigour, when
he was seriously wounded and retired from the front.
Thinking that he was killed, they fell back, and
would have abandoned their ground had not the other
consul ridden up at full gallop with some troops of
cavalry, and, crying out that his colleague was
alive and that he had himself routed the other wing
of the enemy, succeeded in checking the retreat.
Manlius also showed himself amongst them, to rally
his men. The well-known voices of the two consuls
gave the soldiers fresh courage. At the same time
the enemies' line was now weakened, for, trusting to
their superiority in numbers, they had detached
their reserves and sent them to storm the camp.
These met with but slight resistance, and whilst
they were wasting time by thinking more about
plundering than about fighting, the Roman triarii,
who had been unable to withstand the first assault,
despatched messengers to the consul to tell him the
position of affairs, and then, retiring in close
order to the headquarters tent, renewed the fighting
without waiting for orders. The consul Manlius had
ridden back to the camp and posted troops at all the
gates to block the enemies' escape. The desperate
situation roused the Tuscans to madness rather than
courage; they rushed in every direction where there
seemed any hope of escape, and for some time their
efforts were fruitless.
At last a compact body of young soldiers made
an attack on the consul himself, conspicuous from
his arms. The first weapons were intercepted by
those who stood round him, but the violence of the
onset could not long be withstood. The consul fell
mortally wounded and all around him were scattered.
The Tuscans were encouraged, the Romans fled in
panic through the length of the camp, and matters
would have come to extremities had not the members
of the consul's staff hurriedly taken up his body
and opened a way for the enemy through one gate.
They burst through it, and in a confused mass fell
in with the other consul who had won the battle;
here they were again cut to pieces and scattered in
all directions. A glorious victory was won, though
saddened by the death of two illustrious men. The
senate decreed a triumph, but the consul replied
that if the army could celebrate a triumph without
its commander, he would gladly allow them to do so
in return for their splendid service in the war. But
as his family were in mourning for his brother,
Quintus Fabius, and the State had suffered partial
bereavement through the loss of one of its consuls,
he could not accept laurels for himself which were
blighted by public and private grief. The triumph he
declined was more brilliant than any actually
celebrated, so much does glory laid by for the
moment return sometimes with added splendour.
Afterwards he conducted the obsequies of his
colleague and his brother, and pronounced the
funeral oration over each. The greatest share of the
praise which he conceded to them rested upon
himself. He had not lost sight of the object which
he set before him at the beginning of his
consulship, the conciliation of the plebs. To
further this, he distributed amongst the patricians
the care of the wounded. The Fabii took charge of a
large number, and nowhere was greater care showed
them. From this time they began to be popular; their
popularity was won by no methods which were
inconsistent with the welfare of the State.
2.48
Consequently the election
of Caeso Fabius as consul, together with Titus
Verginius, was welcomed by the plebs as much as by
the patricians. Now that there was a favourable
prospect of concord, he subordinated all military
projects to the task of bringing the patricians and
the plebs into union at the earliest possible
moment. At the beginning of his year of office he
proposed that before any tribune came forward to
advocate the Agrarian Law, the senate should
anticipate him by themselves undertaking what was
their own work and distributing the territory taken
in war to the plebeians as fairly as possible. It
was only right that those should have it by whose
sweat and blood it had been won. The patricians
treated the proposal with scorn, some even
complained that the once energetic mind of Caeso was
becoming wanton and enfeebled through the excess of
glory which he had won. There were no party
struggles in the City. The Latins were being
harassed by the inroads of the Aequi. Caeso was
despatched thither with an army, and crossed over
into the territory of the Aequi to ravage it. The
Aequi withdrew into their towns and remained behind
their walls. No battle of any importance took place.
But the rashness of the other consul incurred a
defeat at the hands of the Veientines, and it was
only the arrival of Caeso Fabius with reinforcements
that saved the army from destruction. From that time
there was neither peace nor war with the Veientines,
whose methods closely resembled those of brigands.
They retired before the Roman legions into their
city; then when they found that they were withdrawn
they made inroads on the fields, evading war by
keeping quiet, and then making quiet impossible by
war. So the business could neither be dropped nor
completed. Wars were threatening in other quarters
also; some seemed imminent as in the case of the
Aequi and Volscians, who were only keeping quiet
till the effect of their recent defeat should pass
away, whilst it was evident that the Sabines,
perpetual enemies of Rome, and the whole of Etruria
would soon be in motion. But the Veientines, a
persistent rather than a formidable foe, created
more irritation than alarm because it was never safe
to neglect them or to turn the attention elsewhere.
Under these circumstances the Fabii came to the
senate, and the consul, on behalf of his house,
spoke as follows: "As you are aware, senators, the
Veientine war does not require a large force so much
as one constantly in the field. Let the other wars
be your care, leave the Fabii to deal with the
Veientines. We will guarantee that the majesty of
Rome shall be safe in that quarter. We propose to
carry on that war as a private war of our own at our
own cost. Let the State be spared money and men
there. "A very hearty vote of thanks was passed; the
consul left the House and returned home accompanied
by the Fabii, who had been standing in the vestibule
awaiting the senate's decision. After receiving
instructions to meet on the morrow, fully armed,
before the consul's house, they separated for their
homes.
2.49
News of what had happened
spread through the whole City, the Fabii were
praised up to the skies; people said, "One family
had taken up the burden of the State, the Veientine
war had become a private concern, a private quarrel.
If there were two houses of the same strength in the
City, and the one claimed the Volscians for
themselves, the other the Aequi, then all the
neighbouring states could be subjugated while Rome
itself remained in profound tranquillity." The next
day the Fabii took their arms and assembled at the
appointed place. The consul, wearing his
"paludamentum," went out into the vestibule and saw
the whole of his house drawn up in order of march.
Taking his place in the centre, he gave the word of
advance. Never has an army marched through the City
smaller in numbers or with a more brilliant
reputation or more universally admired. Three
hundred and six soldiers, all patricians, all
members of one house, not a single man of whom the
senate even in its palmiest days would deem unfitted
for high command, went forth, threatening ruin to
the Veientines through the strength of a single
family. They were followed by a crowd; made up
partly of their own relatives and friends, whose
minds were not occupied with ordinary hope and
anxiety, but filled with the loftiest anticipations;
partly of those who shared the public anxiety, and
could not find words to express their affection and
admiration. "Go on," they cried, "you gallant band,
go on, and may you be fortunate; bring back results
equal to this beginning, then look to us for
consulships and triumphs and every possible reward."
As they passed the Citadel and the Capitol and other
temples, their friends prayed to each deity, whose
statue or whose shrine they saw, that they would
send that band with all favourable omens to success,
and in a short time restore them safe to their
country and their kindred. In vain were those
prayers sent up! They proceeded on their ill-starred
way by the right postern of the Carmental gate, and
reached the banks of the Cremera. This seemed to
them a suitable position for a fortified post. L.
Aemilius and C. Servilius were the next consuls. As
long as it was only a question of forays and raids,
the Fabii were quite strong enough not only to
protect their own fortified post, but, by patrolling
both sides of the border-line between the Roman and
Tuscan territories, to make the whole district safe
for themselves and dangerous for the enemy. There
was a brief interruption to these raids, when the
Veientines, after summoning an army from Etruria,
assaulted the fortified post at the Cremera. The
Roman legions were brought up by the consul L.
Aemilius and fought a regular engagement with the
Etruscan troops. The Veientines, however, had not
time to complete their formation, and during the
confusion, whilst the men were getting into line and
the reserves were being stationed, a squadron of
Roman cavalry suddenly made a flank attack, and gave
them no chance of commencing a battle or even of
standing their ground. They were driven back to
their camp at the Saxa Rubra, and sued for peace.
They obtained it, but their natural inconstancy made
them regret it before the Roman garrison was
recalled from the Cremera.
2.50
The conflicts between the
Fabii and the State of Veii were resumed without any
more extensive military preparations than before.
There were not only forays into each other's
territories and surprise attacks upon the forayers,
but sometimes they fought regular engagements, and
this single Roman house often won the victory over
what was at that time the most powerful city in
Etruria. This was a bitter mortification to the
Veientines, and they were led by circumstances to
adopt the plan of trapping their daring enemy in an
ambuscade; they were even glad that the numerous
successes of the Fabii had increased their
confidence. Accordingly they drove herds of cattle,
as if by accident, in the way of the foraying
parties, the fields were abandoned by the peasants,
and the bodies of troops sent to repel the raiders
fled in a panic more often assumed than genuine. By
this time the Fabii had conceived such a contempt
for their foe as to be convinced that under no
circumstances of either time or place could their
invincible arms be resisted. This presumption
carried them so far that at the sight of some
distant cattle on the other side of the wide plain
stretching from the camp they ran down to secure
them, although but few of the enemy were visible.
Suspecting no danger and keeping no order they
passed the ambuscade which was set on each side of
the road, and whilst they were scattered in trying
to catch the cattle, which in their fright were
rushing wildly about, the enemy suddenly rose from
their concealment and attacked them on all sides. At
first they were startled by the shouts round them,
then javelins fell on them from every direction. As
the Etruscans closed round them, they were hemmed by
a continuous ring of men, and the more the enemy
pressed upon them, the less the space in which they
were forced to form their ever-narrowing square.
This brought out strongly the contrast between their
scanty numbers and the host of Etruscans, whose
ranks were multiplied through being narrowed. After
a time they abandoned their plan of presenting a
front on all sides; facing in one direction they
formed themselves into a wedge and by the utmost
exertion of sword and muscle forced a passage
through. The road led up to gentle eminence, and
here they halted. When the higher ground gave them
room to breathe freely and to recover from the
feeling of despair, they repelled those who mounted
to the attack, and through the advantage of position
the little band were beginning to win the day, when
some Veientines who had been sent round the hill
emerged on the summit. So the enemy again had the
advantage. The Fabii were all cut down to a man, and
their fort taken. It is generally agreed that three
hundred and six men perished, and that one only, an
immature youth, was left as a stock for the Fabian
house to be Rome's greatest helper in her hour of
danger both at home and in the field.
2.51
When this disaster
occurred, C. Horatius and T. Menenius were consuls.
Menenius was at once sent against the Tuscans,
flushed with their recent victory. Another
unsuccessful action was fought, and the enemy took
possession of the Janiculum. The City, which was
suffering from scarcity as well as from the war,
would have been invested -for the Etruscans had
crossed the Tiber -had not the consul Horatius been
recalled from the Volsci. The fighting approached so
near the walls that the first battle, an indecisive
one, took place near the temple of Spes, and the
second at the Colline gate. In the latter, although
the Romans gained only a slight advantage, the
soldiers recovered something of their old courage
and were better prepared for future campaigns. The
next consuls were A. Verginius and Sp. Servilius.
After their defeat in the last battle, the
Veientines declined an engagement. There were
forays. From the Janiculum as from a citadel they
made raids in all directions on the Roman territory;
nowhere were the cattle or the country-folk safe.
They were ultimately caught by the same stratagem by
which they had caught the Fabii. Some cattle were
purposely driven in different directions as a decoy;
they followed them and fell into an ambuscade; and
as their numbers were greater, the slaughter was
greater. Their rage at this defeat was the cause and
commencement of a more serious one. They crossed the
Tiber by night and marched up to an attack on
Servilius' camp, but were routed with great loss,
and with great difficulty reached the Janiculum. The
consul himself forthwith crossed the Tiber and
entrenched himself at the foot of the Janiculum. The
confidence inspired by his victory of the previous
day, but still more the scarcity of corn, made him
decide upon an immediate but precipitate move. He
led his army at daybreak up the side of the
Janiculum to the enemies' camp; but he met with a
more disastrous repulse than the one he had
inflicted the day before. It was only by the
intervention of his colleague that he and his army
were saved. The Etruscans, caught between the two
armies, and retreating from each alternately, were
annihilated. So the Veientine war was brought to a
sudden close by an act of happy rashness.
2.52
Together with peace, food
came more freely into the City. Corn was brought
from Campania, and as the fear of future scarcity
had disappeared, each individual brought out what he
had hoarded. The result of ease and plenty was fresh
restlessness, and as the old evils no longer existed
abroad, men began to look for them at home. The
tribunes began to poison the minds of the plebeians
with the Agrarian Law and inflamed them against the
senators who resisted it, not only against the whole
body, but individual members. Q. Considius and T.
Genucius, who were advocating the Law, appointed a
day for the trial of T. Menenius. Popular feeling
was roused against him by the loss of the fort at
the Cremera, since, as consul, he had his standing
camp not far from it. This crushed him, though the
senators exerted themselves for him no less than
they had done for Coriolanus, and the popularity of
his father Agrippa had not died away. The tribunes
contented themselves with a fine, though they had
arraigned him on a capital charge; the amount was
fixed at 2000 "ases." This proved to be a
death-sentence, for they say that he was unable to
endure the disgrace and grief, and was carried off
by a fatal malady. Sp. Servilius was the next to be
impeached. His prosecution, conducted by the
tribunes L. Caedicius and T. Statius, took place
immediately after his year had expired, at the
commencement of the consulship of C. Nautius and P.
Valerius. When the day of trial came, he did not,
like Menenius, meet the attacks of the tribunes by
appeals for mercy, whether his own or those of the
senators, he relied absolutely on his innocence and
personal influence. The charge against him was his
conduct in the battle with the Tuscans on the
Janiculum; but the same courage which he then
displayed, when the State was in danger, he now
displayed when his own life was in danger. Meeting
charge by counter-charge, he boldly laid upon the
tribunes and the whole of the plebs the guilt of the
condemnation and death of T. Menenius; the son, he
reminded them, of the man through whose efforts the
plebeians had been restored to their position in the
State, and were enjoying those very magistracies and
laws which now allowed them to be cruel and
vindictive. By his boldness he dispelled the danger,
and his colleague Verginius, who came forward as a
witness, assisted him by crediting him with some of
his own services to the State. The thing that helped
him more, however, was the sentence passed on
Menenius, so completely had the popular sentiment
changed.
2.53
The domestic conflicts
came to an end; war began again with the Veientines,
with whom the Sabines had formed an armed league.
The Latin and Hernican auxiliaries were summoned,
and the consul P. Valerius was sent with an army to
Veii. He at once attacked the Sabine camp, which was
situated in front of the walls of their allies, and
created such confusion that while small bodies of
the defenders were making sorties in various
directions to repel the attack, the gate against
which the assault had been first made was forced,
and once inside the rampart it became a massacre
rather than a battle. The noise in the camp
penetrated even to the city, and the Veientines flew
to arms, in a state of as great alarm as if Veii
itself was taken. Some went to the help of the
Sabines, others attacked the Romans, who were wholly
occupied with their assault on the camp. For a few
moments they were checked and thrown into confusion;
then, forming front in both directions, they offered
a steady resistance while the cavalry whom the
consul had ordered to charge routed the Tuscans and
put them to flight. In the same hour, two armies,
the two most powerful of the neighbouring states,
were overcome. Whilst this was going on at Veii, the
Volscians and Aequi had encamped in the Latin
territory and were ravaging their borders. The
Latins, in conjunction with the Hernici, drove them
out of their camp without either a Roman general or
Roman troops. They recovered their own property and
obtained immense booty in addition. Nevertheless,
the consul C. Nautius was sent from Rome against the
Volscians. They did not approve, I think, of the
custom of allies carrying on war in their own
strength and on their own methods, without any Roman
general or army. There was no kind of injury or
insult that was not practiced against the Volscians;
they could not, however, be driven to fight a
regular battle.
2.54
L. Furius and C. Manlius
were the next consuls. The Veientines fell to
Manlius as his province. There was no war, however;
a forty years' truce was granted on their request;
they were ordered to furnish corn and pay for the
troops. Peace abroad was at once followed by discord
at home. The tribunes employed the Agrarian Law to
goad the plebs into a state of dangerous excitement.
The consuls, nowise intimidated by the condemnation
of Menenius or the danger in which Servilius had
stood, resisted them with the utmost violence. On
their vacating office the tribune Genucius impeached
them. They were succeeded by L. Aemilius and Opiter
Verginius. I find in some annals Vopiscus Julius
instead of Verginius. Whoever the consuls were, it
was in this year that Furius and Manlius, who were
to be tried before the people, went about in
mourning garb amongst the younger members of the
senate quite as much as amongst the plebs. They
urged them to keep clear of the high offices of
State and the administration of affairs, and to
regard the consular "fasces," the "praetexta," and
the curule chair as nothing but the pomp of death,
for when invested with these insignia they were like
victims adorned for sacrifice. If the consulship
possessed such attractions for them, they must
clearly understand that this office had been
captured and crushed by the tribunician power; the
consul had to do everything at the beck and call of
the tribune just as if he were his apparitor. If he
took an active line, if he showed any regard for the
patricians, if he thought that anything besides the
plebs formed part of the commonwealth, he should
keep before his eyes the banishment of Cn. Marcius,
the condemnation and death of Menenius. Fired by
these appeals the senators held meetings not in the
Senate-house but in private, only a few being
invited. As the one point on which they were agreed
was that the two who were impeached were to be
rescued, by lawful or unlawful means, the most
desperate plan was the most acceptable, and men were
found who advocated the most daring crime.
Accordingly, on the day of the trial, whilst the
plebs were standing in the Forum on the tiptoe of
expectation, they were surprised that the tribune
did not come down to them. Further delay made them
suspicious; they believed that he had been
intimidated by the leaders of the senate, and they
complained that the cause of the people had been
abandoned and betrayed. At last some who had been
waiting in the vestibule of the tribune's house sent
word that he had been found dead in his house. As
this news spread throughout the assembly, they at
once dispersed in all directions, like a routed army
that has lost its general. The tribunes especially
were alarmed, for they were warned by their
colleague's death how absolutely ineffective the
Sacred Laws were for their protection. The
patricians, on the other hand, showed extravagant
delight; so far was any one of them from regretting
the crime, that even those who had taken no part in
it were anxious to appear as though they had, and it
was openly asserted that the tribunitian power must
be chastised into submission.
2.55
Whilst the impression
produced by this frightful instance of triumphant
crime was still fresh, orders were issued for a
levy, and as the tribunes were thoroughly
intimidated, the consuls carried it out without any
interruption from them. But now the plebeians were
more angry at the silence of the tribunes than at
the exercise of authority on the part of the
consuls. They said that it was all over with their
liberty, they had gone back to the old state of
things, the tribunitian power was dead and buried
with Genucius. Some other method must be thought out
and adopted by which they could resist the
patricians, and the only possible course was for the
commons to defend themselves, as they had no other
help. Four-and-twenty lictors attended on the
consuls, and these very men were drawn from the
plebs. Nothing was more contemptible and feeble than
they were, if there were any that would treat them
with contempt, but every one imagined them to be
great and awful things. After they had excited one
another by these speeches, Volero Publilius, a
plebeian, said that he ought not to be made a common
soldier after serving as a centurion. The consuls
sent a lictor to him. Volero appealed to the
tribunes. None came to his assistance, so the
consuls ordered him to be stripped and the rods got
ready. "I appeal to the people," he said, "since the
tribunes would rather see a Roman citizen scourged
before their eyes than be murdered in their beds by
you." The more excitedly he called out, the more
violently did the lictor tear off his toga, to strip
him. Then Volero, himself a man of unusual strength,
and helped by those to whom he called, drove the
lictor off, and amidst the indignant remonstrances
of his supporters, retreated into the thickest part
of the crowd, crying out, "I appeal to the plebs for
protection. Help, fellow-citizens! help,
fellow-soldiers! You have nothing to expect from the
tribunes; they themselves need your aid." The men,
greatly excited, got ready as if for battle, and a
most critical struggle was evidently impending,
where no one would show the slightest respect for
either public or private rights. The consuls tried
to check the fury of the storm, but they soon found
that there is little safety for authority without
strength. The lictors were mobbed, the fasces
broken, and the consuls driven from the Forum into
the Senate-house, uncertain how far Volero would
push his victory. As the tumult was subsiding they
ordered the senate to be convened, and when it was
assembled they complained of the outrage done to
them, the violence of the plebeians, the audacious
insolence of Volero. After many violent speeches had
been made, the opinion of the older senators
prevailed; they disapproved of the intemperance of
the plebs being met by angry resentment on the part
of the patricians.
2.56
Volero was now in high
favour with the plebs, and they made him a tribune
at the next election. Lucius Pinarius and P. Furius
were the consuls for that year. Everybody supposed
that Volero would use all the power of his
tribuneship to harass the consuls of the preceding
year. On the contrary, he subordinated his private
grievances to the interests of the State, and
without uttering a single word which could reflect
on the consuls, he proposed to the people a measure
providing that the magistrates of the plebs should
be elected by the Assembly of the Tribes. At first
sight this measure appeared to be of a very harmless
description, but it would deprive the patricians of
all power of electing through their clients' votes
those whom they wanted as tribunes. It was most
welcome to the plebeians, but the patricians
resisted it to the utmost. They were unable to
secure the one effectual means of resistance,
namely, inducing one of the tribunes, through the
influence of the consuls or the leading patricians,
to interpose his veto. The weight and importance of
the question led to protracted controversy
throughout the year. The plebs re-elected Volero.
The patricians, feeling that the question was
rapidly approaching a crisis, appointed Appius
Claudius, the son of Appius, who, ever since his
father's contests with them, had been hated by them
and cordially hated them in return. From the very
commencement of the year the Law took precedence of
all other matters. Volero had been the first to
bring it forward, but his colleague, Laetorius,
though a later, was a still more energetic supporter
of it. He had won an immense reputation in war, for
no man was a better fighter, and this made him a
stronger opponent. Volero in his speeches confined
himself strictly to discussing the Law and abstained
from all abuse of the consuls. But Laetorius began
by accusing Appius and his family of tyranny and
cruelty towards the plebs; he said it was not a
consul who had been elected, but an executioner, to
harass and torture the plebeians. The untrained
tongue of the soldier was unable to express the
freedom of his sentiments; as words failed him, he
said, "I cannot speak so easily as I can prove the
truth of what I have said; come here tomorrow, I
will either perish before your eyes or carry the
Law."
Next day the tribunes took their places on
the "templum," the consuls and the nobility stood
about in the Assembly to prevent the passage of the
Law. Laetorius gave orders for all, except actual
voters, to withdraw. The young patricians kept their
places and paid no attention to the tribune's
officer, whereupon Laetorius ordered some of them to
be arrested. Appius insisted that the tribunes had
no jurisdiction over any but plebeians, they were
not magistrates of the whole people, but only of the
plebs; even he himself could not, according to the
usage of their ancestors, remove any man by virtue
of his authority, for the formula ran, "If it seems
good to you, Quirites, depart! "By making
contemptuous remarks about his jurisdiction, he was
easily able to disconcert Laetorius. The tribune, in
a burning rage, sent his officer to the consul, the
consul sent a lictor to the tribune, exclaiming that
he was a private citizen without any magisterial
authority. The tribune would have been treated with
indignity had not the whole Assembly risen angrily
to defend the tribune against the consul, whilst
people rushed from all parts of the City in excited
crowds to the Forum. Appius braved the storm with
inflexible determination, and the conflict would
have ended in bloodshed had not the other consul,
Quinctius, entrusted the consulars with the duty of
removing, by force if necessary, his colleague from
the Forum. He entreated the furious plebeians to be
calm, and implored the tribunes to dismiss the
Assembly; they should give their passions time to
cool, delay would not deprive them of their power,
but would add prudence to their strength; the senate
would submit to the authority of the people, and the
consuls to that of the senate.
2.57
With difficulty Quinctius
succeeded in quieting the plebeians; the senators
had much greater difficulty in pacifying Appius. At
length the Assembly was dismissed and the consuls
held a meeting of the senate. Very divergent
opinions were expressed according as the emotions of
fear or anger predominated, but the longer the
interval during which they were called away from
impulsive action to calm deliberation, the more
averse did they become to a prolongation of the
conflict; so much so, indeed, that they passed a
vote of thanks to Quinctius for having through his
exertions allayed the disturbance. Appius was called
upon to consent to the consular authority being so
far limited as to be compatible with a harmonious
commonwealth. It was urged that whilst the tribunes
and the consuls each tried to bring everything under
their respective authority, there was no basis for
common action; the State was torn in two, and the
one thing aimed at was, who should be its rulers,
not how could its security be preserved. Appius, on
the other hand, called gods and men to witness that
the State was being betrayed and abandoned through
fear; it was not the consul who was failing the
senate, the senate was failing the consul; worse
conditions were being submitted to than those which
had been accepted on the Sacred Hill. However, he
was overborne by the unanimous feeling of the senate
and became quiet. The Law was passed in silence.
Then for the first time the tribunes were elected by
the Assembly of the Tribes. According to Piso three
were added, as though there had only been two
before. He gives their names as Cn. Siccius, L.
Numitorius, M. Duellius, Sp. Icilius, and L.
Mecilius.
2.58
During the disturbances
in Rome, the war with the Volscians and Aequi broke
out afresh. They had laid waste the fields, in order
that if there were a secession of the plebs they
might find refuge with them. When quiet had been
restored they moved their camp further away. Appius
Claudius was sent against the Volscians, the Aequi
were left for Quinctius to deal with. Appius
displayed the same savage temper in the field that
he had shown at home, only it was more unrestrained
because he was not now fettered by the tribunes. He
hated the commons with a more intense hatred than
his father had felt, for they had got the better of
him and had carried their Law though he had been
elected consul as being the one man who could thwart
the tribunitian power -a Law, too, which former
consuls, from whom the senate expected less than
from him, had obstructed with less trouble. Anger
and indignation at all this goaded his imperious
nature into harassing his army by ruthless
discipline. No violent measures, however, could
subdue them, such was the spirit of opposition with
which they were filled. They did everything in a
perfunctory, leisurely, careless, defiant way; no
feeling of shame or fear restrained them. If he
wished the column to move more quickly they
deliberately marched more slowly, if he came up to
urge them on in their work they all relaxed the
energy they had been previously exerting of their
own accord; in his presence they cast their eyes
down to the ground, when he passed by they silently
cursed him, so that the courage which had not
quailed before the hatred of the plebs was sometimes
shaken. After vainly employing harsh measures of
every kind, he abstained from any further
intercourse with his soldiers, said that the army
had been corrupted by the centurions, and sometimes
called them, in jeering tones, tribunes of the
plebs, and Voleros.
2.59
None of this escaped the
notice of the Veientines, and they pressed on more
vigorously in the hope that the Roman army would
show the same spirit of disaffection towards Appius
which it had shown towards Fabius. But it was much
more violent towards Appius than it had been towards
Fabius, for the soldiers not only refused to
conquer, like the army of Fabius, but they wished to
be conquered. When led into action they broke into a
disgraceful flight and made for their camp, and
offered no resistance till they saw the Volscians
actually attacking their entrenchments and doing
frightful execution in their rear. Then they were
compelled to fight, in order that the victorious
enemy might be dislodged from their rampart; it was,
however, quite evident that the Roman soldiers only
fought to prevent the capture of the camp; otherwise
they rejoiced in their ignominious defeat. Appius'
determination was in no way weakened by this, but
when he was meditating more severe measures and
ordering an assembly of his troops, the officers of
his staff and the military tribunes gathered round
him and warned him on no account to try how far he
could stretch his authority, for its force wholly
depended upon the free consent of those who obeyed
it. They said that the soldiers as a body refused to
come to the assembly, and demands were heard on all
sides for the camp to be removed from the Volscian
territory; only a short time before the victorious
enemy had all but forced his way into the camp.
There were not only suspicions of a serious mutiny,
the evidence was before their eyes.
Appius yielded at last to their
remonstrances. He knew that they would gain nothing
but a delay of punishment, and consented to forego
the assembly. Orders were issued for an advance on
the morrow, and the trumpet gave the signal for
starting at dawn. When the army had got clear of the
camp and was forming in marching order, the
Volscians, aroused, apparently, by the same signal,
fell upon the rear. The confusion thus created
extended to the leading ranks, and set up such a
panic in the whole army that it was impossible for
either orders to be heard or a fighting line to be
formed. No one thought of anything but flight. They
made their way over heaps of bodies and arms in such
wild haste that the enemy gave up the pursuit before
the Romans abandoned their flight. At last, after
the consul had vainly endeavoured to follow up and
rally his men, the scattered troops were gradually
got together again, and he fixed his camp on
territory undisturbed by war. He called up the men
for an assembly, and after inveighing, with perfect
justice, against an army which had been false to
military discipline and had deserted its standards,
he asked them individually where the standards were,
where their arms were. The soldiers who had thrown
away their arms, the standard-bearers who had lost
their standards, and in addition to these the
centurions and duplicarii who had deserted their
ranks, he ordered to be scourged and beheaded. Of
the rank and file every tenth man was drawn by lot
for punishment.
2.60
Just the opposite state
of things prevailed in the army campaigning amongst
the Aequi, where the consul and his soldiers vied
with each other in acts of kindness and comradeship.
Quinctius was naturally milder, and the unfortunate
severity of his colleague made him all the more
inclined to follow the bent of his gentle
disposition. The Aequi did not venture to meet an
army where such harmony prevailed between the
general and his men, and they allowed their enemy to
ravage their territory in all directions. In no
previous war had plunder been gathered from a wider
area. The whole of it was given to the soldiers, and
with it those words of praise which, no less than
material rewards, delight the soldier's heart. The
army returned home on better terms with their
general, and through him with the patricians; they
said that whilst the senate had given them a father
it had given the other army a tyrant. The year,
which had been passed in varying fortunes of war and
furious dissensions both at home and abroad, was
chiefly memorable for the Assembly of Tribes, which
were important rather for the victory won in a
prolonged contest than for any real advantage
gained. For through the withdrawal of the patricians
from their council the Assembly lost more in dignity
than either the plebs gained, or the patricians
lost, in strength.
2.61
L. Valerius and T.
Aemilius were consuls for the next year, which was a
still stormier one, owing, in the first place to the
struggle between the two orders over the Agrarian
Law, and secondly to the prosecution of Appius
Claudius. He was impeached by the tribunes, M.
Duellius and Cn. Siccius, on the ground of his
determined opposition to the Law, and also because
he defended the cause of the occupiers of the public
land, as if he were a third consul. Never before had
any one been brought to trial before the people whom
the plebs so thoroughly detested, both on his own
and his father's account. For hardly any one had the
patricians exerted themselves more than for him whom
they regarded as the champion of the senate and the
vindicator of its authority, the stout bulwark
against disturbances of tribunes or plebs, and now
saw exposed to the rage of the plebeians simply for
having gone too far in the struggle. Appius Claudius
himself, alone of all the patricians, looked upon
the tribunes, the plebs, and his own trial as of no
account. Neither the threats of the plebeians nor
the entreaties of the senate could induce him -I
will not say to change his attire and accost men as
a suppliant, but -even to soften and subdue to some
extent his wonted asperity of language when he had
to make his defence before the people. There was the
same expression, the same defiant look, the same
proud tones of speech, so that a large number of the
plebeians were no less afraid of Appius on his trial
than they had been when he was consul. He only spoke
in his defence once, but in the same aggressive tone
that he always adopted, and his firmness so
dumbfounded the tribunes and the plebs, that they
adjourned the case of their own accord, and then
allowed it to drag on. There was not a very long
interval, however. Before the date of the adjourned
trial arrived he was carried off by illness. The
tribunes tried to prevent any funeral oration being
pronounced over him, but the plebeians would not
allow the obsequies of so great a man to be robbed
of the customary honours. They listened to the
panegyric of the dead as attentively as they had
listened to the indictment of the living, and vast
crowds followed him to the tomb.
2.62
In the same year the
consul Valerius advanced with an army against the
Aequi, but failing to draw the enemy into an
engagement he commenced an attack on their camp. A
terrible storm, sent down from heaven, of thunder
and hail prevented him from continuing the attack.
The surprise was heightened when, after the retreat
had been sounded, calm and bright weather returned.
He felt that it would be an act of impiety to attack
a second time a camp defended by some divine power.
His warlike energies were turned to the devastation
of the country. The other consul, Aemilius,
conducted a campaign amongst the Sabines. There,
too, as the enemy kept behind their walls, their
fields were laid waste. The burning not only of
scattered homesteads but also of villages with
numerous populations roused the Sabines to action.
They met the depredators, an indecisive action was
fought, after which they moved their camp into a
safer locality. The consul thought this a sufficient
reason for leaving the enemy as though defeated, and
coming away without finishing the war.
2.63
T. Numicius Priscus and
A. Verginius were the new consuls. The domestic
disturbance continued through these wars, and the
plebeians were evidently not going to tolerate any
further delay with regard to the Agrarian Law, and
were preparing for extreme measures, when the smoke
of burning farms and the flight of the country folk
announced the approach of the Volscians. This
checked the revolution which was now ripe and on the
point of breaking out. The senate was hastily
summoned, and the consuls led the men liable for
active service out to the war, thereby making the
rest of the plebs more peaceably disposed. The enemy
retired precipitately, having effected nothing
beyond filling the Romans with groundless fears.
Numicius advanced against the Volscians to Antium,
Verginius against the Aequi. Here he was ambushed
and narrowly escaped a serious defeat; the valour of
the soldiers restored the fortunes of the day, which
the consul's negligence had imperilled. More skilful
generalship was shown against the Volscians; the
enemy were routed in the first engagement and driven
in flight to Antium, which was, for those days, a
very wealthy city. The consul did not venture to
attack it, but he took Caeno from the Antiates, not
by any means so wealthy a place. Whilst the Aequi
and Volscians were keeping the Roman armies engaged,
the Sabines extended their ravages up to the gates
of the City. In a few days the consuls invaded their
territory, and, attacked fiercely by both armies,
they suffered heavier losses than they had
inflicted.
2.64
Towards the close of the
year there was a short interval of peace, but, as
usual, it was marred by the struggle between the
patricians and the plebeians. The plebs, in their
exasperation, refused to take any part in the
election of consuls; T. Quinctius and Q. Servilius
were elected consuls by the patricians and their
clients. They had a year similar to the previous
one: agitation during the first part, then the
calming of this by foreign war. The Sabines
hurriedly traversed the plains of Crustumerium, and
carried fire and sword into the district watered by
the Anio, but were repulsed when almost close to the
Colline gate and the walls of the City. They
succeeded, however, in carrying off immense spoil
both in men and cattle. The consul Servilius
followed them up with an army bent on revenge, and
though unable to come up with their main body in the
open country, he carried on his ravages on such an
extensive scale that he left no part unmolested by
war, and returned with spoil many times greater than
that of the enemy. Amongst the Volscians also the
cause of Rome was splendidly upheld by the exertions
of general and soldiers alike. To begin with, they
met on level ground and a pitched battle was fought
with immense losses on both sides in killed and
wounded. The Romans, whose paucity of numbers made
them more sensible of their loss, would have
retreated had not the consul called out that the
enemy on the other wing were in flight, and by this
well-timed falsehood roused the army to fresh
effort. They made a charge and converted a supposed
victory into a real one. The consul, fearing lest by
pressing the attack too far he might force a renewal
of the combat, gave the signal for retiring. For the
next few days both sides kept quiet, as though there
were a tacit understanding. During this interval, an
immense body of men from all the Volscian and
Aequian cities came into camp, fully expecting that
when the Romans heard of their arrival they would
make a nocturnal retreat. Accordingly, about the
third watch they moved out to attack the camp. After
allaying the confusion caused by the sudden alarm,
Quinctius ordered the soldiers to remain quietly in
their quarters, marched out a cohort of Hernicans to
the outposts, mounted the buglers and trumpeters on
horseback, and ordered them to sound their calls and
keep the enemy on the alert till dawn. For the
remainder of the night all was so quiet in the camp
that the Romans even enjoyed ample sleep. The sight
of the armed infantry whom the Volscians took to be
Romans and more numerous than they really were, the
noise and neighing of the horses, restless under
their inexperienced riders and excited by the sound
of the trumpets, kept the enemy in constant
apprehension of an attack.
2.65
At daybreak the Romans,
fresh from their undisturbed sleep, were led into
action, and at the first charge broke the Volscians,
worn out as they were with standing and want of
sleep. It was, however, a retreat rather than a
rout, for in their rear there were hills to which
all behind the front ranks safely retired. When they
reached the rising ground, the consul halted his
army. The soldiers were with difficulty restrained,
they clamoured to be allowed to follow up the beaten
foe. The cavalry were much more insistent, they
crowded round the general and loudly declared that
they would go on in advance of the infantry. While
the consul, sure of the courage of his men, but not
reassured as to the nature of the ground, was still
hesitating, they shouted that they would go on, and
followed up their shouts by making an advance.
Fixing their spears in the ground that they might be
more lightly equipped for the ascent, they went up
at a run. The Volscians hurled their javelins at the
first onset, and then flung the stones lying at
their feet upon the enemy as they came up. Many were
hit, and through the disorder thus created they were
forced back from the higher ground. In this way the
Roman left wing was nearly overwhelmed, but through
the reproaches which the consul cast upon his
retreating men for their rashness as well as their
cowardice, he made their fear give way to the sense
of shame. At first they stood and offered a firm
resistance, then when by holding their ground they
had recovered their energies they ventured upon an
advance. With a renewed shout the whole line went
forward, and pressing on in a second charge they
surmounted the difficulties of the ascent, and were
just on the point of reaching the summit when the
enemy turned and fled. With a wild rush, pursuers
and fugitives almost in one mass dashed into the
camp, which was taken. Those of the Volscians who
succeeded in escaping made for Antium; thither the
Roman army was led. After a few days' investment the
place was surrendered, not owing to any unusual
efforts on the part of the besiegers, but simply
because after the unsuccessful battle and the loss
of their camp the enemy had lost heart.
End of Book 2