41.28
Towards the close of the year there were
thanksgivings for one day for the successes gained in Spain under the
auspices and generalship of Appius Claudius, and twenty of the larger
victims were offered in sacrifice. The next day special intercessions were
offered up at the temples of Ceres, Liber and Libera, owing to a report
which had come in of a violent earthquake in the Sabine country which had
laid many buildings in ruins. On Appius Claudius' return from Spain the
senate decreed that he should enter the City in ovation. The consular
elections were now approaching and there was keen competition owing to
the large number of candidates. L. Postumius Albinus and M. Popilius
Laenas were elected. The new praetors were N. Fabius Buteo, M. Matienus,
C. Cicereius, M. Furius Crassipes for the second time, A. Atilius Serranus
for the second time, and C. Cluvius Saxula also for the second time. When
the elections were over, Ap. Claudius celebrated his triumph over the
Celtiberi by entering the City in ovation, and he brought into the treasury
10,000 pounds of silver and 5000 pounds of gold. Cnaeus Cornelius was
inaugurated as Flamen Dialis.
During the year a tablet was placed in the temple of Mater Matuta
with this inscription: "Under the auspices and command of the consul
Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, the legions of the army of Rome have
subjugated Sardinia. In that province there have been 80,000 natives either
killed or made prisoners. He was most happy in his administrations; he
liberated the allies of Rome; he restored the revenues and brought his army
safely home laden with enormous booty. For the second time he entered
Rome in triumph. Because of this he has given this tablet as an offering to
Jove." There was a representation of the island and pictures of the battles on
the tablet. Several gladiatorial exhibitions were given this year, most of them
on a small scale; the one given by T. Flamininus far surpassed the rest. On
the occasion of his father's death he exhibited this spectacle for four days,
and accompanied it with a distribution of meat, a funeral feast, and scenic
plays. But even in this magnificent exhibition the total number of men who
fought was only seventy-four.
End of Book 41
