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.
