4.52
This year which, owing to
the moderation of the tribunes, had been free from
disturbances, was followed by one in which L.
Icilius was tribune, the consuls being Q. Fabius
Ambustus and C. Furius Pacilus. At the very
beginning of the year he took up the work of
agitation, as though it were the allotted task of
his name and family, and announced proposals for
dealing with the land question. Owing to the
outbreak of a pestilence which, however, created
more alarm than mortality, the thoughts of men were
diverted from the political struggles of the Forum
to their homes and the necessity of nursing the
sick. The pestilence was regarded as less baneful
than the agrarian agitation would have been. The
community escaped with very few deaths considering
the very large number of cases. As usually happens,
the pestilence brought a famine the following year,
owing to the fields lying uncultivated. The new
consuls were M. Papirius Atratinus and C. Nautius
Rutilus. The famine would have been more fatal than
the pestilence had not the scarcity been relieved by
the despatch of commissioners to all the cities
lying on the Etruscan sea and the Tiber. The
Samnites, who occupied Capua and Cumae, refused in
insolent terms to have any communication with the
commissioners; on the other hand, assistance was
generously given by the Sicilian Tyrant. The largest
supplies were brought down the Tiber, through the
ungrudging exertions of the Etruscans. In
consequence of the prevalence of sickness in the
republic, the consuls found hardly any men
available; as only one senator could be obtained for
each commission, they were compelled to attach two
knights to it. Apart from the pestilence and the
famine, there was no trouble either at home or
abroad during these two years, but as soon as these
causes of anxiety had disappeared, all the usual
sources of disturbance in the commonwealth -dissensions at home, wars abroad -broke out afresh.