25.3
Q.
Fulvius Flaccus and Appius Claudius entered on their consulship, the former
for the third time. The praetors drew lots for their provinces; P. Cornelius
Sulla had assigned to him both the home and foreign jurisdiction, which had
previously been held separately; Apulia fell to Cn. Fulvius Flaccus; Suessula
to C. Claudius Nero; Etruria to M. Junius Silanus. Two legions were
decreed for each of the consuls in the operations against Hannibal; one
consul took over the army from Q. Fabius, the consul of the previous year,
the other that of Fulvius Centumalus. With regard to the praetors, Fulvius
Flaccus was to have the legions which were at Luceria under Aemilius,
Claudius Nero those which were serving in Picenum under C. Terentius, and
they were each to raise their force to its full complement. The City legions
raised the previous year were assigned to M. Junius to meet any movement
from Etruria. Ti. Sempronius Gracchus and P. Sempronius Tuditanus had
their commands extended in their respective provinces of Lucania and
Cis-Alpine Gaul, as also had P. Lentulus in the Roman province of Sicily and
M. Marcellus in Syracuse and that part of the island over which Hiero had
reigned. The command of the fleet was left in the hands of T. Otacilius, the
operations in Greece in those of M. Valerius, the campaign in Sardinia was
still to be under the conduct of Q. Mucius Scaevola, whilst the two Scipios
were to continue their work in Spain. In addition to the existing armies two
fresh legions were raised in the City by the consuls, thus bringing up the total
number to twenty-three legions for the year.
The enrolment was interrupted by the conduct of M. Postumius
Pyrgensis which might have endangered the stability of the republic. This
man was a public contractor and for many years had had only one man to
match him in dishonesty and greed, and that was T. Pomponius Veientanus,
whom the Carthaginians under Hanno got hold of while he was recklessly
raiding Lucania. The State had made itself responsible where supplies
intended for the armies were lost through storms at sea, and these men
invented stories of shipwrecks, and when they did not invent, the shipwrecks
which they reported were due to their dishonesty, not to accident. They
placed small and worthless cargoes on old shattered ships, which they sank
when out at sea, the sailors being taken into boats which were kept in
readiness, and then they made a false declaration as to the cargo, putting it at
many times its real value. This fraud had been disclosed to M. Aemilius, the
praetor, and he laid the matter before the senate, but they had taken no
action because they were anxious not to offend the body of public
contractors at such a time as that. The people, however, took a much severer
view of the case, and at length two tribunes of the plebs, Spurius Carvilius
and L. Carvilius, seeing the public indignation and disgust aroused,
demanded that a fine of 200,000 ases should be imposed on them. When the
day came for the question to be decided, the plebs were present in such great
numbers that the space on the Capitol hardly held them, and after the case
had been gone through, the only hope left to the defence was the chance of
C. Servilius Casca, a tribune of the plebs and a near relative of Postumius,
interposing his veto before the tribes proceeded to vote. When the evidence
had been given, the tribunes ordered the people to withdraw and the voting
urn was brought in, in order that it might be determined in what tribe the
Latins were to vote. While this was being done the contractors urged Casca
to stop the proceedings for the day, and the people loudly opposed that step.
Casca happened to be sitting in front at the end of the tribunal seats, and he
was labouring under the conflicting emotions of fear and shame. Seeing that
no dependence was to be placed upon him, the contractors determined to
create a disturbance and rushed in a compact body into the space left vacant
by the withdrawal of the Assembly, loudly abusing both the people and the
tribunes. As there was every prospect of a hand-to-hand fight the consul
Fulvius said to the tribunes: "Do you not see that your authority has gone,
and that there will certainly be a riot if you do not dismiss the meeting?"