 6. The Senate were then seized with apprehensions, that if the citizens should be discharged from the army, their secret cabals and conspiracies would be renewed. Wherefore, supposing that, though the levy was made by the dictator, yet as the soldiers had sworn obedience to the councils, they were still bound by that oath, they ordered the legions, under the pretext of hostilities being renewed by the equians, to be led out of the city, which steps served only to hasten the breaking out of the sedition. It is said that the plebeians at first entertained thoughts of putting the consuls to death, in order that they might be thereby discharged from the oath, but being afterwards informed that no religious obligation could be dissolved by an act of wickedness, they by the advice of a person called Sickeness, retired without waiting for orders from the councils to the sacred mount, beyond the river Arno, about three miles from the city. This account is more generally credited than that given by Piso, who says the secession was made to the avantine. In this place, without any commander, having fortified their camp with a rampart and trench, they remained quiet for several days, taking nothing from any one but necessary subsistence, neither receiving nor giving offence. Great was the consternation in the city, all was fearful suspense and mutual apprehension. The plebeians, who were left behind by their brethren, dreaded the violence of the patricians. The patricians dreaded the plebeians who remained in the city, not knowing whether they ought to wish for their stay or for their departure. But how long could it be supposed that the multitude which had seceded would remain inactive? And what would be the consequence, if in the meantime a foreign war should break out? No glimpse of hope could they see left, except in concord between the citizens, which must be reestablished in the state on any terms, whether fair or unfair. They determined therefore to send as ambassador to the plebeians Meninius Agrippa, a man of eloquence and acceptable to the commons because he had been originally one of their body. He being admitted into the camp is said to have related to them the following fable, delivered in an antiquated language and an uncouth style. At a time when the members of the human body did not, as at present, all unite in one plan, but each member had its own scheme and its own language, the other parts were provoked at seeing that the fruits of all their care, of all their toil and service, were applied to the use of the belly, and that the belly, meanwhile, remained at its ease and did nothing but enjoy the pleasure provided for it. On this they conspired together that the hand should not bring food to the mouth, nor the mouth receive it if offered, nor the teeth chew it. While they wished, by these angry measures, to subdue the belly through hunger, the members themselves and the whole body were together with it reduced to the last stage of decay. And thence it appeared that the office of the belly itself was not confined to a slothful indolence, that it could not only receive nourishment, but supply it to the others, conveying to every part of the body that blood on which depend our life and vigor, by distributing it equally through the veins after having brought it to perfection by digestion of the food. Applying this to the present case and showing what similitude there was between the dissension of the members and the resentment of the commons against the patricians, he made a considerable impression on the people's minds. A negotiation was then opened for a reconciliation, and an accommodation was effected on the terms that the plebeians should have magistrates of their own, invested with invaluable privileges, who might have power to afford them protection against the consuls, and that it should not be lawful for any of the patricians to hold that office. Accordingly there were two tribunes of the commons created, Chias, and Lucius albinius, and these created three colleagues to themselves, among whom was Sikinius, the advisor of the secession, but who the other two were is not agreed. Some say that there were only two tribunes created on the sacred mount, and that the devoting law was passed there. During the secession of the commons, Spurius Cassius and Postumus Cominius entered on the consulship. In their consulate the treaty with the Latins was concluded, for the purpose of ratifying this one of the consuls remained at Rome, and the other being sent with an army against the Volskans defeated and put to flight those of Antium, and having driven them into the town of Longula pursued the blow, and made himself master of the town. He afterwards took Palusca, another town belonging to the same people, then with all his force attacked Corioli. There was in the camp, among others of the young nobility Caius Marcius, a youth of quick judgment and lively courage, who was afterwards surnamed Cariolanus. The Roman army, while engaged in the siege of Corioli, applying their whole attention to the garrison, which they kept shut up in the town without any fear of an attack from without, were assaulted on a sudden by the Volskian legions, who had marched thither from Antium, and at the same time the enemy sallied out from the town. This happened to be then on guard, and being supported by a chosen body of men, he not only repelled the attack of the sallying party, but rushed furiously in at the open gate, and putting all to the sword in that part of the city, late hold of the first fire which he found, and threw it on the houses adjoining the wall, on which the shouts of the townsmen mingling with the cries of the women and children, occasioned by the first fright, served both to add courage to the Romans and to despair at the Volskians, as they perceived that the town was taken which they had come to relieve. By this means the Volskians of Antium were defeated, and the town of Corioli taken, and so entirely did the glory of Marcius eclipse the fame of the consul, that were it not the treaty with the Latins being engraved on a brazen pillar, remained to testify that it was ratified by spurious Cassius alone, the other consul being absent, it would not have been remembered that posthumous Cominius was appointed to conduct the war. This year died Menenius Agrippa, through the whole course of his life equally beloved by the patricians and the plebeians, and after this accession still more endeared to the latter. This man, who, in the character of mediator and umpire, had re-established concord among his countrymen, the ambassador of the senate to the plebeians, the person who brought back the Roman commons to the city, was not possessed of property sufficient for the expense of a funeral. He was buried at the charge of the commons by a contribution of a sextance from each person. The consuls who succeeded were Titus Greganius and Publius Menucius. During this year, when the state was undisturbed by foreign wars, the dissensions at home had been healed, a more grievous calamity of another nature fell upon it, at first a scarcity of provisions occasioned by the landsline until during the secession of the commons, and afterwards a famine, not less severe than what is felt in a besieged city. This without doubt would have increased to such a degree that the slaves, and also many of the commons, must have perished, had not the consuls taken measures to remedy it, by sending to all quarters to buy up corn, not only into Etruria on the coast to the right of Ostia, and by permission of the Volskians along the coast on the left as far as Kume, but even to Sicily, for the hatred entertained against them by their neighbors compelled them thus to look for aid to distant countries. After a quantity of corn had been purchased at Kume, the ships were detained by the tyrant Aristodemus, as the property of the Tarquini, whose heir he was. Among the Volskians, and in the Pompine District, it could not even be purchased, the persons employed in that business being in danger of their lives from the violence of the inhabitants. From Etruria some corn was conveyed by the Tyber, by which the people were suborted. At this unseasonable time, while thus distressed by the scarcity, they were in danger of being farther harassed by war, had not a most destructive pestilence attacked the Volskians, when they were just ready to commence hostilities. By this dreadful calamity the enemy were so dispirited that even after it had abated, they could not entirely rid their minds of the terror which it had occasioned. Besides, the Romans not only augmented the numbers in their settlement at Vilitre, but sent a new colony into the mountains of Norba to serve as a barrier in the Pompine Territory. In the succeeding consulate of Marcus Minucius and Aulus Sempronius a great quantity of corn was brought from Sicily, and it was debated in the Senate at what price it should be given to the commons. Many were of opinion that now was the time to humble the commons and to recover those rights which, by the secession and violence, had been extorted from the patricians. Marcius Coriolanus particularly, an avowed enemy of the power of the tribunes, said, if they wish to have provisions at the usual price, let them restore to the patricians their former rights. Why am I obliged, after being sent under the yoke, after being ransomed, as it were from robbers, to behold plebeian magistrates, to behold Sicinius invested with power and authority? Shall I submit to such indignities longer than necessity compels me? Shall I, who could not endure Tarquinius on the throne, endure Sicinius? Let him now succeed. Let him call away the commons. The road is open to the sacred mount, and to the other hills. Let them carry off the corn from our lands, as they did two years ago. Let them make the best of the present state of the market, which they have occasioned by their own madness. I affirm with confidence that when they are brought to reason by their present sufferings, they will themselves become tillers of the lands, rather than take arms and succeed, to prevent their being tilled. Whether such a measure were expedient is not now easy to say, but in my opinion it was very practicable for the patricians, by insisting on terms for lowering the price of provisions, to have freed themselves from the tribunitian power and every other restraint imposed on them against their will. The method proposed appeared to the Senate to be too harsh, and incensed the commons to such a degree that they were very near having recourse to arms. They complained that, as if they were enemies, attempts were made to destroy them by famine, that they were defrauded of food and sustenance, that the foreign corn, the only support which, unexpectedly fortune had given them, was to be snatched out of their mouths, unless the tribunes were surrendered up in bonds to Caius Marcius, unless he were gratified by the personal sufferings of the Roman commons, a new kind of executioner had come forward who gave them no alternative but death or slavery. They would have proceeded to violence against him as he came out of the Senate House, had not the tribunes very opportunity summoned him to a trial. This suppressed their rage, when every one saw himself a judge, and empowered to decide on the life and death of his foe. At first Marcius heard the threats of the tribunes with scorn. The authority given to their office, he said, extended only to the affording protection, not to the inflicting of punishment. That they were tribunes of the commons, not of the patricians. But the whole body of the commons had taken up the cause with such implacable animosity that the patricians were under the necessity of devoting one victim to punishment for the general safety. They struggled, however, not withstanding the weight of the public hatred which they had to contend with, and not only each particular member, but the whole collective body exerted their utmost efforts. And at first they tried, whether by posting their clients in diverse places convenient for the purpose, they could not deter the several plebeians from attending the meetings and cabals, and thereby put a stop to farther proceedings. Afterwards they all came forth in a body, addressing the commons within treaties and supplications. One would have thought that every patrician was going to stand his trial. They besought them, if they did not think proper to equip Marcius as innocent, yet considering him as guilty, to grant as a favour on their request the pardon of one citizen, one senator. However, as he himself did not appear on the day appointed, they persisted in their resentment. He was condemned in his absence, and went into exile to the Volskians, uttering menaces against his country and breathing already the resentment of an enemy. The Volskians received him kindly, and daily increased their attention and respect, in proportion as they had opportunities of observing the violence of his anger towards his countrymen. Against him he would often utter complaints and even threats. He lodged in the house of Adius Tullus, who was then the man of by far greatest consequence amongst the Volskians, and an inveterate enemy to the Romans, so that the one, being stimulated by an old animosity, the other by fresh resentment, they began to concert schemes for bringing about a war with Rome. They judged, however, that it would be a difficult matter to prevail on their people to take arms, which they had so often tried without success, that by the many wars which they had sustained at difficult times, and lately by the loss of their young men in the pestilence, their spirits were broken, and that it was necessary to make use of art, in order that their hatred, which had now lost its keenness through length of time, might be thereby wedded anew. It happened that preparations were then making it Rome for a repetition of the great games. The reason of repeating them was this. On the morning of the day when the games were to have been celebrated, before the shows began, a master of a family, after lashing his slave loaded with a neck-yoke, had driven him across the middle of the circus. The games were afterwards exhibited as if this affair had no relation to religion. Some short time after, Titus Atenius, a plebeian, had a dream. He imagined Jupiter to have said to him that the dancer, who performed previously to the games, had been displeasing to him, and unless those games were repeated, and that in a magnificent manner, the city would be in danger, and ordered him to go and tell this to the consuls. Though the man's mind was under the influence of a considerable degree of superstition, yet the awe which he felt at the high dignity of the magistrates, and his own apprehensions, lest he should be treated by them, and the public, as an object of ridicule, overcame his religious fears. This delay cost him dear, for within a few days he lost his son, and lest the cause of that sudden disaster should be doubtful, while he was overwhelmed with grief the same phantom appeared to him in his sleep, and seemed to ask him whether he had gotten a sufficient reward for the contempt of the deity, telling him that a still greater awaited him unless he went immediately and delivered the message to the consuls. This made a deeper impression on his mind, and yet he hesitated and delayed, until at length he was attacked by a grievous disorder, a stroke of the palsy. He then submitted to the admonitions of the divine displeasure, and wearied out by his past sufferings, and the apprehension of others which threatened him. He called a counsel of his intimate friends, and after acquainting them with the several things which he had seen and heard, and with Jupiters having appeared to him so often in his sleep, and likewise the anger and threats of the deity so speedily fulfilled in the calamities which had befallen him, he was in pursuance of the clear and unanimous opinion of all present, carried in a litter into the forum, to the consuls, from thence he was conveyed by their order into the Senate House, where, when he had related the same accounts to the utter astonishment of all, behold another miracle. It is recorded that he, who had been carried thither incapable of using any of his limbs, had no sooner discharged his duty than he was able to walk home without assistance. The Senate decreed that the game should be exhibited in the most splendid manner. To these games, in consequence of a plan laid by Atius Tullus, a vast number of the Volskians repaired. Before the commencement of the exhibition, Tullus, according to his scheme concerted at home with Marcius, came to the consuls, told them that he wished to confer with them, in private, on some matters which concerned the commonwealth, and every other person having retired, he addressed them thus. It is painful to me in the extreme to say anything of my countrymen that is not to their honour. I do not come, however, to charge them with having committed any wrong act, but to guard against such being committed. That the disposition of our people are fickle, to a degree infinitely beyond what might be wished, numerous disasters have given sensible proofs. For to your forbearance it is owing, and not to our own desserts, that we have not been utterly destroyed. There are great numbers of the Volskians now in Rome. There are games to be celebrated. The public will be intent on the exhibition. I well remember the outrage which was committed in this city by the Sabine youths on a similar occasion. I shudder with apprehension, lest some inconsiderate and rash deed may ensue. Thus much I thought at my duty, both for our own sake and for yours, to mention beforehand to you, who are councils. For my part I intend instantly to return home, lest if I should be present my character might be stained with the imputation of some improper word or action. After this discourse he departed. The consuls proposed the matter to the consideration of the senate, a matter indeed unsupported by proof, but yet coming from a person whose authority was of great weight. The authority, then, rather than any reason appearing in the case as it often happens, determined them to use precautions, even though they might be unnecessary, and a decree being passed that the Volskians should retire from the city, criers were dispatched to every quarter, to order them all to remove before night. At first they were struck with great terror as they ran up and down to their lodgings, to take away their effects. Indignation afterwards filled their minds when they were beginning their journey. They considered themselves stigmatized as persons infamous and polluted, driven away from the converse of men and of gods, from public games on the day of the festival. CHAPTER VII As they formed in their journey almost one continued train, Tullus, who had proceeded to the fountain of Farentina, accosted the chief persons among them as each arrived, and by asking questions and expressing indignation while they greedily listened to expressions which favored their resentment, led them on, and by their means the rest of the multitude, to a plain that lay near the road, and there began to harangue them as if at a general assembly. Although, said he, ye should forget all the injurious treatment which ye formerly received from the Roman people, the calamities of the Volskian race, and every other matter of the kind, with what degree of patience do ye bear this insult thrown on you, when they commenced their games by exhibiting us to public ignominy. Did ye not perceive that they performed a triumph over you this day? That, as ye were retiring, ye served as a spectacle to all their citizens, to foreigners, to so many of the neighboring nations, that your wives and your children were led captives before the eyes of the public. What do ye suppose were the sentiments of those who heard the words of the crier, of those who beheld ye departing, or of those who met this disgraceful cavalcade? What else but that we must be some polluted wretches, whose presence at the shows would contaminate the games, and render an expiation necessary, and that therefore we were driven away from the mansions of a people of such purity of character from their meeting and converse? And besides, does it not strike you that we should not now be alive if we had not hastened our departure? If indeed it ought to be called a departure and not a flight? And do ye not consider as enemies the inhabitants of that city, wherein had ye delayed for one day ye must every one of you have perished? It was a declaration of war against you, for which those who made it will suffer severely, if ye have the spirit of men. Their anger, which was hot before, was by this discourse kindled to a flame, in which temper they separated to their several homes, and each taking pains to rouse those of his own state to vengeance, they soon affected a general revolt of the whole Volskian nation. The commanders appointed for this war, by the unanimous choice of all the states, were Adias Tullis and Caes Marcius the Roman exile, on the latter of whom they were opposed by far the greater part of their hopes. Nor did he disappoint their expectations, but gave a convincing proof that the common wealth was once more indebted for power to its generals than to its troops. Marching to Cersei, he first expelled the Roman colonists, and then delivered the city, after restoring it to freedom, into the hands of the Volskians. Turning thence across the country towards the Latin road, he deprived the Romans of their late acquisitions, Cetricum, Longila, Palusca, and Corioli. He then took Lavinium, and afterwards made a conquest of Corbio, Vitelia, Trebia, Lavisi, and Petum, one after another. From Petum, lastly, he led his forces towards Rome, and pitching his camp at the Clulian trenches five miles from the city, sent parties to ravage the lands, at the same time appointing persons among the plunderers to take care that the possessions of the patricians should be left unmolested, either because his anger was leveled principally against the plebeians, or with the design of thereby causing a greater dissension between these different orders. And this would, no doubt, have been the consequence. So powerfully did the tribunes, by their invectives against the patricians, excite the resentment of the commons, which was sufficiently too violent before. But that, however full their minds were of mutual distrust and rancor, their dread of a foreign enemy, the strongest tie of Concord, obliged them to unite. In one point only did they disagree. The Senate and the consuls placing their hopes entirely in arms, the commons preferring all other measures to war. By this time, Spurious, Natius, and Sextus Furius were consuls. While they were employed in reviewing the legions and posting troops upon the walls, and in other places, where it was thought proper to fix guards and watches, a vast multitude of people assembling, and insisting on peace, terrified them, at first, by their seditious clamors, and at length compelled them to assemble the Senate, and there proposed the sending of ambassadors to Chaias Marcius. The Senate, finding that they could not depend on the support of the commons, took the matter into consideration, and sent deputies to Marcius to treat of an accommodation. To these he replied in harsh terms, that if the lands were restored to the Volskians, a treaty might then be opened for an accommodation. But if they were resolved to enjoy, at their ease, what they had plundered from their neighbors in war, he would not forget either the injustice of his countrymen, or the kindness of his hosts, but would take such steps as should show the world that his courage was irritated by exile, not depressed. The same persons being sent a second time, were refused admittance into the camp. It is related that the priests, afterwards, in their sacred vestments, went as suppliance to the camp of the enemy, but had no more influence on him than the ambassadors. The matrons then assembled in a body about Vituria, the mother of Coriolanus, and Volumnia his wife. Whether this was a scheme of government, or the result of the women's own fears, I cannot discover. It is certain that they carried their point, and Vituria, who was far advanced in years, and Volumnia, leading two little sons whom she had by Marceus, went to the camp of the enemy, so that women, by tears and prayers, preserved the city which the men were not able to preserve by arms. When they arrived at the camp, and Coriolanus was informed that a great procession of women was approaching, he, who had not been moved either by the majesty of the state, represented in its ambassadors, or by the awful address made by the ministers of religion both to his sight and his understanding, at first resolved to show himself still more inflexible against female tears. But soon after, one of his acquaintance, knowing Vituria, who was distinguished above the rest by an extraordinary degree of sadness, as she stood between her daughter-in-law and grandchildren, said to him, unless my eyes deceive me, your mother with your wife and children are coming. Coriolanus, in a transport of amazement and almost distracted, sprang from his seat to embrace his mother as she advanced, who instead of in treaties addressed him with angry reproofs. Let me know, said she, before I receive your embrace, whether I am come to an enemy or to a son, whether I am in your camp a prisoner or a mother. Was it for this, that age has been lengthened out, that I might behold you in exile and afterwards an enemy? Could you lay waste this land which gave you birth and education? Whatever degree of anger, whatever thirst of vengeance, might have occupied your mind on your march. Did you not, on entering its borders, feel your passion subside? When you came with inside of Rome, did it not recur to you? Within those walls are my house and guardian gods, my mother, my wife, my children. Had I never been a mother, then Rome would not have been now besieged. Had I not a son, I might have died free and left my country free, but for my part there is no suffering to which I can be exposed that will not reflect more dishonor on you than misery on me. And be my lot as wretched as it may, I am not to endure it long. Let these claim your regard, who if you persist can have no other prospect, but either untimely death or lasting slavery. His wife and children embraced him, and the whole crowd of women, uttering bitter lamentations and deploring their own and their country's fate, at length got the better of his obscenity, so that after embracing and dismissing his family, he removed his camp to a greater distance from the city. In a short time he drew off the troops entirely from the Roman territories, which is said to have incensed the Volskians so highly against him that he perished under the effects of their resentment. By what kind of death riders do not agree? In the account given by Fabius, the most ancient rider by far, I find that he lived even to old age. He mentions positively that when Marcius became far advanced in years, he used frequently to utter this remark, that the evils of exile bore much the heavier on the aged. The men of Rome were not sparing in bestowing on the women the honors which they had earned, so distant were the manners of that age from the practice of detracting from the merits of others. They even erected and dedicated a temple to female fortune, as a lasting monument of their meritorious conduct. The Volskians afterward, in conjunction with the Equians, made another inroad into the Roman territories, but the Equians soon became dissatisfied at being commanded by Adius Tullus, and in consequence of the dispute, whether the Volskians or the Equians should give a general to the combined army, a separation ensued, and soon after a furious battle. There the good fortune of the Roman people wasted the two armies of its enemies in a contest no less bloody than obstinate. The consuls of the next year were Titus Sikinius and Chius Aquilus. The Volskians were allotted as a province to Sikinius, the Hernikians, for they were also in arms to Aquilius. The Hernikians were subdued in that year. The operations against the Volskians ended without any advantage being gained on either side. The next consuls elected were Spurius Cassius and Proculus Virginius. A league was made with the Hernikians. Two-thirds of their lands were taken from them, one half of which the consul Cassius intended to distribute among the Latins, the other half among the commons. To this donation he proposed to add a considerable tract of land, which belonged, he said, to the public, though possessed by private persons. Many of the patricians, who were themselves in possession of this land, were hereby alarmed for their property, and besides, that body in general was seized with anxiety for the safety of the people. Observing that the consul, by these donatives, was forming an influence at once dangerous to liberty and to right. This was the first proposal of the agrarian law, which from that time to the present age has never been agitated without the most violent commotions in the state. The other consul opposed the donations, and in this he was supported by the patricians, nor did all the commons oppose him. At first they began to despise a gift which was not confined to themselves, but extended to the allies, in common with the citizens. Then they were accustomed to hear the consul Virginius in the assemblies frequently, as it were prophesying, that the donatives of his colleagues were full of infectious poison, that those lands would bring slavery on such as should have received them, that he was paving the way to arbitrary power, for why should the allies and the Latin nation be thus included? What was the intent of restoring a third part of the lands taken in war to the hernicians, who so lately were enemies, only that these nations might set Cassius at their head as a leader instead of Coriolanus? Whoever argued and protested against the agrarian law, as thus proposed, was sure of popularity, and from that time both the consuls vied with each other in humoring the commons. Virginius declared that he would allow the lands to be assigned, provided they were not made over to any other than citizens of Rome. Cassius, finding that, by his pursuit of popularity among the allies, which he had betrayed in the proposed distribution of the lands, he had lowered himself in the estimation of his countrymen, and hoping to recover their esteem by another donative, proposed in order that the money received for the Sicilian corn should be refunded to the people. But this the commons rejected with as much disdain as if he were avowedly bartering for arbitrary power, so strongly were they influenced by their inveterate suspicions of his ambition that they spurned at all his presence as if they were in a state of affluence, and no sooner did he go out of office than he was condemned and executed as we are informed by undoubted authority. Some say that it was his father who inflicted this punishment on him, that having at home held an inquiry into his conduct, he scorched him and put him to death, and consecrated the allowance settled on his son to Ceres. That out of this a statue was erected with this inscription, given from the Cassian family. And it is the more credible account that he was prosecuted for treason by the questors Cesofavius and Lucius Valerius, that he was found guilty on a trial before the people, and his house raised by a public decree. It stood on the spot which is now the area before the temple of Telos. However, whether the trial was private or public, he was condemned in the consulate of Servius Cornelius and Quintus Fabius. The anger which the people had conceived against Cassius was not of long continuance. The alluring prospects held out by the agrarian law were sufficient of themselves, now the proposer of it was removed out of the way, to make a lively impression on their minds, and their eagerness in pursuit of them was inflamed by an act of unreasonable parsimony in the patricians, who, when the Volskians and Equians were vanquished in that year, deprived the troops of the booty. The whole of what was taken from the enemy the consul Fabius sold, and lodged the produce of it in the treasury. The name of Fabius was odious to the commons on account of this conduct, yet the patricians had influence enough to procure the election of Cesofavius to the consulship, with Lucius Emilius. This father exasperated the people, who by raising a sedition at home encouraged foreign enemies to attack them. But war put a stop to intestine dissensions. The patricians and plebeians united under the conduct of Emilius, with little loss to themselves, overthrew and battered the Volskians and Equians, who had revived hostilities. On this occasion the enemy lost greater numbers during their retreat than in the battle, for after they were broken they were pursued by the cavalry to a vast distance. In the same year, on the Ides of July, the Temple of Castor was dedicated. It had been vowed during the Latine War by Pustumius the dictator, and his son, being appointed Doomvir for the purpose, performed the dedication. This year also the people were tempted to new exertions by the charms of the agrarian law. The tribunes wished to enhance the importance of their office by promoting that popular decree. The patricians convinced that the multitude were of themselves too much inclined to desperate measures looked with horror on such largeses as incitements to acts of temerity, and they found in the consuls leaders as active as they could wish in opposing those proceedings. Their party consequently prevailed, and that not only for the present, but they were unable to appoint as consuls for the approaching year Marcus Fabius, brother to Caso, and Lucius Ferris, who was still more odious to the plebians, on account of his having been the persecutor of Spurious Cassius. In that consulship there was another contest with the tribunes. The law in question was considered as a vain project, and the proposers of it disregarded as claiming merit from holding out to the people's view, advantages which were not attainable. The name of Fabius was now held in the highest estimation after three successive consulates, all of which had been uniformly distinguished by opposition to the tribunatean power, and, for that reason, this dignity was continued in the same family for a considerable time, from a general persuasion that it could not be placed in better hands. Soon after this war was undertaken against the Viennetians. The Volskians also renewed hostilities. For security against foreign enemies the strength of the Romans was more than sufficient, but they perverted it to a bad purpose, namely to the support of quarrels among themselves. To add to the general disquiet several prodigies appeared, the sky almost daily exhibiting threatening portents both in the city and in the country. The soothsayers, employed as well by the state as by private persons, after consulting both entrails and birds, declared that no other cause of the displeasure of the city existed than that the worship of the gods was not duly performed. All their apprehensions, however, ended in this. Alpia, a vestal, was convicted of a breach of chastity and suffered punishment. Quintus Fabius, a second time, and Chius Julius, then succeeded to the consulship. During this year the domestic dissensions abated not of their acrimony, and the war abroad wore a more dangerous aspect. The equians took up arms. The Viennetians even carried their depredations into the territories of the Romans. And as these wars appeared every day more alarming, queso Fabius and Spurius Furius were made consuls. The equians laid siege to Ortona, a Latin city. The Viennetians, now satiated with booty, threatened to besiege Rome itself. Yet all these dangers which surrounded them, instead of restraining the ill humor of the commons, only served to augment it. They resumed the practice of refusing to enlist as soldiers, not indeed of their own accord, but by the advice of Spurius Lachinius, a plebeian tribune, who thinking that this was the time to force the agrarian law on the patricians, when it would be impossible for them to make opposition, had undertaken to obstruct the preparations for war. However, all the odium excited by this exertion of the tribunity and power rested solely on the author, nor did the consuls unite their efforts against him with more eager zeal than did his own colleagues, by whose assistance the levy was completed. Armies were raised for the two wars at the same time. The command of one was given to Fabius to be led against the equians, of the other to Furius against the Viennetians. In the expedition against the latter nothing memorable was performed. Fabius met with a great deal more trouble from his countrymen than from the enemy. That single man, by his conduct as consul, supported the commonwealth, which the troops, out of aversion to him as far as lay in their power, treacherously betrayed to ruin. For after numberless other instances of his military skill, which he had displayed both in his preparatory measures and in his operations on the field, and when he had made such a disposition of his forces, that by a charge of his cavalry alone he put the enemy to rout, the infantry refused to pursue their broken troops. Nor could any motive, not to mention the exhortations of the general whom they hated, nor even the immediate consequence of infamy to themselves, and disgrace to the public, nor the danger to which they would be exposed, should the enemy resume their courage, prevail on them to quicken their pace, or even to stand in order of battle so as to resist an attack. Without orders they faced about, and with countenances as dejected as though they had been vanquished retired to their camp, excrating, at one time the general, at another the exertions of the cavalry. The consul, however, sought not any remedy against so pestilent an example, showing by one instance among many that men of the most transcendent abilities are more apt to be deficient in regard to the discipline of their own troops than in conquering an enemy. Fabius returned to Rome, having reaped little fresh glory from the war, but having irritated and exasperated to a high degree the hatred of the soldiers against him. The patricians, notwithstanding, had influence enough to continue the consulship in the Fabian family. They elected Marcus Fabius to that office, and Ceneus Manlius was appointed as colleague. End of Book Two, Part Seven. Part Eight, Book Two, of From the Founding of the City, Volume One. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. From the Foundation of the City, Volume One, by Titus Livius. Translated by George Baker. Book Two, Part Eight. This year also produced a Tribune hardy enough to make another attempt at carrying the agrarian law. This was Titus Pontificius, who pursued the same method as if it had succeeded, with Spurius Lachinius, and for some time obstructed the levy. The patricians, being hereby again perplexed, Appius Claudius asserted that the plan adopted last year had effectually subdued the Tribunician power, for the present, by the very act and to all future times, by the example which it had established. Since it was discovered how that power might be deprived of efficacy, through the very means supplied by its own strength, for there would, at all times, be one among them, desirous of procuring to himself a superiority over his colleague, and at the same time the favour of the better part of the community by promoting the good of the public. They would even find more than one Tribune, if more were necessary, ready to support the consuls, though one would be sufficient against all the rest, only let the consuls and principal senators exert themselves, to secure in the interest of the Commonwealth and of the Senate, if not all the Tribunes, yet as many at least as they could. Convinced of the propriety of Appius's advice, the patricians in general addressed the Tribunes with civility and kindness, and those of consular dignity employed whatever personal influence they had over each of them. And thus, partly by conciliating their regard, and partly by the weight of their influence, they prevailed on them to let their powers be directed to the advantage of the State, while the consuls, being supported by four Tribunes, against one opposer of the public interest, completed the Levy. They then marched their army against the Vianetians, to whom auxiliaries had flocked from all parts of Etruria, induced to take arms not so much from affection to the Vianetians, as in the hope that the Roman State might be brought to ruin by intestine discord. Accordingly, in the assemblies of each of the States of Etruria, the leading men argued warmly that the power of the Romans would be everlasting, unless civil dissension armed them with rage against each other. This was the only infection, the only poison that operated, so as to set limits to the duration of great empires. This evil, whose progress had been long retarded, partly by the wise management of the patricians, and partly by the patient conduct of the commons, had now proceeded to extremity. Out of the one were formed two distinct States, each of which had its own magistrates, and its own laws. At first, though they used to give a loose reign to their rankerous animosities, when troops were to be levied, yet these very men, as long as war continued, paid obedience to their officers, and while military discipline remained in force, whatever might be the State of Affairs in the city, ruin might be deferred. But now the Roman soldier carried with him to the field the custom of refusing submission to superiors. During the last war, in the very heat of battle, the troops conspired to make a voluntary surrender of victory to the vanquished equians, deserted their standards, forsook their general, and in despite of orders retreated to their camp. Without doubt, if proper exertions were made, Rome might be subdued by means of its own forces. Nothing more was necessary than to make a declaration, and a show of war. The Fates and the Gods would, of themselves, accomplish the rest. Such prospects as these had allured the Atrarians to arms, notwithstanding the little success they had experienced in their wars. The Roman consul had no other dread than of the power and the arms of their countrymen. When they reflected on the very dangerous tendency of their misbehavior in the last war, they were deterred from bringing themselves into a situation where they would have two armies to fear at the same time. To avoid, therefore, being exposed to this double danger, they kept the troops confined within the camp, in hopes that delay, and time itself, might perhaps soften their resentment, and bring them back to a right way of thinking. This encouraged their enemies, the Vianetians and Atrarians, to act with greater precipitation. At first they endeavored to provoke the foe to fight, by riding up to the camp and offering challenges, and at length finding that this had no effect, by reviling both the consuls and the army, telling them that the pretense of dissentions among themselves was an artifice contrived to cover their cowardice, that the consuls were more diffident of the courage of their troops than of their disposition to obey orders. That was a strange kind of sedition which showed itself in silence and in action, among men who had arms in their hands. Throwing out besides many reproaches, some true and some false on their upstart origin. Such invectives, though uttered with great vociferation close to the very rampart and the gates, gave the consuls no matter of uneasiness. But the minds of the uninformed multitude were strongly agitated, at one time by indignation, at another by shame, which diverted them from reflecting on domestic quarrels. They could not bear the thoughts of suffering the enemy to insult them unrevenged. Neither could they wish success either to the consuls or to the patricians. Thus there was a struggle in their breasts, between their animosity against foreigners and that which inflamed them against their countrymen. The former at length prevailed, in consequence of the haughty and insolent scoffs of the enemy. They assembled in crowds at the Praetorium, demanding the fight, and requiring the signal to be given. The consuls held a consultation together, as if deliberating on the demand, and conferred for a considerable time. They wished to fight, but it was necessary to restrain and conceal that wish, in order, by opposition and delay, to add to the alacrity which had now sprung up in the minds of the troops. They returned for answer that the measure was premature, it was not yet a proper time for meeting the enemy. That they must keep within the camp. They then issued orders, that all should refrain from fighting, declaring that if any should engage without orders they would be punished. After the troops were thus dismissed their ardor for battle increased, in proportion to the aversion which they supposed in the consuls. Besides, the enemy approached with much greater boldness as soon as it became known that it was determined not to come to an engagement. They thought they might continue their insults with perfect safety, that the soldiers would not be entrusted with arms, that the business would end in a desperate mutiny, and that the final period of the Roman Empire was arrived. Buoyed up with these hopes their parties pressed forward to the very gates, heaped reproaches on the troops, and hardly refrained from assaulting the camp. But now the Romans could no longer endure such insults. From every quarter of the camp they ran hastily to the consuls, and did not, as before, propose their demands regularly, through principled centurions, but joined in one general clamour. The affair was now ripe, yet still the consuls showed a backwardness. But at length beginning, from the increasing uproar to dread a mutiny, Fabius, with the consent of his colleague, having cost silence by sound of trumpet, said, Seneas Manlius, that those men are able to conquer I know, but they themselves have given me reason to doubt, whether it is their wish, for which reason I am determined not to give the signal, unless they swear that they will return from the battle with victory. Soldiers have once deceived a Roman consul in the field, but they will never deceive the gods. There was a centurion, called Marcus Flavolius, who was among the foremost in demanding battle. He cried out, Marcus Fabius, I will return victorious from the field, and at the same time imprecated on himself the anger of Fr. Jupiter, of Mars, Gradovis, and the other gods, if he did not perform his promise. After him the whole army severally took the same oath. As soon as they had sworn the signal was given. Instantly they marched out to battle, full of rage and of confidence. They bade the Etrurians now throw out their reproaches, now let the enemy, who was so bold in words, come in the way of their arms. There was not a man on that day, either plebeian or patrician, who did not display an uncommon degree of valor. The Fabian name and Fabian race shone forth with peculiar luster. They were determined to recover, in that battle, the affection of the commons, which during the many quarrels of the parties at home, had been withdrawn from them. The line was formed, neither did the Vianetian enemy or the Etrurian legions decline the combat. These expected, and indeed firmly believed, that the Romans would show no more willingness to fight with them than they had with the Equians. Nay, considering the high ferment of their passions, and that in the present case the issue of a battle was the more uncertain, they did not despair of obtaining some important advantage. In this they were entirely disappointed, for in no former war did the Romans enter the field, inflamed with keener animosity, so highly were they exasperated by the taunts of the enemy on one side, and the delay of the consuls on the other. The Etrurians had scarcely time to form their ranks, before they found themselves engaged in close fight, hand to hand with swords. The most desperate method of deciding a battle, the javelins having in the first hurry been thrown at random, rather than aimed at the enemy. Among the foremost the Fabian family particularly attracted the notice of their countrymen, and encouraged them by their example. As one of these, Quintus Fabius, who had been consuled two years before, advanced before the rest against the thick body of the Vianetians. A Tuscan, who assumed resolution from a confidence in his strength and skill in arms, came up to him, unobserved, while he was busily engaged with a number of foes, and thrust him through the breast with his sword, on the weapons being drawn out of the wound Fabius fell to the ground. Both armies felt the fall of this one man, and the Romans were in consequence of it beginning to give ground, when Marcus Fabius the consul leaked over the body where it lay, and opposing his buckler to the enemy called out, Soldiers, is this what you bound yourselves to perform? Was it that you would return to the camp in flight? Are you so much more afraid of the dastardly enemy than of Jupiter and Mars by whom you swore? But for my part, though bound by no oath, I will either return victorious or die here, fighting beside thee, Quintus Fabius. On this, queso Fabius, consul of the former year, said, Brother, do you expect by words to prevail on them to fight? The gods by whom they have sworn will prevail on them. Let us, as becomes our noble birth, as is worthy of the Fabian name, animate the men by deeds of valor rather than by exhortations. The two Fabii then rushed forward to the front with their presented spears, and drew the whole line along with them. By these means the battle was renewed on that side, nor in the other wing was Ceneus Manlius the consul less strenuous in his efforts against the enemy. Here too a light course of events took place, for as the soldiers followed Quintus Fabius with alacrity, so did they hear follow the consul Manlius, while he pressed and almost routed the enemy, and when he was compelled by a severe wound to retire from the field, supposing him slain, they began to shrink. They would indeed have given way entirely, had not the other consul, riding up to the place at full speed with some troops of horse, revived their drooping courage, calling out that his colleague was alive, and that he was come to their support, having defeated the enemy in the other wing. Manlius also showed himself in order to encourage them to return to the fight. The side of the two consuls rekindled the courage of the soldiers, and by this time too the enemy's line was considerably weakened. For, confiding to the superiority of their numbers, they had drawn off a part, and sent them to attack the camp. These met but little resistance in the assault, but wasted time afterwards, being more intent on plunder than on fighting. The Roman triari, however, who had not been able to prevent their breaking in at first, and who had dispatched to the consuls an account of their situation, returned in a compact body to the Praetorium, and without waiting for aid, of themselves renewed the combat. At the same time the consul Manlius, having rode back to the camp, posted troops at all the gates, and blocked up every passage by which the enemy could retreat. The desperate situation in which the Aturians then saw themselves inspired them not only with boldness, but with fury, so that after they had made several fruitless efforts, attempting every place where they saw any prospect of gaining a passage, one band of their young men made an attack on Manlius himself, whom they distinguished by his armor. His attendants covered him from the first discharge of their weapons, but could not long withstand their force. The consul, receiving a mortal wound, fell, and his defenders were entirely dispersed. This added a new confidence to the Aturians, and so dispirited the Romans that they fled in dismay, through all parts of the camp, and would probably have been utterly ruined, had not the Lieutenant-Generals hastily removing the consul's body open to passage for the enemy by one of the gates. Through this they rushed out, and as they were retreating in the Atmos Disorder fell in with Fabius, who was flushed with success. In this second encounter many were cut off, and the rest fled different ways. The victory was complete, but the joy which it occasioned was greatly damped by the death of two such illustrious persons as Fabius and Manlius, for which reason the consul, when the senate were proceeding to vote him a triumph, told them that if the army could triumph without their general he would readily consent to it, on account of their extraordinary good behavior in that war. But as to himself, while his own family was overwhelmed with grief, for the death of his brother Quintus Fabius, and the Commonwealth bewailed the loss of a parent, as it were, in that of one of its consul's, he would not accept the laurel, blasted both by public and private mourning. A triumph refused on such grounds redounded more to his honour than if he had actually enjoyed it. So true it is that fame prudently declined, often breaks forth with increased luster. He then celebrated the two funerals of his colleague and his brother, one after the other, and took upon himself the office of pronouncing the panagyric of both, in which he attributed to them the merit of his own performances, in such a manner as showed him to be entitled to the greatest share of any. Not losing sight of the design which he had conceived at the beginning of his consulate, of recovering the affection of the patricians, he distributed the wounded soldiers among the patricians to be taken care of until they were cured. The greater number were given to the Fabii, and by no others were they treated with more attention. Henceforward the Fabii grew high in the favour of the people, and that without any practices prejudicial to the state. With the same view, queso Fabius, whose election to the consulship, with Titus Virginiaus, was owing as much to the support of the commons as to that of the patricians, would enter on no business, either of wars or levies, or any other matter, until the hopes of concord, which had already made some progress, should be ripened into a perfect union between the plebeians and patricians. In the beginning of the year, therefore, he proposed, that before any tribune should stand forth to press the agrarian law, the senate should seize the opportunity, and take to themselves the merit of conferring that favour, that they should distribute among the commons, in as equal proportions as possible, the lands taken from their enemies, for it was but just that they should be enjoyed by those whose blood and labour acquired them. The senate rejected the proposal with disdain. Some of them even complained that the talents of queso, formerly so brilliant, were, through a surfeit of glory, become heavy in language. No disputes ensued between the factions in the city. The Latins were harassed by incursions of the equians, queso being sent thither, with an army, retaliated on the equians, by ravaging their territories. They retired into the towns, and kept themselves within the walls. Consequently there was no battle of any importance. But from the arms of the Bionetians a severer blow was received, through the rashness of the other consul, and the army would have been utterly destroyed, had not queso Fabius arrived seasonably to its support. From that time there was properly neither peace nor war with the Bionetians, whose proceedings were more like those of a Banditi than of regular troops. On the approach of the Roman legions they retreated into the town, and when they understood that those were withdrawn they made incursions into the country, shifting alternately from war to quiet, and from quiet to war. For this reason nothing could be brought to a conclusion. There was also apprehension of other wars, two of which were just ready to break out, that is, with the equians and Vulschians, who only remained inactive until the smart of their late disaster should wear off. And besides, it was evident that the Sabines, ever hostile, and alliteria would soon be in motion. But the Bionetians kept the Romans in continual uneasiness, rather indeed by frequent insults, than by any enterprise which threatened danger. Yet this was such a business as would neither allow them to neglect it at any time, nor to turn their attention to other matters. While affairs were in this state the Fabian family addressed the Senate, the consul, in the name of the whole, speaking in this manner. Conscript Fathers, you know that the Bionetian war requires rather an established than a strong force, on the frontiers. Let your care be directed to other wars. Commit to the Fabii that against the Bionetians. We pledge ourselves that the majesty of the Roman name shall be safe on that side. That war, as the particular province of our family, we propose to wage at our own private expense. The state shall not be troubled either for men or money to support it. The warmest thanks were given to them, and the consul, coming out of the Senate, returned to his house, accompanied by the Fabii and a body, who had stood in the porch of the Senate house, waiting the Senate's determination. They received orders to attend next day in arms, at the consul's gate, and then retired to their respective homes. The report of this conduct spread immediately over the whole city, and all extolled the Fabii with the most exalted Ecomians, that a single family had undertaken to sustain the burden of the state, that the Bionetian war was to become a private concern, a private quarrel. If there were two other families of equal strength in the city, one of them might claim the Volskians for their share, the other the Equians, thus all the neighboring states might be subdued, and the majority of Roman people, in the meantime, enjoy perfect tranquility. Next day the Fabii took arms and assembled in the place appointed. The consul, coming forth in his military robe, saw his whole family in the courtyard, drawn up in order of March, and being received into the center, commanded to set them forward. Never did an army, either smaller or more highly distinguished nation-fame, and the general admiration of all men, marched through the city. Three hundred and six soldiers, all of them patricians, not one of whom would be judged unfit for supreme command by the senate at any time whatever, proceeded on their way, threatening destruction to the state of the Bionetians by the prowess of one family. A crowd attended them, composed partly of their own connections, relations, and particular acquaintances, who held no moderation either in their hopes or anxieties, and partly of such as were attracted by the zeal for the public interest, all enraptured with esteem and admiration. They bade the heroes to proceed, to proceed with happy fortune, and to obtain success proportion to the merit of their undertaking, desiring them to expect afterwards consulships, triumphs, every reward, every honor which was in the power of the public to bestow. As they passed by the capital, the citadel, and other sacred places, whatever deities occurred to the people's sights or thoughts, to them they offered up their prayers, that they would crown that band with success and prosperity, and soon restore them in safety to their country and their parents. But their prayers were made in vain. Passing through the right-hand post turn of the Carmental Gate, they arrived at the river Cremera, which they judged to be a proper situation for securing a post by fortifications. Lucius Emilius and Caeus Servilius were soon after elected consuls. As long as the operations of the war were confined to predatory expeditions, the Fabii were not only sufficiently able to defend their post, but by their excursions, along the common boundaries, they both effectually secured their own frontiers and spread terror and devastation in those of the enemy, through the whole tract, as far as the Etrurian territories joined the Roman. Their mutual depredations were soon after discontinued, though but for a short time, for the Vianetians, having collected a reinforcement from Etruria, laid siege to the post at Cremera, and the Roman legions, led thither by the consul Lucius Emilius, fought a close engagement with the Etrurians in the field, in which, however, the Vianetians had scarcely time to form their troops. For in the midst of the hurry, while they were taking their posts under their several banners, and placing bodies of reserve, a brigade of Roman cavalry charged them suddenly on the flank, in such manner as to put it out of their power, either to make a regular onset, or even to stand their ground. Being thus compelled to retreat to the Red Rocks, where they had their camp, they humbly sued for peace. Yet after it had been granted they renounced it, before the Roman guard was withdrawn from the Cremera. Such was their natural inconsistency, and such their bad faith. End of Book II, Part VIII. The contest, then, again laid between the Fabii and the Vianetian State, unsupported by any additional forces on either side. There passed between them not only incursions into each other's territories, and sudden attacks on the parties employed in those incursions, but several pitched battles in the open field, in which a single family of the Roman people often obtained a victory over a State, at that time the most powerful in Etruria. This at first stung the Vianetians with grief and indignation. Afterwards they formed a design, suggested by the present circumstances, of ensnaring their enemy, of ensnaring their enemy elated with success, and they even observed with pleasure the confidence of the Fabii daily increasing from a series of successful attempts. In pursuance of this design, cattle were frequently driven in the way of the plundering parties as if they had come there by chance. The fields were deserted by the flight of the peasants, and the bodies of troops sent to repel the invaders, retreated with pretended, oftener than real, fear. The Fabii had now contracted such a contempt of the enemy that they thought their own arms invincible, and not to be withstood in any place or on any occasion. This presumption carried them so far that on seeing from Cremera some cattle at a distance, a long tract of country lying between, in which, however, but few of the enemy's troops appeared, they ran down to seize them, and pressed forward with such careless haste as to pass by the Vientians, who lay in ambush on each side of the very road through which they marched. They then dispersed themselves on all sides to collect the cattle, which ran up and down, as was natural on being frightened, when suddenly the soldiers rose from their concealments, and appeared not only in front, but on every side of them. The shout first struck them with terror, and in a little time they were assailed by weapons on all sides. As the Aturians closed in upon them they were obliged, hemmed in as they were, by one continued line of troops, to contract the circle which they had formed into a narrower compass, which circumstance showed plainly both the smallness of their number and the great superiority of the Aturians, whose ranks were multiplied as the space grew narrower. They then changed their method of fighting, and instead of making head on all sides, bent their whole force towards one point, where forming in the shape of a wedge, and exerting every effort of their bodies and arms, they had length-forced a passage. Their course led to a hill of moderate aclivity. There first they halted, and then the advantage of the ground affording them a little time to breathe, and to recover from the consternation into which they had been thrown, they afterwards even repulsed an attack of the enemy, and this little band would probably, with the aid of the ground, have come off victorious, had not a body of Vientians sent round the ridge of the hill, made their way to the summit, by which means the enemy became again superior. The Fabii were all cut off to a man, and therefore taken. It is agreed on all hands that the three hundred and six perished, that only one single person, then quite a youth, was left as a stock for the propagation of the Fabian race, and who was, afterwards, on many emergencies, both in peace and war, to prove the firmest support of the State. At the time when this disaster happened, Caes, Horatius, and Titus Menenius were in the consulship. Menenius was immediately sent against the Atrarians, elated with their victory. He also was worsted in battle, and the enemy took possession of the Geniculum, nor would the city, which besides the war, was distressed also by scarcity, have escaped a siege, the Atrarians having passed the Tiber, had not the consul Horatius been recalled from the country of the Vulskians. So near indeed did the enemy approach to the walls, that the first engagement was at the temple of hope, in which little was gained on either side, and the second at the Colleen Gate, in which the Romans obtained some small advantage, and this, though far from decisive, yet by restoring to the soldiers their former courage, qualified them the better to contend with the enemy in future. Allus Virginius and Spurius Servilius were next elected consuls. After the loss sustained in the last battle, the Viencians avoided coming again to an engagement. They employed themselves in committing depredations, by sending out parties from the Geniculum, which served them as a fortress, and these parties scoured every part of the Roman territories, so that neither the cattle nor the husbandmen could anywhere remain in safety. At last they were entrapped by the same stratagem by which they had circumvented the Fabii. Pursuing some cattle, which had been purposely thrown in their way as a temptation, they fell into an ambuscade. In proportion as their numbers were greater, so was the slaughter. The violent rage which this overthrow excited gave cause to one of greater magnitude. For having crossed the Tiber by night, they made an assault on the camp of the consul Servilius, and being repulsed with great loss, with difficulty affected a retreat to the Geniculum. The consul immediately passed the Tiber, and fortified a camp at the foot of the Geniculum. Next day, as soon as light appeared, partly led by the confidence inspired by his success in the fight of the day before, but chiefly because the scarcity of corn made it expedient to adopt even dangerous measures, provided they were expeditious, he rashly marched up his troops against the steep of the Geniculum, to the camp of the enemy. There he met with a repulse more shameful than that which he had given them the preceding day, and both he and his army owed their preservation from destruction to the timely intervention of his colleague. The Trurians, now enclosed between the two armies, to one or other of which their rear was by turns exposed, were entirely cut off. Thus, through a fortunate act of temerity, the Vientians were effectually overpowered, and the war brought to a conclusion. Together with peace, plenty returned to the city, corn being brought from Campania, and every one, as soon as he was freed from the dread of impending famine, producing the stores which he had concealed. In this state of abundance and ease, the people began again to grow licentious, and not finding abroad any cause of complaint sought for it as usual at home. By infusing into their minds the usual poison, the agrarian law, the tribunes threw the people into affirmant, at the same time rousing their resentment against the patricians who opposed it, and not only against that body in general, but against particular members of it. Quintus Considius and Titus Genixius, the present proposers of the agrarian law, lodged an accusation against Titus Menenius. The charge brought against him was, the loss of the fort of Cremera, when he, the consul, was encamped in a fixed post at no great distance. Him they crushed, although the patricians struggled in his cause with no less seal than they had shown for Curiolanus, and though his father Agrippa's title to the favor of the public, was not yet forgotten. The tribunes, however, went no farther than to impose a fine, though they had carried on the prosecution as for a capital offense. On his being found guilty, they fixed the mulked at two thousand asses. This proved fatal to him, for we are told that he could not bear the ignominy and anguish of mine which it occasioned, and that this threw him into a disorder which put an end to his life. Neither was soon after brought to trial, spurious Servilius. Against him, as soon as he went out of the consulship, in the beginning of the year in which Caius, Nauteus, and Publius Valerius were consuls, a prosecution was commenced by two tribunes, Lucius, Sedicius, and Titus Statius. He did not, like Menenius, meet the attacks of these tribunes with supplications from himself and the patricians, but with the utmost confidence, inspired by innocence, and by the justice of his claim to the favour of the public. He was charged with misconduct in the battle with the Aturians at the Geniculum, but being a man of an intrepid spirit, as he had done formerly in the case of public peril, so now in one that threatened himself, he dispelled the danger by facing it with boldness. In a speech full of undaunted fortitude, he retorted on both tribunes and commons, and upbraided them with the condemnation and death of Titus Menenius, the son of that man, to whose good offices the people stood indebted for the restoration of their privileges, for those very laws and magistrates which enable them now to let loose their passions in this unreasonable manner. His colleague, Virginiaus II, being produced as a witness, greatly assisted his cause by attributing to him a share of his own merit. But what did him the most essential service was, the sentence passed on Menenius, so great a change had taken place in the minds of the people. No sooner had these domestic disputes subsided than a new war broke out with the Vientians, with whom the Sabines had united their forces. After auxiliaries had been brought from the Latins and hernicians, the consul Valerius, being sent with an army to Vaee, instantly attacked the Sabine camp, which they had pitched under the walls of their allies. This occasion such consternation among the Sabines that while they ran different ways in small parties to repel the enemy's assault, the gate, first attacked, was taken, and afterwards within the rampart there was rather a carnage than a battle. From the tents the alarm spread into the city, and the Vientians ran to arms in as great a panic as if Vaee itself were taken. Some went to support the Sabines, others fell upon the Romans, whose whole force and attention were employed on the camp. For a little time the latter were put to a stand and disordered, but soon forming two fronts they faced the enemy on both sides, and at the same time the cavalry being ordered by the consul to charge routed and dispersed the Aturians. Thus were overcome in the same hour two armies of the two greatest and most powerful of the neighboring states. During these transactions at Vaee the Volskians and Aquans had encamped in the Latine territories and laid waste the country. The Latins, however, being joined by the Hernikians, without the aid either of Roman general or troops, beat them out of their camp, and there, besides recovering their own effects, got possession of immense booty. The consul Caius Natius was, however, sent against the Volskians from Rome, where I suppose it was considered as improper, that the allies should get a custom of carrying on wars, with their own forces and under their own direction, without a Roman general and troops. Every kind of severity and indignity was practiced against the Volskians, yet they could not be brought to an engagement in the field. The next consuls were Lucius Furius and Aulus Manlius. The Vientians fell to the lot of Manlius as his province, but the war with that people did not continue. At their request a truce for forty years was granted them, and they were obliged to furnish corn and to pay the soldiers. No sooner was peace restored abroad than discord began at home. The commons were set in a flame at the instigation of the tribunes, on their constant subject the agrarian law, which the consuls, not deterred by the condemnation of Maninius or the danger incurred by Servilius, opposed with all their might. On this account, as soon as they went out of office, Titus Gnusius, the tribune, laid hold of them. They were succeeded in the consulship by Lucius Emilius and Opitor Virginius. In some annals, instead of Virginius, I find Vopiscus Julius set down for counsel. During this year, whoever were the consuls, Furius and Manlius being summoned to a trial before the people, went about in the garb of suppliance, addressing not only the commons but the younger patricians. The latter they advised in caution to keep at a distance from public employments and the administration of affairs, and to look on the consular façades, the pretesta, and curial chair as nothing better than the decorations of a funeral, for those splendid badges like the fillets of victims were placed on men who were doomed to death. But if there were such charms in the consulship, let them once for all be convinced that the office was crushed and held in captivity by the tribunity and power, that a consul must act in everything according to command, and like a bailiff, be obedient even to the tribune's nod. If he should show any respect to the patricians, if he should suppose that there was any powerful part in the state but the commons alone, let him place before his eyes the banishment of Cius Marcius with the penalty and death of Maninius. By such discourses the patricians were fired with indignation, and from that time they no longer held their consultations publicly but in private, and suffered but now to be privy to them. And here, however they might differ in other points, in this they were unanimous, that the accused should be rescued from danger by any means possible, whether right or wrong, and the most violent method proposed was the most acceptable. Nor were they at a loss for an actor to perpetrate any the most atrocious deed. On the day of trial, therefore, the people, standing in the forum, in eager expectation of the tribunes appearing, first began to wonder that he did not come down. Then, beginning from his delay, to suspect something amiss, they suppose that he had been terrified from attending by the nobles, while some complained that the cause of the public was deserted and betrayed by him. At length an account was brought of the tribunes being found dead in his house. As soon as this report had spread through the assembly, every one separated different ways, just as an army disperses on the fall of its leader. The tribunes, particularly, were seized with the greatest terror, warned by the death of their colleague, how very little security the devoting laws afforded them. The patricians on the other side exalted with too little moderation, and so far were they from feeling any compunction at the deed, that even those who were clear of the crime wished to be considered as the perpetrators of it, and they declared openly that the tribunician power must be subdued by severity. Soon after this victory had been obtained, by means which furnished a precedent of the worst tendency, a proclamation was issued for a levy of soldiers, and the tribunes, being odd into submission, the consuls accomplished the business without any interruption. The commons on this were highly enraged, more on account of the acquiescence of the tribunes than of the execution of the orders of the consuls. They declared that there was an end of their liberty, that they were reduced again to their old condition, for the tribunician power had expired with and was buried in the grave of Genusius. Other means must be devised and practiced to put a stop to the tyranny of the plebians. They remained now only one method to be pursued, which was that the commons, since they were destitute of every other protection, should undertake their own defense. The retinue of the consuls consisted of twenty-four lictors, and even these were plebians. No force could be more contemptible or less capable of resistance if people had but the spirit to despise them. But everyone magnified those matters and made them objects of terror to himself. While they thus spurred on each other with such discourses as these, it happened that a lictor was sent by the consul to a plebian of the name of Valero Publilius, who had insisted that having been a centurion he could not be compelled to enlist as a common soldier. Valero appealed to the tribunes, but none of them supporting him the consuls ordered the man to be stripped, and the rods to be got ready. I appeal to the people, said Valero, the tribunes chose rather that a Roman citizen should be beaten with rods before their eyes, than that themselves should be murdered in their beds by your faction. The more vehemently he exclaimed, the more violently did the lictor proceed in tearing off his clothes and stripping him. Then Valero, who was a man of great bodily strength, and aided also by those who took part with him, drove away the lictor and retired into the thickest part of the crowd, where he heard the loudest expressions of indignation at the treatment which he received. At the same time crying aloud, I appeal and implore the protection of the commons. Support me, citizens, support me, fellow soldiers. You have nothing to expect from the tribunes who themselves stand in need of your support. The people, inflamed with passion, prepared themselves as for a battle, and there was every appearance of the contest proceeding to such extremity that no regard whatever would be paid either to public or private rights. The consuls, having undertaken to face this violent storm, quickly experienced that dignity, unsupported by strength, is not exempt from danger. Their lictors were abused, the fasses broken, and themselves forced to take refuge in the Senate House, uncertain how far Valero would push his victory. In some time after the tumult subsiding they assembled the senators and complained to them of the ill treatment which they had suffered, of the violence of the commons and the audacious behavior of Valero. Though many harsh methods of proceeding were proposed, the opinion of the elder members prevailed, who recommended to the Senate not to let their conduct be as strongly marked by passionate resentment as that of the commons was by inconsiderate violence. The commons interesting themselves warmly in favor of Valero chose him at the next election Tribune for the year, the consuls being Lucius, Panarius, and Publius Furius. And now, contrary to the expectation of all men, who supposed that he would give a loose to the reins of the Tribunitian power in harassing the consuls of the preceding year, postponing his own resentment and affecting only the public interest, without uttering even a word to offend the consuls, he proposed a law that plebeian magistrates should be elected in assemblies where the votes were given by tribes. This, though covered under an appearance which, at first, showed not any evil tendency, was considered as a matter of no trivial consequence, as it would entirely deprive the patricians of the power of electing such tribunes as they liked, by means of the votes of their dependents. To prevent this proposition, which was highly pleasing to the commons from passing into a law, the patricians strained every nerve, and though neither the influence of the consuls nor that of themselves could prevail on any one of the College of Tribunes to protest against it, that being the only power that could effectually stifle it, yet, as it was in itself an affair of great weight, and required long and laborious exertions, the obstacles thrown in its way were sufficient to delay it until the following year. The commons reelected Valero to the tribuneship, and the patricians, judging that this business would not end without the severest struggle, procured the consulship for Appius Claudius, son of Appius, who both hated and was hated by the commons in consequence of the contention between them and his father. Titus Quintius was given him for colleague. The law was the first matter agitated in the beginning of the year, and though Valero was the author of it, yet Latourius, his colleague, from having more recently joined in the business, became in consequence the more eager for its adoption. His renown in war inspired him with confidence, for there was no one of that age possessed of more personal prowess. Valero contented himself with arguing in favour of the law, and avoided all abuse against the consuls. But Latourius began with severe invectives against Appius and his family, charging them with having always shown a disposition in the highest degree overbearing and cruel, asserting that the patricians had elected him not for a consul, but an executioner, to torment and torture the plebeians. Being, however, a rough soldier unskilled in the art of speaking, he was at a loss for expression suited to the boldness of his thoughts, and finding himself unable to proceed in his discourse he said, Citizens, since I cannot speak with the same readiness with which I can perform what I have spoken, I request your attendance tomorrow. Either I will lose my life here in your presence, or I will carry the law. Next day the tribunes took possession of the temple, and the consuls and nobles placed themselves among the crowd in order to oppose the law. Latourius ordered all persons to retire except those who were to vote, but the younger nobility kept their seats, and paid no regard to the officer, on which Latourius ordered some of them to be taken into custody. The consul Appius insisted that a tribune had no power over any but the plebeians, for he was not a magistrate of the people at large, but of the commons, that even he himself could not, conformably to ancient usage, of his own authority compel people to withdraw, the words in use being, if you think proper, Romans, retire. It was easy for him to disconcert Latourius in arguing, even thus contemptuously, about his authority. The tribune, therefore, in inflamed with anger, sent one of his officers to the consul, while the consul sent a letter to the tribune, calling out that he was but a private person without command and without majesty. Nor would the tribune have escaped ill treatment, had not the whole assembly joined with great warmth in taking his part against the consul. And at the same time the alarm having spread among the populace brought a great concourse from all parts of the city to the forum. Appius, notwithstanding, inflexibly withstood the violence of the storm, and the dispute must have terminated in blood, had not Quintius, the other consul, giving it in charge to the consulers to take away his colleague from the forum by force, if they could not do it otherwise, now soothing the enraged plebeians within treaties, then begging the tribunes to dismiss the assembly, so as to give time for their anger to cool, telling them that delay would not diminish ought of their power, but would afford them the advantage of uniting prudence with that power, that the patrician would still be under the direction of the people, and the consul under that of the patricians. CHAPTER X With great difficulty the commons were pacified by Quintius, and with much greater was the other consul quieted by the patricians, and the assembly of the people being at length dismissed, the consuls convened the senate. There fear and anger prevailing by turns produced for some time a variety of opinions, but having gained time for reflection in proportion as passion gave place to reason, they became more and more averse from inflammatory measures in so much that they returned thanks to Quintius for having by his exertions put a stop to the quarrel. Appiest they requested to be satisfied with such a degree of deference to the consular authority as was compatible with concord between the several parts of the state. For, whilst the tribune and consuls violently drew all power, each to their own side, there was none left in the other members of the community. The object of the dispute was not the safety of the commonwealth, but who should have the disposal of it, mangled and torn as it was. On the other hand, Appiest appealed to gods and men that the state was betrayed and deserted through cowardice, that the consul was not wanting in support of the senate, but the senate in support of the consul, and that they were submitting to more grievous laws than those which were imposed at the sacred mount. Yielding, however, to the unanimous judgment of the senate, he desisted, and the law was carried through without further opposition. Then for the first time were the tribunes elected in an assembly of the people, voting by tribes. Piso relates also that there were three added to their number, having before been but two. He even names the tribunes Caeus Sinicius, Lucius Numitorius, Marcus Duleus, Spurius Isilius, Lucius Messilius. During the dissensions at Rome, war commenced with the Equians and Volskians, who had committed depredations on the Roman lands, with design that if the commons should again think proper to secede, they might find a refuge with them. When the differences in the city were afterwards composed, they removed their camp to a greater distance. Appiest Claudius was sent against the Volskians, the Equians fell to Quintius as his province. The same severity which Appiest had shown at home, he practiced at the head of the army abroad, and even with less reserve, as he was out of the reach of any control from the tribunes. He detested the commons to a degree of ranker, even beyond what he inherited from his father, and considered himself as vanquished by them. For that when he had been set up as the only person, who in the character of consul was qualified to oppose the tribunician power, that law had been carried which the former consuls had been able to prevent, though they made not such strenuous exertions as himself against it, nor did the patricians expect so much from them. His anger and indignation hereby excited, he sought to wreak on the army every kind of rigor which the command had put in his power, but no degree of violence was able to subdue the temper of the troops. Such an unconquerable spirit of opposition had they imbibed. In every part of their business they showed indolence and carelessness, negligence and stubbornness. Neither shame nor fear had any effect on them. If he wished that the army should proceed with more expedition they marched the slower. If he came to encourage them to hasten their work, every one relaxed the diligence which he had used before. When he was present they cast down their eyes. As he passed by they muttered curses against him. So that while he seemed invulnerable to popular dislike, his mind was occasionally affected with disagreeable emotions. After trying every kind of harsh treatment without effect he renounced all intercourse with the soldiers, declaring that the army was corrupted by the centurions, whom in a jibbing manner he sometimes called plebeian tribunes and valeros. Not one of these circumstances was unknown to the Vulskians, who for that reason pressed forward their operations the more vigorously, in hopes that the Roman army would be animated with the same spirit of opposition against Apius, which they had formerly displayed against Fabius when consul. And in fact, in Apius's case it showed itself with a much greater degree of inveteracy than in that of Fabius. For they were not only unwilling to conquer, like Fabius's troops, but even chose to be conquered. When led out to the field they fled shamefully to their camp, nor made a halt, until they saw the Vulskians advancing to the rampart, and committing great slaughter on the rear of the army. The necessity of repelling the victorious enemy from the rampart then prevailed on them to bite, which however they did in such a manner, as made it evident, that they acted only because Roman soldiers would not suffer their camp to be taken. In other respects they rejoiced at their own losses and disgrace. All this had so little effect towards softening the stubborn fierceness of Apius that he resolved to exhibit farther examples of severity. But when he had summoned an assembly for the purpose, the Lieutenant Generals and Tribunes gathered hastily about him, and cautioned him not to hazard a trial of the extent of an authority whose whole efficacy depended on the will of those who were to obey it, informed him that the soldiers in general declared that they would not attend the assembly, and that in every quarter they were heard loudly demanding that camp should be removed out of the Vulskian territories. They reminded him that the conquering army had approached almost to the gates and to the rampart, and that if he persisted there was not only reason to apprehend, but every certain indication of a most grievous calamity ensuing. At length yielding to persuasion, as nothing but a delay of punishment could be the consequence, he prorogued the assembly, gave orders that the troops should be in readiness to march next day, and at the first dawn gave by sound of trumpet the signal for setting out. When the army had scarcely got clear of the camp, and while they were just forming in order of march, the Vulskians, as if they had been summoned by the same signal, made an attack on their rear, and the alarm spreading from thence to the van caused such consternation as threw both the battalions and ranks into confusion, so that neither could orders be heard nor a line formed. No one now thought of anything but flight, and with such precipitation did they make their way through the ranks that the enemy ceased to pursue sooner than the Romans to fly. In vain did the consul follow his men, calling them to halt. But when he had at length collected them together, he encamped in a peaceful part of the country, and there, having summoned an assembly, after uttering severe and just reproaches against the army as betrayers of military discipline and deserters from their posts, asking each where were their standards, where were their arms? He beat with rods and beheaded the soldiers who had thrown away their swords, the standard-bearers who had lost their ensigns, and also such of the centurions, and of the privates as had quitted their ranks. Of the rest of the multitude every tenth man was drawn by lot and punished. In a very different manner were matters conducted in the country of the equians. There seemed a mutual contest carried on between the consul and his troops. Who should exceed the other in civility and good offices? Quintius was naturally of a milder disposition, and besides, the ill consequences attending the harshness of his colleague made him feel the greater satisfaction in indulging his own temper. The equians, not daring to meet in the field, a general and army so cordially united, suffered them to carry their depredations through every part of the country, and in no former war was a greater abundance of booty brought off from thence, all which was distributed among the soldiers. Their behavior was also rewarded with praises, in which the minds of soldiers find as much delight as in gain. The troops returned home in better temper towards their general, and on the general's account towards the patricians also, declaring that the senate had given to them a parent, to the other army a master. This year, during which they experienced a variety of fortune in their military operations, and furious dissensions both at home and abroad, was particularly distinguished by the assemblies of the people voting by tribes, a matter which derived its seeming importance rather from the honor of the victory obtained by one party over the other, than from any real advantage accruing from it. For the share of power, which was either gained by the commons or taken from the patricians, was trifling, in proportion to the great degree of dignity of which the assemblies themselves were deprived by the execution of the patricians. The following year the consulate of Lucius Valerius and Tiberius Emilius was disturbed by more violent commotions, both in consequence of the struggles between the different orders of the state concerning the agrarian law, and also of the trial of Appius Claudius, who having taken a most active part in opposition to the law, and supported the cause of those who were in possession of the public lands, as if he were a third consul, and thought at his duty, had a criminal prosecution instituted against him by Marcus, Julius, and Chius Sikinius. Never hitherto had a person so odious to the commons been brought to trial before the people, overwhelmed as he was with their hatred, on his father's account, besides the load which his own conduct had drawn on him, and hardly ever did the patricians exert such strenuous efforts in favor of any other, seeing this champion of the senate, the asserter of its dignity, their bulwark against the outrageous attempts both of tribunes and commons, exposed to the rage of the populace, only for having in the contest exceeded in some degree as they conceived the bounds of moderation. Appius Claudius himself was the only one among the patricians who looked with scorn on the tribunes and commons, even affecting a disregard as to his own trial. Neither the threats of the commons, nor the entreaties of the senate, could ever prevail on him, either to change its garb, or use a suppliant address, or even to soften and relax in any degree the usual harshness of his language, when he was to plead his cause before the people. He still preserved the same expression of countenance, the same stubborn fierceness in his looks, and the same vehemence in his discourse, so that a great many of the tribunes felt too less dread of Appius, while he stood a culprit at their bar, than they had done when he was consul. He pleaded in his defence, and that with all the haughtiness which he could have shown, had he been the accuser, just as he used to behave on every other occasion, and by his intrepidity so astonished the tribunes and commons, that of their own choice they adjourned the trial to another day, and afterwards suffered the business to cool. The day of adjournment was not very distant, yet before it arrived he was seized with a disorder and died. The tribunes endeavored to prevent his being honoured with a funeral peneduric, but the commons would not allow that the last day of so great a man should be defrauded of the usual glories. They listened to the ecomiums pronounced on him after his death, with as favourable an attention as they had shown to the charges brought against him when alive, and in vast numbers attended his funeral. During this year the consul Valerius marched with an army against the equians, and finding it impracticable to entice them to an engagement made an assault on their camp. A violent storm of thunder and hail obliged him to desist, and people's surprise was increased when, as soon as the signal for retreat had been given, the weather became perfectly calm and clear, so that they were deterred by a religious scruple from again attacking a camp which had been defended by an evident interposition of some divinity, and vented all their rage and devastation on the enemy's lands. The other consul Amelius conducted the war in the country of the Sabines, and there also, the enemy keeping within their walls, the lands were laid waste, at length, by the burning, not only of the country houses, but of the villages, which in that populous country were very numerous, the Sabines being provoked to give battle to the troops employed in the depredations, and being obliged to retreat without having gained any advantage, removed their camp next day to a place of greater safety. This appeared to the consul a sufficient reason to consider the enemy as vanquished, and to cease any further operations. He accordingly withdrew his men without having made any progress in the war. While these wars still raged abroad and party divisions at home, Titus, Numitius, Priscus, and Aulus Virginia's were elected councils. There was reason to believe that the commons would not endure any farther delay with respect to the agrarian law, and every degree of violence was ready to be committed, when it was discovered, by the smoke from the burning of the country houses, and by the inhabitants flying to the city, that the Volskians were at hand. This incident repressed the sedition, when just ripe, and on the point of breaking forth. The consuls were instantly ordered by the senate to lead out the youth from the city against the enemy, and this made the rest of the commons less turbulent. On the other side, the assailants, without performing anything farther than alarming the Romans by the destruction of some few buildings, retired with great precipitation. Numitius marched to Antium against the Volskians, Virginia's against the Equians. Here, the army falling into an ambush-god, and being in the utmost danger of a total overthrow, was rescued by the bravery of the soldiers from the imminent peril to which the carelessness of the consul had exposed them. The operations against the Volskians were better conducted. In the first engagement the enemy were routed and compelled to fly into Antium, which considering those times was a city of great strength. The consul, therefore not choosing to venture to attack it, took from the Antians another town called Senno, which was not near so strong. Whilst the Equians and Volskians gave employment to the Roman armies, the Sabines carried depredation to the very gates of the city. However, they themselves, in a few days after, suffered from the two Roman armies greater losses than any which they had occasioned, both the consuls provoked at their proceedings having marched into their territories. Towards the close of the year there was some interval of peace, but disturbed, as was always the case, by struggles between the patricians and plebeians. The latter were so incensed that they refused to attend the assembly held for the election of consuls, so that by the votes of the patricians and their dependents Titus, Quintius, and Quintus Servilius were appointed to the consulship. These experienced a year similar to the proceeding, the beginning of it filled with civil broils which were afterwards repressed by the breaking out of foreign wars. The Sabines, marching across the plains of Crestuminium with great rapidity, carried fire and sword through all the country on the banks of the Anio, and though, when they had advanced almost to the culling gate and the walls of the city, they met with a repulse, yet they carried off a vast booty both of men and cattle. The consul Servilius marched in pursuit, with design to bring them to an engagement, but not being able to overtake their main body in the champagne country, he spread devastation to such an extent as to leave nothing unmolested, and returned with a quantity of spoil, exceeding by many degrees what the enemy had carried off. In the campaign against the Volskians also, the arms of the state were remarkably successful, through the conduct both of the general and of the soldiers. First they fought a pitched battle on equal ground, with great loss of blood on both sides. The Romans, however, whose small number made them feel the loss more sensibly, would have quitted the field, had not the consul, by a happy faint, reanimated the troops, calling out that the enemy were flying on the other wing. They then returned to the charge, and the opinion that victory was on their side was the means of their obtaining it in reality. But Titus, fearing, lest, if he pressed the fugitives too far, he might have the battle to fight over again, gave the signal for retreat. After this, an interval of some few days passed, during which both parties were posed, as if they had tacitly agreed to a suspension of arms. And in the meantime, vast multitudes from every state of the Volskians and Equians, vast multitudes from every state of the Volskians and Equians flock to their camp, not doubting but that the Romans, when informed of their numbers, would make their retreat by night. About the third watch, therefore, they came to attack the camp. Quintius, after appeasing the tumult which the sudden alarm had excited, and ordering the soldiers to stay quiet in their tents, led out a cohort of hernitians to form an advance garrn, mounted the trumpeters, with others of their band, on horses, and ordered them to sound their instruments before the rampart, so as to keep the enemy in suspense until daylight. During the remainder of the night, everything was quiet in the camp, so that the Romans were not even prevented from sleeping. The Volskians, on the other hand, expecting every instant an attack, were kept in a state of earnest attention by the appearance of the armed infantry, whom they believed to be Romans, and whom they also conceived to be more numerous than they really were, from the bustle and naing of the horses, and which, being under the management of riders with whom they were acquainted, and having their ears continually teased with the sound of the instruments, made in their trampling a considerable noise. When day appeared, the Romans, marching into the field in full vigor, after being thoroughly refreshed with sleep, at the first onset overpowered the Volskians, fatigued with standing and want of rest. However, the enemy might be said to retire rather than to be routed, for some hills which lay behind them afforded a safe retreat to all the troops that were stationed to the rear of the first line, whose ranks were still unbroken. On coming to this place, where the hide of the ground was against him, the consul ordered his men to halt, but it was with great difficulty that they could be restrained. They called out and insisted on being allowed to pursue the advantage which they had gained, while the horsemen, collected round the general, were still more ungovernable, loudly declaring that they would advance before the front line. While Titus hesitated between the confidence which he knew he might place in the valor of his men and the difficulty of the ground, all cried out with one voice that they would proceed, and they instantly put their words in execution, sticking their spears in the ground that they might be lighter to climb the steeps. They ran forward in full speed. The Volskians having at the first onset discharged their mis- of weapons, began to pour down on them as they approached. The incessant blows from the stones of the higher ground, and which lay among their feet, so galled and disordered the Romans that their left wing was by this means almost over-born, when the consul, just as they were beginning to give way, reproached them with their rashness, and at the same time with want of spirit, made their fears give place to shame. At first they stood their ground with determined firmness. Then as they recovered strength to renew the attack, in spite of the disadvantage of situation, they ventured to advance, and raising the shout anew, moved forward in a body. Rushing on again in full career, they forced their way, and when they had reached almost to the summit of the hill, the enemy turned their backs, and the pursuers and pursued, exerting their utmost speed, both rushed into the camp together, almost in one body. In this consternation of the Volskians, their camp was taken. Such of them as could make their escape took the road to Antium, thither also the Roman army marched, and after a siege of a few days, the town surrendered, not because the force of the besiegers was stronger now than in the former attack, but because the spirits of the besiege were broken by the late unsuccessful battle, and the loss of their camp.