The History of Rome Volume I Part 8

[Footnote 125: The consuls under ordinary circ.u.mstances used to commence their office at this time on the Calends of August.]

[Footnote 126: _Neque sacri neque sancti_. Whatever is consecrated by religion is said to be _sacrum_; whilst _sanctum_ is said of that which the law states to be inviolable.]

20. The consul's harangue had a great effect on the commons; the patricians, recovering their spirits, considered the state as re-established. The other consul, more eager as a seconder than as the first mover (of a measure), readily suffering his colleague to take the first lead in a matter of so much importance, claimed to himself his share of the consular duty in executing the plan. Then the tribunes, mocking these declarations as empty, went on inquiring "by what means the consuls would lead out the army, as no one would allow them to hold a levy?" "But," says Quintius, "we have no occasion for a levy; since at the time Publius Valerius gave arms to the commons to recover the Capitol, they all took an oath to him, that they would a.s.semble on an order from the consul, and would not depart without an order. We therefore publish our order that all of you, who have sworn, attend to-morrow under arms at the lake Regillus." The tribunes then began to cavil, and wished to absolve the people from their obligation; that Quintius was a private person at the time at which they were bound by the oath. But that disregard of the G.o.ds which prevails in the present age had not yet arrived; nor did every one, by his own interpretation, accommodate oaths and laws to his own purposes, but rather adapted his conduct to them. Wherefore the tribunes, as there was no hope of obstructing the matter, attempted to delay the departure (of the army) the more earnestly on this account, because a report had gone out "both that the augurs had been ordered to attend at the lake Regillus, and to consecrate a place, where business might be transacted with the people with the benefit of auspices; that whatever had been pa.s.sed at Rome by tribunitian violence, might be repealed there in an a.s.sembly. That all would agree to that which the consuls wished; for that there was no appeal at a distance greater than that of a mile from the city: and that the tribunes, if they should come there, would, among the rest of the crowd, be subjected to the consular authority." These matters alarmed them; but the greatest terror which acted on their minds was, that Quintius frequently said, "that he would not hold an election of consuls. That the state was affected with such a disease, as could not be stopped by the ordinary remedies. That the commonwealth required a dictator, so that whoever should stir a step to disturb the peace of the state, might feel that the dictators.h.i.+p was without appeal."

21. The senate was a.s.sembled in the Capitol. Thither the tribunes come with the commons in great consternation: the populace, with loud clamours, implore the protection now of the consuls, now of the patricians: nor could they make the consul recede from his determination, until the tribunes promised that they would be under the direction of the patricians. Then on the consul's laying before them the demands of the tribunes and commons, decrees of the senate are pa.s.sed, "That neither the tribunes should propose the law during that year, and that the consuls should not lead the army from the city--that for the time to come, the senate decided that it was to the injury of the commonwealth, that the same magistrates should be continued, and the same tribunes be re-appointed." The consuls conformed to the authority of the senate, the tribunes were re-appointed notwithstanding the remonstrances of the consuls. The patricians also, that they might not yield to the commons in any particular, re-elected Lucius Quintius consul. No proceeding of the consul was urged with more warmth during the entire year. "Can I be surprised," says he, "if your authority is of little weight, conscript fathers? yourselves are disparaging it.

Forsooth, because the commons have violated a decree of the senate, by re-appointing their magistrates, you yourselves also wish it to be violated, lest ye should yield to the populace in rashness; as if to possess greater power in the state consisted in having more of inconstancy and irregularity; for it is certainly more inconstant and greater folly, to do away with one's own decrees and resolutions, than those of others. Imitate, conscript fathers, the inconsiderate mult.i.tude; and ye, who should be an example to others, transgress by the example of others, rather than others should act correctly by yours, provided I imitate not the tribunes, nor suffer myself to be re-elected consul, contrary to a decree of the senate. But I advise you, Caius Claudius, that both you on your part restrain the Roman people from this licentiousness, and that you be persuaded of this on my part, that I shall so take it, as not to consider that my honour has been obstructed by you, but that the glory of declining the honour has been augmented, and the odium, which would hang over me from its being continued, has been lessened." Upon this they issue this order jointly: "That no one should attempt to make Lucius Quintius consul: if any one should do so, that they would not allow that vote."

22. The consuls elected were Quintus Fabius Vibula.n.u.s, a third time, and Lucius Cornelius Maluginensis. The census was performed that year; it was a matter of religious scruple that the l.u.s.trum should be closed, on account of the Capitol having been taken and the consul slain. In the consulate of Quintus Fabius and Lucius Cornelius, disturbances broke out immediately at the commencement of the year. The tribunes were urging on the commons. The Latins and Hernici brought word that a formidable war was in preparation on the part of the Volscians and aequi; that the troops of the Volscians were now at Antium. Great apprehension was also entertained, that the colony itself would revolt: and with difficulty were the tribunes prevailed on to allow the war to take precedence. The consuls then divided the provinces between them. It was a.s.signed to Fabius to march the legions to Antium; to Cornelius, to protect the city; lest any part of the enemy, as was the practice of the aequi, should come to commit depredations. The Hernici and Latins were ordered to supply soldiers in conformity to the treaty; and in the army two parts consisted of allies, one part of natives. When the allies came to the day already appointed, the consul pitches his camp outside the Capuan gate. Then, after the army was purified, he set out for Antium, and encamped not far from the town, and standing camp of the enemy.

Where, when the Volscians, not venturing to risk an engagement, were preparing to protect themselves quietly within their ramparts, on the following day Fabius drew up not one mixed army of allies and citizens, but three separate bodies of the three states around the enemy's works.

He himself was in the centre with the Roman legions. He ordered them to watch for the signal from thence, so that the allies might both commence the action together, and retire together, if he should sound a retreat.

He placed their cavalry in the rear of each division. Having thus a.s.sailed the camp in three different points, he surrounds it; and when he pressed on from every side, he dislodges from the rampart the Volscians, not able to sustain his attack. Having then crossed the fortifications, he expels from the camp the crowd who were dismayed and inclining towards one direction. Upon this the cavalry, who could not easily pa.s.s over the rampart, having stood by up to that period mere spectators of the fight, having come up with them whilst flying in disorder on the open plain, enjoys a share of the victory, by cutting down the affrighted troops. The slaughter of them as they fled was great, both in the camp and outside the lines; but the booty was still greater, because the enemy were scarcely able to carry off their arms with them; and their entire army would have been destroyed, had not the woods covered them in their flight.

23. Whilst these transactions are taking place at Antium, the aequi, in the mean while, sending forward the main strength of their youth, surprise the citadel of Tusculum by night, and with the rest of their army they sit down at no great distance from the walls of Tusculum, so as to divide the forces of the enemy. This account being quickly brought to Rome, and from Rome to Antium, affect the Romans not less than if it was told them that the Capitol was taken; so recent were both the services of the Tusculans, and the very similitude of the danger seemed to require a return of the aid that had been afforded. Fabius, giving up every other object, removes the booty hastily from the camp to Antium.

Having a small garrison there, he hurries on his army by forced marches to Tusculum. The soldiers were allowed to carry nothing but their arms, and whatever dressed provision was at hand. The consul Cornelius sends provisions from Rome. The war was carried on at Tusculum for several months. With one part of his army the consul a.s.sailed the camp of the aequi; a part he had given to the Tusculans to recover their citadel.

They never could have made their way to it by force. Famine at length withdrew the enemy from it. And when they came to this at last, they were all sent under the yoke by the Tusculans, unarmed and naked. These, when betaking themselves home by an ignominious flight, were overtaken by the Roman consul on Algidum and cut off to a man. After this victory, having marched back[127] his army to Columen, (that is the name of the place,) he pitches his camp. The other consul also, as soon as the Roman walls ceased to be in danger, the enemy being defeated, set out from Rome. Thus the consuls, having entered the territories of the enemies on two different sides, strenuously vie with each other in depopulating the Volscians on the one hand, the aequi on the other. I find in some writers that the people of Antium revolted[128] the same year. That Lucius Cornelius, the consul, conducted that war and took the town, I would not venture to affirm for certain, because no mention is made of the matter among the older writers.

[Footnote 127: _Exercitu relicto_ is the ordinary reading. Crevier observes that _reducto_ is the more correct.]

[Footnote 128: This account does not seem to be correct. See Niebuhr ii.

p. 254.]

24. This war being concluded, a tribunitian war at home alarms the senate. They exclaim, "that the detaining the army abroad was done for a fraudulent motive: that such frustration was for the purpose of doing away with the law; that they, however, would go through with the matter undertaken by them." Publius Lucretius, however, the praefect of the city, so far prevailed that the proceedings of the tribunes were postponed till the arrival of the consuls. A new cause of disturbance also arose. Aulus Cornelius and Quintus Servilius, quaestors, appoint a day of trial for Marcus Volscius, because he had come forward as a manifestly false witness against Caeso. For it appeared by many proofs, that the brother of Volscius, from the time he first became ill, not only never appeared in public, but that he had not even arisen from his sick bed, and that he died of an illness of several months' standing; and that at the time to which the witness had referred the commission of the crime, Caeso had not been seen at Rome: those who served in the army with him, positively stating that at that time he had constantly attended at his post with them without any leave of absence. Many persons proposed on their own private responsibility to Volscius to have a judicial decision on the matter.[129] As he would not venture to go to trial, all these matters coinciding rendered the condemnation of Volscius no less certain than that of Caeso had been on the testimony of Volscius. The tribunes occasioned a delay, who said that they would not suffer the quaestors to hold the a.s.sembly[130] concerning the accused, unless it was first held concerning the law. Thus both matters were spun out till the arrival of the consuls. When they entered the city in triumph with their victorious army, because silence was (observed) with regard to the law, many thought that the tribunes were struck with dismay. But they, (for it was now the close of the year,) desirous of obtaining a fourth tribunes.h.i.+p, had turned away their efforts from the law to canva.s.sing for the elections; and when the consuls strove with no less strenuousness than if the law in question were proposed for the purpose of lessening their own dignity, the victory in the contest was on the side of the tribunes. On the same year peace was granted to the aequi on their suing for it. The census, a matter commenced on the preceding year, is completed. The number of citizens rated were one hundred and seventeen thousand three hundred and nineteen. The consuls obtained great glory this year both at home and in war, because they both re-established peace abroad and at home; though the state was not in a state of absolute concord, yet it was less disturbed than at other times.

[Footnote 129: _Ni ita esset_, a legal form of expression, amounting in this place to "if Volscius attempted to deny it." _Privatim_. Besides the quaestors who by virtue of their office were to prosecute Volscius, many persons on their own account, and on their private responsibility, cited him into court, and challenged him to discuss the case before a judge. A prosecutor was said _ferre judicem res_, when he proposed to the accused person some one out of the _judices selecti_, before whom the case might be tried; if the accused person consented to the person named by prosecutor, then the judge was said _convenisse_, to have been agreed on. Sometimes the accused was allowed to select his own judge, _judicem dicere_. When both the prosecutor and the accused agreed as to the judge, they presented a joint pet.i.tion to the praetor that he would appoint (_ut daret_) that person to try the cause; at the same time they both bound themselves to pay a certain sum, the one if he did not establish his charge, _ni ita esset_; the other if he did not prove his innocence.]

[Footnote 130: _Comitia_, i. e. _curiata_, which exercised authority in the cases of persons accused of inflicting injuries on the patricians.]

25. Lucius Minucius and Caius Nautius being next elected consuls, took up the two causes which lay over since the preceding year. The consuls obstructed the law, the tribunes the trial of Volscius in the same manner: but in the new quaestors there was greater power, and greater influence. With Marcus Valerius, son of Valerius and grandson of Volesus, t.i.tus Quintius Capitolinus, who had been thrice consul, was appointed quaestor. Since Caeso could neither be restored to the Quintian family, nor could he, though a most promising young man, be restored to the state, he justly, and as in duty bound, prosecuted the false witness who had deprived an innocent person of the power of pleading his cause.

When Virginius in particular and the (other) tribunes were promoting the pa.s.sing of the law, the s.p.a.ce of two months was allowed to the consuls to examine into the law: so that, when they had satisfied the people, as to what secret designs were concealed under it, they should then allow them to give their votes. The granting this respite established tranquillity in the city. The aequi however did not allow them long rest; who, in violation of the treaty which had been made with the Romans the year before, confer the chief command on Gracchus Claelius. He was then the leading man amongst the aequi. Under the command of Gracchus they carry hostile depredations into the district of Lavici, from thence into that of Tusculum, and laden with booty they pitch their camp at Algidum.

To that camp Quintus Fabius, Publius Volumnius, Aulus Posthumius, come to complain of the wrongs committed, and to demand rest.i.tution in accordance with the treaty. The general of the aequi commands them "to deliver to the oak whatever instructions they brought from the Roman senate; that he in the mean time should attend to other matters." A large oak tree hung over the praetorium, the shade of which const.i.tuted a pleasant seat. Then one of the amba.s.sadors, when departing, says, "Let both this consecrated oak and all the G.o.ds hear the treaty violated by you, and favour both our complaints now, and our arms presently, when we shall simultaneously avenge the rights of G.o.ds and men as violated by you." As soon as the amba.s.sadors returned to Rome, the senate ordered one of the consuls to lead his army against Gracchus at Algidum, to the other they a.s.signed as his province the laying waste of the country of the aequi. The tribunes, according to their practice, attempted to obstruct the levy; and probably would have eventually prevented it, but a new cause of alarm was suddenly added.

26. A large body of Sabines, committing dreadful devastation, approached very close to the walls of the city. The fields were laid waste, the city was struck with terror. Then the commons cheerfully took up arms; two large armies were raised, the tribunes remonstrating to no purpose.

Nautius led the one against the Sabines; and having pitched his camp at Eretum, by small detachments, generally by nightly incursions, he effected such desolation in the Sabine land, that, when compared to it, the Roman territories seemed intact by an enemy. Minucius had neither the same success nor the same energy of mind in conducting his business; for after he had pitched his camp at no great distance from the enemy, without having experienced any considerable loss, he kept himself through fear within the camp. When the enemy perceived this, their boldness increased, as sometimes happens, from others' fears; and having attacked his camp by night, when open force did not succeed well, they on the following day drew lines of circ.u.mvallation around it. Before these could close up all the pa.s.ses, by a vallum being thrown up on all sides, five hors.e.m.e.n being despatched between the enemies' posts, brought the account to Rome, that the consul and his army were besieged.

Nothing could have happened so unexpected, nor so unlooked-for.

Accordingly the panic and the alarm was as great as if the enemy besieged the city, not the camp. They send for the consul Nautius; in whom when there seemed to be but insufficient protection, and they were determined that a dictator should be appointed to retrieve their embarra.s.sed affairs, Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus is appointed by universal consent. It is worth those persons' while to listen, who despise all things human in comparison with riches, and who suppose "that there is no room for exalted honour, nor for virtue, unless where riches abound in great profusion." Lucius Quintius, the sole hope of the Roman people, cultivated a farm of four acres, at the other side of the Tiber, which are called the Quintian meadows, opposite to the very place where the dock-yard now is. There, whether leaning on a stake in a ditch which he was digging, or in the employment of ploughing, engaged at least on some rural work, as is certain, after mutual salutations had pa.s.sed, being requested by the amba.s.sadors to put on his gown, and listen to the commands of the senate, (with wishes) that it might be happy both to him and to the commonwealth, being astonished, and asking frequently "whether all was safe," he bids his wife Racilia immediately to bring his toga from his hut. As soon as he put this on and came forward, after first wiping off the dust and sweat, the amba.s.sadors, congratulating him, unite in saluting him as dictator: they call him into the city; explain to him what terror now exists in the army. A vessel was prepared for Quintius by order of government, and his three sons having come out to meet him, receive him on his landing at the other side; then his other relatives and friends; then the greater part of the patricians. Accompanied by this numerous attendance, and the lictors going before him, he was conducted to his residence. There was a numerous concourse of the commons also; but they by no means looked on Quintius with equal pleasure, considering both the extent of his authority as too great, and the man vested with such authority rather arbitrary. And during that night indeed nothing was done in the city besides posting guards.

27. On the next day the dictator, after he had come into the forum before day-light, names a master of the horse, Lucius Tarquitius, a man of patrician family, but one who, though he had served his campaigns among the foot by reason of his scanty means, was yet considered by many degrees the first in military skill among the Roman youth. With his master of the horse he came into the a.s.sembly, proclaims a suspension of civil business, orders the shops to be closed throughout the city, and forbids any one to attend to any private affairs. Then he commands that all, whoever were of the military age, should attend under arms, in the Campus Martius, before sun-set, with dressed provisions for five days and twelve palisades, and he commanded that whose age was too far advanced for military service, should dress their victuals for the soldiers in their vicinity, whilst the latter were preparing arms, and procuring the palisade. Accordingly, the young men run in different directions to procure the palisades; they took them wherever they were nearest to them; no one was prevented, and they all attended punctually according to the dictator's order. Then the troops being formed, not more fitted for the march than for an engagement, should the occasion require it, the dictator himself marches at the head of the legions, the master of the horse at the head of his cavalry. In both bodies there were such exhortations as the juncture itself required; that "they should quicken their pace; that there was need of expedition, that they might reach the enemy by night; that the consul and the Romans were besieged; that they had been shut up now three days: that it was uncertain what each day or night might bring with it; that the issue of the most important affairs often depended on a moment of time." They, to please their leaders, exclaimed among themselves, "Standard-bearer, hasten on; follow, soldier." At midnight they reach Algidum: and, as soon as they perceived that they were near the enemy, they halted.

28. There the dictator, having rode about, and having observed, as far as could be ascertained by night, what the situation of the camp was, and what its form, commanded the tribunes of the soldiers to order the baggage to be thrown into one place, and that the soldiers with their arms and palisades should return to their ranks. What he commanded was executed. Then, with the regularity which they had observed on the march, he draws the entire army in a long column around the enemies'

camp, and directs that, when the signal was given, they should all raise a shout; and that on the shout being raised, each man should throw up a trench before his post, and fix his palisade. The orders being issued, the signal followed: the soldiers perform what they were commanded; the shout resounds around the enemy: it then pa.s.ses beyond the camp of the enemy, and reaches the consul's camp: it occasions panic in one place, great joy in another. The Romans, observing to each other with exultation, "that this was the shout of their countrymen, and that aid was at hand," from their watch-guards and out-posts intimidate the enemy on their part. The consul says, that there must be no delay: "that by that shout not only their arrival was intimated, but that proceedings were already commenced by their friends; and that it would be a wonder if the enemies' camp were not attacked on the outside." He therefore orders his men to take up arms and follow him. The battle was commenced by the legions during the night: they give notice to the dictator by a shout, that on that side also the action was commenced. The aequans were now preparing to prevent the works from being brought around them,[131]

when, the battle being commenced by the enemy from within, turning their attention from those employed on the fortifications to those who were fighting on the inside, lest a sally should be made through the centre of their camp, they left the night to remain without interruption for the finis.h.i.+ng of the work; and they continued the fight with the consul till daylight. At the break of day they were now encompa.s.sed by the dictator's works, and were scarcely able to maintain the fight against one army. Then their lines were attacked by Quintius's army, who immediately after completing their work returned to their arms. Here a new fight pressed on them: the former one had suffered no relaxation.

Then the twofold peril pressing hard on them, turning from fighting to entreaties, they implored the dictator on the one hand, the consul on the other, not to make the victory consist in their general slaughter, that they would suffer them to depart without arms. When they were bid by the consul to go to the dictator, he, incensed against them, added ignominy (to defeat). He orders Gracchus Cloelius, their general, and other leaders to be brought to him in chains, and that they should evacuate the town of Corbio; "that he wanted not the blood of the aequans: that they were allowed to depart; but that the confession may be at length extorted, that their nation was defeated and subdued, that they should pa.s.s under the yoke." The yoke is formed with three spears, two fixed in the ground, and one tied across between the upper ends of them. Under this yoke the dictator sent the aequans.

[Footnote 131: _Ad prohibenda circ.u.mdari opera_. Stroth observes that it should be more properly _ad prohibenda circ.u.mdanda opera_, i. e. ad prohibendum, ne opera circ.u.mdarentur.]

29. The enemy's camp being taken, which was full of every thing, (for he had sent them away naked,) he distributed all the booty among his own soldiers only: chiding the consul's army and the consul himself, he says, "Soldiers, ye shall do without any portion of the spoil taken from that enemy to which you were well nigh becoming a spoil: and you, Lucius Minutius, until you begin to a.s.sume the spirit of a consul, shall command these legions as lieutenant-general." Minutius accordingly resigns his office of consul, and remains with the army, as he had been commanded. But so meekly obedient were the minds of men at that time to authority combined with superior merit, that this army, mindful of the kindness (conferred) rather than of the slur (cast on them), both voted a golden crown of a pound weight to the dictator, and saluted him as their patron when setting out. The senate at Rome, being convened by Quintus Fabius, praefect of the city, ordered Quintius to enter the city in triumph, in the order of march in which he was coming. The leaders of the enemy were led before his car: the military standards were carried before him: his army followed laden with spoil. Tables with provisions are said to have been laid out before the houses of all, and (the soldiers) partaking of the entertainment, followed the car with the triumphal hymn and the usual jests, after the manner of revellers. On that day the freedom of the state was granted to Lucius Mamilius of Tusculum, with universal approbation. The dictator would have laid down his office, had not the a.s.sembly for the trial of Marcus Volscius, the false witness, detained him; the fear of the dictator prevented the tribunes from obstructing it. Volscius was condemned and went into exile to Lanuvium. Quintius laid down his dictators.h.i.+p on the sixteenth day, having received it for six months. During those days the consul Nautius engages the Sabines at Eretum with distinguished success. Besides the devastation of their lands, this additional blow also befell the Sabines. Fabius Quintus was sent to Algidum as successor to Minucius.

Towards the end of the year the tribunes began to agitate the question of the law; but because two armies were abroad, the patricians carried the point, that no business should be proposed to the people. The commons succeeded in electing the same tribunes for the fifth time.

They report that wolves seen in the Capitol were driven away by dogs; that on account of that prodigy the Capitol was purified. Such were the transactions in that year.

30. Quintus Minucius and Caius Horatius Pulvillus follow as the next consuls. At the commencement of this year, when there was peace abroad, the same tribunes and the same law occasioned disturbances at home; and parties would have proceeded further, (so highly were their pa.s.sions inflamed,) had not, as if for the very purpose, news been brought, that by an attack of the aequans the garrison at Corbio had been cut off. The consuls convene the senate; they are ordered to raise a hasty levy and to proceed to Algidum. Then the contest about the law being given up, a new dispute arose regarding the levy. And the consular authority[132]

was about to be overpowered by tribunitian influence, when an additional cause of alarm comes on them: that the Sabine army had made a descent into the Roman lands to commit depredations; that from thence they were advancing to the city. This fear influenced the tribunes to allow the levy to proceed, not without a stipulation, however, that since they had been foiled for five years, and as that was but little protection to the commons, ten tribunes of the people should henceforward be elected.

Necessity wrung this from the patricians; this exception only they made, that they should not hereafter re-elect the same tribunes. The election for the tribunes was held immediately, lest that measure also, like others, might prove a delusion after the war. On the thirty-sixth year after the first tribunes, ten were elected, two from each cla.s.s; and provision was made that they should be elected in this manner for the future. The levy being then held, Minucius marched out against the Sabines, and found no enemy. Horatius, after the aequans, having put the garrison at Corbio to the sword, had taken Ortona also, fights a battle at Algidum; he slays a great number; drives the enemy not only from Algidum, but from Corbio and Ortona also. Corbio he razed to the ground for their having betrayed the garrison.

[Footnote 132: _Consulare, imperium tribunicio auxilio_.--The consuls possessed _imperium_. The tribunes could not be said to possess it.

Their province was confined to _auxilii latio_, sc. adversus consules.]

31. Marcus Valerius and Spurius Virginius are next elected consuls.

Quiet prevailed at home and abroad. They laboured under a scarcity of provisions on account of the excessive rains. A law was proposed regarding the making Mount Aventine public property. The same tribunes of the people being re-elected on the following year, t.i.tus Romilius and Caius Veturius being consuls, strongly recommended the law[133] in all their harangues, "That they were ashamed of their number increased to no purpose, if that question should lie for their two years in the same manner as it had lain for the whole preceding five." Whilst they were most busily employed in these matters, an alarming account comes from Tusculum, that the aequans were in the Tusculan territory. The recent services of that state made them ashamed of delaying relief. Both the consuls were sent with an army, and find the enemy in their usual post in Algidum. A battle was fought there; upwards of seven thousand of the enemy were slain; the rest were routed; immense booty was obtained. This the consuls sold on account of the low state of the treasury; the proceeding was the cause of dissatisfaction to the army, and it also afforded to the tribunes materials for bringing a charge against the consuls before the commons. Accordingly, as soon as they went out of office, in the consuls.h.i.+p of Spurius Tarpeius and Aulus Aterius, a day was appointed for Romilius by Caius Claudius Cicero, tribune of the people; for Veturius, by Lucius Alienus, plebeian aedile. They were both condemned, to the great mortification of the patricians; Romilius to pay ten thousand _a.s.ses_; Veturius, fifteen thousand. Nor did this misfortune of their predecessors render the new consuls more remiss.

They said that they too might be condemned, and that the commons and tribunes could not carry the law. Then having thrown up the law, which, in its repeated publication, had now grown old, the tribunes adopted a milder mode of proceeding with the patricians. "That they should at length put an end to their disputes. If plebeian laws displeased them, at least they should suffer legislators (chosen) in common, both from the commons and from the patricians, who would propose measures advantageous to both parties, and such as might tend to the equalization of liberty." This proposal the patricians did not reject.

They said that "no one should propose laws, except some of the patricians." When they agreed with respect to the laws, and differed only with respect to the proposer; amba.s.sadors were sent to Athens, Spurius Posthumius Albus, Aulus Manlius, Publius Sulpicius Camerinus; and they were ordered to copy out the celebrated laws of Solon, and to become acquainted with the inst.i.tutions, customs, and laws of the other states of Greece.

[Footnote 133: It is extraordinary that Livy makes no mention here of Siccius Dentatus, and his strenuous exertions in endeavouring to carry the agrarian law, as well as of his angry contentions with the consuls.

For his character, see Dion. x. 31, 32.]

32. The year was undisturbed by foreign wars; the following one was still more quiet, Publius Curiatius and s.e.xtus Quintilius being consuls, the tribunes observing uninterrupted silence, which was occasioned in the first place by their waiting for the amba.s.sadors who had gone to Athens, and for the foreign laws; in the next place, two heavy calamities arose at the same time, famine and pestilence, (which proved) destructive to man, and equally so to cattle. The lands were left desolate; the city exhausted by a constant succession of deaths. Many and ill.u.s.trious families were in mourning. The Flamen Quirinalis, Servilius Cornelius, died; as also the augur, Caius Horatius Pulvillus; into whose place the augurs elected Caius Veturius, the more eagerly, because he had been condemned by the commons. The consul Quintilius died, and four tribunes of the people. The year was rendered a melancholy one by these manifold disasters; but from an enemy there was perfect quiet. Then Caius Menenius and Publius Sestius Capitolinus were elected consuls. Nor was there in that year any external war: disturbances arose at home. The amba.s.sadors had now returned with the Athenian laws; the tribunes pressed the more urgently, that a commencement should at length be made of compiling the laws. It was resolved that decemvirs should be elected without appeal, and that there should be no other magistrate during that year. There was, for a considerable time, a dispute whether plebeians should be admitted among them: at length the point was given up to the patricians, provided that the Icilian law regarding the Aventine and the other devoting laws were not repealed.

33. In the three hundred and first year after Rome was built, the form of the government was a second time changed, the supreme power being transferred from consuls to decemvirs, as it had pa.s.sed before from kings to consuls. The change was less remarkable, because not of long duration; for the joyous commencement of that government became too licentious. So much the sooner did the matter fall, and (the usage) was recurred to, that the name and authority of consuls was committed to two persons. The decemvirs appointed were, Appius Claudius, t.i.tus Genucius, Publius Sestius, Lucius Veturius, Caius Julius, Aulus Manlius, Servius Sulpicius, Publius Curiatius, t.i.tus Romilius, Spurius Postumius. On Claudius and Genucius, because they had been elected consuls for that year, the honour was conferred in compensation for the honour (of the consulate); and on Sestius, one of the consuls of the former year, because he had proposed that matter to the senate against the will of his colleague. Next to these were considered the three amba.s.sadors who had gone to Athens; at the same time that the honour might serve as a recompence for so distant an emba.s.sy; at the same time they considered that persons acquainted with the foreign laws would be of use in digesting the new code of regulations. Other persons made up the number.

They say that persons advanced in years were appointed by the last suffrages, in order that they might oppose with less warmth the opinions of others. The direction of the entire government was rested in Appius through the favour of the commons, and he had a.s.sumed a demeanour so new, that from a severe and harsh reviler of the people, he became suddenly a protector of the commons, and a candidate for popular favour.

They administered justice to the people one every tenth day. On that day the twelve fasces attended the praefect of justice; one beadle attended each of his nine colleagues, and in the singular harmony among themselves, which unanimity might sometimes prove prejudicial to private persons, the strictest equity was shown to others. It will suffice to adduce a proof of their moderation by instancing one matter. Though they had been appointed without (the privilege of) appeal, yet a dead body having been found buried in the house of Publius Sestius, a man of patrician rank, and this having been brought forward in an a.s.sembly, in a matter equally clear and atrocious, Caius Julius, a decemvir, appointed a day of trial for Sestius, and appeared before the people as prosecutor (in a matter) of which he was legally a judge; and relinquished his right, so that he might add what had been taken from the power of the office to the liberty of the people.

34. Whilst the highest and lowest alike experienced from them this prompt administration of justice, impartial, as if from an oracle, then their attention was devoted to the framing of laws; and the ten tables being proposed amid the intense expectation of all, they summoned the people to an a.s.sembly: and "what may prove favourable, advantageous, and happy to the commonwealth themselves, and to their children, ordered them to go and read the laws that were exhibited." "That they had equalized the rights of all, both the highest and the lowest, as far as could be devised by the abilities of ten men; that the understanding and counsels of a greater number might prove more successful; that they should turn in their minds each particular within themselves, canva.s.s it in conversation; and bring together under public discussion whatever might seem an excess or deficiency under each particular. That the Roman people should have such laws, as the general consent might appear not so much to have ratified when proposed, as to have proposed from themselves." When they appeared sufficiently corrected according to public opinion (as expressed) regarding each chapter of the laws as it was published, the laws of the ten tables were pa.s.sed at the a.s.sembly voting by centuries; which, even at the present time, amid this immense heap of laws crowded one upon the other, still remain the source of all public and private jurisprudence. A rumour was then spread that two tables were wanting; on the addition of which a body, as it were, of the whole Roman law might be completed. The expectation of this, as the day of election approached, created a desire to appoint decemvirs again. The commons now, besides that they detested the name of consuls as much as that of kings, required not even the tribunitian aid, as the decemvirs in turn submitted to appeal.

35. But when the a.s.sembly for electing decemvirs was proclaimed for the third market-day, so strong a flame of ambition blazed forth, that the first men of the state began to canva.s.s individuals, (through fear, I suppose, lest the possession of such high authority might become accessible to persons not sufficiently worthy, if the post were left unoccupied by themselves,) suppliantly soliciting for an honour, which had been opposed by them with all their might, from that commons with whom they had so often contended. Their dignity now lowered to the risk of a contest, at such an age, and after pa.s.sing through such honours, stimulated the exertions of Appius Claudius. You would not know whether to reckon him among the decemvirs or the candidates; he resembled more closely one canva.s.sing for the office than one invested with it; he aspersed the n.o.bility, extolled every most insignificant and humble candidate; surrounded by the Duilii and Icilii who had been tribunes, he bustled about the forum, through their means he recommended himself to the commons; until his colleagues even, who till then had been extremely devoted to him, turned their eyes on him, wondering what he meant. It was evident to them, that there was no sincerity in it; "that certainly such affability amid such pride would not be for nothing. That this excessive lowering of himself, and putting himself on a level with private citizens, was not so much the conduct to be expected from one hastening to go out of office, as of one seeking the means of continuing that office." Not daring openly to oppose his wishes, they set about baffling his ardour by humouring it. They by common consent confer on him, as being the youngest, the office of presiding at the elections.

This was an artifice, that he might not appoint himself; which no one ever did, except the tribunes of the people, and that too with the very worst precedent. He, however, declaring that with the favour of fortune he would preside at the elections, seized on the (intended) obstacle[134] as a happy occasion; and having by a coalition foiled the two Quintii, Capitolinus and Cincinnatus, and his own uncle, Caius Claudius, a man most stedfast in the interest of the n.o.bility, and other citizens of the same eminence, he appoints as decemvirs men by no means equal in rank of life: himself in the first instance, which proceeding honourable men disapproved so much the more, as no one had imagined that he would have the daring to act so. With him were elected Marcus Cornelius-Maluginensis, Marcus Sergius, Lucius Minutius, Quintus Fabius Vibula.n.u.s, Quintus Ptelius, t.i.tus Antonius Merenda, Caeso Duilius, Spurius Oppius Cornicen, Manius Rabuleius.[135]

[Footnote 134: _Impedimentum_. The fact of his presiding at the meeting should have been a bar to his being elected a decemvir.]

[Footnote 135: Niebuhr will have it that five of these were of plebeian rank.]

36. This was the end of Appius's a.s.sumption of a character not his own.

Henceforward he began to live according to his own natural disposition, and to mould to his own temper his new colleagues before they should enter on their office. They held daily meetings remote from witnesses: then, furnished with their schemes of tyranny,[136] which they digested apart from others, no longer dissembling their arrogance, difficult of access, morose to all who addressed them, they carried out the matter to the ides of May. The ides of May were at that time the usual period for commencing office. At the commencement then of their magistracy, they rendered the first day of their office remarkable by making an exhibition of great terror. For when the preceding decemvirs had observed the rule, that only one should have the fasces, and that this emblem of royalty should pa.s.s through all in rotation, to each in his turn, they all suddenly came forth with the twelve fasces. One hundred and twenty lictors filled the forum, and carried before them the axes tied up with the fasces: and they explained that it was of no consequence that the axe should be taken away, as they had been appointed without the privilege of appeal.[137] There was the appearance of ten kings, and terrors were multiplied not only in the humblest individuals, but even in the princ.i.p.al men among the patricians, who thought that a pretext and commencement of bloodshed were sought for; so that if any one should utter a word favourable to liberty, either in the senate or in a meeting of the people, the rods and axes would be instantly brought forward, even to intimidate the rest. For besides that there was no protection in the people, the right of appeal being done away with, they had also by mutual consent prohibited interference with each other:[138] whereas the preceding decemvirs had allowed the points of law decided by themselves to be amended by appeal to a colleague, and had referred to the people some points which might seem to come within their own jurisdiction. For a considerable time the terror seemed equalized among all ranks; gradually it began to turn entirely on the commons. They spared the patricians; arbitrary and cruel treatment was shown to the humbler cla.s.ses: they were wholly respective of the person, not of the cause: as being persons with whom interest usurped the force of justice. Their decisions they concerted at home, and p.r.o.nounced in the forum. If any person appealed to a colleague, he left the one to whom he had appealed in such a manner as to regret that he had not abided by the sentence of the former. An opinion also had gone abroad without an authority, that they had conspired in their tyranny not only for the present time, but that a clandestine league had been struck among them (accompanied) with an oath, that they would not hold the comitia, and that by perpetuating the decemvirate they would retain the power now in their possession.

[Footnote 136: _Impotentibus_, sc. immoderatis--_rari aditus_, the genitive singular.--_Stroth._]

[Footnote 137: _Nec attinuisse demi securim, quum sine provocatione creati essent, interpretabantur_. Valerius Publicola had introduced the custom of not having the axes tied up with the fasces when carried before the consuls in the city. But the decemvirs said that this was, because an appeal from the consuls to the people was allowed. Whence, since their jurisdiction allowed of no appeal, they _interpreted_, i. e.

by interpreting the meaning or intention of this custom, they concluded that they were not bound by it, and that there was no reason why they should remove the axes from the fasces.--_Crev._]

[Footnote 138: _Provocatione_--intercessionem. The _provocatio_ was to the people, whilst the _intercessio_ referred to the decemvirs against a colleague.]

37. The plebeians then began to watch narrowly the countenances of the patricians, and (hoped) to catch the breeze of liberty from that quarter, by apprehending slavery from which, they had brought the republic into its present condition. The leading members of the senate detested the decemvirs, detested the commons; they neither approved of what was going on, and they considered that what befell the latter was not without their deserving it. They were unwilling to a.s.sist men who, by rus.h.i.+ng too eagerly towards liberty, had fallen into slavery: they even heaped injuries on them, that, from their disgust at the present state of things, two consuls and the former mode of government may at length become desirable. The greater part of the year was now pa.s.sed, and two tables of laws had been added to the ten tables of the former year; and if these laws also were once pa.s.sed in an a.s.sembly of the centuries, there now remained no reason why the republic should require that form of government. They were anxiously waiting to see how soon the a.s.sembly would be proclaimed for the election of consuls. The commons were only devising by what means they should re-establish the tribunitian power, that bulwark of their liberty, a thing now so long discontinued. When in the mean time no mention was made of the elections, and the decemvirs, who had at first exhibited themselves to the people, surrounded by men of tribunitian rank, because that was deemed popular, now guarded themselves by collecting young patricians; troops of these beset the tribunals. These seized and drove about the commons, and the effects of the commons; when success attended the more powerful individual, as far as obtaining any thing he might covet.[139]

And now they spared not even their backs. Some were beaten with rods; others had to submit to the axe; and lest such cruelty might go for nothing, a grant of his effects followed the punishment of the owner.

Corrupted by such bribes, the young n.o.bility not only made no opposition to oppression, but openly avowed their preference of their own gratification to the general liberty.

[Footnote 139: _Quum fortuna, qua quicquid cupitum foret, potentioris esset_. Stroth considers this pa.s.sage to be corrupt: he proposes to read _c.u.m fortuna_, so that _portentioris esset_ may refer to _quicquid cupitum foret_, i. e. with such favourable success, that every thing which the more powerful person might covet, became his.]

38. The ides of May came. No new election of magistrates having taken place, private persons came forth as decemvirs, without any abatement either in their determination to enforce their authority,[140] or any diminution in the emblems employed to make a parade of their station.

This indeed seemed to be regal tyranny. Liberty is now deplored as lost for ever; nor does any champion stand forth, or appear likely to do so.

And not only they themselves sunk into despondence, but they began to be looked down upon by the neighbouring states; and they felt indignant that dominion should exist where liberty was lost. The Sabines with a numerous body of men made an incursion on the Roman territory; and having committed extensive devastations, after they had driven with impunity booty of men and cattle, they recalled their troops which had been dispersed in different directions to Eretum, and pitch their camp there, grounding their hopes on the dissensions at Rome; (and trusting) that they would prove an obstruction to the levy. Not only the couriers, but the flight of the country people through the city, occasioned alarm.