Roman History Part 8

Accordingly, in his second consulship also, both the advocates of the agrarian law encouraged themselves to hope for the pa.s.sing of the measure, and the tribunes took it up, thinking that a result, that had been frequently attempted in opposition to the consuls, might be obtained now that at any rate one consul supported it: the consul remained firm in his opinion. The possessors of state land [1]--and these a considerable part of the patricians--transferred the odium of the entire affair from the tribunes to the consul, complaining that a man, who held the first office in the state, was busying himself with proposals more befitting the tribunes, and was gaining popularity by making presents out of other people's property. A violent contest was at hand; had not Fabius compromised the matter by a suggestion disagreeable to neither party. That under the conduct and auspices of t.i.tus Quinctius a considerable tract of land had been taken in the preceding year from the Volscians: that a colony might be sent to Antium, a neighbouring and conveniently situated maritime city: in this manner the commons would come in for lands without any complaints on the part of the present occupiers, and the state remain at peace.

This proposition was accepted. He secured the appointment of t.i.tus Quinctius, Aulus Verginius, and Publius Furius as triumvirs for distributing the land: such as wished to receive land were ordered to give in their names. The attainment of their object created disgust immediately, as usually happens, and so few gave in their names that Volscian colonists were added to fill up the number: the rest of the people preferred to ask for land in Rome, rather than to receive it elsewhere. The Aequans sued for peace from Quintus Fabius (he had gone thither with an army), and they themselves broke it by a sudden incursion into Latin territory.

In the following year Quintus Servilius (for he was consul with Spurius Postumius), being sent against the Aequans, pitched his camp permanently in Latin territory: unavoidable inaction held the army in check, since it was attacked by illness. The war was protracted to the third year, when Quintus Fabius and t.i.tus Quinctius were consuls. To Fabius, because he, as conqueror, had granted peace to the Aequans that sphere of action was a.s.signed in an unusual manner.[2]He, setting out with a sure hope that his name and renown would reduce the Aequans to submission, sent amba.s.sadors to the council of the nation, and ordered them to announce that Quintus Fabius, the consul, stated that he had brought peace to Rome from the Aequans, that from Rome he now brought them war, with that same right hand, but now armed, which he had formerly given to them in amity; that the G.o.ds were now witnesses, and would presently take vengeance on those by whose perfidy and perjury that had come to pa.s.s. That he, however, be matters as they might, even now preferred that the Aequans should repent of their own accord rather than suffer the vengeance of an enemy. If they repented, they would have a safe retreat in the clemency they had already experienced; but if they still took pleasure in perjury, they would wage war with the G.o.ds enraged against them rather than their enemies.

These words had so little effect on any of them that the amba.s.sadors were near being ill-treated, and an army was sent to Algidum[3]

against the Romans. When news of this was brought to Rome, the indignity of the affair, rather than the danger, caused the other consul to be summoned from the city; thus two consular armies advanced against the enemy in order of battle, intending to come to an engagement at once. But as it happened that not much of the day remained, one of the advance guard of the enemy cried out: "This is making a show of war, Romans, not waging it: you draw up your army in line of battle, when night is at hand; we need a longer period of daylight for the contest which is to come. Tomorrow at sunrise return to the field: you shall have an opportunity of fighting, never fear."

The soldiers, stung by these taunts, were marched back into camp till the following day, thinking that a long night was approaching, which would cause the contest to be delayed. Then indeed they refreshed their bodies with food and sleep: on the following day, when it was light, the Roman army took up their position some considerable time before. At length the Aequans also advanced. The battle was hotly contested on both sides, because the Romans fought under the influence of resentment and hatred, while the Aequans were compelled by a consciousness of danger incurred by misconduct, and despair of any confidence being reposed in them hereafter, to venture and to have recourse to the most desperate efforts. The Aequans, however, did not withstand the attack of the Roman troops, and when, having been defeated, they had retired to their own territories, the savage mult.i.tude, with feelings not at all more disposed to peace, began to rebuke their leaders: that their fortunes had been intrusted to the hazard of a pitched battle, in which mode of fighting the Romans were superior. That the Aequans were better adapted for depredations and incursions, and that several parties, acting in different directions, conducted wars with greater success than the unwieldy ma.s.s of a single army.

Accordingly, having left a guard over the camp, they marched out and attacked the Roman frontiers with such fury that they carried terror even to the city: the fact that this was unexpected also caused more alarm, because it was least of all to be feared that an enemy, vanquished and almost besieged in their camp, should entertain thoughts of depredation: and the peasants, rushing through the gates in a state of panic, cried out that it was not a mere raid, nor small parties of plunderers, but, exaggerating everything in their groundless fear, whole armies and legions of the enemy that were close at hand, and that they were hastening toward the city in hostile array. Those who were nearest carried to others the reports heard from these, reports vague and on that account more groundless: and the hurry and clamour of those calling to arms bore no distant resemblance to the panic that arises when a city has been taken by storm. It so happened that the consul Quinctius had returned to Rome from Algidum: this brought some relief to their terror; and, the tumult being calmed, after chiding them for their dread of a vanquished enemy, he set a guard on the gates. Then a meeting of the senate was summoned, and a suspension of business proclaimed by their authority: he himself, having set out to defend the frontiers, leaving behind Quintus Servilius as prefect of the city, found no enemy in the country. Affairs were conducted with distinguished success by the other consul; who, having attacked the enemy, where he knew that they would arrive, laden with booty, and therefore marching with their army the more enc.u.mbered, caused their depredation to prove their destruction. Few of the enemy escaped from the ambuscade; all the booty was recovered. Thus the return of the consul Quinctius to the city put an end to the suspension of business, which lasted four days.

A census[4] was then held, and the l.u.s.trum [Footnote: The ceremony of purification took place every five years, hence "Justrum" came to be used for a period of five years.] closed by Quinctius: the number of citizens rated is said to have been one hundred and four thousand seven hundred and fourteen, not counting orphans of both s.e.xes.

Nothing memorable occurred afterward among the aequans; they retired into their towns, allowing their possessions to be consumed by fire and devastated. The consul, after he had repeatedly carried devastation with a hostile army through the whole of the enemy's country, returned to Rome with great glory and booty.

The next consuls were Aulus Postumius Albus and Spurius Furius Fusus.

Furii is by some writers written Fusii; this I mention, to prevent any one thinking that the change, which is only in the names, is in the persons themselves. There was no doubt that one of the consuls was about tobegin hostilities against the aequans. The latter accordingly sought help from the Volscians of Ecetra; this was readily granted (so keenly did these states contend in inveterate hatred against the Romans), and preparations for war were made with the utmost vigour.

The Hernicans came to hear of it, and warned the Romans that the Ecetrans had revolted to the aequans: the colony of Antium also was suspected, because, after the town had been taken a great number of the inhabitants had fled thence for refuge to the aequans: and these soldiers behaved with the very greatest bravery during the course of the war. After the aequans had been driven into the towns, when this rabble returned to Antium, it alienated from the Romans the colonists who were already of their own accord disposed to treachery. The matter not yet being ripe, when it had been announced to the senate that a revolt was intended, the consuls were charged to inquire what was going on, the leading men of the colony being summoned to Rome. When they had attended without reluctance, they were conducted before the senate by the consuls, and gave such answers to the questions that were put to them that they were dismissed more suspected than they had come.

After this, war was regarded as inevitable. Spurius Furius, one of the consuls to whom that sphere of action had fallen, having marched against the Aequans, found the enemy committing depredations in the country of the Hernicans; and being ignorant of their numbers, because they had nowhere been seen all together, he rashly hazarded an engagement with an army which was no match for their forces. Being driven from his position at the first onset, he retreated to his camp; nor was that the end of his danger; for both on the next night and the following day, his camp was beset and a.s.saulted with such vigour that not even a messenger could be despatched thence to Rome. The Hernicans brought news both that an unsuccessful battle had been fought, and that the consul and army were besieged; and inspired the senate with such terror, that the other consul Postumius was charged to see to it that the commonwealth took no harm,[5] a form of decree which has ever been deemed to be one of extreme urgency. It seemed most advisable that the consul himself should remain at Rome to enlist all such as were able to bear arms: that t.i.tus Quinctius should be sent as proconsul[6] to the relief of the camp with the army of the allies: to complete this army the Latins and Hernicans, and the colony of Antium were ordered to supply Quinctius with troops hurriedly raised-such was the name (subitarii) that they gave to auxiliaries raised for sudden emergencies.

During those days many manoeuvres and many attacks were carried out on both sides, because the enemy, having the advantage in numbers, attempted to hara.s.s the Roman forces by attacking them on many sides, as not likely to prove sufficient to meet all attacks. While the camp was being besieged, at the same time part of the army was sent to devastate Roman territory, and to make an attempt upon the city itself, should fortune favour. Lucius Valerius was left to guard the city: the consul Postumius was sent to prevent the plundering of the frontiers. There was no abatement in any quarter either of vigilance or activity; watches were stationed in the city, outposts before the gates, and guards along the walls: and a cessation of business was observed for several days, as was necessary amid such general confusion. In the meantime the consul Furius, after he had at first pa.s.sively endured the siege in his camp, sallied forth through the main gate[7] against the enemy when off their guard; and though he might have pursued them, he stopped through apprehension, that an attack might be made on the camp from the other side. The lieutenant Furius (he was also the consul's brother) was carried away too far in pursuit: nor did he, in his eagerness to follow them up, observe eitherhis own party returning, or the attack of the enemy on his rear: being thus shut out, having repeatedly made many unavailing efforts to force his way to the camp, he fell, fighting bravely. In like manner the consul, turning about to renew the fight, on being informed that his brother was surrounded, rushing into the thick of the fight rashly rather than with sufficient caution, was wounded, and with difficulty rescued by those around him. This both damped the courage of his own men, and increased the boldness of the enemy; who, being encouraged by the death of the lieutenant, and by the consul's wound, could not afterward have been withstood by any force, as the Romans, having been driven into their camp, were again being besieged, being a match for them neither in hopes nor in strength, and the very existence of the state would have been imperilled, had not t.i.tus Quinctius come to their relief with foreign troops, the Latin and Hernican army. He attacked the Aequans on their rear while their attention was fixed on the Roman camp, and while they were insultingly displaying the head of the lieutenant: and, a sally being made at the same time from the camp at a signal given by himself from a distance, he surrounded a large force of the enemy. Of the Aequans in Roman territory the slaughter was less, their flight more disorderly. As they straggled in different directions, driving their plunder before them, Postumius attacked them in several places, where he had posted bodies of troops in advantageous positions. They, while straying about and pursuing their flight in great disorder, fell in with the victorious Quinctius as he was returning with the wounded consul. Then the consular army by its distinguished bravery amply avenged the consul's wound, and the death of the lieutenant and the slaughter of the cohorts; heavy losses were both inflicted and received on both sides during those days. In a matter of such antiquity it is difficult to state, so as to inspire conviction, the exact number of those who fought or fell: Antias Valerius, however, ventures to give an estimate of the numbers: that in the Hernican territory there fell five thousand eight hundred Romans; that of the predatory parties of the Aequans, who strayed through the Roman frontiers for the purpose of plundering, two thousand four hundred were slain by the consul Aulus Postumius; that the rest of the body which fell in with Quinctius while driving its booty before them, by no means got off with a loss equally small: of these he a.s.serts that four thousand, and by way of stating the number exactly, two hundred and thirty were slain. After their return to Rome, the cessation of business was abandoned. The sky seemed to be all ablaze with fire; and other prodigies either actually presented themselves before men's eyes, or exhibited imaginary appearances to their affrighted minds. To avert these terrors, a solemn festival for three days was proclaimed, during which all the shrines were filled with a crowd of men and women, earnestly imploring the favour of the G.o.ds. After this the Latin and Hernican cohorts were sent back to their respective homes, after they had been thanked by the senate for their spirited conduct in war. The thousand soldiers from Antium were dismissed almost with disgrace, because they had come after the battle too late to render a.s.sistance.

The elections were then held: Lucius Aebutius and Publius Servilius were elected consuls, and entered on their office on the calends of August[8] according to the practice of beginning the year on that date. It was an unhealthy season, and it so happened that the year [9]

was pestilential to the city and country, and not more to men than to cattle; and they themselves increased the severity of the disease by admitting the cattle and the peasants into the city in consequence of their dread of devastation. This collection of animals of every kind mingled together both distressed the inhabitants of the city by the unusual stench, and also the peasants, crowded together into their confined dwellings, by heat and want of sleep while their attendance on each other, and actual contact helped to spread disease. While they were hardly able to endure the calamities that pressed upon them, amba.s.sadors from the Hernicans suddenly brought word that the Aequans and Volscians had united their forces, and pitched their camp in their territory: that from thence they were devastating their frontiers with an immense army. In addition to the fact that the small attendance of the senate was a proof to the allies that the state was prostrated by the pestilence, they further received this melancholy answer: That the Hernicans, as well as the Latins, must now defend their possessions by their own unaided exertions. That the city of Rome, through the sudden anger of the G.o.ds, was ravaged by disease. If any relief from that calamity should arise, that they would afford aid to their allies, as they had done the year before, and always on other occasions. The allies departed, carrying home, instead of the melancholy news they had brought, news still more melancholy, seeing that they were now obliged to sustain by their own resources a war, which they would have with difficulty sustained even if backed by the power of Rome. The enemy no longer confined themselves to the Hernican territory. They proceeded thence with determined hostility into the Roman territories, which were already devastated without the injuries of war. There, without any one meeting them, not even an unarmed person, they pa.s.sed through entire tracts dest.i.tute not only of troops, but even uncultivated, and reached the third milestone on the Gabinian road.[10] Aebutius, the Roman consul, was dead: his colleague, Servilius, was dragging out his life with slender hope of recovery; most of the leading men, the chief part of the patricians, nearly all those of military age, were stricken down with disease, so that they not only had not sufficient strength for the expeditions, which amid such an alarm the state of affairs required, but scarcely even for quietly mounting guard. Those senators, whose age and health permitted them, personally discharged the duty of sentinels. The patrol and general supervision was a.s.signed to the plebeian aediles: on them devolved the chief conduct of affairs and the majesty of the consular authority.

The commonwealth thus desolate, since it was without a head, and without strength, was saved by the guardian G.o.ds and good fortune of the city, which inspired the Volscians and aequans with the disposition of freebooters rather than of enemies; for so far were their minds from entertaining any hope not only of taking but even of approaching the walls of Rome, and so thoroughly did the sight of the houses in the distance, and the adjacent hills, divert their thoughts, that, on a murmur arising throughout the entire camp--why should they waste time in indolence without booty in a wild and desert land, amid the pestilence engendered by cattle and human beings, when they could repair to places as yet unattacked--the Tusculan territory abounding in wealth? They suddenly pulled up their standards,[11] and, by cross-country marches, pa.s.sed through the Lavican territory to the Tusculan hills: to that quarter the whole violence and storm of the war was directed. In the meantime the Hernicans and Latins, influenced not only by compa.s.sion but by a feeling of shame, if they neither opposed the common enemy who were making for the city of Rome with a hostile army, nor afforded any aid to their allies when besieged, marched to Rome with united forces. Not finding the enemy there, they followed their tracks in the direction they were reported to have taken, and met them as they were coming down from Tusculan territory into the Alban valley: there a battle was fought under circ.u.mstances by no means equal; and their fidelity proved by no means favourable to the allies for the time being. The havoc caused by pestilence at Rome was not less than that caused by the sword among the allies: the only surviving consul died, as well as other distinguished men, Marcus Valerius, t.i.tus Verginius Rutilus, augurs: Servius Sulpicius, chief priest of the curies:[12] while among undistinguished persons the virulence of the disease spread extensively: and the senate, dest.i.tute of human aid, directed the people's attention to the G.o.ds and to vows: they were ordered to go and offer supplications with their wives and children, and to entreat the favour of Heaven. Besides the fact that their own sufferings obliged each to do so, when summoned by public authority, they filled all the shrines; the prostrate matrons in every quarter sweeping the temples with their hair, begged for a remission of the divine displeasure, and a termination to the pestilence.

From this time, whether it was that the favour of the G.o.ds was obtained, or that the more unhealthful season of the year was now over, the bodily condition of the people, now rid of disease, gradually began to be more healthy, and their attention being now directed to public concerns, after the expiration of several interregna, Publius Valerius Publicola, on the third day after he had entered on his office of interrex,[13] procured the election of Lucius Lucretius Tricipitinus, and t.i.tus Veturius (or Vetusius) Geminus, to the consulship. They entered on their consulship on the third day before the ides of August,[14] the state being now strong enough not only to repel a a hostile attack, but even to act itself on the offensive. Therefore when the Hernicans announced that the enemy had crossed over into their boundaries, a.s.sistance was readily promised: two consular armies were enrolled. Veturius was sent against the Volscians to carry on an offensive war. Tricipitinus, being posted to protect the territory of the allies from devastation, proceeded no further than into the countryof the Hernicans. Veturius routed and put the enemy to flight in the first engagement. A party of plunderers, led over the Praenestine Mountains, and from thence sent down into the plains, was un.o.bserved by Lucretius, while he lay encamped among the Hernicans. These laid waste all the countryaround Praeneste and Gabii: from the Gabinian territory they turned their course toward the heights of Tusculum; great alarm was excited in the city of Rome also, more from the suddenness of the affair than because there was not sufficient strength to repel the attack. Quintus Fabius was in command of the city; he, having armed the young men and posted guards, made things secure and tranquil. The enemy, therefore, not venturing to approach the city, when they were returning by a circuitous route, carrying off plunder from the adjacent places, their caution being now more relaxed, in proportion as they removed to a greater distance from the enemy's city, fell in with the consul Lucretius, who had already reconnoitred his lines of march, and whose army was drawn up in battle array and resolved upon an engagement. Accordingly, having attacked them with predetermined resolution, though with considerably inferior forces, they routed and put to flight their numerous army, while smitten with sudden panic, and having driven them into the deep valleys, where means of egress were not easy, they surrounded them.

There the power of the Volscians was almost entirely annihilated. In some annals, I find that thirteen thousand four hundred and seventy fell in battle and in flight that one thousand seven hundred and fifty were taken alive, that twenty-seven military standards were captured: and although in accounts there may have been some exaggeration in regard to numbers, undoubtedly great slaughter took place. The victorious consul, having obtained immense booty, returned to his former standing camp. Then the consuls joined camps. The Volscians and aequans also united their shattered strength. This was the third battle in that year; the same good fortune gave them victory; the enemy was routed, and their camp taken.

Thus the affairs of Rome returned to their former condition; and successes abroad immediately excited commotions in the city. Gaius Terentilius Harsa was tribune of the people in that year: he, considering that an opportunity was afforded for tribunician intrigues during the absence of the consuls began, after railing against the arrogance of the patricians for several days before the people, to inveigh chiefly against the consular authority, as being excessive and intolerable for a free state: for that in name only was it less hateful, in reality it was almost more cruel than the authority of the kings: that forsooth in place of one, two masters had been accepted, with unbounded and unlimited power, who, themselves unrestrained and unbridled, directed all the terrors of the law, and all kinds of punishments against the commons. Now, in order that their unbounded license might not last forever, he would bring forward a law that five persons be appointed to draw up laws regarding the consular power, by which the consul should use that right which the people should have given him over them, not considering their own caprice and license as law. Notice having been given of this law, as the patricians were afraid, lest, in the absence of the consuls, they should be subjected to the yoke; the senate was convened by Quintus Fabius, prefect of the city, who inveighed so vehemently against the bill and its proposer that no kind of threats or intimidation was omitted by him, which both the consuls could supply, even though they surrounded the tribune in all their exasperation: That he had lain in wait, and, having seized a favourable opportunity, had made an attack on the commonwealth. If the G.o.ds in their anger had given them any tribune like him in the preceding year, during the pestilence and war, it could not have been endured: that, when both the consuls were dead, and the state prostrate and enfeebled, in the midst of the general confusion he would have proposed laws to abolish the consular government altogether from the state; that he would have headed the Volscians and aequans in an attack on the city. What, if the consuls behaved in a tyrannical or cruel manner against any of the citizens, was it not open to him to appoint a day of trial for them, to arraign them before those very judges against any one of whom severity might have been exercised?

That he by his conduct was rendering, not the consular authority, but the tribunician power hateful and insupportable; which, after having been in a state of peace, and on good terms with the patricians, was now being brought back anew to its former mischievous practices; nor did he beg of him not to proceed as he had begun. "Of you, the other tribunes," said Fabius, "we beg that you will first of all consider that that power was appointed for the aid of individuals, not for the ruin of the community; that you were created tribunes of the commons, not enemies of the patricians. To us it is distressing, to you a source of odium, that the republic, now bereft of its chief magistrates, should be attacked; you will diminish not your rights, but the odium against you. Confer with your colleague that he may postpone this business till the arrival of the consuls, to be then discussed afresh; even the aequans and the Volscians, when our consuls were carried off by pestilence last year, did not hara.s.s us with a cruel and tyrannical war." The tribunes conferred with Terentilius, and the bill being to all appearance deferred, but in reality abandoned, the consuls were immediately sent for.

Lucretius returned with immense spoil, and much greater glory; and this glory he increased on his arrival, by exposing all the booty in the Campus Martius, so that each person might, for the s.p.a.ce of three days, recognise what belonged to him and carry it away; the remainder, for which no owners were forthcoming, was sold. A triumph was by universal consent due to the consul; but the matter was deferred, as the tribune again urged his law; this to the consul seemed of greater importance. The business was discussed for several days, both in the senate and before the people: at last the tribune yielded to the majesty of the consul, and desisted; then their due honour was paid to the general and his army. He triumphed over the Volscians and aequans; his troops followed him in his triumph. The other consul was allowed to enter the city in ovation[15]unaccompanied by his soldiers.

In the following year the Terentilian law, being brought forward again by the entire college, engaged the serious attention of the new consuls, who were Publius Volumnius and Servius Sulpicius. In that year the sky seemed to be on fire, and a violent earthquake took place: it was believed that an ox spoke, a phenomenon which had not been credited in the previous year: among other prodigies there was a shower of flesh, which a large flock of birds is said to have carried off by pecking at the falling pieces: that which fell to the ground is said to have lain scattered about just as it was for several days, without becoming tainted. The books were consulted[16] by the duumviri for sacred rites: dangers of attacks to be made on the highest parts of the city, and of consequent bloodshed, were predicted as threatening from an a.s.semblage of strangers; among other things, admonition was given that all intestine disturbances should be abandoned.[17] The tribunes alleged that that was done to obstruct the law, and a desperate contest was at hand.

On a sudden, however, that the same order of events might be renewed each year, the Hernicans announced that the Volscians and the aequans, in spite of their strength being much impaired, were recruiting their armies: that the centre of events was situated at Antium; that the colonists of Antium openly held councils at Ecetra: that there was the head--there was the strength--of the war. As soon as this announcement was made in the senate, a levy was proclaimed: the consuls were commanded to divide the management of the war between them; that the Volscians should be the sphere of action of the one, the aequans of the other. The tribunes loudly declared openly in the forum that the story of the Volscian war was nothing but a got-up farce: that the Hernicans had been trained to act their parts: that the liberty of the Roman people was now not even crushed by manly efforts, but was baffled by cunning; because it was now no longer believed that the Volscians and the aequans who were almost utterly annihilated, could of themselves begin hostilities, new enemies were sought for: that a loyal colony, and one in their very vicinity, was being rendered infamous: that war was proclaimed against the unoffending people of Antium, in reality waged with the commons of Rome, whom, loaded with arms, they were determined to drive out of the city with precipitous haste, wreaking their vengeance on the tribunes by the exile and expulsion of their fellow-citizens. That by these means--and let them not think that there was any other object contemplated--the law was defeated, unless, while the matter was still in abeyance, while they were still at home and in the grab of citizens, they took precautions, so as to avoid being driven out of possession of the city, or being subjected to the yoke. If they only had spirit, support would not be wanting: that all the tribunes were unanimous: that there was no apprehension from abroad, no danger. That the G.o.ds had taken care, in the preceding year that their liberty could be defended with safety. Thus spoke the tribunes.

But on the other side, the consuls, having placed their chairs[18]

within view of them, were holding the levy; thither the tribunes hastened down, and carried the a.s.sembly along with them; a few [19]

were summoned, as it were, by way of making an experiment, and instantly violence ensued. Whomsoever the lictor laid hold of by order of the consul, him the tribune ordered to be released; nor did his own proper jurisdiction set a limit to each, but they rested their hopes on force, and whatever they set their mind upon, was to be gained by violence. Just as the tribunes had behaved in impeding the levy, in the same manner did the consuls conduct themselves in obstructing the law which was brought forward on each a.s.sembly day. The beginning of the riot was that the patricians refused to allow themselves to be moved away, when the tribunes ordered the people to proceed to give their vote. Scarcely any of the older citizens mixed themselves up in the affair, inasmuch as it was one that would not be directed by prudence, but was entirely abandoned to temerity and daring. The consuls also frequently kept out of the way, lest in the general confusion they might expose their dignity to insult. There was one Caeso Quinctius, a youth who prided himself both on the n.o.bility of his descent, and his bodily stature and strength; to these endowments bestowed on him by the G.o.ds, he himself had added many brave deeds in war, and eloquence in the forum; so that no one in the state was considered readier either in speech or action. When he had taken his place in the midst of a body of the patricians, pre-eminent above the rest, carrying as it were in his eloquence and bodily strength dictatorships and consulships combined, he alone withstood the storms of the tribunes and the populace. Under his guidance the tribunes were frequently driven from the forum, the commons routed and dispersed; such as came in his way, came off ill-treated and stripped: so that it became quite clear that, if he were allowed to proceed in this way, the law was as good as defeated Then, when the other tribunes were now almost thrown into despair, Aulus Verginius, one of the colleges, appointed a day for Caeso to take his trial on a capital charge. By this proceeding he rather irritated than intimidated his violent temper: so much the more vigorously did he oppose the law, hara.s.s the commons, and persecute the tribunes, as if in a regular war. The accuser suffered the accused to rush headlong to his ruin, and to fan the flame of odium and supply material for the charges he intended to bring against him: in the meantime he proceeded with the law, not so much in the hope of carrying it through, as with the object of provoking rash action on the part of Caeso. After that many inconsiderate expressions and actions of the younger patricians were put down to the temper of Caeso alone, owing to the suspicion with which he was regarded: still the law was resisted. Also Aulus Verginius frequently remarked to the people: "Are you now sensible, Quirites that you can not at the same time have Caeso as a fellow-citizen, and the law which you desire? Though why do I speak of the law? He is a hindrance to your liberty; he surpa.s.ses all the Tarquins in arrogance. Wait till that man is made consul or dictator, whom, though but a private citizen, you now see exercising kingly power by his strength and audacity." Many agreed, complaining that they had been beaten by him: and, moreover, urged the tribune to go through with the prosecution.

The day of trial was now at hand, and it was evident that people in general considered that their liberty depended on the condemnation of Caeso: then, at length being forced to do so, he solicited the commons individually, though with a strong feeling of indignation; his relatives and the princ.i.p.al men of the state attended him. t.i.tus Quinctius Capitolinus, who had been thrice consul, recounting many splendid achievements of his own, and of his family, declared that neither in the Quinctian family, nor in the Roman state, had there ever appeared such a promising genius displaying such early valour.

That he himself was the first under whom he had served, that he had often in his sight fought against the enemy. Spurius Furius declared that Caeso, having been sent to him by Quinctius Capitolinus, had come to his aid when in the midst of danger; that there was no single individual by whose exertions he considered the common weal had been more effectually re-established. Lucius Lucretius, the consul of the preceding year, in the full splendour of recent glory, shared his own meritorious services with Caeso; he recounted his battles detailed his distinguished exploits, both in expeditions and in pitched battle; he recommended and advised them to choose rather that a youth so distinguished, endowed with all the advantages of nature and fortune, and one who should prove the greatest support of whatsoever state he should visit, should continue to be a fellow-citizen of their own, rather than become the citizen of a foreign state: that with respect to those qualities which gave offence in him, hot-headedness and overboldness, they were such as increasing years removed more and more every day: that what was lacking, prudence, increased day by day: that as his faults declined, and his virtues ripened, they should allow so distinguished a man to grow old in the state. Among these his father, Lucius Quinctius, who bore the surname of Cincinnatus, without dwelling too often on his services, so as not to heighten public hatred, but soliciting pardon for his youthful errors, implored them to forgive his son for his sake, who had not given offence to any either by word or deed. But while some, through respect or fear, turned away from his entreaties, others, by the harshness of their answer, complaining that they and their friends had been ill-treated, made no secret of what their decision would be.

Independently of the general odium, one charge in particular bore heavily on the accused; that Marcus Volscius Fictor, who some years before had been tribune of the people, had come forward to bear testimony: that not long after the pestilence had raged in the city, he had fallen in with a party of young men rioting in the Subura;[20]

that a scuffle had taken place: and that his elder brother, not yet perfectly recovered from his illness, had been knocked down by Caeso with a blow of his fist: that he had been carried home half dead in the arms of some bystanders, and that he was ready to declare that he had died from the blow: and that he had not been permitted by the consuls of former years to obtain redress for such an atrocious affair. In consequence of Volscius vociferating these charges, the people became so excited that Caeso was near being killed through the violence of the crowd. Verginius ordered him to be seized and dragged off to prison. The patricians opposed force to force. t.i.tus Quinctius exclaimed that a person for whom a day of trial for a capital offence had been appointed, and whose trial was now close at hand, ought not to be outraged before he was condemned, and without a hearing. The tribune replied that he would not inflict punishment on him before he was condemned: that he would, however, keep him in prison until the day of trial, that the Roman people might have an opportunity of inflicting punishment on one who had killed a man.[21] The tribunes being appealed to, got themselves out of the difficulty in regard to their prerogative of rendering aid, by a resolution that adopted a middle course: they forbade his being thrown into confinement, and declared it to be their wish that the accused should be brought to trial, and that a sum of money should be promised to the people, in case he should not appear. How large a sum of money ought to be promised was a matter of doubt: the decision was accordingly referred to the senate. The accused was detained in public custody until the patricians should be consulted: it was decided that bail should be given: they bound each surety in the sum of three thousand a.s.ses; how many sureties should be given was left to the tribunes; they fixed the number at ten: on this number of sureties the prosecutor admitted the accused to bail.[22] He was the first who gave public sureties. Being discharged from the forum, he went the following night into exile among the Tuscans. When on the day of trial it was pleaded that he had withdrawn into voluntary exile, nevertheless, at a meeting of the comitia under the presidency of Verginius, his colleagues, when appealed to, dismissed the a.s.sembly: [23] the fine was rigorously exacted from his father, so that, having sold all his effects, he lived for a considerable time in an out-of-the-way cottage on the other side of the Tiber, as if in exile.

This trial and the proposal of the law gave full employment to the state: in regard to foreign wars there was peace. When the tribunes, as if victorious, imagined that the law was all but pa.s.sed owing to the dismay of the patricians at the banishment of Caeso, and in fact, as far as regarded the seniors of the patricians, they had relinquished all share in the administration of the commonwealth, the juniors, more especially those who were the intimate friends of Caeso, redoubled their resentful feelings against the commons, and did not allow their spirits to fail; but the greatest improvement was made in this particular, that they tempered their animosity by a certain degree of moderation. The first time when, after Cseso's banishment, the law began to be brought forward, these, arrayed and well prepared, with a numerous body of clients, so attacked the tribunes, as soon as they afforded a pretext for it by attempting to remove them, that no one individual carried home from thence a greater share than another, either of glory or ill-will, but the people complained that in place of one Caeso a thousand had arisen. During the days that intervened, when the tribunes took no proceedings regarding the law, nothing could be more mild or peaceable than those same persons; they saluted the plebeians courteously, entered into conversation with them, and invited them home: they attended them in the forum,[24] and suffered the tribunes themselves to hold the rest of their meetings without interruption: they were never discourteous to any one either in public or in private, except on occasions when the matter of the law began to be agitated. In other respects the young men were popular. And not only did the tribunes transact all their other affairs without disturbance, but they were even re-elected or the following year.

Without even an offensive expression, much less any violence being employed, but by soothing and carefully managing the commons the young patricians gradually rendered them tractable. By these artifices the law was evaded through the entire year.

The consuls Gaius Claudius, the son of Appius, and Publius Valerius Publicola, took over the government from their predecessors in a more tranquil condition. The next year had brought with it nothing new: thoughts about carrying the law, or submitting to it, engrossed the attention of the state. The more the younger patricians strove to insinuate themselves into favour with the plebeians, the more strenuously did the tribunes strive on the other hand to render them suspicious in the eyes of the commons by alleging that a conspiracy had been formed; that Caeso was in Rome; that plans had been concerted for a.s.sa.s.sinating the tribunes, for butchering the commons. That the commission a.s.signed by the elder members of the patricians was, that the young men should abolish the tribunician power from the state, and the form of government should be the same as it had been before the occupation of the Sacred Mount. At the same time a war from the Volscians and aequans, which had now become a fixed and almost regular occurrence every year, was apprehended, and another evil nearer home started up unexpectedly. Exiles and slaves, to the number of two thousand five hundred, seized the Capitol and citadel during the night, under the command of Appius Herdonius, a Sabine. Those who refused to join the conspiracy and take up arms with them were immediately ma.s.sacred in the citadel: others, during the disturbance, fled in headlong panic down to the forum: the cries, "To arms!" and "The enemy are in the city!" were heard alternately. The consuls neither dared to arm the commons, nor to suffer them to remain unarmed; uncertain what sudden calamity had a.s.sailed the city, whether from without or within, whether arising from the hatred of the commons or the treachery of the slaves: they tried to quiet the disturbances, and while trying to do so they sometimes aroused them; for the populace, panic-stricken and terrified, could not be directed by authority. They gave out arms, however, but not indiscriminately; only so that, as it was yet uncertain who the enemy were, there might be a protection sufficiently reliable to meet all emergencies. The remainder of the night they pa.s.sed in posting guards in suitable places throughout the city, anxious and uncertain who the enemy were, and how great their number. Daylight subsequently disclosed the war and its leader. Appius Herdonius summoned the slaves to liberty from the Capitol, saying, that he had espoused the cause of all the most unfortunate, in order to bring back to their country those who had been exiled and driven out by wrong, and to remove the grievous yoke from the slaves: that he had rather that were done under the authority of the Roman people. If there were no hope in that quarter, he would rouse the Volscians and Aequans, and would try even the most desperate remedies.

The whole affair now began to be clearer to the patricians and consuls; besides the news, however, which was officially announced, they dreaded lest this might be a scheme of the Veientines or Sabines; and, further, as there were so many of the enemy in the city, lest the Sabine and Etruscan troops might presently come up according to a concerted plan, and their inveterate enemies, the Volscians and Aequans should come, not to ravage their territories, as before, but even to the gates of the city, as being already in part taken. Many and various were their fears, the most prominent among which was their dread of the slaves, lest each should harbour an enemy in his own house, one whom it was neither sufficiently safe to trust, nor, by distrusting, to p.r.o.nounce unworthy of confidence, lest he might prove a more deadly foe. And it scarcely seemed that the evil could be resisted by harmony: no one had any fear of tribunes or commons, while other troubles so predominated and threatened to swamp the state: that fear seemed an evil of a mild nature, and one that always arose during the cessation of other ills, and then appeared to be lulled to rest by external alarm. Yet at the present time that, almost more than anything else, weighed heavily on their sinking fortunes: for such madness took possession of the tribunes, that contended that not war, but an empty appearance of war, had taken possession of the Capitol, to divert the people's minds from attending to the law: that these friends and clients of the patricians would depart in deeper silence than they had come, if they once perceived that, by the law being pa.s.sed, they had raised these tumults in vain. They then held a meeting for pa.s.sing the law, having called away the people from arms.

In the meantime, the consuls convened the senate, another dread presenting itself by the action of the tribunes, greater than that which the nightly foe had occasioned.

When it was announced that the men were laying aside their arms, and quitting their posts, Publius Valerius, while his colleague still detained the senate, hastened from the senate-house, and went thence into the meeting-place to the tribunes. "What is all this," said he, "O tribunes? Are you determined to overthrow the commonwealth under the guidance and auspices of Appius Herdonius? Has he been so successful in corrupting you, he who, by his authority, has not even influenced your slaves? When the enemy is over our heads, is it your pleasure that we should give up our arms, and laws be proposed?" Then, directing his words to the populace: "If, Quirites, no concern for your city, or for yourselves, moves you, at least revere the G.o.ds of your country, now made captive by the enemy. Jupiter, best and greatest, Queen Juno, and Minerva, and the other G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses,[25] are being besieged; a camp of slaves now holds possession of the tutelary G.o.ds of the state. Does this seem to you the behavior of a state in its senses? Such a crowd of enemies is not only within the walls, but in the citadel, commanding the forum an senate-house: in the meanwhile meetings are being held in the forum, the senate is in the senate-house: just as when tranquility prevails, the senator gives his opinion, the other Romans their votes. Does it not behoove all patricians and plebeians, consuls, tribunes, G.o.ds, and men of all cla.s.ses, to bring aid with arms in their hands, to hurry into the Capitol, to liberate and restore to peace that most august residence of Jupiter, best and greatest? O Father Romulus! Do thou inspire thy progeny with that determination of thine, by which thou didst formerly recover from these same Sabines this citadel, when captured by gold. Order them to pursue this same path, which thou, as leader, and thy army, pursued. Lo! I as consul will be the first to follow thee and thy footsteps, as far as I, a mortal, can follow a G.o.d." Then, in concluding his speech, he said that he was ready to take up arms, that he summoned every citizen of Rome to arms; if any one should oppose, that he, heedless of the consular authority, the tribunician power, and the devoting laws, would consider him as an enemy, whoever and wheresoever he might be, in the Capitol, or in the forum. Let the tribunes order arms to be taken up against Publius Valerius the consul, since they forbade it against Appius Herdonius; that he would dare to act in the case of the tribunes, as the founder of his family [26] had dared to act in the case of the kings. It was now clear that matters would come to violent extremities, and that a quarrel among Romans would be exhibited to the enemy. The law however could neither be carried, nor could the consul proceed to the Capitol.

Night put an end to the struggle that had been begun; the tribunes yielded to the night, dreading the arms of the consuls.[27] When the ringleaders of the disturbances had been removed, the patricians went about among the commons, and, mingling in their meetings, spread statements suited to the occasion: they advised them to take heed into what danger they were bringing the commonwealth: that the contest was not one between patricians and commons, but that patricians and commons together, the fortress of the city, the temples of the G.o.ds, the guardian G.o.ds of the state and of private families, were being delivered up to the enemy. While these measures were being taken in the forum for the purpose of appeasing the disturbances, the consuls in the meantime had retired to visit the gates and the walls, fearing that the Sabines or the Veientine enemy might bestir themselves.

During the same night, messengers reached Tusculum with news of the capture of the citadel, the seizure of the Capitol, and also of the generally disturbed condition of the city. Lucius Mamilius was at that time dictator at Tusculum; he, having immediately convoked the senate and introduced the messengers, earnestly advised, that they should not wait until amba.s.sadors came from Rome, suing for a.s.sistance; that the danger itself and importance of the crisis, the G.o.ds of allies, and the good faith of treaties, demanded it; that the G.o.ds would never afford them a like opportunity of obliging so powerful a state and so near a neighbour. It was resolved that a.s.sistance should be sent the young men were enrolled, and arms given them. On their way to Rome at break of day, at a distance they exhibited the appearance of enemies.

The aequans or Volscians were thought to be coming. Then, after the groundless alarm was removed, they were admitted into the city and descended in a body into the forum. There Publius Valerius, having left his colleague with the guards of the gates, was now drawing up his forces in order of battle. The great influence of the man produced an effect on the people, when he declared that, when the Capitol was recovered, and the city restored to peace, if they allowed themselves to be convinced what hidden guile was contained in the law proposed by the tribunes, he, mindful of his ancestors, mindful of his surname, and remembering that the duty of protecting the people had been handed down to him as hereditary by his ancestors, would offer no obstruction to the meeting of the people. Following him, as their leader, in spite of the fruitless opposition of the tribunes, they marched up the ascent of the Capitoline Hill. The Tusculan troops also joined them.

Allies and citizens vied with each other as to which of them should appropriate to themselves the honour of recovering the citadel. Each leader encouraged his own men. Then the enemy began to be alarmed, and placed no dependence on anything but their position. While they were in this state of alarm, the Romans and allies advanced to attack them.

They had already burst into the porch of the temple, when Publius Valerius was slain while cheering on the fight at the head of his men.

Publius Volumnius, a man of consular rank, saw him falling. Having directed his men to cover the body, he himself rushed forward to take the place and duty of the consul. Owing to their excitement and impetuosity, this great misfortune pa.s.sed unnoticed by the soldiers, they conquered before they perceived that they were fighting without a leader. Many of the exiles defiled the temple with their blood; many were taken prisoners: Herdonius was slain. Thus the Capitol was recovered. With respect to the prisoners, punishment was inflicted on each according to his station, as he was a freeman or a slave. The Tusculans received the thanks of the Romans: the Capitol was cleansed and purified. The commons are stated to have thrown every man a farthing into the consul's house, that he might be buried with more splendid obsequies.

Order being thus established, the tribunes then urged the patricians to fulfill the Promise given by Publius Valerius; they pressed on Claudius to free the shade of his colleague from breach of faith, and to allow the matter of the law to proceed. The consul a.s.serted that he would not suffer the discussion of the law to proceed, until he had appointed a colleague to a.s.sist him. These disputes lasted until the time of the elections for the subst.i.tution of a consul. In the month of December, by the most strenuous exertions of the patricians, Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, Caeso's father, was elected consul, to enter upon office without delay. The commons were dismayed at being about to have for consul a man incensed against them, powerful by the support of the patricians, by his own merit, and by reason of his three sons, not one of whom was inferior to Caeso in greatness of spirit, while they were his superiors in the exercise of prudence and moderation, whenever occasion required. When he entered upon office, in his frequent harangues from the tribunal, he was not more vehement in restraining the commons than in reproving the senate, owing to the listlessness of which body the tribunes of the commons, now become a standing inst.i.tution, exercised regal authority, by means of their readiness of speech and prosecutions, not as if in a republic of the Roman people, but as if in an ill-regulated household. That with his son Caeso, valour, constancy, all the splendid qualifications of youth in war and in peace, had been driven and exiled from the city of Rome: that talkative and turbulent men, sowers of discord, twice and even thrice re-elected tribunes by the vilest intrigues, lived in the enjoyment of regal irresponsibility. "Does that Aulus Verginius," said he, "deserve less punishment than Appius Herdonius, because he was not in the Capitol? Considerably more, by Hercules, if any one will look at the matter fairly. Herdonius, if nothing else, by avowing himself an enemy, thereby as good as gave you notice to take up arms: this man, by denying the existence of war, took arms out of your hands, and exposed you defenceless to the attack of slaves and exiles. And did you--I will speak with all due respect for Gaius Claudius and Publius Valerius, now no more--did you decide to advance against the Capitoline Hill before you expelled those enemies from the forum? I feel ashamed in the sight of G.o.ds and men. When the enemy were in the citadel, in the Capitol, when the leader of the exiles and slaves, after profaning everything, took up his residence in the shrine of Jupiter, best and greatest, arms were taken up at Tusculum sooner than at Rome. It was a matter of doubt whether Lucius Mamilius, the Tusculan leader, or Publius Valerius and Gaius Claudius, the consuls, recovered the Roman citadel, and we, who formerly did not suffer the Latins to touch arms, not even in their own defence, when they had the enemy on their very frontiers, should have been taken and destroyed now, had not the Latins taken up arms of their own accord. Tribunes, is this bringing aid to the commons, to expose them in a defenceless state to be butchered by the enemy? I suppose, if any one, even the humblest individual of your commons--which portion you have as it were broken off from the rest of the state, and created a country and a commonwealth of your own--if any one of these were to bring you word that his house was beset by an armed band of slaves, you would think that a.s.sistance should be afforded him: was then Jupiter, best and greatest, when hemmed in by the arms of exiles and of slaves, deserving of no human aid? And do these persons claim to be considered sacred and inviolable, to whom the G.o.ds themselves are neither sacred nor inviolable? Well but, loaded as you are with crimes against both G.o.ds and men, you proclaim that you will pa.s.s your law this year.

Verily then, on the day I was created consul, it was a disastrous act of the state, much more so even than the day when Publius Valerius the consul fell, if you shall pa.s.s it. Now, first of all," said he, "Quirites, it is the intention of myself and of my colleague to march the legions against the Volscians and the Aequans. I know not by what fatality we find the G.o.ds more propitious when we are at war than in peace. How great the danger from those states would have been, had they known that the Capitol was besieged by exiles, it is better to conjecture from what is past, than to learn by actual experience."

The consul's harangue had a great effect on the commons: the patricians, recovering their spirits, believed the state re-established. The other consul, a more ardent partner than promoter of a measure, readily allowing his colleague to take the lead in measures of such importance, claimed to himself his share of the consular duty in carrying these measures into execution. Then the tribunes, mocking these declarations as empty, went on to ask how the consuls were going to lead out an army, seeing that no one would allow them to hold a levy? "But," replied Quinctius, "we have no need of 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 at the command of the consul, and would not depart without his permission. We therefore publish an order that all of you, who have sworn, attend to-morrow under arms at the Lake Regillus." The tribunes then began to quibble, and wanted to absolve the people from their obligation, a.s.serting that Quinctius was a private person at the time when they were bound by the oath. But that disregard of the G.o.ds, which possesses the present generation, had not yet gained ground: nor did every one accommodate oaths and laws to his own purposes, by interpreting them as it suited him, but rather adapted his own 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 Regillius and that a place was to be consecrated, where business might be transacted with the people by auspices: and whatever had been pa.s.sed at Rome by tribunician violence, might be repealed there in the a.s.sembly.[28]

That all would order what the consuls desired: for that there was no appeal at a greater distance than a mile [29] from the city: and that the tribunes, if they should come there, would, like the rest of the Quirites, be subjected to the consular authority. This alarmed them: but the greatest anxiety which affected their minds was because Quinctius frequently declared that he would not hold an election of consuls. That the malady of the state was not of an ordinary nature, so that it could be stopped by the ordinary remedies. That the commonwealth required a dictator, so that whoever attempted to disturb the condition of the state, might feel that from the dictatorship there was no appeal.

The senate was a.s.sembled in the Capitol. Thither the tribunes came with the commons in a state of great consternation: the mult.i.tude, with loud clamours, implored the protection, now of the consuls, now of the patricians: nor could they move the consul from his determination, until the tribunes promised that they would submit to the authority of the senate. Then, on the consul's laying before them the demands of the tribunes and commons, decrees of the senate were pa.s.sed: that neither should the tribunes propose the law during that year, nor should the consuls lead out the army from the city--that, for the future, the senate decided that it was against the interests of the commonwealth that the same magistrates should be continued and the same tribunes be reappointed. The consuls conformed to the authority of the senate: the tribunes were reappointed, notwithstanding the remonstrance of the consuls. The patricians also, that they might not yield to the commons in any particular, themselves proposed to re-elect Lucius Quinctius consul. No address of the consul was delivered with greater warmth during the entire year. "Can I be surprised," said he, "if your authority with the people is held in contempt, O conscript fathers? It is you yourselves who are weakening it. Forsooth, because the commons have violated a decree of the senate, by reappointing their magistrates, you yourselves also wish it to be violated, that you may not be outdone by the populace in rashness; as if greater power in the state consisted in the possession of greater inconstancy and liberty of action; for it is certainly more inconstant and greater folly to render null and void one's own decrees and resolutions, than those of others. Do you, O conscript fathers, imitate the unthinking mult.i.tude; and do you, who should be an example to others, prefer to transgress by the example of others, rather than that others should act rightly by yours, provided only I do not imitate the tribunes, nor allow myself to be declared consul, contrary to the decree of the senate. But as for you, Gaius Claudius, I recommend that you, as well as myself, restrain the Roman people from this licentious spirit, and that you be persuaded of this, as far as I am concerned, that I shall take it in such a spirit, that I shall not consider that my attainment of office has been obstructed by you, but that the glory of having declined the honour has been augmented, and the odium, which would threaten me if it were continued, lessened."

Thereupon they issued this order jointly: That no one should support the election of Lucius Quinctius as consul: if any one should do so, that they would not allow the vote.

The consuls elected were Quintus Fabius Vibula.n.u.s (for the third time), and Lucius Cornelius Maluginensis. The census was taken during that year; it was a matter of religious scruple that the l.u.s.trum should be closed, on account of the seizure of the Capitol and the death of the consul. In the consulship of Quintus Fabius and Lucius Cornelius, disturbances woke out immediately at the beginning of the year. The tribunes were urging on the commons. The Latins and Hernicans brought word that a formidable war was threatening on the part of the Volscians and aequans; that the troops of the Volscians were now in the neighbourhood of Antium. Great apprehension was also entertained, that the colony itself would revolt: and with difficulty the tribunes were prevailed upon to allow the war to be attended to first. The consuls divided their respective spheres of action. Fabius was commissioned to march the legions to Antium: to Cornelius was a.s.signed the du