History of Rome, books 1-10

carried off; the men whose names were called for enrolment refused to answer. The senate was less concerned to insist upon the rights of creditors than to carry out the enlistment, for information had been received that the enemy had advanced from Praeneste and were encamped in the district

of Gabii. This intelligence however, instead of deterring the plebeian tribunes from opposition, only made them more determined, and nothing availed to quiet the agitation in the City but the approach of war to its very walls.

A report had reached Praeneste that no army had been raised in Rome and no commander-in-chief selected, and that the patricians and plebeians had turned against one another.

Seizing the opportunity, their generals had led their army by rapid marches through fields which they had utterly laid waste and appeared before the Colline Gate. There was wide-spread alarm in the City.

A general cry arose, “To arms!” and men hurried to the walls and gates. At last, abandoning sedition for war, they nominated T. Quinctius Cincinnatus as Dictator.

He named A. Sempronius Atratinus as his Master of the Horse. No sooner did they hear of this —so great was the terror which a Dictatorship inspired —than the enemy retired from the wails, and the men liable for active service assembled without any hesitation at the Dictator's orders.

Whilst the army was being mobilised in Rome, the camp of the enemy had been fixed not far from the Alia. From this point they spread devastation far and wide, and congratulated themselves that they had chosen a position of fatal import for the City of Rome; they expected that there would be the same panic and flight as in the Gaulish war.

For, they argued if the Romans regarded with horror even the day which took its name from that spot and was under a curse, how much more would they dread the Alia itself, the memorial of that great disaster. They would most assuredly have the appalling sight of the Gauls before their eyes and the sound of their voices in their ears. Indulging in these idle dreams, they placed all their hopes in the fortune of the place.

The Romans, on the other hand, knew perfectly well that wherever he was, the Latin enemy was the same as the one who had been conquered at Lake Regillus and kept in peaceable subjection for a hundred years.

The fact that the place was associated with the memories of their great defeat would sooner stimulate them to wipe out the recollection of that disgrace than make them feel that any place on earth could be of ill omen for their success.

Even if the Gauls them- selves were to appear there, they would fight just as they fought when they recovered their City, just as they fought the next day at Gabii, when they did not leave a single enemy who had entered Rome to carry the news of their defeat and the Roman victory to their countrymen.

In these different moods, each side reached the banks of the Alia. When the enemy came into view in battle forma- tion ready for action, the Dictator turned to A. Sempronius, “Do you see,” he said, “how they have taken their station on the Alia relying on the fortune of the place? May heaven have given them nothing more certain to trust to, or stronger to help them!

You, however, placing your confidence in arms and valour, will charge their centre at full gallop, while I with the legions will attack them whilst in disorder. Ye deities who watch over treaties, assist us, and exact the penalties due from those who have sinned against you and deceived us by appealing to your divinity!”

Neither the cavalry charge nor the infantry attack was sus- tained by the Praenestines. At the first onset and battle shout their ranks were broken, and when no portion of the line any longer kept its formation they turned and fled in confusion. In their panic they were carried past their camp, and did not stop their headlong flight until they were within sight of Praeneste.

There the fugitives rallied and seized a position which they hastily fortified; they were afraid of retiring within the walls of their city lest their territory should be wasted with fire and, after everything had been devastated, the city should be in- vested.

The Romans, however, after spoiling the camp at the Alia, came up; this position, therefore, was also abandoned.

They shut themselves in Praeneste, feeling hardly safe even behind its walls. There were eight towns under the jurisdiction of Praeneste. These were successively attacked and reduced without much fighting. Then the army advanced against Velitrae, which was successfully stormed.

Finally, they arrived at Praeneste, the origin and centre of the war.

It was captured, not by assault, but after surrender. After being thus victorious in battle and capturing two camps and nine towns belonging to the enemy and receiving the surrender of Praeneste, Titus Quinctius returned to Rome. In his triumphal procession he carried up to the Capitol the image of Jupiter Imperator, which had been brought from Praeneste.

It was set up in a recess between the shrines of Jupiter and Minerva, and a tablet was affixed to the pedestal recording the Dictator's successes.

The inscription ran something like this: “Jupiter and all the gods have granted this boon to Titus Quinctius the Dictator, that he should capture nine towns.” On the twentieth day after his appointment he laid down the Dictatorship.

Renewed Fighting with the Volscians —When the election of Consular tribunes took place, an equal number were elected from each order.

The patricians were: P. and C. Manlius, together with L. Julius; the plebeians were: C. Sextilius, M. Albinius, and L. Anstitius.

As the two Manlii took precedence of the plebeians by birth and were more popular than Julius, they had the Volscians assigned to them by special resolution, without casting lots or any understanding with the other consular tribunes; a step which they themselves and the.senate who made the arrangement had cause to regret.

They sent out some cohorts to forage without previously reconnoitering. On receiving a false message that these were cut off, they started off in great haste to their support, without detaining the messenger, who was a hostile Latin and had passed himself off as a Roman soldier. Consequently, they fell straight into an ambuscade.

It was only the sheer courage of the men that enabled them to make a stand on unfavourable ground and offer a desperate resistance. At the same time, their camp, which lay on the plain in another direction, was attacked.

In both incidents the generals had imperiled everything by their rashness and ignorance; if by the good fortune of Rome anything was saved it was due to the steadiness and courage of the soldiers who had no one to direct operations.

On the report of these occurrences reaching Rome, it was at first decided that a Dictator should be nominated, but on subsequent information being received that all was quiet amongst the Volscians, who evidently did not know how to make use of their victory, the armies were recalled from that quarter.

On the side of the Volscians peace prevailed; the only trouble that marked the close of the year was the renewal of hostilities by the Praenestines, who had stirred up the Latin cantons.

The colonists of Setia complained of the fewness of their number, so a fresh body of colonists was sent to join them. The misfortunes of the war were compensated by the quiet which prevailed at home owing to the influence and authority which the consular tribunes from the plebeians possessed with their party.

The new consular tribunes were Sp. Furius, Q. Servilius (for the second time), L. Menenius (for the third time), P. Cloelius, M. Horatius, and L. Geganius. No sooner had their year begun than the flames of a violent disturbance broke out, for which the distress caused by the debts supplied both cause and motive.

Sp. Servilius Priscus and Q. Cloelius Siculus were appointed censors to go into the matter, but they were prevented from doing so by the outbreak of war.

The Volscian legions invaded the Roman territory and were committing ravages in all directions. The first intimation came through panic-stricken messengers followed by a general flight from the country districts.

So far was the alarm thus created from repressing the domestic dissensions that the tribunes showed all the greater determination to obstruct the enrolment of troops. They succeeded at last in imposing two conditions on the patricians: that none should pay the war-tax until the war was over, and that no suits for debt should be brought into court.

After the plebs had obtained this relief there was no longer any delay in the enrolment. When the fresh troops had been raised they were formed into two armies, both of which were marched into the Volscian territory. Sp. Furius and M. Horatius turned to the right in the direction of Antium and the coast; Q. Servilius and L. Geganius proceeded to the left towards Ecetra and the mountain district.

In neither direction did the enemy meet them. So they commenced to ravage the country in a very different method from that which the Volscians had practised. These, emboldened by the dissensions but afraid of the courage of their enemy, had made hasty depredations like freebooters dreading a surprise, but the Romans acting as a regular army wreaked their just anger in ravages which were all the more destructive because they were continuous.

The Volscians, fearing lest an army might come from Rome, confined their ravages to the extreme frontier; the Romans, on the other hand, lingered in the enemy's country to provoke him to battle.

After burning all the scattered houses and several of the villages and leaving not a single fruit tree or any hope of harvest for the year, and carrying off as booty all the men and cattle that remained outside the walled towns, the two armies returned to Rome.

A short breathing space had been allowed to the debtors, but as soon as hostilities ceased and quiet was restored large numbers of them were again being adjudged to their creditors, and so completely had all hopes of lightening the old load of debt vanished that new debts were being contracted to meet a tax imposed for the construction of a stone wall for which the censors had made a contract.

The plebs were compelled to submit to this burden because there was no enrolment which their tribunes could obstruct.

They were even forced by the influence of the nobility to elect only patricians as consular tribunes; their names were: L. Aemilius, P. Valerius (for the fourth time), C. Veturius, Ser. Sulpicius, L. and C. Quinctius Cincinnatus.

The patricians were also strong enough to effect the enrolment of three armies to act against the Latins and Volscians, who had united their forces and were encamped at Satricum. All those who were liable for active service were made to take the military oath; none ventured to obstruct.

One of these armies was to protect the City; another was to be in readiness to be despatched wherever any sudden hostile movement might be attempted; the third, and by far the strongest, was led by P. Valerius and L. Aemilius to Satricum.

Here they found the enemy drawn up for battle on favourable ground and immediately engaged him. The action, though so far not decisive, was going in favour of the Romans when it was stopped by violent storms of wind and rain.

The next day it was resumed and was kept up for some time on the part of the enemy with a courage and success equal to that of the Romans, mainly by the Latin legions who through their long alliance were familiar with Roman tactics.

A cavalry charge disordered their ranks, and before they could recover, the infantry made a fresh attack and the further they pressed forward the more decided the retreat of the enemy became, and once the battle turned, the Roman attack became irresistible.

The rout of the enemy was complete, and as they did not make for their camp but tried to reach Satricum, which was two miles distant, they were mostly cut down by the cavalry.

The camp was taken and plundered. The following night they evacuated Satricum, and in a march which was much more like a flight made their way to Antium, and though the Romans followed almost on their heels, the state of panic they were in enabled them to outstrip their pursuers.

The enemy entered the city before the Romans could delay or harass their rear. Some days were spent in harrying the country as the Romans were not sufficiently provided with military engines for attacking the walls, nor were the enemy disposed to run the risk of a battle.

A quarrel now arose between the Antiates and the Latins. The Antiates, crushed by their misfortunes and exhausted by a state of war which had lasted all their lives, were contemplating peace;

the newly revolted Latins, who had enjoyed a long peace and whose spirits were yet unbroken, were all the more determined to keep up hostilities. When each side had convinced the other that it was perfectly free to act as it thought best, there was an end of the quarrel.

The Latins took their departure and so cleared themselves from all association with a peace which they considered dishonourable; the Antiates, when once the inconvenient critics of their salutary counsels were out of the way, surrendered their city and territory to the Romans.

The exasperation and rage of the Latins at finding themselves unable to injure the Romans in war or to induce the Volscians to keep up hostilities rose to such a pitch that they set fire to Satricum, which had been their first shelter after their defeat. They flung firebrands on sacred and profane buildings alike, and not a single roof of that city escaped except the temple of Mother Matuta.

It is stated that it was not any religious scruple or fear of the gods that restrained them, bus an awful Voice which sounded from the temple threatening them with terrible punishment if they did not keep their accursed firebrands far from the shrine.

Whilst in this state of frenzy, they next attacked Tusculum, in revenge for its having deserted the national council of the Latins and not only becoming an ally of Rome but even accepting her citizenship.

The attack was unexpected and they burst in through the open gates. The town was taken at the first alarm with the exception of the citadel. Thither the townsmen fled for refuge with their wives and children, after sending messengers to Rome to inform the senate of their plight.

With the promptitude which the honour of the Roman people demanded an army was marched to Tusculum under the command of the consular tribunes, L. Quinctius and Ser.

Sulpicius. They found the gates of Tusculum closed and the Latins, with the feelings of men who are at once besieging and being besieged, were in one direction defending the walls and in the other attacking the citadel, inspiring terror and feeling it at the same time.

The arrival of the Romans produced a change in the temper of both sides;

it turned the gloomy forebodings of the Tusculans into the utmost cheerfulness, whilst the confidence which the Latins had felt in a speedy capture of the citadel, as they were already in possession of the town, sank into a faint and feeble hope of even their own safety. The Tusculans in the citadel gave a cheer, it was answered by a much louder one from the Roman army.

The Latins were hard pressed on both sides; they could not withstand the attack of the Tusculans charging from the higher ground, nor could they repel the Romans who were mounting the walls and forcing the gates. The walls were first taken by escalade, then the bars of the gates were burst. The double attack in front and rear left the Latins no strength to fight and no room for escape; between the two they were killed to a man.

The greater the tranquillity which prevailed everywhere abroad after these successful operations so much the greater became the violence of the patricians and the miseries of the plebeians, since the ability to pay their debts was frustrated by the very fact that payment had become necessary.

They had no means left on which to draw, and after judgment had been given against them they satisfied their creditors by surrendering their good name and their personal liberty; punishment took the place of payment.

To such a state of depression had not only the humbler classes but even the leading men amongst the plebeians been reduced, that there was no energetic or enterprising individual amongst them who had the spirit to take up

or become a candidate even for the plebeian magistracies, still less to win a place amongst the patricians as consular tribune, an honour which they had previously done their utmost to secure. It seemed as though the patricians had for all time won back from the plebs the sole enjoyment of a dignity which for the last few years had been shared with them.

As a check to any undue exaltation on the part of the patricians, an incident occurred which was slight in itself, but, as is often the case, led to important results. M. Fabius Ambustus, a patrician, possessed great influence amongst the men of his own order and also with the plebeians, because they felt that he did not in any way look down on them. His two daughters were married, the elder one to Ser. Sulpicius, the younger to C. Licinius Stolo, a distinguished man, but a plebeian.

The fact that Fabius did not regard this alliance as beneath him had made him very popular with the masses. The two sisters happened to be one day at Ser. Sulpicius' house, passing the time in conversation, when on his return from the Forum the tribune's apparitor gave the customary knocks on the door with his rod. The younger Fabia was startled at what was to her an unfamiliar custom, and her sister laughed at her and expressed surprise that she was ignorant of it. That laugh, however, left its sting in the mind of a woman easily excited by trifles.

I think, too, that the crowd of attendants coming to ask for orders awoke in her that spirit of jealousy which makes every one anxious to be surpassed as little as possible by one's neighbours. It made her regard her sister's marriage as a fortunate one and her own as a mistake.

Her father happened to see her whilst she was still upset by this mortifying incident and asked her if she was well. She tried to conceal the real reason, as showing but little affection for her sister and not much respect for her own husband.

He kindly but firmly insisted upon finding out, and she confessed the real cause of her distress; she was unwed to one who was her inferior in birth, married into a house where neither honour nor political influence could enter.

Ambustus consoled his daughter and bade her keep up her spirits; she would very soon see in her own house the same honours which she saw at her sister's. From that time he began to concert plans with his son-in-law;

they took into their counsels L. Sextius, a pushing young man who regarded nothing as beyond his ambition except patrician blood.

A favourable opportunity for making innovations presented itself in the terrible pressure of debt, a burden from which the plebs did not hope for any alleviation until they had raised men of their own order to the highest authority in the State . This, they thought, was

the aim which they must devote their utmost efforts to reach, and they believed that they had already, by dint of effort, secured a foothold from which, if they pushed forward, they could secure the

highest positions, and so become the equals of the patricians in dignity as they now were in courage.

For the time being, C. Licinius and L. Sextius decided to become tribunes of the plebs; once in this office they could clear for themselves the way to all the other distinctions. All the measures which they brought forward after they were elected were directed against the power and influence of the patricians and calculated to promote the interests of the plebs One dealt with the debts, and provided that the amount paid in interest should be deducted from the

principal and the balance repaid in three equal yearly instalments, The second restricted the occupation of land and prohibited any one from holding more than five hundred jugera. The third provided that there should be no more consular tribunes elected, and that one consul should be elected from each order.

They were all questions of immense importance, which could not be settled without a tremendous struggle. The prospect of a fight over those things which excite the keenest desires of men —land, money, honours —produced consternation among the patricians. After excited discussions in the senate and in private houses, they found no better remedy than the one they had adopted in previous contests, name]y, the tribunitian veto, So they won over some of the tribunes to interpose their veto against these proposals.

When they saw the tribes summoned by Licinius and Sextius to give their votes, these men, surrounded by a bodyguard of patricians, refused to allow either the reading of the bills or any other procedure which the plebs usually adopted when they came to vote.

For many weeks the Assembly was regularly summoned without any business being done, and the bills were looked upon as dead. “Very good,” said Sextius, “since it is your pleasure that the veto shall possess so much power, we will use this same weapon for the protection of the plebs.

Come then, patricians, give notice of an Assembly for the election of consular tribunes, I will take care that the word which our colleagues are now uttering in concert to your great delight, the word “I FORBID,” shall not give you much pleasure.”

These were not idle threats. No elections were held beyond those of the tribunes and aediles of the plebs. Licinius and Sextius, when re-elected, would not allow any curule magistrates to be appointed, and as the plebs constantly re-elected them, and as they constantly stopped the election of consular tribunes, this dearth of magistrates lasted in the City for five years.

Fortunately, with one exception, there was a respite from foreign war. The colonists of Velitrae, becoming wanton in a time of peace and in the absence of any Roman army, made various incursions into Roman territory and began an attack on Tusculum.