The senate was assembled in the Capitol. Thither the tribunes came with the commons in a state of great consternation: the multitude, 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 passed: 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 multitude; 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 Vibulanus (for the third time), and Lucius Cornelius Maluginensis. The census was taken during that year; it was a matter of religious scruple that the lustrum 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 Æquans; 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 assigned the duty of keeping guard at Rome, lest any portion of the enemy's troops, as was the practice of the Aequans, should advance to commit depredations. The Hernicans and Latins were ordered to supply soldiers in accordance with the treaty; and of the army two thirds consisted of allies, the remainder of Roman citizens. When the allies arrived on the appointed day, the consul pitched his camp outside the porta Capena.[30] Then, after the army had been reviewed, he set out for Antium, and encamped not far from the town and fixed quarters of the enemy. There, when the Volscians, not venturing to risk an engagement, because the contingent from the Aequans had not yet arrived, were making preparations to see how they might protect themselves quietly within their ramparts, on the following day Fabius drew up not one mixed army of allies and citizens, but three bodies of the three states separately around the enemy's works. He himself occupied the centre with the Roman legions. He ordered them to watch for the signal for action, so that at the same time both the allies might begin the action together, and retire together if he should give orders to sound a retreat. He also posted the proper cavalry of each division behind the front line. Having thus assailed the camp at three different points, he surrounded it: and, pressing on from every side, he dislodged the Volscians, who were unable to withstand his attack, from the rampart. Having then crossed the fortifications, he drove out from the camp the crowd who were panic-stricken and inclining to make for one direction. Upon this the cavalry, who could not have easily passed over the rampart, having stood by till then as mere spectators of the fight, came up with them while flying in disorder over the open plain, and enjoyed a share of the victory, by cutting down the affrighted troops. Great was the slaughter of the fugitives, 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 the entire army would have been destroyed, had not the woods covered them in their flight.
While these events were taking place at Antium, the Aequans, in the meanwhile, sending forward the flower of their youth surprised the citadel of Tusculum by night: and with the rest of their army sat down at no great distance from the walls of Tusculutn, so as to divide the forces of the enemy.[31] News of this being quickly brought to Rome, and from Rome to the camp at Antium, affected the Romans no less than if it had been announced that the Capitol was taken; so recent was the service rendered by the Tusculans, and the very similarity of the danger seemed to demand a return of the aid that had been afforded. Fabius, giving up all thought of everything else, removed the booty hastily from the camp to Antium: and, having left a small garrison there, hurried on his army by forced marches to Tusculum. The soldiers were allowed to take with them nothing but their arms, and whatever baked provision was at hand. The consul Cornelius sent up provisions from Rome. The war was carried on at Tusculum for several months. With one part of his army the consul assailed the camp of the Aequans; he had given part to the Tusculans to aid in the recovery of their citadel. They could never have made their way up to it by force: at length famine caused the enemy to withdraw from it. When matters subsequently came to extremities, they were all sent under the yoke, [32] by the Tusculans, unarmed and naked. While returning home in ignominious flight, they were overtaken by the Roman consul at Algidum, and cut to pieces to a man.[33] After this victory, having marched back his army to Columen (so is the place named), he pitched his camp there. The other consul also, as soon as the Roman walls ceased to be in danger, now that the enemy had been defeated, set out from Rome. Thus the consuls, having entered the territories of the enemies on two different sides, in eager rivalry plundered the territory of the Volscians on the one hand, and of the Aequans on the other. I find it stated by several writers that the people of Antium revolted during the same year. That Lucius Cornelius, the consul, conducted that war and took the town; I would not venture to assert it for certain, because no mention is made of the matter in the older writers.
This war being concluded, a tribunician war at home alarmed the senate. The tribunes held that the detention of the army abroad was due to a fraudulent motive: that that deception was intended to prevent the passing of the law; that they, however, would none the less go through with the matter they had undertaken. Publius Lucretius, however, the prefect 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 had also arisen. The quæstors, [34] Aulus Cornelius and Quintus Servilius, appointed a day of trial for Marcus Volscius, because he had come forward as a manifestly false witness against Caeso. For it was established by many proofs, that the brother of Volscius, from the time he first fell ill, had not only never been seen in public, but that he had not even left his bed after he had been attacked by illness, and that he had died of a wasting disease 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: while those who had served in the army with him positively stated that at that time he had regularly attended at his post along with them without any leave of absence. Many, on their own account, proposed to Volscius to refer the matter to the decision of an arbitrator. As he did not venture to go to trial, all these points coinciding rendered the condemnation of Volscius no less certain than that of Caeso had been on the testimony of Volscius. The tribunes were the cause of delay, who said that they would not suffer the quæstors to hold the assembly concerning the accused, unless it were 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 nothing was said about the law, many thought that the tribunes were struck with dismay. But they in reality (for it was now the close of the year), being eager to obtain a fourth tribuneship, had turned away their efforts from the law to the discussion of the elections; and when the consuls, with the object of lessening their dignity, opposed the continuation of their tribuneship with no less earnestness than if the law in question had been proposed, the victory in the contest was on the side of the tribunes.
In the same year peace was granted to the Aequans on their suing for it. The census, begun in the preceding year, was completed: this is said to have been the tenth lustrum that was completed from the date of the foundation of the city. The number of citizens rated was one hundred and seventeen thousand three hundred and nineteen. The consuls obtained great glory this year both at home and in war, because they established peace abroad, while at home, though the state was not in a condition of absolute harmony, yet it was less harassed by dissensions than at other times.
Lucius Minucius and Gaius Nautius being next elected consuls took up the two causes which remained undecided from the preceding year. As before, the consuls obstructed the law, the tribunes the trial of Volscius: but in the new quæstors there was greater power and greater influence. With Marcus Valerius, son of Manius and grandson of Volesus Titus Quinctius Capitolinus, who had been thrice consul, was appointed quaestor. Since Caeso could neither be restored to the Quinctian family, nor to the state, though a most promising youth, did he, justly, and as in duty bound, prosecute the false witness who had deprived an innocent person of the power of pleading his cause. When Verginius, more than any of the tribunes, busied himself about the passing of the law, the space of two months was allowed the consuls to examine into the law: on condition that, when they had satisfied the people as to what secret designs were concealed under it, [35] they should then allow them to give their votes. The granting of this respite established tranquility in the city. The Aequans, however, did not allow them long rest: in violation of the treaty which had been made with the Romans the year before, they conferred the chief command on Gracchus Cloelius. He was then by far the chief man among the Aequans. Under the command of Gracchus they advanced with hostile depredations into the district of Labici, from thence into that of Tusculum, and, laden with booty, pitched their camp at Algidum. To that camp came Quintus Fabius, Publius Volumnius, Aulus Postumius, ambassadors from Rome, to complain of the wrongs committed, and to demand restitution in accordance with the treaty. The general of the Aequans commanded them to deliver to the oak the message they brought from the Roman senate; that he in the meantime would attend to other matters. An oak, a mighty tree, whose shade formed a cool resting-place, overhung the general's tent. Then one of the ambassadors, when departing, cried out: "Let both this consecrated oak and all the gods hear that the treaty has been broken by you, and both lend a favourable ear to our complaints now, and assist our arms presently, when we shall avenge the rights of gods and men that have been violated simultaneously." As soon as the ambassadors returned to Rome, the senate ordered one of the consuls to lead his army into Algidum against Gracchus, to the other they assigned as his sphere of action the devastation of the country of the Aequans. The tribunes, after their usual manner, attempted to obstruct the levy, and probably would have eventually succeeded in doing so, had not a new and additional cause of alarm suddenly arisen.
A large force of Sabines, committing dreadful devastation advanced almost up to the walls of the city. The fields were laid waste, the city was smitten with terror. Then the commons cheerfully took up arms; two large armies were raised, the remonstrance of the tribunes being of no avail. Nautius led one against the Sabines, and, having pitched his camp at Eretum,[36] by trifling incursions, mostly by night, he so desolated the Sabine territory that, in comparison with it, the Roman borders seemed almost undamaged by the war. Minucius neither had the same good fortune nor displayed the same energy in conducting his operations: for after he had pitched his camp at no great distance from the enemy, without having experienced any reverse of importance, he kept himself through fear within the camp. When the enemy perceived this, their boldness increased, as usually happens, from the fears of others; and, having attacked his camp by night, when open force availed little, they drew lines of circumvallation around it on the following day. Before these could close the means of egress, by a rampart thrown up on all sides, five horsemen, despatched between the enemies' posts, brought news 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 were as great as if the enemy were besieging the city, not the camp. They summoned the consul Nautius; and when there seemed to be but insufficient protection in him, and it was determined that a dictator should be appointed to retrieve their shattered fortunes, Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus was appointed by universal consent.
It is worth while for those persons who despise all things human in comparison with riches, and who suppose that there is no room either for exalted honour, or for virtue, except where riches abound in great profusion, to listen to the following: Lucius Quinctius, the sole hope of the empire of the Roman people, cultivated a farm of four acres on the other side of the Tiber, which is called the Quinctian meadows, exactly opposite the place where the dock-yard now is. There, whether leaning on a stake while digging a trench, or while ploughing, at any rate, as is certain, while engaged on some work in the fields, after mutual exchange of salutations had taken place, being requested by the ambassadors to put on his toga, and listen to the commands of the senate (with wishes that it might turn out well both for him and the commonwealth), he was astonished, and, asking whether all was well, bade his wife Racilia immediately bring his toga from the hut. As soon as he had put it on and come forward, after having first wiped off the dust and sweat, the ambassadors congratulating him, united in saluting him as dictator: they summoned him into the city, and told him what terror prevailed in the army. A vessel was prepared for Quinctius by order of the government, and his three sons, having come out to meet him, received him on landing at the other side; then his other relatives and his friends: then the greater part of the patricians. Accompanied by this numerous attendance, the lictors going before him, he was conducted to his residence.[37] There was a numerous concourse of the commons also: but they by no means looked on Quinctius with the same satisfaction, as they considered both that he was vested with excessive authority, and was likely to prove still more arbitrary by the exercise of that same authority. During that night, however, nothing was done except that guards were posted in the city.
On the next day the dictator, having entered the forum before daylight, appointed as his master of the horse Lucius Tarquitius, a man of patrician family, but who, though he had served his campaigns on foot by reason of his scanty means, was yet considered by far the most capable in military matters among the Roman youth. With his master of the horse he entered the assembly, proclaimed a suspension of public business, ordered the shops to be closed throughout the city, and forbade any one to attend to any private affairs. Then he commanded all who were of military age to attend under arms, in the Campus Martius, before sunset, with dressed provisions for five days and twelve stakes apiece: those whose age rendered them unfit for active service were ordered to prepare victuals for the soldiers near them, while the latter were getting their arms ready, and procuring stakes. Accordingly, the young men ran in all directions to procure the stakes; they took them whatever was nearest to each: no one was prevented from doing so: all attended readily according to the dictator's order. Then, the troops being drawn up, not more suitably for a march than for an engagement, should occasion require it, the dictator himself marched at the head of the legions, the master of the horse at the head of his cavalry. In both bodies such exhortations were delivered as circumstances required: that they should quicken their pace; that there was need of despatch, that they might reach the enemy by night; that the consul and the Roman army were besieged; that they had now been shut up for three days; that it was uncertain what each day or night might bring with it; that the issues of the most important affairs often depended on a moment of time. The soldiers, to please their leaders, exclaimed among themselves: "Standard-bearer, hasten; follow, soldier." At midnight they reached Algidum: and, as soon as they perceived that they were near the enemy, they halted.
There the dictator, riding about, and having observe as far as could be ascertained by night, what the extent of the camp was, and what was its nature, commanded the tribunes of the soldiers to order the baggage to be thrown into one place, and that the soldiers with their arms and bundles of stakes should return to their ranks. His orders were executed. Then, with the regularity which they had observed on the march, he drew the entire army in a long column around the enemy's camp, and directed 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 carried out their instructions; the shout echoed around the enemy: it then passed beyond the camp of the enemy, and reached that of the consul: in the one it occasioned panic, in the other great joy. The Romans, observing to each other with exultation that this was the shout of their countrymen, and that aid was at hand, took the initiative, and from their watch-guards and outposts dismayed the enemy. The consul declared that there must be no delay; that by that shouts not only their arrival was intimated, but that hostilities were already begun by their friends; and that it would be a wonder if the enemy's camp were not attacked on the farther side. He therefore ordered his men to take up arms and follow him. The battle was begun during the night. They gave notice by a shout to the dictator's legions that on that side also the decisive moment had arrived. The AEquans were now preparing to prevent the works from being drawn around them, when, the battle being begun by the enemy from within, having turned 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 free for the completion of the work, and continued the fight with the consul till daylight. At daybreak they were now encompassed by the dictator's works, and were scarcely able to maintain the fight against one army. Then their lines were attacked by the army of Quinctius, which, immediately after completing its work, returned to arms. Here a new engagement pressed on them: the former one had in no wise slackened. Then, as the danger that beset them on both sides pressed them hard, turning from fighting to entreaties, they implored the dictator on the one hand, the consul on the other, not to make the victory their total destruction, and to suffer them to depart without arms. They were ordered by the consul to apply to the dictator: he, incensed against them, added disgrace to defeat. He gave orders that Gracchus Cloelius, their general, and the other leaders should be brought to him in chains, and that the town of Corbio should be evacuated; he added that he did not desire the lives of the Æquans: that they were at liberty to depart; but that a confession might at last be wrung from them that their nation was defeated and subdued, they would have to pass under the yoke. The yoke was formed of three spears, two fixed in the ground, and one tied across between the upper ends of them. Under this yoke the dictator sent the Æquans.
The enemy's camp, which was full of all their belongings—for he had sent them out of the camp half naked—having been taken, he distributed all the booty among his own soldiers only: rebuking the consul's army and the consul himself, he said: "Soldiers, you shall not enjoy any portion of the spoil taken from that enemy to whom you yourselves nearly became a spoil: and you, Lucius Minucius, until you begin to assume a spirit worthy of a consul, shall command these legions only as lieutenant." Minucius accordingly resigned his office of consul, and remained 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, remembering his kindness, rather than their own disgrace, both voted a golden crown of a pound weight to the dictator, and saluted him as their preserver when he set out. The senate at Rome, convened by Quintus Fabius, prefect of the city, ordered Quinctius 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. Banquets are said to have been spread before the houses of all, and the soldiers, partaking of the entertainment, followed the chariot with the triumphal hymn and the usual jests,[38] after the manner of revellers. On that day the freedom of the state was granted to Lucius Mamilius of Tusculum, amid universal approbation. The dictator would have immediately laid down his office had not the assembly 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 at Lanuvium. Quinctius laid down his dictatorship on the sixteenth day, having been invested with it for six months. During those days the consul Nautius engaged the Sabines at Eretum with distinguished success: besides the devastation of their lands, this additional blow also befell the Sabines. Fabius was sent to Algidum as successor to Minucius. Toward the end of the year the tribunes began to agitate concerning the law; but, because two armies were away, the patricians carried their point, that no proposal should be made before the people. The commons succeeded in electing the same tribunes for the fifth time. It is said that wolves seen in the Capitol were driven away by dogs, and that on account of that prodigy the Capitol was purified. Such were the transactions of that year.
Quintus Minucius and Gaius Horatius Pulvillus were the next consuls. At the beginning of this year, when there was peace abroad, the same tribunes and the same law occasioned disturbances at home; and matters would have proceeded further—so highly were men's minds inflamed-had not news been brought, as if for the very purpose, that by a night attack of the AEquans the garrison at Corbio had been cut off. The consuls convened the senate: they were ordered to raise a hasty levy and to lead it to Algidum. Then, the struggle about the law being abandoned, a new dispute arose regarding the levy. The consular authority was on the point of being overpowered by tribunician influence, when an additional cause of alarm arose: that the Sabine army had made a descent upon Roman territory to commit depredations and from thence was advancing toward the city. This fear influenced the tribunes to allow the soldiers to be enrolled, not without a stipulation, however, that since they themselves had been foiled for five years, and as the present college was but inadequate protection for the commons, ten tribunes of the people should henceforward be elected. Necessity extorted this concession from the patricians: they only exacted this proviso, that they should not hereafter see the same men tribunes. The election for the tribunes was held immediately, lest that measure also, like others, might remain unfulfilled after the war. In the thirty-sixth year after the first tribunes, ten were elected, two from each class; 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, but found no enemy. Horatius, when the Æquans, having put the garrison at Corbio to the sword, had taken Ortona also, fought a battle at Algidum, in which he slew a great number of the enemy and drove them not only from Algidum, but from Corbio and Ortona. He also razed Corbio to the ground for having betrayed the garrison.
Marcus Valerius and Spurius Verginius were next elected consuls. Quiet prevailed at home and abroad. The people were distressed for provisions on account of the excessive rains. A law was proposed to make Mount Aventine public property. [39] The same tribunes of the people were re-elected. In the following year, Titus Romilius and Gaius Veturius being consuls, they strongly recommended the law in all their harangues, declaring that they were ashamed that their number had been increased to no purpose, it that matter should be neglected during their two years in the same manner as it had been during the whole preceding five. While they were most busily employed in these matters, an alarming message came from Tusculum that the Æquans were in Tusculan territory. The recent services of that state made them ashamed of delaying relief. Both the consuls were sent with an army, and found the enemy in their usual post in Algidum. There a battle was fought: upward of seven thousand of the enemy were slain, the rest were put to flight: immense booty was obtained. This the consuls sold on account of the low state of the treasury. This proceeding, however, brought them into odium with the army, and also afforded the tribunes material for bringing a charge against the consuls before the commons. Accordingly, as soon as they went out of office, in the consulship of Spurius Tarpeius and Aulus Aternius, a day of trial was appointed for Romilius by Gaius Calvius Cicero, tribune of the people; for Veturius, by Lucius Alienus plebeian ædile. They were both condemned, to the great mortification of the patricians: Romilius to pay ten thousand asses, Veturius fifteen thousand. Nor did this misfortune of their predecessors render the new consuls more timid. They said that on the one hand they might be condemned, and that on the other the commons and tribunes could not carry the law. Then, having abandoned the law, which, by being repeatedly brought forward, had now lost consideration, the tribunes, adopted a milder method of proceeding with the patricians. Let them, said they, at length put an end to disputes. If laws drawn up by plebeians displeased them, at least let them allow legislators to be chosen in common, both from the commons and from the patricians, who might propose measures advantageous to both parties, and such as would tend to the establishment of liberty on principles of equality. The patricians did not disdain to accept the proposal. They claimed that no one should propose laws, except he were a patrician. When they agreed with respect to the laws, and differed only in regard to the proposer, ambassadors were sent to Athens, Spurius Postumius Albus, Aulus Manlius, Publius Sulpicius Camerinus, who were ordered to copy out the celebrated laws of Solon, and to make themselves acquainted with the institutions, customs, and laws of the other states of Greece.
The year was peaceful as regards foreign wars; the following one, when Publius Curiatius and Sextus Quinctilius were consuls, was still more quiet, owing to the tribunes observing uninterrupted silence, which was occasioned in the first place by their waiting for the return of the ambassadors who had gone to Athens, and for the account of the foreign laws; in the next place, two grievous calamities arose at the same time, famine and pestilence, destructive to man, and equally so to cattle. The lands were left desolate; the city exhausted by a constant succession of deaths. Many illustrious families were in mourning. The Flamen Quirinalis, [40]Servius Cornelius, died; also the augur, Gaius Horatius Pulvillus; in his place the augurs elected Gaius Veturius, and that with all the more eagerness, because he had been condemned by the commons. The consul Quinctilius died, and four tribunes of the people. The year was rendered a melancholy one by these manifold disasters; as far as foreign foes were concerned there was perfect quiet. Then Gaius Menenius and Publius Sestius Capitolinus were elected consuls. Nor in that year was there any foreign war: but disturbances arose at home. The ambassadors had now returned with the Athenian laws; the tribunes therefore insisted the more urgently that a beginning should at length be made of compiling the laws. It was resolved that decemvirs should be elected to rule 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 conceded to the patricians, provided that the Icilian law regarding the Aventine and the other devoting laws were not repealed.
In the three hundred and second year after the foundation of Rome, the form of government was a second time changed, the supreme power being transferred from consuls to decemvirs as it had passed before from kings to consuls. The change was less remarkable, because not of long duration; for the joyous commencement of that government afterward ran riot through excess. On that account the sooner did the arrangement fall to the ground, and the practice was revived, that the name and authority of consuls should be committed to two persons. The decemvirs appointed were, Appius Claudius, Titus Genucius, Publius Sestius, Lucius Veturius, Gaius Julius, Aulus Manlius, Publius Sulpicius, Publius Curiatius, Titus Romilius, Spurius Postumius. On Claudius and Genucius, because they had been consuls elect 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 the plan itself to the senate against the will of his colleague. Next to these were considered the three ambassadors who had gone to Athens, so that the honour might serve at once as a recompense for so distant an embassy, while at the same time they considered that persons acquainted with the foreign laws would be of use in drawing up the new code of justice. The others made up the number. They say that also 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 rested with Appius through the favour of the commons, and he had assumed a demeanour so different that, from being a severe and harsh persecutor of the people, he became suddenly a courter of the commons, and strove to catch every breath of popular favour. They administered justice to the people individually every tenth day. On that day the twelve fasces attended the administrator of justice; one officer attended each of his nine colleagues, and in the midst of the singular unanimity that existed among themselves—a harmony that sometimes proves prejudicial to private persons—the strictest equity was shown to others. In proof of their moderation it will be enough to instance a single case as an example. Though they had been appointed to govern without appeal, yet, upon a dead body being found buried in the house of Publius Sestius,[41] a man of patrician rank, and produced in the assembly, Gaius Julius, a decemvir, appointed a day of trial for Sestius, in a matter at once clear and heinous, and appeared before the people as prosecutor of the man whose lawful judge he was if accused: and relinquished his right,[42] so that he might add what had been taken from the power of the office to the liberty of the people.
While highest and lowest alike obtained from them this prompt administration of justice, undefiled, as if from an oracle, at the same time 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 assembly: and ordered them to go and read the laws that were exhibited, [43] and Heaven grant it might prove favourable, advantageous, and of happy result to the commonwealth, themselves, and their children. 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 had greater weight; let them turn over in their minds each particular among themselves, discuss it in conversation, and bring forward for public discussion whatever might be superfluous or defective under each particular: that the Roman people should have such laws only as the general consent might appear not so much to have ratified when proposed as to have itself proposed. When they seemed sufficiently corrected in accordance with public opinion regarding each section of the laws as it was published, the laws of the ten tables were passed at the assembly voting by centuries, which, even at the present time, amid the immense heap of laws crowded one upon the other, still remain the source of all public and private jurisprudence. A rumour then spread that two tables were needed, on the addition of which a digest, as it were, of the whole Roman law could be completed. The desire for this gave rise, as the day of election approached, to a request that decemvirs be appointed again. The commons by this time, besides that they detested the name of consuls no less than that of kings, did not even require the tribunician aid, as the decemvirs in turn allowed an appeal.
But when the assembly for the election of decemvirs was proclaimed for the third market-day, the flame of ambition burst out so powerfully that even the first men of the state began to canvass individuals—fearing, I suppose, that the possession of such high authority might become accessible to persons not sufficiently worthy if the post were left unoccupied by themselves—humbly soliciting, from those very commons with whom they had often contended, an honour which had been opposed by them with all their might. The fact of their dignity being now laid aside in a contest, at their time of life, and after they had filled such high official positions, stimulated the exertions of Appius Claudius. You would not have known whether to reckon him among the decemvirs or the candidates; he resembled at times more closely one canvassing for office than one invested with it; he aspersed the nobles, extolled all the most unimportant and insignificant candidates; surrounded by the Duellii and Icilii who had been tribunes, he himself bustled about the forum, through their means he recommended himself to the commons; until even his colleagues, who till then had been devoted to him heart and soul, turned their eyes on him, wondering what he was about. It was evident to them that there was no sincerity in it; that such affability amid such pride would surely prove not disinterested. That this excessive lowering of himself, and condescending to familiarity with private citizens, was characteristic not so much of one eager to retire from office, as of one seeking the means of continuing that office. Not daring openly to oppose his wishes, they set about mitigating his ardour by humouring it. They by common consent conferred on him, as being the youngest, the office of presiding at the elections. This was an artifice, to prevent his appointing himself; which no one ever did, except the tribunes of the people, and that with the very worst precedent. He, however, declaring that, with the favour of fortune, he would preside at the elections, seized upon what should have been an obstacle as a lucky opportunity: and having succeeded by a coalition in keeping out of office the two Quinctii, Capitolinus and Cincinnatus, and his own uncle Gaius Claudius, a man most steadfast in the cause of the nobility, and other citizens of equal eminence, he secured the appointment as decemvirs of men by no means their equals distinction—himself in the first instance, a proceeding which honourable men disapproved of greatly, as no one believed that he would have ventured to do it. With him were elected Marcus Cornelius Maluginensis, Marcus Sergius, Lucius Minucius, Quintus Fabius Vibulanus, Quintus Poetilius, Titus Antonius Merenda, Cæso Duilius, Spurius Oppius Cornicen, Manius Rabuleius.
This was the end of Appius's playing a part at variance with his disposition. Henceforward he began to live according to his natural character, and to mould to his own temper his new colleagues before they entered upon office. They daily held meetings in private: then, instructed in their unruly designs, which they concocted apart from others, now no longer dissembling their arrogance, difficult of access, captious to all who conversed with them, they protracted the matter until the ides of May. The ides of May was at that time the usual period for beginning office. Accordingly, at the attainment of their magistracy, they rendered the first day of their office remarkable by threats that inspired great terror. For, while the preceding decemvirs had observed the rule, that only one should have the fasces, and that this emblem of royalty should pass to all in rotation, to each in his turn, lo! On a sudden they all came forth, each with twelve fasces. One hundred and twenty lictors filled the forum, and carried before them the axes tied up with the fasces,[44] giving the explanation that it was of no consequence that the axe should be taken away, since they had been appointed without appeal. There appeared to be ten kings, and terrors were multiplied not only among the humblest individuals, but even among the principal men of the patricians, who thought that an excuse for the beginning of bloodshed was being sought for: so that, if any one should have uttered a word that hinted at liberty, either in the senate or in a meeting of the people, the rods and axes would also instantly be brought forward, for the purpose of intimidating the rest. For, besides that there was no protection in the people, as the right of appeal had been abolished, they had also by mutual consent prohibited interference with each other: whereas the preceding decemvirs had allowed the decisions pronounced by themselves to be amended by appeal to any one of their colleagues, and had referred to the people some points which seemed naturally to come within their own jurisdiction. For a considerable time the terror seemed equally distributed among all ranks; gradually it began to be directed entirely against the commons. While they spared the patricians, arbitrary and cruel measures were taken against the lower classes. As being persons with whom interest usurped the force of justice, they all took account of persons rather than of causes. They concerted their decisions at home, and pronounced them in the forum. If any one appealed to a colleague, he departed from the one to whom he had appealed in such a manner that he regretted that he had not abided by the sentence of the former. An irresponsible rumour had also gone abroad that they had conspired in their tyranny not only for the present time, but that a clandestine league had been concluded among them on oath, that they would not hold the comitia, but by perpetuating the decemvirate would retain supreme power now that it had once come into their possession.
The plebeians then began narrowly to watch the countenances of the patricians, and to strive to catch a glimpse 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 undeserved. They were unwilling to assist men who, by rushing too eagerly toward liberty, had fallen into slavery: they even heaped injuries on them, that, from disgust at the present state of things, two consuls and the former constitution might at length be regretted. By this time the greater part of the year had passed, and two tables of laws had been added to the ten tables of the former year; and if these laws also had been passed in the assembly of the centuries, there would now have remained no reason why the republic should require that form of government. They were anxiously waiting to see how long it would be before the assembly would be proclaimed for the election of consuls. The only thing that troubled the commons was by what means they should re-establish the tribunician power, that bulwark of their liberty, now so long discontinued, no mention in the meantime being made of the elections. Further, the decemvirs, who had at first exhibited themselves to the people surrounded by men of tribunician rank, because that was deemed popular, now guarded themselves by bands of young patricians: crowds of these beset the tribunals. They harried the commons, and plundered their effects: when fortune was on the side of the more powerful individual in regard to whatever was coveted. And now they spared not even their persons: some were beaten with rods, others had to submit to the axe; and, that such cruelty might not go unrewarded, a grant of his effects followed the punishment of the owner. Corrupted by such bribes, the young nobles not only made no opposition to oppression, but openly avowed a preference for their own selfish gratification rather than for the liberty of all.
The ides of May came round. Without any magistrates being elected in place of those retiring, private persons [45]came forward as decemvirs, without any abatement either in their determination to enforce their authority, or any alteration in the insignia displayed as outward signs of office. That indeed seemed undoubted regal tyranny. Liberty was now deplored as lost forever: no champion of it stood forth, or seemed likely to do so. And not only were the Romans themselves sunk in despondency, but they began to be looked down upon by the neighbouring states, who felt indignant that sovereign power should be in the hands of a state where liberty did not exist. The Sabines with a numerous body of men made an incursion into Roman territory; and having committed extensive devastations, after they had driven off with impunity booty of men and cattle, they recalled their troops, which had been dispersed in different directions, to Eretum, where they pitched their camp, grounding their hopes on the dissensions at Rome, which they expected would prove an obstruction to the levy. Not only the couriers, but also the flight of the country people through the city inspired them with alarm. The decemvirs, left in a dilemma between the hatred of the patricians and people, took counsel what was to be done. Fortune, moreover, brought an additional cause of alarm. The AEquans on the opposite side pitched their camp at Algidum, and by raids from there ravaged Tusculan territory. News of this was brought by ambassadors from Tusculum imploring assistance. The panic thereby occasioned urged the decemvirs to consult the senate, now that two wars at once threatened the city. They ordered the patricians to be summoned into the senate-house, well aware what a storm of resentment was ready to break upon them; they felt that all would heap upon them the blame for the devastation of their territory, and for the dangers that threatened; and that that would give them an opportunity of endeavouring to abolish their office, if they did not unite in resisting, and by enforcing their authority with severity on a few who showed an intractable spirit repress the attempts of others. When the voice of the crier was heard in the forum summoning the senators into the senate-house to the presence of the decemvirs, this proceeding, as altogether new, because they had long since given up the custom of consulting the senate, attracted the attention of the people, who, full of surprise, wanted to know what had happened, and why, after so long an interval they were reviving a custom that had fallen into abeyance: stating that they ought to thank the enemy and the war, that any of the customs of a free state were complied with. They looked around for a senator through all parts of the forum, and seldom recognised one anywhere: they then directed their attention to the senate-house, and to the solitude around the decemvirs, who both themselves judged that their power was universally detested, while the commons were of opinion that the senators refused to assemble because the decemvirs, now reduced to the rank of private citizens, had no authority to convene them: that a nucleus was now formed of those who would help them to recover their liberty, if the commons would but side with the senate, and if, as the patricians, when summoned, refused to attend the senate, so also the commons would refuse to enlist. Thus the commons grumbled. There was hardly one of the patricians in the forum, and but very few in the city. In disgust at the state of affairs, they had retired into the country, and busied themselves only with their private affairs, giving up all thought of state concerns, considering that they themselves were out of reach of ill-treatment in proportion as they removed themselves from the meeting and converse of their imperious masters. When those who had been summoned did not assemble, state messengers were despatched to their houses, both to levy the penalties,[46] and to make inquiries whether they purposely refused to attend. They brought back word that the senate was in the country. This was more pleasing to the decemvirs, than if they brought word that they were present and refused obedience to their commands. They commanded them all to be summoned, and proclaimed a meeting of the senate for the following day, which assembled in much greater numbers than they themselves had expected. By this proceeding the commons considered that their liberty was betrayed by the patricians, because the senate had obeyed those persons, as if they had a right to compel them, who had already gone out of office, and were mere private individuals, were it not for the violence displayed by them.
However, they showed more obedience in coming into the senate than obsequiousness in the opinions expressed by them, as we have learned. It is recorded that, after Appius Claudius laid the subject of debate before the meeting, and before their opinions were asked in order, Lucius Valerius Potitus excited a commotion, by demanding permission to express his sentiments concerning the state, and—when the decemvirs prevented him with threats [47]—by declaring that he would present himself before the people. It is also recorded that Marcus Horatius Barbatus entered the lists with no less boldness, calling them "ten Tarquins," and reminding them that under the leadership of the Valerii and Horatii the kings had been expelled. Nor was it the mere name that men were then disgusted with, as being that by which it was proper that Jupiter should be styled, as also Romulus, the founder of the city, and the succeeding kings, and a name too which had been retained also for the ceremonies of religion,[48] as a solemn one; that it was the tyranny and arrogance of a king they then detested: and if these were not to be tolerated in that same king or the son of a king, who would tolerate it in so many private citizens? Let them beware lest, by preventing persons from expressing their sentiments freely in the senate, they obliged them to raise their voice outside the senate-house. Nor could he see how it was less allowable for him, a private citizen, to summon the people to an assembly, than for them to convene the senate. They might try, whenever they pleased, how much more determined a sense of wrong would be found to be, when it was a question of vindicating one's own liberty, than ambition, when the object was to preserve an unjust dominion. That they proposed the question concerning the war with the Sabines, as if the Roman people had any more important war on hand than that against those who, having been elected for the purpose of framing laws, had left no law in the state; who had abolished elections, annual magistrates, the regular change of rulers, which was the only means of equalizing liberty; who, though private citizens, still possessed the fasces and regal dominion. That after the expulsion of the kings, patrician magistrates had been appointed, and subsequently, after the secession of the people, plebeian magistrates. What party was it, he asked, to which they belonged? To the popular party? What had they ever done with the concurrence of the people? To the party of the nobles? Who for now nearly an entire year had not held a meeting of the senate, and then held one in such a manner that they prevented the expression of sentiments regarding the commonwealth? Let them not place too much hope in the fears of others; the grievances which they were now suffering appeared to men more oppressive than any they might apprehend.
While Horatius was exclaiming thus and the decemvirs could not discover the proper bounds either of their anger or forbearance, nor saw how the matter would end, Gaius Claudius, who was the uncle of Appius the decemvir, delivered an address more in the style of entreaty than reproach, beseeching him by the shade of his brother and of his father, that he would hold in recollection the civil society in which he had been born, rather than the confederacy nefariously entered into with his colleagues, adding that he besought this much more on Appius's own account, than for the sake of the commonwealth. For the commonwealth would claim its rights in spite of them, if it could not obtain them with their consent: that however, from a great contest great animosities were generally aroused: it was the result of the latter that he dreaded. Though the decemvirs forbade them to speak on any subject save that which they had submitted to them, they felt too much respect for Claudius to interrupt him He therefore concluded the expression of his opinion by moving that it was their wish that no decree of the senate should be passed. And all understood the matter thus, that they were judged by Claudius to be private citizens;[49] and many of those of consular standing expressed their assent in words. Another measure, more severe in appearance, which ordered the patricians to assemble to nominate an interrex, in reality had much less force; for by this motion the mover gave expression to a decided opinion that those persons were magistrates of some kind or other who might hold a meeting of the senate, while he who recommended that no decree of the senate should be passed, had thereby declared them private citizens. When the cause of the decemvirs was now failing, Lucius Cornelius Maluginensis, brother of Marcus Cornelius the decemvir, having been purposely reserved from among those of consular rank to close the debate, by affecting an anxiety about the war, defended his brother and his colleagues by declaring that he wondered by what fatality it had occurred, that those who had been candidates for the decemvirate, either these or their friends, had above all others attacked the decemvirs: or why, when no one had disputed for so many months while the state was free from anxiety, whether legal magistrates were at the head of affairs, they now at length sowed the seeds of civil discord, when the enemy were nearly at the gates, except it were that in a state of confusion they thought that their object would be less clearly seen through. For the rest, it was unfair that any one should prejudge a matter of such importance, while their minds were occupied with a more momentous concern. It was his opinion that, in regard to what Valerius and Horatius alleged—that the decemvirs had gone out of office before the ides of May—the matter should be discussed in the senate and left to them to decide, when the wars which were now impending were over, and the commonwealth restored to tranquility, and that Appius Claudius was even now preparing to take notice that an account had to be rendered by him of the election which he himself as decemvir held for electing decemvirs, whether they were elected for one year, or until the laws, which were wanting, were ratified. It was his opinion that all other matters should be disregarded for the present, except the war; and if they thought that the reports regarding it were propagated without foundation, and that not only the messengers but also the ambassadors of the Tusculans had stated what was false, he thought that scouts should be dispatched to bring back more certain information; but if credit were given both to the messengers and the ambassadors, that the levy should be held at the very earliest opportunity; that the decemvirs should lead the armies, whither each thought proper: and that no other matter should take precedence.
The junior patricians almost succeeded in getting this resolution passed on a division. Accordingly, Valerius and Horatius, rising again with greater vehemence, loudly demanded that it should be allowed them to express their sentiments concerning the republic; that they would address a meeting of the people, if owing to party efforts they were not allowed to do so in the senate: for that private individuals, whether in the senate or in a general assembly, could not prevent them: nor would they yield to their imaginary fasces. Appius, now considering that the crisis was already nigh at hand, when their authority would be overpowered, unless the violence of these were resisted with equal boldness, said, "It will be better for you not to utter a word on any subject, except the subject of discussion"; and against Valerius, when he refused to be silent for a private individual, he commanded a lictor to proceed. When Valerius, from the threshold of the senate-house, now craved the protection of the citizens, Lucius Cornelius, embracing Appius, put an end to the struggle, not in reality consulting the interest of him whose interest he pretended to consult;[50] and after permission to say what he pleased had been obtained for Valerius by means of Cornelius, when this liberty did not extend beyond words, the decemvirs attained their object. The men of consular rank also and senior members, from the hatred of tribunician power still rankling in their bosoms, the longing for which they considered was much more keenly felt by the commons than for the consular power, almost preferred that the decemvirs themselves should voluntarily resign their office at some future period, than that the people should once more become prominent through hatred against these. If the matter, quietly conducted, should again return to the consuls without popular turbulence, that the commons might be induced to forget their tribunes, either by the intervention of wars or by the moderation of the consuls in exercising their authority.
A levy was proclaimed without objection on the part of the patricians; the young men answered to their names, as the government was without appeal. The legions having been enrolled, the decemvirs proceeded to arrange among themselves who should set out to the war, who should command the armies. The leading men among the decemvirs were Quintus Fabius and Appius Claudius. The war at home appeared more serious than abroad. The decemvirs considered the violence of Appius better suited to suppress commotions in the city; that Fabius possessed a disposition rather lacking in firmness in a good purpose than energetic in a bad one. For this man, formerly distinguished at home and abroad, had been so altered by his office of decemvir and the influence of his colleagues that he chose rather to be like Appius than like himself. To him the war among the Sabines was intrusted, Manius Rabuleius and Quintus Paetilius being sent with him as colleagues. Marcus Cornelius was sent to Algidum with Lucius Minucius, Titus Antonius, Caeso Duillius, and Marcus Sergius: they appointed Spurius Oppius to assist Appius Claudius in protecting the city, while all the decemvirs were to enjoy equal authority.
The republic was managed with no better success in war than at home. In this the only fault in the generals was, that they had rendered themselves objects of hatred to their fellow-citizens: in other respects the entire blame lay with the soldiers, who, lest any enterprise should be successfully conducted under the leadership and auspices of the decemvirs, suffered themselves to be beaten, to their own disgrace and that of their generals. Their armies were routed both by the Sabines at Eretum, and by the Æquans in Algidum. Fleeing from Eretum during the silence of the night, they fortified their camp nearer the city, on an elevated position between Fidenae and Crustumeria; nowhere encountering on equal ground the enemy who pursued them, they protected themselves by the nature of the ground and a rampart, not by valour or arms. Their conduct was more disgraceful, and greater loss also was sustained in Algidum; their camp too was lost, and the soldiers, stripped of all their arms, munitions, and supplies, betook themselves to Tusculum, determined to procure the means of subsistence from the good faith and compassion of their hosts, and in these, notwithstanding their conduct, they were not disappointed. Such alarming accounts were brought to Rome, that the patricians, having now laid aside their hatred of the decemvirs, passed an order that watches should be held in the city, and commanded that all who were not hindered by reason of their age from carrying arms, should mount guard on the walls, and form outposts before the gates; they also voted that arms should be sent to Tusculum, besides a re-enforcement; and that the decemvirs should come down from the citadel of Tusculum and keep their troops encamped; that the other camp should be removed from Fidenas into Sabine territory, and the enemy, by their thus attacking them first, should be deterred from entertaining any idea of assaulting the city.
In addition to the reverses sustained at the hands of the enemy, the decemvirs were guilty of two monstrous deeds, one abroad, and the other in the city. They sent Lucius Siccius, who was quartered among the Sabines, to take observations for the purpose of selecting a site for a camp: he, availing himself of the unpopularity of the decemvirs, was introducing, in his secret conversations with the common soldiers, suggestions of a secession and the election of tribunes: the soldiers, whom they had sent to accompany him in that expedition, were commissioned to attack him in a convenient place and slay him. They did not kill him with impunity; several of the assassins fell around him, as he offered resistance, since, possessing great personal strength and displaying courage equal to that strength, he defended himself against them, although surrounded. The rest brought news into the camp that Siccius, while fighting bravely, had fallen into an ambush, and that some soldiers had been lost with him. At first the account was believed; afterward a party of men, who went by permission of the decemvirs to bury those who had fallen, when they observed that none of the bodies there were stripped, and that Siccius lay in the midst fully armed, and that all the bodies were turned toward him, while there was neither the body of any of the enemy, nor any traces of their departure, brought back his body, saying that he had assuredly been slain by his own men. The camp was now filled with indignation, and it was resolved that Siccius should be forthwith brought to Rome, had not the decemvirs hastened to bury him with military honours at the public expense. He was buried amid the great grief of the soldiery, and with the worst possible infamy of the decemvirs among the common people.
Another monstrous deed followed in the city, originating in lust, and attended by results not less tragical than that deed which had brought about the expulsion of the Tarquins from the city and the throne through the violation and death of Lucretia: so that the decemvirs not only came to the same end as the kings, but the reason also of their losing their power was the same. Appius Claudius was seized with a criminal passion for violating the person of a young woman of plebeian rank. Lucius Verginius, the girl's father, held an honourable rank among the centurions at Algidum, a man who was a pattern of uprightness both at home and in the service. His wife and children were brought up in the same manner. He had betrothed his daughter to Lucius Icilius, who had been tribune, a man of spirit and of approved zeal in the interest of the people. Appius, burning with desire, attempted to seduce by bribes and promises this young woman, now grown up, and of distinguished beauty; and when he perceived that all the avenues of his lust were barred by modesty, he turned his thoughts to cruel and tyrannical violence. Considering that, as the girl's father was absent, there was an opportunity for committing the wrong; he instructed a dependent of his, Marcus Claudius, to claim the girl as his slave, and not to yield to those who demanded her enjoyment of liberty pending judgment. The tool of the decemvir's lust laid hands on the girl as she was coming into the forum—for there the elementary schools were held in booths—calling her the daughter of his slave and a slave herself, and commanded her to follow him, declaring that he would drag her off by force if she demurred. The girl being struck dumb with terror, a crowd collected at the cries of her nurse, who besought the protection of the citizens. The popular names of her father, Verginius, and of her betrothed, Icilius, were in every one's mouth. Esteem for them gained the good-will of their acquaintances, the heinousness of the proceeding, that of the crowd. She was now safe from violence, forasmuch as the claimant said that there was no occasion for rousing the mob; that he was proceeding by law, not by force. He summoned the girl into court. Her supporters advising her to follow him, they reached the tribunal of Appius. The claimant rehearsed the farce well known to the judge, as being in presence of the actual author of the plot, that the girl, born in his house, and clandestinely transferred from thence to the house of Verginius, had been fathered on the latter: that what he stated was established by certain evidence, and that he would prove it, even if Verginius himself, who would be the principal sufferer, were judge: that meanwhile it was only fair the servant should accompany her master. The supporters of Verginia, after they had urged that Verginius was absent on business of the state, that he would be present in two days if word were sent to him, and that it was unfair that in his absence he should run any risk regarding his children, demanded that Appius should adjourn the whole matter till the arrival of the father; that he should allow the claim for her liberty pending judgment according to the law passed by himself, and not allow a maiden of ripe age to encounter the risk of her reputation before that of her liberty.
Appius prefaced his decision by observing that the very same law, which the friends of Verginius put forward as the plea of their demand, showed how strongly he himself was in favour of liberty: that liberty, however, would find secure protection in the law on this condition only, that it varied neither with respect to cases or persons. For with respect to those individuals who were claimed as free, that point of law was good, because any citizen could proceed by law in such a matter: but in the case of her who was in the hands of her father, there was no other person in whose favour her master need relinquish his right of possession.[51] That it was his decision, therefore, that her father should be sent for: that, in the meantime, the claimant should not be deprived of the right, which allowed him to carry off the girl with him, at the same time promising that she should be produced on the arrival of him who was called her father. When there were many who murmured against the injustice of this decision rather than any one individual who ventured to protest against it, the girl's great-uncle, Publius Numitorius, and her betrothed, Icilius, appeared on the scene: and, way being made for them through the crowd, the multitude thinking that Appius could be most effectually resisted by the intervention of Icilius, the lictor declared that he had decided the matter, and attempted to remove Icilius, when he began to raise his voice. Such a monstrous injustice would have fired even a cool temper. "By the sword, Appius," said he, "must I be removed hence, that you may secure silence about that which you wish to be concealed. This young woman I am about to marry, to have and to hold as my lawful wife. Wherefore call together all the lictors of your colleagues also; order the rods and axes to be got ready: the betrothed wife of Icilius shall not pass the night outside her father's house. No: though you have taken from us the aid of our tribunes, and the power of appeal to the commons of Rome, the two bulwarks for the maintenance of our liberty, absolute authority has not therefore been given to your lust over our wives and children. Vent your fury on our backs and necks; let chastity at least be secure. If violence shall be offered to her, I shall implore the protection of the citizens here present on behalf of my betrothed, Verginius that of the soldiers on behalf of his only daughter, all of us the protection of gods and men, nor shall you carry that sentence into effect without our blood. I demand of you, Appius, consider again and again to what lengths you are proceeding. Verginius, when he comes, will see to it, what conduct he is to pursue with respect to his daughter: only let him be assured of this, that if he yields to the claims of this man, he will have to look out for another match for his daughter. As for my part, in vindicating the liberty of my spouse, life shall leave me sooner than honour."
The multitude was now roused, and a contest seemed threatening. The lictors had taken their stand around Icilius; they did not, however, proceed beyond threats, while Appius said that it was not Verginia who was being defended by Icilius, but that, being a restless man, and even now breathing the spirit of the tribuneship, he was seeking an opportunity for creating a disturbance. That he would not afford him the chance of doing so on that day; but in order that he might now know that the concession had been made not to his petulance, but to the absent Verginius, to the name of father and to liberty, that he would not decide the case on that day, nor introduce a decree: that he would request Marcus Claudius to forego somewhat of his right, and to suffer the girl to be bailed till the next day. However, unless the father attended on the following day, he gave notice to Icilius and to men like Icilius, that, as the framer of it, he would maintain his own law, as a decemvir, his firmness: that he would certainly not assemble the lictors of his colleagues to put down the promoters of sedition; that he would be content with his own. When the time of this act of injustice had been deferred, and the friends of the maiden had retired, it was first of all determined that the brother of Icilius, and the son of Numitorius, both active young men, should proceed thence straight to the city gate, and that Verginius should be summoned from the camp with all possible haste: that the safety of the girl depended on his being present next day at the proper time, to protect her from wrong. They proceeded according to directions, and galloping at full speed, carried the news to her father. When the claimant of the maiden was pressing Icilius to lay claim to her, and give bail for her appearance, and Icilius said that that was the very thing that was being done, purposely wasting the time, until the messengers sent to the camp should finish their journey, the multitude raised their hands on all sides, and every one showed himself ready to go surety for Icilius. And he, with his eyes full of tears, said: "This is a great favour; to-morrow I will avail myself of your assistance: at present I have sufficient sureties." Thus Verginia was bailed on the security of her relations. Appius, having delayed a short time, that he might not appear to have sat on account of that case alone, when no one made application to him, all other concerns being set aside owing to the interest displayed in this one case, betook himself home, and wrote to his colleague in the camp, not to grant leave of absence to Verginius, and even to keep him in confinement. This wicked scheme was too late, as it deserved: for Verginius, having already obtained his leave had set out at the first watch, while the letter regarding his detention was delivered on the following morning without effect.
But in the city, at daybreak, when the citizens were standing in the forum on the tiptoe of expectation, Verginius, clad in mourning, conducted his daughter, also shabbily attired, attended by some matrons, into the forum, with a considerable body of supporters. He there began to go around and solicit people: and not only entreated their aid given out of kindness, but demanded it as a right: saying that he stood daily in the field of battle in defence of their wives and children, nor was there any other man, whose brave and intrepid deeds in war could be recorded in greater numbers. What availed it, if, while the city was secure from dangers, their children had to endure these calamities, which were the worst that could be dreaded if it were taken? Uttering these words just like one delivering a public harangue, he solicited the people individually. Similar arguments were put forward by Icilius: the attendant throng of women produced more effect by their silent tears than any words. With a mind stubbornly proof against all this—such an attack of frenzy, rather than of love, had perverted his mind—Appius ascended the tribunal, and when the claimant went on to complain briefly, that justice had not been administered to him on the preceding day through party influence, before either he could go through with his claim, or an opportunity of reply was afforded to Verginius, Appius interrupted him. The preamble with which he prefaced his decision, ancient authors may have handed down perhaps with some degree of truth; but since I nowhere find any that is probable in the case of so scandalous a decision, I think it best to state the bare fact, which is generally admitted, that he passed a sentence consigning her to slavery. At first a feeling of bewilderment astounded all, caused by amazement at so heinous a proceeding: then for some time silence prevailed. Then, when Marcus Claudius proceeded to seize the maiden, while the matrons stood around, and was met by the piteous lamentations of the women, Verginius, menacingly stretching forth his hands toward Appius, said: "To Icilius, and not to you, Appius, have I betrothed my daughter, and for matrimony, not for prostitution, have I brought her up. Would you have men gratify their lust promiscuously, like cattle and wild beasts? Whether these persons will endure such things, I know not; I do not think that those will do so who have arms in their hands." When the claimant of the girl was repulsed by the crowd of women and supporters who were standing around her, silence was proclaimed by the crier.
The decemvir, as if he had lost his reason owing to his passion, stated that not only from Icilius's abusive harangue of the day before, and the violence of Verginius, of which he could produce the entire Roman people as witnesses, but from authentic information also he had ascertained that secret meetings were held in the city throughout the night with the object of stirring up sedition: that he, accordingly, being aware of that danger, had come down with armed soldiers, not to molest any peaceable person, but in order to punish, as the majesty of the government demanded, those who disturbed the tranquility of the state. "It will, therefore," said he, "be better to remain quiet: go, lictor, disperse the crowd, and clear the way for the master to lay hold of his slave." After he had thundered out these words, full of wrath, the multitude of their own accord dispersed, and the girl stood deserted, a sacrifice to injustice. Then Verginius, when he saw no aid anywhere, said: "I beg you, Appius, first pardon a father's grief, if I have attacked you too harshly: in the next place, suffer me to ask the nurse here in presence of the maiden, what all this means, that, if I have been falsely called her father, I may depart hence with mind more tranquil." Permission having been granted, he drew the girl and the nurse aside to the booths near the chapel of Cloacina,[52] which now go by the name of the New Booths:[53] and there, snatching a knife from a butcher, "In this, the only one way I can, my daughter," said he, "do I secure to you your liberty." He then plunged it into the girl's breast, and looking back toward the tribunal, said "With this blood I devote thee,[54] Appius, and thy head!" Appius, aroused by the cry raised at so dreadful a deed, ordered Verginius to be seized. He, armed with the knife, cleared the way whithersoever he went, until, protected by the crowd of persons attending him, he reached the gate. Icilius and Numitorius took up the lifeless body and showed it to the people; they deplored the villainy of Appius, the fatal beauty of the maiden, and the cruel lot of the father.[55] The matrons, following, cried out: Was this the condition of rearing children? Were these the rewards of chastity? And other things which female grief on such occasions suggests, when their complaints are so much the more affecting, in proportion as their grief is more intense from their want of self-control. The men, and more especially Icilius, spoke of nothing but the tribunician power, and the right of appeal to the people which had been taken from them, and gave vent to their indignation in regard to the condition of public affairs.
The multitude was excited partly by the heinousness of the misdeed, partly by the hope of recovering their liberty on a favourable opportunity. Appius first ordered Icilius to be summoned before him, then, when he refused to come, to be seized: finally, when the officers were not allowed an opportunity of approaching him, he himself, proceeding through the crowd with a body of young patricians, ordered him to be led away to prison. Now not only the multitude, but Lucius Valerius and Marcus Horatius, the leaders of the multitude, stood around Icilius and, having repulsed the lictor, declared, that, if Appius should proceed according to law, they would protect Icilius from one who was but a private citizen; if he should attempt to employ force, that even in that case they would be no unequal match for him. Hence arose a violent quarrel. The decemvir's lictor attacked Valerius and Horatius: the fasces were broken by the people. Appius ascended the tribunal; Horatius and Valerius followed him. They were attentively listened to by the assembly: the voice of the decemvir was drowned with clamour. Now Valerius, as if he possessed the authority to do so, was ordering the lictors to depart from one who was but a private citizen, when Appius, whose spirits were now broken, alarmed for his life, betook himself into a house in the vicinity of the forum, unobserved by his enemies, with his head covered up. Spurius Oppius, in order to assist his colleague, rushed into the forum by the opposite side: he saw their authority overpowered by force. Distracted then by various counsels and by listening to several advisers from every side, he had become hopelessly confused: eventually he ordered the senate to be convened. Because the official acts of the decemvirs seemed displeasing to the greater portion of the patricians, this step quieted the people with the hope that the government would be abolished through the senate. The senate was of opinion that the commons should not be stirred up, and that much more effectual measures should be taken lest the arrival of Verginius should cause any commotion in the army.
Accordingly, some of the junior patricians, being sent to the camp which was at that time on Mount Vecilius, announced to the decemvirs that they should do their utmost to keep the soldiers from mutinying. There Verginius occasioned greater commotion than he had left behind him in the city. For besides that he was seen coming with a body of nearly four hundred men, who, enraged in consequence of the disgraceful nature of the occurrence, had accompanied him from the city, the unsheathed knife, and his being himself besmeared with blood, attracted to him the attention of the entire camp; and the gowns,[56] seen in many parts of the camp had caused the number of people from the city to appear much greater than it really was. When they asked him what was the matter, in consequence of his weeping, for a long time he did not utter a word. At length, as soon as the crowd of those running together became quiet after the disturbance, and silence ensued, he related everything in order as it had occurred.