The History of Rome: Books 1

BOOK 2

1. Livy outlines his new theme, libertas, freedom or liberty, and he explains the basic elements of the republican system of government.

The freedom of the Roman people, their achievements in peace and war, government by annually elected magistrates, and the rule of laws that overrides the rule of men will be my theme from now on. This freedom was all the more joyous as a result of the arrogance of the last king. His predecessors had ruled in such a way that, not undeservedly, they are regarded as the successive founders of at least those parts of the city that they had annexed to provide new homes for the increase in population that each of them had brought to Rome. Nor is there any doubt that the same Brutus, whose expulsion of Tarquinius Superbus won him so much glory, would have acted in the worst interests of the state if, in a premature desire for freedom, he had wrested the kingship from any of the earlier kings. For what would have happened if a people of shepherds and refugees, deserters from their own peoples who were under the sacred protection of asylum, had obtained either freedom or at least impunity?¹ Released from fear of a king’s power, they would have been buffeted by the storms of tribunician demagogues, creating quarrels with the senators (patres) of a city that was not their own, before pledges of a wife and children and love of the very soil—a characteristic that develops over a long period—had created a sense of community.² The state would have disintegrated into dissension before it reached maturity. But the calm and moderate exercise of government nurtured the state to the point at which its mature strength enabled it to bear the good fruits of liberty.

One should realize that the birth of freedom was due to the limitation of the consuls’ power to one year, rather than to any lessening of the power that the kings had possessed. The first consuls had all the rights and all the insignia of the king. There was only one precaution: to avoid doubling the fear that they inspired, both consuls were not allowed to hold the fasces at the same time.³ By agreement with his colleague, Brutus was the first to hold the fasces, proving as keen a guardian of freedom as he had been its champion. First of all, while the people were still eager for the new freedom, he avoided the possibility that they might be turned from their purpose by the entreaties or bribes of the princes, by having them swear an oath that they would allow no man to be king in Rome. Then, to increase the strength of the senate (it had been depleted by the murders committed by the king), he brought its number up to 300 by enrolling the leaders of the equestrian class. From that time, it is said, the tradition developed that when the senate was summoned into session, they were called on as Fathers and the Conscripted, since those he enrolled—that is, the new senate—were called conscripti. It is amazing how much this contributed to the harmony of the state and to uniting the plebs with the senators (patres).⁴

2. 509 BCE. The consul, Tarquinius Collatinus, is forced to abdicate, because he belongs to the Tarquinian family.

Religious matters were the next to receive attention. Because the kings had performed certain public sacrifices in person, an official called “king of sacrifices” was appointed, so that nowhere would there be a desire for kings. This priesthood was made subordinate to the pontiff, so that the honor attached to the title should in no way be detrimental to freedom, which was then the primary concern. I somehow feel that they went too far in protecting their freedom, even in the most trivial matters. For example, the name of one of the consuls was hateful to the citizens, though he had given no other offense. People said that the Tarquins had become excessively accustomed to monarchy. It had begun with Priscus; then Servius Tullius had been king. But not even this interval had made Tarquinius Superbus forget the throne, even though it belonged to another; he had regarded it as his hereditary right and used crime and violence to recover it. And now, though Superbus had been expelled, power was in the hands of Tarquinius Collatinus! The Tarquins did not know how to live as private citizens. Their name was displeasing, a danger to freedom.

At first such talk had a gradual effect on men’s minds; then it spread through the whole state. Brutus summoned the anxious and suspicious plebs to an assembly. First of all, he read out the oath taken by the people that they would not allow anyone to be king, nor anyone to be in Rome who might be a danger to freedom. This oath, he said, must be protected by every means, and they should not disregard anything that might be relevant to it. He personally was reluctant to speak because of the man in question; he would not have spoken had not his love for the republic prevailed. The Roman people, he continued, did not believe that they had recovered absolute freedom. The royal family and the royal name were not only present in the state, but they were also in power. This was an obstacle and impediment to freedom. “Of your own accord, Lucius Tarquinius,” he cried, “remove this fear! We remember, we admit, that you drove out the kings. Complete your good work by ridding us of the royal name. On my authority, your citizens will not only give you your possessions, but if you need anything, they will make a generous addition. Depart as a friend; relieve the state of what is perhaps a groundless fear. People are convinced that kingship will depart from Rome together with the Tarquinian family.”

Astonishment at this new and sudden turn of events prevented Collatinus from uttering a word. Then, as he began to speak, the leading men of the state surrounded him, making the same request with many entreaties. Others had little effect on him, but Spurius Lucretius, an older and more respected man who was also his father-in-law, began his pleas, now begging and now persuading Collatinus to allow himself to yield to the unanimous opinion of the citizen body. The consul became fearful that, once he left office, he would encounter not only the same problems, but also confiscation of his property and other additional humiliation. So, he resigned the consulship, transferred all his possessions to Lavinium, and withdrew from the Roman state. In accordance with a senatorial decree, Brutus proposed to the people that the entire Tarquinian family should be exiled. In the Comitia Centuriata, he declared Publius Valerius elected as his colleague, the man who had helped him expel the kings.⁵

3. Disgruntled young nobles pose an unexpected threat to the freedom of the new republic.

Although no one doubted that war with the Tarquins was imminent, it came later than everyone expected. But Rome’s freedom was almost lost through deceit and betrayal, factors they had not feared. There were, among the Roman youth, a number of young men, sons of families of some importance whose pleasures had been less restricted under the monarchy. Being of the same age as the young Tarquins, they had been their companions and become accustomed to living like princes. Now that everyone had equal rights, they missed the license that had once been theirs. So, they complained among themselves that the freedom granted to others had resulted in their own enslavement. A king was a man who would grant one’s request, whether just or unjust. There was scope for receiving and doing favors. A king could be angry and could grant pardon; he knew the difference between a friend and an enemy. The law, however, was deaf and inexorable, more helpful and better for the weak than for the powerful; it was inflexible and lacking indulgence, if one exceeded the limit. Amid so much human fallibility, it was dangerous to rely on innocence alone.

They were already disgruntled when envoys from the royal family arrived, asking merely to recover their property—no mention was made of the Tarquins’ return. The senate, after giving them a hearing, spent several days debating the matter, fearing that a refusal to make restitution would furnish a pretext for war, whereas restitution would provide them with the means and resources for waging one. Meanwhile the envoys were working on other matters. While ostensibly seeking to recover the property, they secretly devised plans to restore the monarchy. They went around as if they were carrying out their professed mission, but they were actually sounding out the disposition of the young nobles. To those who gave them a friendly hearing, they delivered a letter from the Tarquins, talking with them about secretly admitting the royal family into the city by night.

4. The two sons of Brutus join the conspiracy. A slave betrays the nobles’ plot to the consuls and the conspirators are arrested.

The matter was first entrusted to the brothers Vitellii and Aquilii. The sister of the Vitellii was married to Brutus, and there were sons of this marriage who were already young men, Titus and Tiberius, whom their uncles recruited to share in the planning. In addition, there were several other young nobles who were recruited as accomplices, but their names have been lost in the passage of time. Meanwhile a senatorial majority decided that the property should be restored. This gave the envoys an excuse to linger in the city, since the consuls had granted time to obtain wagons on which the royal property could be transported. All this time the envoys spent in consulting with the conspirators, pressing and urging them to give them a letter for the Tarquins. How else, they asked, would the princes believe that the envoys’ statements on such important matters were reliable?

The letter, given as a pledge of their loyalty, gave clear proof of the crime. On the day before envoys set out to join the Tarquins, there happened to be a dinner party at the house of the Vitellii. Sending all witnesses away, the conspirators had talked in detail, as was natural, about their revolutionary plan.⁶ But one of the slaves overheard their conversation. He had already realized what was going on but was waiting for the opportunity that the delivery of the letter to the envoys would provide, since its seizure would prove the matter. When he saw that the letter had been handed over, he reported the matter to the consuls. They set out from their homes to arrest both the envoys and the conspirators. They crushed the whole plot without any disturbance, taking particular care not to destroy the letter. The traitors were immediately thrown into prison, but there was doubt for a while about what to do with the envoys. Although they seemed to have acted like enemies, the law of nations nevertheless prevailed.

5. The consecration of the Tarquins’ former land as the Campus Martius and the story of the formation of the Tiber island. The anguish of the consul Brutus as he is obliged to order and witness the execution of his sons.

The question of royal property that they had earlier voted to return was referred to the senate for renewed discussion. Overcome by anger, they refused to return it, and refused to put it into the state treasury. It was given to the plebs for them to plunder, so that their contact with the spoil of kings would cause them to dismiss forever any hope of peace with the Tarquins. The Tarquins’ land that lay between the city and the Tiber was consecrated to Mars and became the Campus Martius. By chance, it is said, there was a crop of spelt, ripe for harvesting. Since, for religious reasons, the produce of the Campus could not be consumed, a large body of men was sent to cut the grain together with the straw, carry it in baskets, and throw it into the Tiber, which was flowing with a feeble current, as is usual in midsummer.⁷ The heaps of grain stuck in the shallows and settled down, overlaid with mud. From these and other chance materials brought down by the river, an island gradually formed. Later, I suppose, embankments were added and work done so that the area became high and firm enough to support a temple and porticoes as well.⁸

After the kings’ property had been pillaged, the traitors were condemned and punished, a punishment that was more conspicuous because the consulship imposed on a father the duty of inflicting the penalty on his sons. The one who should not have been a spectator was the very man whom fortune made the executioner.⁹ Young men of the highest birth stood bound to a stake. The consul’s sons drew the eyes of all away from the others who became, as it were, anonymous. Men felt grief as much for the crime for which the youths were being deservedly punished as for the punishment itself. To think that in this year, above all others—when their fatherland had been liberated, their own father had been its liberator, and the consulship had begun with their own Junian family—to think that these young men could have conceived the intention of betraying the senators, plebs, and all the gods and men of Rome to a man who had formerly been a tyrannical king and was now an enemy exile.

The consuls proceeded to their seats and the lictors were dispatched to execute the sentence. The youths were stripped, scourged, and beheaded. Throughout the whole time, the gaze of everyone was directed to the expression on Brutus’ face, which revealed his natural feelings as a father as the state’s retribution was administered. After the guilty had been punished, the informer was rewarded with money from the treasury, emancipation, and citizenship to provide in all respects an outstanding deterrent to further crimes. This slave is said to have been the first to be freed by vindicta. Some think that also the word vindicta was derived from his name, saying that his name was Vindicius.¹⁰ Thereafter it was the practice to regard those who were freed in this way as having been admitted into citizenship.

6. Tarquin, with support from Veii and Tarquinii, engages in battle with the Romans. Brutus and Arruns Tarquinius attack and kill each other.

When news of what had happened was reported to Tarquin, he was enraged with not only disappointment at the collapse of his great hopes, but also hatred and anger. Seeing that the way was now closed to deceitful means, he realized that he had to prepare openly for war. So, he went as a suppliant to the cities of Etruria, begging the people of Veii and Tarquinii in particular not to allow one who had been born among them and who was of the same blood to perish along with his grown sons before their very eyes, an impoverished exile who had but recently ruled a great kingdom. Rome’s other kings had been brought in from outside to rule. But he, as king, while he was increasing Rome’s power by war, had been driven out by his own kinsmen in a wicked conspiracy. These men had seized and divided the power of kingship among themselves because no one of them seemed worthy enough to be king. They had given his goods to the people so that everyone should share in their crime. He wanted to regain his country and throne, and to punish his ungrateful citizens.

Tarquin begged for aid and assistance, saying that they should also avenge their long-standing injustices, the frequent slaughter of their armies, and the loss of their lands. This last point moved the Veientines, each man belligerently exclaiming that, at least under a Roman general, they should wipe out their humiliations and recover what they had lost in war. The people of Tarquinii were influenced by his name and kinship: it seemed glorious that one of their own stock should rule in Rome. So, two armies from the two states followed Tarquin to restore the monarchy and make war on the Romans. After they reached Roman territory, the consuls went out to confront the enemy. Valerius led the infantry in defensive formation; Brutus went ahead with the cavalry to reconnoiter. The enemy cavalry was similarly at the head of their march, under the command of Arruns Tarquinius, the king’s son. The king himself followed with the legions. Arruns perceived the consul from afar because of his lictors. Then, as he drew nearer, he recognized Brutus’ face with greater certainty. Blazing with anger, he cried, “There is the man who drove us into exile from our native land. Look! How he parades in magnificence, decked out in our regalia! O gods, avengers of kings, be with us now!”

Spurring his horse, he charged straight for the consul. Brutus realized that the attack was directed at him. In those days, it was the honorable thing for the leaders themselves to take part in the actual fighting, so he eagerly threw himself into the contest. They rushed at each other with such hostility that neither thought to protect his own body, if only he might wound his opponent. And so, each man was pierced through the shield by the other’s thrust. Impaled on the two spears, they fell from their horses, dying. At the same time, the rest of the cavalry also began to fight, and, not long after, the infantry also arrived. The battle was equally matched, with victory shifting back and forth: on each side, the right wing prevailed and the left was defeated. The Veientines, accustomed to being defeated by the Roman army, were routed and put to flight. The people of Tarquinii, a new enemy, not only stood their ground but also drove back the Romans from their side.

7. Publius Valerius returns in triumph to Rome and buries his colleague. However, because he was building a house at the top of the Velian hill that overlooked the forum, he is suspected of aiming at kingship.

Although the fighting concluded in this way, Tarquin and the Etruscans were so overcome with fear that they abandoned the project as lost and the two armies from Veii and Tarquinii left by night, each for their own homes. The following miraculous events are connected with this battle: in the silence of the following night, a voice was heard coming from the Arsian forest that was believed to be the voice of Silvanus.¹¹ These are said to have been his words: “One more Etruscan than Roman has fallen in the battle line; the Romans are victors in the war.” Whatever the case, the Romans departed as victors and the Etruscans as the vanquished. When the dawn came and no enemy was in sight, the consul Publius Valerius gathered the spoils and returned to Rome in triumph.¹² He celebrated his colleague’s funeral with as much pomp as possible. But the grief of the people was a far greater honor for the deceased, being especially marked because the matrons mourned him for a year, as if for a father, since he had been such a fierce avenger of the violation of a woman’s chastity.

Then the surviving consul became unpopular; so fickle are the minds of the mob. Valerius’ popularity turned to hatred and suspicion, and cruel charges were leveled against him. There was a rumor that he was aiming at kingship, because he had not replaced his colleague and was building a house on the highest part of the Velia: an impregnable citadel was being constructed in a high and fortified place. This gossip was widespread and generally believed, causing the consul great distress and a sense of outrage. He summoned the people to a meeting and entered the assembly with fasces lowered. This was a welcome sight to the people, that the symbols of authority were lowered for them, thus acknowledging that the people’s power and might were superior to that of the consul.

Ordering them to listen, the consul then praised the good fortune of his colleague who, after freeing his country and attaining the highest office, had died fighting for the state at the height of his glory, before it turned to envy.¹³ But as for himself, he had outlived his glory to face envy and accusations. From being the liberator of his country he had fallen to the level of the Aquilii and Vitellii. “Will you never be able to view a man’s excellence without it being marred by suspicion? How could I possibly have feared that I, the fiercest enemy of kings, would myself come under the charge of aiming at kingship? Even if I were living on the very citadel and Capitol, how could I have believed that I would be an object of fear to my fellow citizens? Does my reputation with you depend on such a trivial factor? Does your confidence in me rest on such a slight foundation that it is of more importance where I am than who I am? Fellow citizens, the house of Publius Valerius will not be an obstacle to freedom. The Velia will be safe as far as you are concerned. I shall not only bring my house down onto level ground, but I shall locate it at the foot of the hill, so that you may live above me, the citizen that you suspect. Let those build on the Velia who can be better entrusted with freedom than Publius Valerius!” Immediately all the building material was brought down below the Velia, and his house was built at the bottom of the slope where the temple of Vica Pota is now.

8. Public opinion shifts in favor of the consul Valerius, who carries two laws favoring the people and then holds an election to replace his colleague. The temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline is dedicated.

Laws were then passed, which not only cleared the consul from the suspicion of aiming at kingship but also took the opposite direction of making him popular; thus he was given the cognomen Publicola, “the People’s Friend.”¹⁴ Above all, two laws were pleasing to the people: one granting the right of appeal to the people against the decision of a magistrate, and the other pronouncing a curse on the life and property of a man who plotted to seize the throne.¹⁵ After proposing these measures on his own, so that the favor accruing from them should be solely his, Valerius finally held an election to replace his colleague. Spurius Lucretius was elected as consul, but his great age did not give him sufficient strength to undertake the duties of the consulship, and he died within a few days. Marcus Horatius Pulvillus was elected in Lucretius’ place. I do not find Lucretius listed as consul in some ancient sources that put Horatius immediately after Brutus. I suppose the record perished, because no achievement gave distinction to Lucretius’ consulship.

The temple of Jupiter on the Capitol had not yet been dedicated. The consuls, Valerius and Horatius, drew lots to decide which of them should dedicate it. The lot fell to Horatius, and Publicola set out to make war on the people of Veii. With more ill feeling than was seemly, the supporters of Valerius resented that the dedication of such a renowned temple was being granted to Horatius. They tried to block it by every means; when all other efforts had failed and the consul was already holding the doorpost, in the midst of his prayers to the gods, they produced the frightful news that his son was dead, saying that he could not dedicate the temple while his family was in mourning.¹⁶ Whether he did not believe that this had happened, or whether he possessed great strength of mind, tradition does not say for certain, nor it is easy to interpret. In the face of this news, he was not diverted from his purpose except to order that the body should be carried out for burial. Keeping his hand on the doorpost, he finished his prayer and dedicated the temple.

These are the events, both at home and in the field, of the first year after the expulsion of the kings.¹⁷

9. 508 BCE. The Tarquins beg Lars Porsenna of Clusium to make war on Rome and restore the monarchy. The senate takes measures to ensure the loyalty of the plebs.

Publius Valerius, for the second time, and Titus Lucretius were the next consuls. By this time the Tarquins had fled to Lars Porsenna, the king of Clusium.¹⁸ With a combination of advice and entreaties, they begged the king not to allow them, Etruscans of the same name and blood, to suffer the poverty of exiles, warning him not to let the growing custom of expelling kings go unpunished. Liberty did have considerable attractions. But if kings did not defend their thrones with as much energy as states sought liberty, the highest would be brought down to the level of the lowest. There would be nothing exalted in the state, nothing that stood out above the rest. The end was at hand for monarchy, the finest institution known to gods and men.

Porsenna thought that it was not only a good thing for the Etruscans to have a king in Rome but an honor to have that king be an Etruscan, so he marched on Rome with a hostile army. Never before had such fear assailed the senate: so strong was Clusium at that time, and so great the name of Porsenna. They feared not only the enemy but also their own citizens, lest the Roman plebs be stricken with fear and admit the kings into the city, accepting peace even if it entailed slavery. The senate consequently granted many favors to the plebs throughout this period. Since there was particular concern about the grain supply, men were sent to procure grain, some to the Volsci and others to Cumae.¹⁹ Control of the salt supply, the price of which was very high, was taken from private individuals and assumed entirely by the state. The plebs were freed from customs duties and taxes. These were taken on by the rich who could afford them; the poor paid enough dues if they were raising children. This liberality on the part of the senators so maintained the harmony of the state in the harsh times of siege and famine that were to come, that the name of “king” was abhorrent to high and low alike. Nor was there any individual in later years whose demagogic skills made him as popular as the senate was at that time because of its good governance.

10. Horatius Cocles defends the Tiber bridge (Pons Sublicius) against Lars Porsenna’s attack from the Janiculum.

At the approach of the enemy, all the country-dwellers came into the city on their own initiative, and the city itself was fortified with garrisons. Some places seemed safe because of the walls; others, because the Tiber was a barrier. The wooden pile bridge almost gave the enemy an entrance into the city, had it not been for one man, Horatius Cocles, whom the city of Rome was fortunate to have as its bulwark on that day. He happened to be guarding the bridge when he saw that the Janiculum had been captured by a sudden attack, and the enemy were charging down the hill at a run while a mob of his fellow citizens abandoned their arms and their ranks. Grabbing individuals and blocking their way, he swore by all that was sacred to gods and men that their flight was in vain, once they deserted their post. If they left the bridge in their rear for the enemy to cross, there would be more of the enemy on the Palatine and Capitoline than on the Janiculum. Therefore he advised and urged them to break down the bridge using weapons, fire, and whatever force they could. He himself would take the brunt of the enemy’s attack, insofar as it could be withstood by a single body.

Then he strode to the head of the bridge. Conspicuous amid those who were clearly fleeing and shirking the fight, he brandished his weapons, ready to fight hand to hand, thereby stunning the enemy with amazement at his audacity. A sense of shame kept two men by his side, Spurius Larcius and Titus Herminius, both distinguished for their high birth and their achievements. With them, for a while, he withstood the dangerous first onset and the stormiest part of the battle. Then he forced them also to make for safety, since very little of the bridge remained and those who were cutting it down were calling them to come back. Darting savage and threatening glances at the Etruscan leaders, Horatius now challenged them individually, now taunted them collectively, calling them the slaves of arrogant kings who had come to attack the freedom of others, unmindful of their own. They hesitated for a moment, each looking around for another to begin the fight. Then a sense of shame moved the battle line. Raising the battle cry, they hurled weapons at their solitary foe from all sides. All the spears stuck fast in his opposing shield, but, no less resolute, he held the bridge with his mighty stance. Now they were trying to dislodge the hero by a charge, when their assault was checked by the sudden panic caused by the crash of the broken bridge and the simultaneous cry that arose from the Romans exulting in the completion of their task. Then Cocles cried, “Father Tiberinus, I solemnly pray that you receive these arms and this soldier in your propitious stream.” With this prayer, he leaped fully armed into the Tiber and, with many missiles falling upon him, swam across to his own men unharmed, a deed of daring that was destined to obtain more fame than credibility with posterity.²⁰

The state was grateful for such valor. Horatius’ statue was set up in the Comitium and he was given as much land as he could plow in one day.²¹ The enthusiasm of private citizens was conspicuous amid his official honors. Despite the great hardship, each individual contributed something from his private store, depriving himself of sustenance.

11. The Romans, blockaded within the city, trick the Etruscans into a skirmish in which many are killed.

Porsenna, driven back from this first attempt, abandoned his plan of storming the city and turned to besieging it. Posting a garrison on the Janiculum, he himself pitched camp on level ground on the banks of the Tiber. He collected ships from everywhere, both as a protection to prevent any grain from being brought into the city, and to send troops across the river to plunder, as opportunity might offer in one place or another. In a short time, he made all the Roman countryside so unsafe that its people were forced to bring within the city walls everything from the fields, including all their livestock; nor did anyone dare to drive the flocks outside the gates. The Etruscans were accorded this degree of license as much by design as by fear. For the consul Valerius was intent on finding an opportunity to make an unexpected and simultaneous attack on a large number when they were scattered in disarray. He was not concerned with avenging small matters but was reserving serious punishment for greater offenses.

To lure the plunderers, he gave orders to his people that, on the following day, large numbers of them should drive out their flocks by the Esquiline Gate, which was farthest from the enemy. He thought that the Etruscans would hear of it because unfaithful slaves were deserting on account of the siege and famine. Indeed they did learn of it from the report of a deserter and crossed the river in far greater numbers, in the hope of carrying off all the booty. Publius Valerius then ordered Titus Herminius to lie in ambush at the second milestone on the road to Gabii with a small number of troops. Spurius Larcius was to stand at the Colline Gate with a body of light-armed troops until the enemy should go by. He was then to block their return to the river. The other consul Titus Lucretius went out of the Naevian Gate with several maniples of soldiers, and Valerius himself led selected cohorts from the Caelian hill. These were the first to be seen by the enemy. When Herminius perceived the skirmish, he rushed from his ambush and slaughtered the Etruscans from the rear as they were confronting Lucretius. On the right and the left, on this side from the Naevian Gate and on that from the Colline, the battle cry was raised. Caught in the middle, the plunderers were slaughtered. Cut off from every path of escape, they were no match for the fighting strength of the Romans. This was the last time the Etruscans raided so indiscriminately.

12. The siege continues. Mucius Scaevola attempts to assassinate Lars Porsenna.

Nonetheless the siege continued, as did the shortage of grain and its consequent high price. Porsenna was hoping that he would take the city just by sitting tight, when Gaius Mucius, a young Roman noble, intervened. Mucius thought it an outrage that the Roman people, who had never been besieged in war by any enemy when they were under the subjection of a king, were now, though free, being besieged by those same Etruscans whose armies they had often routed. Thinking that this outrage must be vindicated by some great and bold deed, he first decided to penetrate the enemy’s camp on his own initiative. But then he feared that, if he went without consular orders and without telling anyone, he might be caught by the guards and brought back as a deserter—a charge made plausible by the city’s fortunes at that time. So, he approached the senate. “Senators,” he said, “I want to cross the Tiber and, if I can, enter the enemy’s camp. My aim is not to plunder nor to exact vengeance for their raids, but, with the gods’ help, I have in mind a greater deed.”

The senators gave their approval. He hid a sword in his clothing and set out. Arriving there, he stood in the thick of the crowd near the king’s tribunal where the soldiers happened to be receiving their pay. A secretary, who was sitting with the king and wearing much the same kind of clothing, was busy and dealing generally with the soldiers. Mucius was afraid to ask which was Porsenna, lest his ignorance of the king’s identity betray him. Fortune led him to make a random choice and he cut down the secretary instead of the king. As he marched off, making a path for himself through the frightened crowd with his blood-stained blade, the king’s guards rushed in the direction of the outcry. He was seized and dragged back.

There, alone before the king’s tribunal and confronted with such threats to his fortunes, he was more to be feared than afraid himself. “I am a Roman citizen,” he cried. “Men call me Gaius Mucius. As an enemy, I wished to kill an enemy. My intent is to die, just as it was to kill. To act and suffer bravely is the Roman way. Nor am I the only one who is of this mind toward you. After me is a long line of men who seek the same honor. If this is your pleasure, prepare yourself for this struggle in which you must fight for your life from hour to hour. You will always have an enemy at the entrance to your palace, sword in hand. This is the war that we, the youth of Rome, declare on you. It is not action in the field and pitched battles that you should fear. The issue will be for you alone, against one enemy at a time.”

The king, at once incensed with rage and terrified at his danger, tried to intimidate him by ordering that he be burned alive if he did not immediately reveal the plot that lay behind his obscure threats. At this, Mucius exclaimed, “Look and see how cheaply the body is regarded by those who look to great glory.” With these words, he thrust his right hand into the fire that was kindled for sacrifice. As he scorched his hand, his mind seemed detached from all sensation, dumbfounding the king with this miracle. Leaping from his seat, Porsenna ordered the young man to be removed from the altar. “Depart!” he cried. “You have dared to be a greater enemy to yourself than to me. I would invoke success upon your courage, if that courage were in the service of my country. Now I send you away from here, untouched, unharmed, and free from the laws that apply to prisoners of war.” Then, as if to repay his generosity, Mucius replied, “Since you honor courage, my gratitude will give you the information that your threats could not extort. We are 300, the foremost youths of Rome, who have sworn to seek you out in this way. The first lot fell to me; the others, in whatever order the lot falls to them, will be here, each in his own time, until fortune grants us the opportunity to kill you.”

13. Porsenna releases Mucius and offers peace terms. The Romans are forced to give hostages. One hostage, Cloelia, escapes with a band of Roman women.

The release of Mucius, who was afterward given the cognomen Scaevola because of the damage to his right hand, was followed by the dispatch of envoys to Rome by Porsenna.²² The king was disturbed, not only by the occurrence of this first attack that had only been averted by his assailant’s error, but also by the thought that he would have to undergo the struggle as many times as there were conspirators. So, he voluntarily proposed peace terms to the Romans. In these terms Porsenna suggested in vain that the Tarquins be restored to the monarchy; he did this more because he himself was unable to refuse the Tarquins’ demand than because he was unaware that the Romans would refuse it. His request that the lands of the Veientines be restored was successful, and the Romans were forced to hand over hostages if they wanted the garrison to be withdrawn from the Janiculum. Peace was made on these terms, and Porsenna led his army down from the Janiculum and withdrew from Roman territory. Because of his courage, the senators gave Gaius Mucius land across the Tiber that was later called the Mucian Meadows.

This honoring of courage also aroused the women to patriotic deeds. The maiden Cloelia, one of the hostages, eluded her guards when the Etruscans happened to have encamped not far from the Tiber bank. Leading a band of maidens, she swam the Tiber amid a shower of enemy weapons, bringing all of them safely to their relatives in Rome. When this was announced to the king, at first he was incensed with rage and sent envoys to Rome to demand the hostage Cloelia, saying that he was not concerned about the others. His anger turned to admiration as he declared that her action was greater than those of Cocles and Mucius. He professed that if the hostage were not returned, he would regard the treaty as broken; but if she were restored to him, he would send her back untouched and unharmed. Both sides kept their word. The Romans returned the pledge of their peace in accordance with the treaty, and the Etruscan king not only protected but also honored the courageous girl. Praising her, he said that he was giving her some of the hostages; she herself should choose the ones that she wanted. When they had been brought out, it is said, she chose the young boys, because it was both seemly for a maiden and, by the agreement of the hostages themselves, it was appropriate that the age group that was most susceptible to mistreatment should be freed from the enemy. When peace was renewed, the Romans rewarded this courage that was unprecedented in a woman with an unprecedented honor: a statue of a maiden seated on a horse was set up at the top of the Sacred Way.

14. The problem of the custom of auctioning “King Porsenna’s property.” Porsenna’s son Arruns attacks Aricia and is defeated, thanks to help from Cumae.

The king’s peaceful departure from the city is not consistent with the custom of auctioning “King Porsenna’s property” that has been handed down by antiquity and endures among other rituals right up to our time. The origin of this custom must have arisen during the war and been retained in peace, or else it had a more peaceable origin than the notice of a sale of enemy property would suggest. From the traditional stories, the one nearest the truth is that, when Porsenna was leaving the Janiculum, he handed over his camp, which was well stocked with provisions brought in from the nearby fertile Etruscan fields, as a gift to the Romans, because the city was short of food after the long siege. These supplies were then put up for sale to prevent the people from plundering them like an enemy. It was called the “property of Porsenna,” because the title signified gratitude for the gift, rather than an auction of the king’s property, which, after all, the Roman people did not possess.

After giving up his war with the Romans, Porsenna sent his son Arruns with part of his forces to attack Aricia in order to avoid the appearance of having led his army into the area to no effect. The unexpected event at first paralyzed the people of Aricia. Then the auxiliaries summoned from the Latin peoples and also from Cumae gave them such hope that they dared to engage in a pitched battle. At the beginning of the battle, the Etruscans made a concerted onslaught with the result that they routed the Aricians at the first charge. The levies from Cumae, using skill to counter force, swerved a little and, when the enemy had rushed by in disarray, they wheeled around, attacking them from the rear. The Etruscans, almost victorious, were caught in between the two forces and cut to pieces. A very small number of them, after losing their leader and having no nearer place of refuge, ended up in Rome, without arms, like the suppliants that fortune had made them. They were given a kindly reception and assigned hospitality among the citizens. When their wounds had been cared for, some set out for their homes, reporting the kindness they had received. Many decided to remain in Rome due to affection for their hosts and the city. They were given a place to live that thereafter was called the Tuscan Quarter.

15. 506 BCE. Porsenna’s last appeal for the restoration of the kingship to the Tarquins.

The next consuls were Publius Lucretius and Publius Valerius Publicola.²³ This year was the last time an embassy came to Rome from Porsenna to discuss the restoration of Tarquin to the kingship. The senate replied that they would send messengers to the king and immediately dispatched its most distinguished members. It would, they said, have been possible to send a brief reply that the restoration of kings was impossible, but they preferred to send him chosen delegates from the senate rather than give a reply to his envoys in Rome. Their aim was to put an end to discussion of the matter for all time and to avoid irritation, since they both enjoyed mutual good relations. The king was seeking what was contrary to the freedom of the Roman people, whereas the Romans, unless they were willing to acquiesce in their own destruction, were refusing the request of a man to whom they would not willingly have denied anything. The Roman people were not living under a king, but in freedom. They had resolved to open their gates to an enemy, rather than to kings. They were united in this vow that the end of liberty in the city would be the end of the city. Therefore they begged that, if the king wanted the well-being of Rome, he should allow her to be free.

Overcome by respect, the king said, “Since this is your firm resolve, I shall not exhaust you by repeating the same vain pleas, nor will I deceive the Tarquins with hope of help that it is not mine to grant. Let them seek a place of exile elsewhere, whether war or peace is their objective, so that nothing hinders my peace with you.” To these words he added greater deeds of friendship. He returned the rest of the hostages and restored the Veientine land that he had taken under the treaty made on the Janiculum. Cut off from all hope of returning, Tarquin went to Tusculum to his son-in-law, Mamilius Octavius.²⁴ Thus the peace between Rome and Porsenna was faithfully maintained.

16. 505–503 BCE. Because of political strife, Attus Clausus, a Sabine, and his family and clients migrate to Rome, where he becomes known as Appius Claudius. The Romans make war on the Sabines and Aurunci.

Marcus Valerius and Publius Postumius became consuls. In this year there was a successful war against the Sabines, and the consuls triumphed. The Sabines then prepared for war with a greater effort. To confront them and prevent any sudden danger arising from Tusculum, where war was suspected though not readily apparent, Publius Valerius was made consul for the fourth time and Titus Lucretius for the second. Political strife broke out among the Sabines between the advocates of war and peace, resulting in the transfer to Rome of a considerable part of their strength. Attus Clausus, who afterward was known at Rome as Appius Claudius, himself an advocate of peace, was pressured by the turbulent war party. Being no match for this faction, he fled from Inregillum to Rome, accompanied by a large band of clients.²⁵ They were given citizenship and land across the Anio. Later, when new tribesmen had been added who came from that area, they were called the Old Claudian Tribe. Appius was enrolled in the senate and before too long was regarded as one of its leading members.

The consuls led an offensive into Sabine territory. By devastating their land and then defeating them in battle, they so devastated the Sabines’ resources that there could be no fear of them renewing war for a long time. The consuls returned to Rome and celebrated a triumph. The following year, in the consulship of Agrippa Menenius and Publius Postumius, Publius Valerius died, a man regarded by all as a leader in the skills of war and peace. His reputation was immense, but his household so poor that there was no money for his funeral; so it was supplied by the state. The matrons mourned him as they had Brutus.

In the same year, two Latin colonies, Pometia and Cora, defected to the Aurunci.²⁶ War was begun with the Aurunci. After the defeat of a huge army that had boldly encountered the consuls as they invaded their territory, the entire Auruncan war was concentrated on Pometia. The slaughter was unrestrained, both during and after the battle. Considerably more were killed than captured, and the captives were butchered indiscriminately. The rage of war did not even spare the hostages, of whom 300 had been received. In this year too, a triumph was celebrated in Rome.

17. 502 BCE. The destruction of Pometia, despite its last-minute surrender.

The next consuls, Opiter Verginius and Spurius Cassius, besieged Pometia at first by force and then by using movable sheds and other siege equipment. The Aurunci rushed out against them, more because of their implacable hatred than from any hope or opportunity. Since more of them were armed with firebrands than with swords, they filled everything with slaughter and fire. The sheds were burned, many of the enemy wounded and killed, and one of the consuls—the sources do not say which—was seriously wounded, fell from his horse, and was almost killed. Given this failure, the Romans returned to the city. Among the wounded, they brought the consul, who lay between life and death.

After the lapse of a short time that sufficed to heal wounds and resupply the army, they again advanced against Pometia with greater anger and also increased forces. The sheds and the rest of the equipment had been repaired, and they were already at the point where the soldiers were about to scale the walls when the town surrendered. But, although the Aurunci had surrendered, their suffering was just as terrible as if they had been taken by storm. Their leaders were beheaded and the rest of the colonists sold into slavery. The city was demolished and its territory sold. The consuls celebrated a triumph more because Rome’s anger had been so savagely avenged than because of the magnitude of the war they had concluded.

18. 501 BCE. Sabine youths abduct some prostitutes, giving cause for war. The Romans appoint a dictator for the first time, a move that temporarily defers war.

The following year, the consuls were Postumus Cominius and Titus Larcius. In this year, during the games in Rome, some prostitutes were seized by some Sabine youths as an act of wantonness. People gathered and a brawl broke out that almost became a battle. It looked as if a trivial matter was going to cause a renewal of war. In addition to fear of war with the Sabines, there was the additional fact that it was well known that the thirty Latin peoples were conspiring at the instigation of Octavius Mamilius. These apprehensions caused great anxiety among the citizens, and it was at this time that the idea of appointing a dictator was first suggested.²⁷ But there is no agreement in which year this happened, nor which consuls were distrusted because they supported the Tarquins—this is included in the tradition—nor who was the first man to be named dictator. In the oldest sources, however, I find that Titus Larcius was the first dictator and that Spurius Cassius was his master of the horse.²⁸ They chose men of consular rank, since this was the prescription of the law that was passed concerning the dictatorship. Therefore I am led to believe that it was Larcius, an ex-consul who was appointed as the director and superior of the consuls, rather than Manius Valerius, son of Marcus and grandson of Volesus, a man who had not yet held the consulship. Moreover, if they had particularly wanted a dictator to be chosen from that family, they would have much preferred to choose his father, Marcus Valerius, a man of proven excellence and an ex-consul.²⁹

When they had appointed a dictator for the first time at Rome and men saw the axes borne before him,³⁰ great fear came over the plebs, causing them to be more intent on obeying orders. For there was no help from a second person as there was in the case of the consuls who had equal power, nor was there the right of appeal, nor any recourse except scrupulous obedience. The appointment of a dictator also caused fear in the Sabines, all the more so because they thought that they were responsible for the appointment. So, they sent envoys to beg for peace. When they asked the dictator and senate to pardon the young men for their error, the response was that young men could be pardoned, but not old men who had sown the seeds of one war after another. Nevertheless negotiations for peace were begun, and it would have been granted if the Sabines could have brought themselves to pay the expenses incurred in the war, as the Romans demanded. War was declared, but a tacit truce kept a state of peace for the year.

19. 500–499 BCE. The battle of Lake Regillus.

Nothing worthy of note happened in the consulship of Servius Sulpicius and Manius Tullius. The next consuls were Titus Aebutius and Gaius Vetusius. During their consulship, Fidenae was besieged, Crustumeria was captured, and Praeneste defected from the Latins to the Romans.³¹ The war with the Latins that had been festering for several years was delayed no longer. Aulus Postumius as dictator and Titus Aebutius as master of the horse set out with great forces of infantry and cavalry and encountered the advancing column of the enemy near Lake Regillus, in the territory of Tusculum. Because the Romans heard that the Tarquins were with the army of the Latins, they were so enraged that they could not be restrained from attacking immediately. The ensuing battle was fought with considerably more determination and savagery than any other had been. The leaders were not only in the field to direct the engagement with their strategy, but they joined in the fighting, throwing themselves into the fray.

Almost none of the nobles on either side came out of the battle unscathed, except for the Roman dictator. Postumius was in the front line encouraging and drawing up his own troops when Tarquinius Superbus, though burdened by age and his failing strength, rode full tilt against him. The old man was wounded in the side, but his men rushed in and took him to safety. On the other wing, Aebutius, master of the horse, charged Octavius Mamilius. But the Tusculan leader saw him coming and spurred his horse against Aebutius. Their spears clashed with such great force that Aebutius was pierced through the arm and Mamilius was struck in the chest. The Latins received Mamilius into their second line, but Aebutius retired from the fray, unable to handle a weapon because of his wounded arm. The Latin leader, in no way deterred by his wound, urged on the fighting. Seeing his men in retreat, he summoned a unit of Roman exiles who were under the command of a son of Lucius Tarquinius.³² They fought with greater passion because of the confiscation of their property and loss of their native land, and revived the battle for a while.

20. The Roman Marcus Valerius (consul of 505 BCE) and the Latin Octavius Mamilius are killed in battle. The dictator Postumius vows a temple to Castor and celebrates a triumph.

Since the Romans were now retreating from that part of the field, Marcus Valerius, the brother of Publicola, caught sight of the young Tarquin, who was making a show of bravado in the front line of the exiles. Fired by his brother’s glory, Valerius determined that the honor of killing the tyrants should also go to the same family that had driven them out. Digging his spurs into his horse and leveling his spear, he charged at Tarquin. But the Etruscan drew back into the ranks of his followers to avoid his enemy’s attack. As Valerius recklessly careened into the line of exiles, one of them blindsided him and ran him through. But the rider’s wound did not slow his horse. Dying, the Roman slid to the ground, his arms falling on top of him. Seeing the fall of such a brave fighter, and realizing that the Roman exiles were advancing boldly on the double whereas his own men were checked and giving ground, the dictator Postumius ordered his own cohort, a picked band that he kept with him as a bodyguard, to treat any Roman whom they saw fleeing as an enemy. This twofold fear stopped the Roman flight. Once again they faced the enemy and the fighting was renewed. Then, for the first time, the dictator’s cohort entered the fray. Fresh in body and spirit, they attacked the weary exiles and cut them down.

Then another battle between the leaders broke out. Mamilius, the Latin general, seeing the cohort of exiles almost surrounded by the Roman dictator, took some companies from the reserves and rushed with them into the front line. But a lieutenant, Titus Herminius, caught sight of them as they were getting into formation and recognized Mamilius in their midst from his distinctive uniform and armor. He attacked the enemy commander with so much more violence than the master of the horse had shown a little earlier that with one thrust he pierced Mamilius through the side and killed him. But Herminius himself was struck by a spear as he stripped the arms from the enemy’s body. He was carried victorious back to the camp but expired just as his wound was being tended. Then the dictator rushed up to the horsemen, imploring them to dismount and enter the fight since the infantry was exhausted. They obeyed his command, leaped from their horses, and dashed to the fore, using their shields to protect those in the front ranks. The infantry immediately recovered their spirits when they saw the leading young nobles on equal terms with themselves, sharing in the danger. Then, at last, the Latins were checked; their battle line was broken and forced to give way. The horses were brought up for the cavalrymen so that they could pursue the enemy, and the infantry followed.

At this point, the dictator, neglecting no divine or human help, is said to have vowed a temple to Castor and to have announced rewards for the first and second soldiers to enter the enemy camp.³³ Such was the Romans’ ardor that in one attack they routed the enemy and took their camp. Such was the battle at Lake Regillus. The dictator and his master of the horse returned to Rome and celebrated a triumph.

21. The problem of the date of the battle of Lake Regillus. Tarquinius Superbus dies at Cumae in 495 BCE.

For three years after this, there was neither stable peace nor open war. The consuls Quintus Cloelius and Titus Larcius were followed by Aulus Sempronius and Marcus Minucius. During the consulship of the latter, a temple to Saturn was dedicated, and the Saturnalia established as a festal day.³⁴ The next consuls were Aulus Postumius and Titus Verginius. I find that some authorities date the battle of Lake Regillus to this year [496 BCE] rather than earlier [499 BCE]. They say that Aulus Postumius abdicated from the consulship because his colleague’s loyalty was questionable and so he was made dictator. One is involved in so many chronological uncertainties, with different sources giving different lists of the magistrates, that the great antiquity of both events and sources makes it impossible to discern which consuls followed which, or what happened in each particular year.

Then Appius Claudius and Publius Servilius were elected consuls. This year was marked by news of Tarquin’s death. He died at Cumae, where he had taken refuge with Aristodemus after the power of the Latins had been broken.³⁵ The senators were cheered by this news, as were the plebs. But the senators indulged too much in their joy. The nobles began to mistreat the plebs, whose interests up to that time they had most diligently served. In that year, the colony of Signia that King Tarquin had founded was supplied with a number of colonists and established for the second time.³⁶ At Rome, twenty-one tribes were formed.³⁷ The temple of Mercury was dedicated on May 15.³⁸

22. 495 BCE. The Volsci renew hostilities with Rome and seek alliance with the Latins. The Latins seize the Volscian envoys and hand them over to the Romans, who then make a treaty with the Latins.

There had been neither war nor peace with the Volscians during the war with the Latins. The Volscians had raised support troops to send to the Latins and would have sent them had not the dictator moved quickly. But move quickly he did to avoid having to deal with both Latins and Volscians in one and the same battle. In anger, the consuls led their troops into Volscian territory. This unexpected action surprised the Volscians, who had no fears of being punished for their plan. They had no thought of taking up arms and so handed over as hostages 300 children of the nobility from Cora and Pometia. The Roman legions were withdrawn without a conflict.

Nor was it long before the Volscians’ natural inclinations returned, once they were relieved of their fears. Again they secretly prepared for war and made a military alliance with the Hernici. They also sent out envoys in all directions to stir the Latins to rebellion. But the recent disaster they had sustained at Lake Regillus had so filled the Latins with anger and hatred of anyone who urged them to go to war that they did not even refrain from violating an embassy. They seized the Volsci, took them to Rome, and handed them over to the consuls; evidence was given that the Volsci and Hernici were preparing war against the Romans. When the matter was brought before the senate, the senators were so gratified that they released to the Latins 6,000 captives and referred the question of a treaty to the incoming magistrates—a matter that they had all but refused ever to negotiate. Then indeed the Latins rejoiced in their action, and the advocates of peace were held in high esteem. They sent a golden crown to Capitoline Jupiter. With the envoys and the gift came a massive throng of captives who had been restored to their own people. They went to the homes where each had been held in captivity and gave thanks for the liberal treatment and respect that they had enjoyed in their adversity. Then they made a pact of hospitality.³⁹ Never before had there been a greater public or private bond between the Latin people and the Roman state.

23. An uproar breaks out in the forum between patricians and plebeians, since many of the latter had been all but enslaved because of debt. The consul Appius Claudius wants to make arrests, but his colleague favors conciliation.

Not only was war with the Volsci imminent, but discord was flaring up in the state as a result of hatred between the senators and the plebeians, especially on the question of those who were “bound over” to their creditors for debt.⁴⁰ These men were grumbling that, though they fought abroad for freedom and dominion, at home they had been enslaved and oppressed by their fellow citizens. The freedom of the plebeians, they said, was safer in war than in peace, amid enemies rather than amid fellow citizens.

The animosity was spontaneously increasing, but it was inflamed by an extraordinary calamity that had befallen a single individual. An elderly man rushed into the forum, bearing all the visible signs of his misfortunes. His clothing was covered with filth and the condition of his body was even more hideous: he was wasted, pale, and emaciated. In addition, his long beard and hair brutalized his appearance. Despite his appalling condition, he was recognized by the bystanders, who said that he had been a company commander. Pitying him, they spread the general word that he had won other military honors. He bared his chest, displaying his scars as evidence of his honorable service in several battles. A crowd gathered around him as if it were a public assembly, asking him how he came to be in such an appalling condition. He replied that while he was serving in the Sabine war, not only had he lost his crops because of the enemy’s pillaging, but his farmhouse had been burned, all his goods plundered, and his flocks driven off. Then, at this inopportune time, a war tax had been levied and so he had borrowed money. As the interest piled up, he lost first the land that had belonged to his father and grandfather, then the rest of his property; and finally debt had affected his body, like a wasting disease. He had been carried off by his creditor, not into slavery, but to a prison and torture house. Then he showed them his back, disfigured with fresh traces of the lash.

A huge uproar arose when the people heard and saw these things. The disturbance was no longer confined to the forum, but spread throughout the entire city. From all sides, bondsmen, chained and unchained, rushed out in public, begging their fellow citizens for protection. Nowhere was there a lack of volunteers to join the riot. Far and wide, crowds thronged all the streets, shouting as they dashed into the forum. Great was the danger of those senators who happened to be in the forum and encountered the mob. The people would not have refrained from violence if the consuls, Publius Servilius and Appius Claudius, had not quickly intervened to suppress the rebellion. But the crowd turned on them, showing their chains and other appalling marks. These, they said, were the rewards they had earned, as they bitterly recounted the military service that each had performed in different areas. With threats rather than supplications, they demanded that the senate be summoned. They surrounded the senate house in order to witness and control the deliberations of the state.

The consuls gathered only a few senators whom they happened to meet. Fear kept the rest away from not only the senate house but also the forum. No business could be done because they lacked a quorum. Then the crowd thought they were being mocked and put off: the missing senators were staying away not by chance, nor from fear, but in order to prevent action. The consuls, they said, were being evasive and were clearly treating the plebeians’ miseries as a joke. It had almost reached the point at which not even respect for the consuls could restrain the passions of the crowd, when the missing senators at last entered the senate, uncertain whether they would incur greater danger by delaying or by coming. When they at last had a quorum, not only the senators but even the consuls themselves were unable to agree. Appius, a man of impetuous temperament, thought the matter should be settled by the use of consular power: the arrest of one or two men would calm the rest.⁴¹ Servilius, a man more inclined to a less confrontational solution, thought it not only safer but easier to assuage their fury than to crush it.

24. News of an impending Volscian attack causes the plebs to refuse to enlist. The consul Servilius resolves the immediate problem by releasing the debtors to perform military service and guaranteeing that their families and property will be safeguarded.

Another, greater fear arose in the midst of all this, when some Latin cavalrymen galloped up with the disturbing news that the Volscian army was coming to attack the city. The reactions of senators and plebeians to this report were very different—to such an extent had the discord created two civic communities in place of one. The plebs were exultant in their joy, saying that the gods were avenging the senators’ arrogance. They encouraged one another not to enlist: it was better to die along with everyone else than alone. Let the senators do the military service; let the senators take up arms so that the same people who got the rewards of war should also experience its dangers. But the senate, dispirited and panicked in the face of this twofold fear from both citizens and enemy, begged the consul Servilius, whose temperament had a greater appeal with the populace than that of Appius, to extricate the state from the terrors that beset it.

Then the consul adjourned the senate and called a public meeting. There Servilius declared that the senators were concerned to consult the interests of the plebs; fear for the entire state had taken precedence over their deliberations about what was, indeed, the greatest part of the citizen body, but nevertheless only a part. Nor was it possible, since the enemy was almost at the gates, for anything to have priority over the war. Even if there was some respite, it was not honorable for the plebs to refuse to take up arms for their country without first receiving some recompense. Nor was it fitting for the senate to discuss the afflictions of their fellow citizens at a time of fear, rather than later, when they would do it of their own free will. Servilius confirmed the trust of the assembly by issuing an edict that no one should keep a Roman citizen in chains or confinement, thus denying him the possibility of enlisting in the consuls’ levy. Nor should anyone seize or sell the goods of a soldier while he was on military service, nor harass his children or grandchildren. When this edict had been issued, the debtors who were present immediately enlisted. From all over the city, people burst forth from their houses where their creditors no longer had the right to hold them, rushing into the forum to take the military oath. It was a large band of people, and no others outshone them in courage and service during the Volscian war. The consul led his forces against the enemy and pitched camp a short distance away.

25. The consul Servilius conducts a brief and successful campaign against the Volsci.

The next night, the Volsci, relying on the discord among the Romans, attacked their camp on the chance that darkness might cause desertions or treachery. But the sentries perceived them and the army was roused. After the signal was given, there was a rush to arms, thus frustrating the Volscian design. Both sides devoted the rest of the night to sleeping. At dawn on the following day, the Volsci filled in the ditches and attacked the rampart. Already on every side the fortifications were being torn down. Everywhere all the soldiers, especially the debtors, were clamoring for the consul to give the signal. Servilius waited a short while to test his soldiers’ mettle. When he was satisfied with the intensity of their ardor, he finally gave the signal to break out and released the soldiers, eager for the fray. At the first charge, the enemy was driven back. The fugitives were cut down from the rear as long as the infantry could pursue them. The cavalry drove them in panic right back into their camp. Soon the legions had surrounded the camp itself, and, when panic had driven out the Volsci, it was captured and plundered. On the following day, the Roman legions were led to Suessa Pometia, where the enemy had fled. In a few days the town was captured and given up to be plundered.⁴² The proceeds gave some much-needed relief to the soldiers. The consul led his army back to Rome, with great honor to himself. As he was setting out for Rome, he was approached by ambassadors from the Volsci of Ecetra, who were alarmed for their own situation after the capture of Pometia.⁴³ They were granted peace by a decree of the senate, but their land was confiscated.

26. Two quick encounters with the Sabines and Aurunci end these wars.

Immediately after this, the Sabines caused an alarm at Rome, but it was more truly a disturbance than war. During the night, news reached the city that a Sabine army had come as far as the river Anio on a plundering raid. There had been widespread looting and burning of farmhouses. Aulus Postumius, who had been dictator during the war with the Latins, was immediately dispatched with all the cavalry forces. The consul Servilius followed with a picked group of infantry. The cavalry surrounded many stragglers, and, as the line of infantry advanced, the Sabine troops offered no resistance. Weary from not only their march but also their night of plunder, a great part of them had stuffed themselves with food and wine in the farmhouses and so had scarcely the strength to flee.

The Sabine war was finished the same night that it was discovered. The following day, there were great hopes that peace had been secured on all sides, when legates from the Aurunci approached the senate, declaring that there would be war unless the Romans evacuated Volscian territory. The Auruncan army had set out from home at the same time as the legates. The report that their army had already been seen not far from Aricia threw the Romans into such a state of confusion that it was impossible to consult the senate in the regular way. Nor could they give a peaceful answer to people who were already bearing arms, while they themselves were taking up arms. On the offensive, the Romans marched to Aricia, joined battle with the Aurunci not far from there, and finished the war in a single fight.

27. Despite Servilius’ pledge, Appius Claudius has the debtors bound over again. Servilius temporizes and becomes as unpopular as Appius. There is strife between the two consuls for the rest of their term.

After routing the Aurunci and being victorious in so many wars in so few days, the Romans were expecting the consul to fulfill his promises and the senate its word. But Appius was pronouncing the harshest possible judgments in suits to recover debts, partly because of his inborn arrogance and partly because he wanted to frustrate his colleague’s pledge. Those who had previously been bound over were handed back to their creditors, and others were bound over for the first time. Whenever this happened to a soldier, he would appeal to Appius’ colleague. People rushed to Servilius’ house. They repeated his promises, reproaching him with the service they had performed and the scars they had received. They demanded that he should either refer the matter to the senate or that he, as consul, should come to the aid of his fellow citizens; or, as general, to the aid of his soldiers. Their pleas moved the consul, but the situation forced him to equivocate, so strongly was not only his colleague inclined to the other side but also to the entire faction of nobles. And so, by steering a middle course, Servilius neither avoided the hatred of the plebs nor won the goodwill of the senators. The latter considered that he was soft and courting popularity, whereas the plebs deemed him deceitful. In a short time it was apparent that he and Appius were equally hated.

A struggle had broken out between the consuls over which of them should dedicate the temple of Mercury.⁴⁴ The senate referred the matter to the people. Whichever consul should be granted the dedication by the command of the people was also to be in command of the grain supply, to set up a guild of merchants, and to perform the solemn rites in the presence of a pontiff. The people granted the dedication to Marcus Laetorius, a centurion of the first rank, not so much as an honor to him—for he had been given a commission that was far above his station in life—but rather to humiliate the consuls. Appius and the senators were consequently enraged, but the confidence of the plebs increased and they proceeded in a far different way from that in which they had first begun. Despairing of help from the consuls and senate, whenever the plebs saw a debtor being led into court, they flew to his aid from every side. The consul’s decree could not be heard above the din and the shouting, and once it had been pronounced, no one obeyed it. Violence was beginning to prevail. All fear and danger to personal liberty had shifted from the debtors to the creditors, who were being singled out and abused by the masses in full view of the consul.

In addition to all this came fear of war with the Sabines. When a levy was decreed, no one enlisted. Appius was furious and blamed Servilius’ desire for popularity. Servilius, he said, was betraying the state by staying silent to court the people; in addition to refusing to hear cases concerning debt, he was not even holding the levy in accordance with the senate’s decree. Nevertheless, the state had not been completely abandoned, nor consular power wholly rejected. Alone, he would be the champion of the majesty that belonged to him and the senators. Since the usual crowd of bystanders was angry and unruly, Appius ordered the arrest of one of the conspicuous leaders of the disturbances. But this man appealed as he was being dragged off by the lictors.⁴⁵ The consul would not have yielded to his appeal—for he had no doubt what the people’s judgment would be—had not his stubbornness been overcome, though with difficulty, more by the advice and influence of the leading men than by the popular outcry, so excessive was Appius’ determination to withstand unpopularity. From then on, the trouble grew worse day by day, with not only open protests but, what was far more dangerous, secret gatherings and conferences. At last, these consuls who were so hated by the plebs went out of office. Servilius had the goodwill of neither side, but Appius was amazingly popular with the senators.

28. 494 BCE. The new consuls are unable to get the plebs to enlist, increasing the likelihood of conflict.

Aulus Verginius and Titus Vetusius then entered the consulship. The plebs, uncertain what sort of consuls they were going to have, began to meet at night, some on the Esquiline, others on the Aventine, to avoid being intimidated into making sudden decisions and conducting business in a rash and haphazard way when they were in the forum.⁴⁶ The consuls regarded this behavior as pernicious (as indeed it was), and so referred the matter to the senate. But they were not allowed to discuss the matter in an orderly manner. On all sides, there was a clamorous uproar as the senators expressed their indignation that the consuls should shift onto them the unpopularity for a matter that should have been settled by consular authority. Assuredly, if there were real magistrates in the state, there would be only one assembly in Rome, that of the people. But as it was, the government was broken up and dispersed into 1,000 senates and meetings. By Hercules, one single man—a better word than consul—like Appius Claudius, would have broken up those meetings in a moment!⁴⁷

Thus reprimanded, the consuls asked the senators what they wanted them to do, saying that they would not act with any less decisiveness or severity than the senate wished. It was decided that they should hold the most stringent levy possible: idleness made the plebs unruly. When the senate was dismissed, the consuls mounted the platform and called out the names of the younger men. When no one responded to his name, the crowd surrounded the consuls as if it were a public meeting, saying that the plebs could no longer be deceived. Unless the state gave a guarantee, they would never get a single soldier. Liberty must be restored to every single individual before arms were given him. They would fight for their fatherland and fellow citizens, not for masters who owned them. The consuls were aware of what the senate had ordered. But of all those who had spoken boldly within the walls of the senate house, none was visibly present to share in the unpopularity. A terrible struggle with the plebs was apparent. Before going to extremes, therefore, the consuls decided to consult the senate a second time. Then all the youngest senators rushed up to the consuls’ seats, bidding them resign the consulship and lay down the power that they lacked the spirit to defend.

29. After an uproar in the forum, the senate convenes and Appius Claudius proposes the appointment of a dictator.

Now that they had made sufficient trial of both courses open to them,⁴⁸ the consuls finally said: “Don’t say that you weren’t warned, Conscript Fathers, but a mighty revolt is upon us. We demand that those who are foremost in charging us with cowardice stand by our side while we conduct the levy. We will do this job with the most severe of you there to arbitrate, since that is your pleasure.” They returned to the tribunal and deliberately ordered one of those who was standing within sight to be called on by name. But he stood there without answering and a small group of men clustered around to prevent him from being manhandled. So, the consuls sent the lictor to him, but the lictor was driven back. Those of the senators who were near the consuls cried out that this was an outrage and rushed down from the tribunal to help the lictor. Then the mob turned from the lictor, whom they had merely prevented from making an arrest, and attacked the senators. The brawl was calmed by the intervention of the consuls, without any stones or weapons being involved. It was more a matter of anger and shouting than of any physical injury. In the uproar, the senate was summoned and deliberated with even more uproar. Those who had been jostled demanded a judicial inquiry, with the wildest members shouting and yelling, rather than expressing their opinion formally.

The senators’ anger at last subsided as the consuls reprimanded them for showing no more sanity in the senate house than in the forum. Then they began to deliberate in an orderly manner. There were three proposals: Publius Verginius was against general debt relief, recommending that they consider only those who had relied on the promise of the consul Publius Servilius and served in the wars against the Volsci, Aurunci, and Sabines. Titus Larcius thought that this was not the time merely to recompense the military service rendered: all the plebeians were sunk in debt and the matter could not be settled unless the interests of everyone were considered. But if some were treated differently from others, the discord would be inflamed rather than settled. Appius Claudius, harsh by nature and brutal because of his hatred of the plebs on the one hand and the senators’ adulation on the other, said that such a great uproar had arisen, not because of the plebs’ miserable lives, but because of license: the plebs were more out of control than enraged. This evil had its origins in the right of appeal. Consuls had the power to threaten, but not to command, when a wrongdoer was permitted to appeal to his fellow offenders. “Come,” he said, “let us appoint a dictator from whom there is no right of appeal.⁴⁹ Then this madness that has set everything ablaze will abate. Then let anyone strike a lictor, when he knows that the right to scourge and execute is in the hands of that one man whose authority he has violated.”

30. 494 BCE. Though Appius’ proposal passes, he is not appointed dictator. War again breaks out, and the plebs only enlist when the dictator reenacts an edict similar to that of Servilius. The consul Verginius wins a quick victory over the Volsci and takes Velitrae.

Many thought Appius’ proposal savage and horrifying, as indeed it was. But then again, the proposals of Verginius and Larcius set unhealthy precedents, especially that of Larcius, since it would undermine all credit. The most reasonable and moderate plan was thought to be that of Verginius. But Appius prevailed because of factional politics and consideration for private interests that have always stood in the way of public deliberations and will continue to do so. Indeed he was almost appointed dictator, a move that would have alienated the plebs at a most dangerous time, since the Volsci, Aequi, and Sabines all happened to take up arms at once. But the consuls and senior senators were anxious that an office of such formidable power should be entrusted to a man of humane temperament. They appointed Manius Valerius, a son of Volesus, as dictator.⁵⁰ Although the plebs saw that he had been appointed to oppose them, nevertheless, since they had the right of appeal as the result of his brother’s law, they had no fear of harsh or arrogant action from that family. Their confidence was soon strengthened by an edict that was promulgated by the dictator, since it was essentially in keeping with the edict of the consul Servilius. Thinking it was better to trust the man and his office, the plebs abandoned the struggle and submitted their names. Never before had there been such a large army. Ten legions were enrolled, three being given to each of the consuls and four to the dictator.

War could not be delayed any longer. The Aequi had invaded Latin territory. Emissaries from the Latins begged the senate either to send help or to allow them to take up arms themselves to protect their boundaries. It seemed safer to defend the Latins without arming them than to allow them to resume the use of weapons.⁵¹ The consul Vetusius was dispatched, and that was the end of the pillaging. The Aequi withdrew from the plains and secured themselves on the mountain ridges, relying on their position rather than their weapons. The other consul set out against the Volsci. To avoid a similar waste of time, he ravaged their fields and provoked the enemy to draw nearer to his camp and fight a pitched battle. In the middle of the plain between the camps, each side formed its battle lines in front of its own palisade.

The Volsci were considerably superior in numbers, and so they went into the battle in careless disarray. The Roman consul did not move his line forward, nor did he allow a response to the enemy’s battle cry. He ordered his men to plant their spears in the ground and stand still until the enemy was at close quarters. Then they were to attack with all their might and settle the business with their swords. The Volsci, weary with running and shouting, bore down on the Romans, who seemed numb with fear. But when they realized that the opposite was the case and saw the swords flashing in their faces, they were thrown into confusion, fleeing as if they had fallen into an ambush. They did not have enough strength even for flight because of their rush into battle. The Romans, on the other hand, because they had stood quietly at the beginning of the battle, were physically strong and easily caught up with the exhausted Volsci. They captured their camp by assault, driving the enemy from it and pursuing them to Velitrae.⁵² Victor and vanquished burst into the city in one body. More blood was shed there in the indiscriminate slaughter of every kind of person than in the actual battle. Pardon was granted to a few who gave up their arms and surrendered.

31. The Sabines, Volsci, and Aequi are defeated. Unable to fulfill his pledge to the plebs, the dictator resigns.

While this was happening on the Volscian front, the dictator routed the Sabines—by far Rome’s greatest enemy—and drove them from their camp. By sending in the cavalry, he threw the enemy’s center line into confusion, since the Sabines had extended their wings too widely and thus had failed to strengthen the line’s depth.⁵³ The Roman infantry then attacked them in their confusion. In one and the same onslaught, the camp was captured and the war ended. After the battle at Lake Regillus, no other battle in those years was more famous than this one. The dictator entered the city in triumph. In addition to the customary honors, he was granted a viewing position in the circus and a curule chair was placed there, too.⁵⁴ The defeated Volsci were deprived of the territory of Velitrae. Colonists were sent from Rome and a colony was established.

Shortly afterward there was a battle with the Aequi, though the consul Vetusius was against it because they had to engage the enemy on unfavorable ground. The soldiers charged the consul with attempting to drag out the campaign so that the dictator would resign his office before they could return to the city, thus avoiding the fulfillment of his promises, just like the previous consul. They forced Vetusius to advance rashly and haphazardly up the mountains that confronted them. This ill-advised undertaking turned into a success as a result of the enemy’s cowardice. Even before the Romans came within range, the Aequi, stunned by the Romans’ audacity, rushed down into the valleys on the other side of the ridge and abandoned their camp, which was in a well-fortified position. There was considerable booty and a bloodless victory.

Despite the triple success in war, both senators and plebs remained concerned about the outcome of domestic affairs. The money-lenders had arranged matters with such influence and artfulness that they frustrated not only the plebs but also the dictator. After the consul Vetusius’ return, the first business that Valerius brought before the senate on behalf of the victorious people was to ask the senators to declare their policy about the treatment of those bound over for debt. When his motion was rejected, Valerius said, “You don’t like it when I urge harmony. You will soon wish, I guarantee, that the Roman plebs had patrons like me. As far as this business concerns me, I shall not frustrate my fellow citizens further, nor shall I be frustrated as dictator. Discord at home and war abroad created a situation in which the state needed this office. Peace has been secured abroad, but at home it is obstructed. My involvement in this revolt will be as a private citizen, rather than as dictator.” And so he walked out of the senate house and resigned the dictatorship. It was clear to the plebs that he had resigned from office in anger at their plight. So, as if he had kept his pledge—it was not his fault that it was not being fulfilled—they escorted him to his home, praising his support.

32. The first secession of the plebs. Menenius Agrippa’s parable of the limbs and the belly.

Then fear assailed the senators that secret meetings and conspiracies would again break out if the army were disbanded. And so, although the levy had been conducted by the dictator, they considered that the soldiers were still bound by their oath, since they had been sworn in by the consuls. Under the pretext of renewed war with the Aequi, they ordered the legions to be led out of the city. This action brought the revolt to fruition. At first, it is said, the plebs discussed killing the consuls in order to be released from their oath. When they were told a criminal act would not resolve their sacred obligation, then, without the order of the consuls and on the advice of one Sicinius, they withdrew to the Sacred Mount, which is across the Anio river, three miles from the city. This version of the story is more common than that of Piso, who says that they withdrew to the Aventine.⁵⁵ There, without any general, they quietly fortified their camp with a stockade and a trench, taking nothing beyond what was necessary for their subsistence. They kept to themselves for several days, without harassing anyone or being themselves harassed.⁵⁶

In the city there was great panic; mutual apprehension caused all activities to be suspended. The plebs, abandoned by their supporters, feared violence at the hands of the senators. The senators feared the plebs who were left in the city, being unsure whether they wanted them to remain or depart. For how long would the multitude that had seceded remain quiet? What would happen if a foreign war should arise in the meantime? They realized that the only hope left was in harmony among the citizens: this must be restored to the state, by fair means or foul.

And so the senators decided to send Menenius Agrippa as an emissary to the plebs, an eloquent man who was dear to the people because he was one of their own by birth. He was admitted into their camp and is said to have told the following parable in an old-fashioned, rough style of speech. At the time when men’s bodily parts were not as coordinated as they are now and each limb its own way of thinking and its own voice, the other parts were angry that they had the worry, trouble, and effort of providing everything for the belly; whereas the belly had a quiet time in their midst, doing nothing except enjoying the good things that they supplied. So, they made a conspiracy that the hands should not carry food to the mouth, nor should the mouth receive what it was given, nor the teeth chew it. While they wanted to starve the belly into submission, their anger caused all the limbs and the entire body almost to waste away. It was then apparent that the function of the belly was by no means idle: not only was the belly nourished, but it also provided nourishment, since it supplied to all parts of the body the source of our life and strength—our blood, which it apportions to the veins after it is enriched with the food it has digested. With this parable, he showed the similarity between the internal revolt of the body and the anger of the plebs toward the senators, and so won over men’s minds.

33. 494–493 BCE. The institution of the tribunate of the plebs and the making of a treaty with the Latins, which is generally known as the Cassian Treaty. The Romans capture Corioli, thanks mainly to Coriolanus.

Negotiations then began to restore concord, and agreement was reached on the following terms. The plebeians should have their own magistrates, who would be sacrosanct.⁵⁷ These officials should have the right to give help (auxilium) to the plebeians in actions against the consuls, but no senator should be allowed to hold this office. And so, two tribunes of the plebs were elected, Gaius Licinius and Lucius Albinius, and they chose three others to be their colleagues. It is agreed that one of these three was Sicinius, the instigator of the revolt. There is less agreement about who the other two were. Some sources say that only two tribunes were elected on the Sacred Mount and that this was where the law of sacrosanctity was enacted.⁵⁸

During the secession of the plebs, Spurius Cassius and Postumus Cominius became consuls. In their consulship, a treaty was made with the Latin peoples.⁵⁹ One consul remained in Rome to make this treaty, while the other was sent to fight the Volsci. He routed and put to flight the Volsci of Antium, driving and pursuing them into the town of Longula, which he captured. From there he immediately took Polusca, another Volscian town. Then he directed a mighty force against Corioli.⁶⁰

In the camp at that time, Gnaeus Marcius was one of the leaders of the younger soldiers. He was resourceful both in tactics and in fighting, and later he was given the cognomen Coriolanus.⁶¹ The Roman army was besieging Corioli and concentrating on the townspeople penned within the walls. They had no fear of the imminence of an attack from outside, when they were suddenly attacked by a Volscian contingent from Antium and, at the same time, the enemy burst forth from the town. Marcius happened to be on guard duty. With a picked band of soldiers, he not only repelled the attack of the townspeople but boldly burst through the open gate. Killing those in the nearest part of the city, he randomly seized a firebrand that lay at hand and hurled it at a building that overtopped the wall. The shrieks of the townspeople, mingling with the wailing of women and children that usually breaks out at the first alarm, put courage into the Romans. The Volsci, however, were thrown into confusion, since the city they had come to help had been captured by the enemy. And so, the Volsci from Antium were routed and the city of Corioli captured. Marcius’ glory has so eclipsed the consul’s reputation that, were it not for the inscription on the bronze column of the treaty with the Latins, which records that it was made by Spurius Cassius alone in the absence of his colleague, there would have been no record that the Volscian war was waged by Postumus Cominius.

In the same year, Menenius Agrippa died, a man beloved throughout his life by senators and plebeians, who became even dearer to the plebeians after the secession. But this promoter and mediator of civil harmony, the ambassador of the senators to the plebs and the man who had brought the plebs back to Rome, did not leave enough money for his burial. The plebs buried him, with each individual contributing a copper coin.

34. 492–491 BCE. Coriolanus advocates using the occasion of a grain shortage to annul the rights given to the plebs.

The next consuls to be elected were Titus Geganius and Publius Minucius. In that year, when there was respite from war abroad and the discord at home had been healed, a much more serious problem afflicted the state. First the price of grain rose because of failure to cultivate the fields during the secession of the plebs. This was followed by the kind of famine that usually befalls people under siege. Slaves and plebeians would certainly have reached the point of starvation if the consuls had not had the foresight to send agents everywhere to buy up grain—not only into Etruria, northward along the coast from Ostia, and southward by sea past the Volsci to Cumae, but in Sicily, too—in such distant places did her neighbors’ hatred force Rome to seek help. Grain was purchased at Cumae, but the ships were detained by the tyrant Aristodemus, in compensation for the property of the Tarquins, whose heir he was.⁶² No purchases could be made in the territory of the Volsci and Pomptini, and the grain agents were even in danger of attack from the inhabitants.⁶³ Etruscan grain was imported by way of the Tiber, and this kept the plebs alive. Given such a scarcity of provisions, the Romans would have been troubled by an inopportune war had not a great plague struck the Volsci just as they were taking up arms. The enemy were so terrified by this calamity that their minds were still in the grip of fear even when it was over. So, the Romans increased the number of colonists at Velitrae and sent out a new colony to Norba in the mountains, to serve as a stronghold in Pomptine territory.

Next year, in the consulship of Marcus Minucius and Aulus Sempronius, a large amount of grain arrived from Sicily, and the senate debated at what price it should be granted to the plebeians. Many thought that the time had come to repress the plebeians and recover the rights that had been forcibly wrested from the senators as a result of the secession. Foremost among them was Marcius Coriolanus, an enemy of tribunician power. “If they want grain at the old price,” he said, “let them give the senators their former rights. Why do I see plebeian magistrates, why do I see Sicinius empowered, while I have been sent under the yoke and, as it were, ransomed from bandits?⁶⁴ Shall I endure these humiliations any longer than is necessary? Shall I put up with Sicinius when I didn’t put up with Tarquin as king? Let him secede now, let him call forth the plebeians; the way lies open to the Sacred Mount and to other hills. Let them seize the grain from our fields as they seized it two years ago. Let them enjoy the price of grain that they created in their madness. I am emboldened to say that they will be so tamed by this disaster that they will cultivate the land rather than use armed secession to prevent its cultivation.” Whether this ought to have been done is not easy to say. But I think that by setting conditions for reducing the price of grain, the senators were in a position to annul the tribunician power and take from the plebs all the rights that they had unwillingly granted.

35. 491 BCE. Coriolanus is indicted, but he anticipates a verdict by going into exile among the Volsci, where, with the Volscian leader Attius Tullius, he begins to plan war against Rome.

This proposal seemed too harsh even to the senate, and the plebs were so angry that they almost took up arms. They were, they said, already being starved out as if they were an enemy, cheated of food and necessities of life. Foreign grain, the sole source of sustenance unexpectedly given them by fortune, was being snatched from their mouths unless the tribunes were handed over in chains to Gnaeus Marcius and he should have his fill of beating the plebeians. In him a new executioner had arisen who ordered them to die or be enslaved. Marcius would have been attacked as he was leaving the senate house had not the tribunes opportunely brought an indictment against him. Their anger then subsided, as each man saw that he himself was the master of whether his enemy would live or die.⁶⁵

At first Marcius listened with contempt to the tribunes’ threats, alleging that their office had been given the right to help, not punish. They were, he said, the tribunes not of the senators but of the plebs. But the hostility of the plebs had been roused to such a point that the senators had to give up one of their own as a scapegoat. They nevertheless resisted despite the unpopularity that ensued, as each individual employed the strength of their entire order. At first an attempt was made to see whether they could break up the proceedings by positioning their clients to scare and so prevent individuals from assembling and holding meetings.⁶⁶ Then, in a body, they formed a procession—you would have said that all of the senators were on trial—as they prayed and begged the plebeians, if they were unwilling to acquit an innocent man, to grant them one citizen, one senator, despite his apparent guilt. When Marcius did not appear on the day of the trial, the anger of the plebs persisted. Condemned in his absence, Coriolanus went into exile in Volscian territory, making threats against his country and even then showing his hostile intentions.

On his arrival, the Volsci received him with kindness, becoming kinder as the days passed and his anger toward his own people mounted, with his complaints and threats becoming noticeably more frequent. His host was Attius Tullius, who was at that time the most prominent Volscian leader and always hostile to the Romans. And so, spurred on—the one by inveterate hatred, the other by recent resentment—they made plans for war against Rome. But they had difficulty in believing that the Volscian people could be forced to take up arms after their previous unfortunate experiences; their spirit had been broken by many frequent wars, by plague, and finally by the loss of their young men. Since hatred had ceased with the lapse of time, they would have to employ devious means in order to provoke the Volscians’ hearts with some fresh anger.⁶⁷

36. The Great Games have to be repeated because an incident had offended Jupiter, who expresses his displeasure through a dream.

It happened that a repeat performance of the Great Games was being prepared.⁶⁸ The reason for the repetition was as follows. Early in the morning of the games, before the show had begun, a certain householder had placed a yoke on a slave’s neck, whipping and making a spectacle of him in the midst of the circus. Then the games began, as if this incident had in no way affected the sanctity of the celebration. Not long after, Titus Latinius, a plebeian, had a dream in which Jupiter appeared to him, saying that he was displeased with the leading dancer at the games.⁶⁹ Unless the games were lavishly repeated, the city would be in danger. He should go and warn the consuls. Although Latinius’ mind was not unaffected by a sense of obligation to the gods, his respect for the majesty of the magistrates conquered his fear, for he did not want to be a laughingstock in men’s eyes. His hesitation cost him greatly; within a few days, he lost his son. Lest there be any doubt about the cause of this disaster, the same apparition manifested itself to the anguished man as he slept, asking whether he had been sufficiently rewarded for spurning the will of the gods, and saying that a greater recompense was imminent unless he went quickly and told the consuls. Now he was closer to recognizing the issue. But as he hesitated and delayed, he was struck by a violent illness that suddenly debilitated him.

Then, at last, the anger of the gods got through to him. Worn out by his past and present troubles, he summoned a family council and explained what he had seen and heard—Jupiter’s frequent appearances in his dreams and the god’s angry threats that had been fulfilled by his own misfortunes. With the unquestioning consent of those who were present, he was carried on a litter to the consuls in the forum. On the order of the consuls, he was taken to the senate house where, to the great amazement of all, he told the same story to the senators. Then, behold! There was another miracle. For tradition has it that though all his limbs were paralyzed when he was carried into the senate house, he returned home on his own feet, once he had discharged the duty owed to the god.

37. The senate decrees a repeat of the games. Attius Tullius, the Volscian leader, tricks the Romans into expelling the Volscians from the city before the games begin.

The senate decreed games of the greatest possible magnificence. At the instigation of Attius Tullius, a great number of Volsci came to these games. Before the games began, Tullius went to the consuls as he had arranged back home with Marcius. He said that there were matters of state that he wanted to discuss in private with them. When the bystanders had been sent away, he said, “I don’t like to say something about my fellow citizens that might be somewhat unfavorable. Still, I don’t come to accuse them of committing any crime, but to issue a warning, lest they commit one. The temperament of our people is much more fickle than I would like. We have realized this as the result of many disasters. We have survived unharmed, not because we deserve it, but because of your patience. A great number of Volsci are now here in Rome; there are games; and the state will be intent on the spectacle. I recall what the Sabine youths did in this city on the same occasion.⁷⁰ My mind shudders at the thought that something ill advised and rash may occur. I thought that I should tell you this beforehand, both for your sake and for ours. As far as I am concerned, my intention is to go home to avoid being implicated in some word or deed and compromised by my presence here.” With these words, he departed.

The consuls reported this dubious story that came from a well-known source to the senators. But the source, as happens, had more effect than the story and caused them to take precautions, even though these might prove superfluous. The senate decreed that the Volsci should leave the city. Heralds were sent to order them all to depart before nightfall. At first they were struck with great panic as they ran to their lodgings to collect their belongings. Then, as they set out, indignation overwhelmed them as they realized that they had been excluded from the games like polluted criminals, on a festal day when gods and men are gathered together.

38. Attius Tullius incites the Volsci to rebellion by alleging religious reasons for their exclusion from the games.

As they made their way in an almost continuous line, Tullius went ahead to the Ferentine headwaters to meet each of the leading men with complaints and indignation.⁷¹ They eagerly listened to his words, which were in keeping with their own anger, and with their help, he led the rest of the throng into a field that lay below the road. Then, as if he were addressing an assembly, he rehearsed the old injustices inflicted by the Romans and the disasters suffered by the Volscian people. “Although you should forget everything else,” he said, “how do you feel about today’s insult when our humiliation marked the opening of the games? Or didn’t you realize that today they celebrated a triumph over us? Were you unaware that, as you departed, you were a spectacle for everybody—citizens, foreigners, and all the neighboring peoples? That your wives and your children were a laughingstock in the eyes of the world? What do you think were the thoughts of those who heard the words of the herald, or those who saw us departing, or those who encountered us in this humiliating procession? What do you think they supposed, except that our presence at the spectacle would be an abomination, that we would pollute the games and incur a need for expiation?⁷² Isn’t this the reason why we are being driven from the assembly and council of god-fearing people? Doesn’t it occur to you that we are alive thanks to our hasty departure—if, indeed, this is a departure and not a flight? Don’t you regard this city as a city of enemies, since, if you had stayed there for one day, you would all have had to die? War has been declared on you—but those who made the declaration will greatly regret it, if you prove your valor.” These words and their own inclinations filled them with spontaneous anger and provocation. So, they went their separate ways, each stirring up his own people. In this way, they brought about a revolt of the entire Volscian nation.

39. 488 BCE. Coriolanus marches toward Rome, refusing to discuss peace unless territory is restored to the Volsci.

As commanders for this war, all the Volscian peoples agreed on the choice of Attius Tullius and Gnaeus Marcius, the Roman exile. Considerably more was expected of Marcius than of Tullius. Nor did Marcius disappoint these expectations, thus indicating that Rome’s strength lay in her leaders rather than her army. First he marched to Circeii, drove out the Roman colonists, and handed over the liberated city to the Volsci.⁷³ Then he crossed to the Latin Way by crossroads and took Satricum, Longula, Polusca, Corioli, and Mugilla, all recent Roman acquisitions. Then he took Lavinium; from there Corbio, Vetelia, Tolerium, Labici, and Pedum. Finally, he led his army from Pedum toward Rome, pitching camp at the Cluilian trench five miles from the city.⁷⁴ From there he ravaged Roman territory, sending guards along with pillagers to preserve the patricians’ farms intact, either because of his hostility to the plebs or to promote discord between senators and plebeians. And discord would surely have arisen—the tribunes were provoking the already headstrong plebs by making accusations against the nation’s leaders—when fear of invasion, the greatest bond of harmony, began to unite their feelings, despite their mutual suspicion and hostility. On one point only, there was no agreement: the senate and consuls put all their hopes in arms, whereas the plebeians preferred anything to war.

Spurius Nautius and Sextus Furius were now the consuls [488 BCE].⁷⁵ When they were reviewing the legions and distributing garrisons throughout the city and in other places where it had been decided to locate sentries and watchmen, a great crowd of people demanding peace first terrified them with their rebellious clamor. Then the consuls were forced to summon the senate and propose that envoys be sent to Gnaeus Marcius. The senators accepted the proposal when they saw the plebeians’ resolve wavering. So, emissaries were sent to Marcius to discuss peace. Stern was the reply they brought back. Peace could be discussed if their land were restored to the Volsci. If the Romans wanted to do nothing but enjoy the spoils of war, Marcius would bear in mind the injustice of fellow citizens and the kindness of his current hosts; he would strive to show that exile had provoked his spirit, not broken it. When the same men were dispatched a second time, they were not received into Marcius’ camp. Tradition has it that priests also went as suppliants to the enemy camp, wearing their distinctive veil and insignia. This no more bent Marcius’ resolve than did the envoys.

40. 488–487 BCE. Confronted by his mother’s anger, Coriolanus finally yields and withdraws with his army.

Then the married women gathered in large numbers at the house of Veturia, the mother of Coriolanus, and his wife Volumnia. I cannot discover whether this was the state’s plan or the result of fear on the part of the women. At any rate, the women prevailed upon Veturia, an older woman, and his wife Volumnia to accompany them to the enemy camp, taking Marcius’ two young sons. Since the men could not defend the city with arms, the women would defend it with their prayers and tears. When they reached the camp, Coriolanus was told that large bands of women were present. But he was even more intransigent when confronted with the women’s tears, just as one would expect of a man who had been unmoved by the majesty of the state’s envoys and the sense of religious obligation presented to the sight and mind by the priests.

Then one of his friends recognized Veturia, who was conspicuous in her sadness, as she stood amid the rest of the women, between her daughter-in-law and grandchildren. “Unless my eyes deceive me,” he said, “your mother, wife, and children are here.” Coriolanus leaped from his seat, almost out of his mind, and was rushing to embrace his mother when her prayers turned to anger. “Before I receive your embrace,” she cried, “permit me to know whether I have come to an enemy or a son; whether I am a captive or a mother in your camp. Have my long life and unhappy old age brought me to this: to see you here, an exile and then an enemy? How could you ravage the land that bore and nurtured you? However bitter and hostile you felt as you advanced, didn’t your anger fall away from you as you crossed the boundary? Didn’t it occur to you when Rome was before your eyes, ‘Within those walls are my home and my household gods, my mother, wife, and children’? Indeed, if I had not borne you, Rome would not be under siege. If I had had no son, I would have died a free woman, in a free land. But I cannot suffer anything that is more disgraceful for you or more wretched for me. However, wretched though I am, I will not be so for long. It is these people here that you must consider. For untimely death or long enslavement awaits them, if you press on.” His wife and children then embraced him.

The weeping of the entire crowd of women and their lament for themselves and their country finally broke the man. Embracing his family, he sent them back and withdrew his forces from the city. The tradition is that he perished, overwhelmed by the hatred caused by his act, after he had withdrawn his army from Roman territory. There are, however, different accounts of his death. I find in Fabius, by far the oldest authority, that Coriolanus lived well into old age.⁷⁶ Fabius reports that as the years advanced, Coriolanus would often say that exile becomes far more wretched for an old man. The men of Rome did not envy the praise won by the women—people at that time did not disparage another’s glory. The temple of Fortuna Muliebris [Women’s Fortune] was built and dedicated to commemorate their action.

Then the Volsci returned to Roman territory together with the Aequi, but the latter would no longer tolerate Attius Tullius as their leader. There was a struggle as to whether the Volsci or Aequi should provide a commander for the joint army; then there was a revolt followed by a fierce battle, in which the good fortune of the Roman people destroyed two armies in a struggle that was as ruinous as it was stubborn. In the consulship of Titus Sicinius and Gaius Aquilius [487 BCE], Sicinius had the Volscian war as his command, and Aquilius was to deal with the Hernici—for they too had taken up arms. In that year the Hernici were defeated, but the campaign against the Volsci was inconclusive.

41. 486 BCE. A treaty with the Hernici. The proposal of the consul Spurius Cassius to distribute land to Latins and the plebs arouses great opposition, especially from his colleague. Suspected of aiming at kingship, Cassius is condemned and executed after leaving office.

Spurius Cassius and Proculus Verginius were the next consuls to be elected. A treaty was made with the Hernici, and two-thirds of their territory was taken from them. The consul Cassius proposed to divide half of this among the Latins and the other half among the plebeians. He added to this gift a considerable piece of land that, he charged, was occupied by private citizens, though it belonged to the state. This frightened many of the senators who were holders of this land, since it put their property in jeopardy. But the senators were also concerned for the state, thinking that by his largesse the consul was building up an influence that endangered freedom. This was the first time that a land bill was proposed, a measure that, from that day to within present memory, has never been brought up without causing great upheavals.⁷⁷ With the backing of the senators, the other consul resisted this largesse. Some of the plebs were even opposed to him, since, from the beginning, they had been averse to citizens sharing this gift with the allies. In public meetings they often heard the consul Verginius declaring, as if he were a prophet, that his colleague’s gift was pernicious, that those lands would bring slavery to those who received them, and that this was becoming the road to kingship. Why were the allies and Latins being included? Why the Hernici, who, a short while ago, had been enemies? Why was a third of the land that had been taken from them being restored to them, unless the aim was that they should have Cassius as their leader in place of Coriolanus?

Verginius’ arguments against the law and his vetoing of the land bill now began to win him popular support. Each consul pandered to the plebs, like competitors. Verginius said that he would allow the lands to be assigned, provided that they were not assigned to anyone but citizens. Cassius, whose agrarian bill constituted a bid for the support of the allies, thus lessening his esteem in the eyes of the citizens, wanted to win back the citizens’ support by giving another gift. So, he ordered that the money received from the sale of Sicilian grain be given back to the people. But the plebs rejected this as an obvious bribe to get the kingship. Their inborn suspicion of kingship was such that Cassius’ gifts were rejected as if they had an abundant supply of everything.

The sources agree that Spurius Cassius was condemned and executed as soon as he left office. There are those who say that his father was responsible for his punishment; the case was tried in his house; the son was scourged and killed; and his personal property consecrated to Ceres.⁷⁸ From this a statue was made with the inscription: “A gift from the Cassian family.” I find in certain authors—and this is the more credible account—that Cassius was prosecuted for treason by the quaestors Caeso Fabius and Lucius Valerius, he was found guilty in a court of the people, and his house was pulled down by the state. The site is in front of the temple of Tellus [Earth]. But whether he was tried by his family or the state, he was condemned in the consulship of Servius Cornelius and Quintus Fabius [485 BCE].

42. 484–483 BCE. Domestic strife continues, interrupted by warfare abroad. The Fabii hold three successive consulships.

The people’s anger against Cassius did not last long. Once its author had been removed, the land bill seemed attractive in its own right. The people’s desire for it was inflamed by the stinginess of the senators, who, after the defeat of the Volsci and Aequi in that year, cheated the soldiers of their booty. Whatever was captured from the enemy was sold by the consul Fabius and put in the state treasury. The Fabian name was hateful to the plebs on account of the last consul; the patricians nevertheless succeeded in getting Fabius Caeso elected to the consulship together with Lucius Aemilius [484 BCE]. This increased the hostility of the plebs, whose seditions at home stirred up a foreign war. Then civil strife was interrupted by war. Patricians and plebeians united to make war under the leadership of Aemilius, defeating the Volsci and Aequi in a successful battle. The enemy sustained greater losses in flight than in the actual fighting, so relentlessly did the cavalry pursue them in their rout. In the same year, on July 15, the temple of Castor was dedicated. It had been vowed during the Latin War by the dictator Postumius.⁷⁹ His son was one of a board of two men chosen for the dedication, and he performed the ceremony.

The attractions of agrarian legislation aroused the feelings of the plebs in this year, too. The tribunes of the plebs advertised their power with the people by a popular law. But the senators shuddered at the thought of handouts and incitements to rash behavior, thinking that there was more than enough madness among the masses without rewarding it. The consuls were most strenuous in leading the senatorial opposition. Their faction consequently prevailed, not only in the current year, but also for the coming one, electing Marcus Fabius, the brother of Caeso, and Lucius Valerius, a man who was even more hated by the plebeians because of his prosecution of Spurius Cassius [483 BCE].

In this year too there was conflict with the tribunes. The law did not pass and its sponsors were discredited because they had boasted of something they failed to deliver. Then the name of the Fabii was held in great repute after three successive consulships; all of them, following a similar course, had been tested in the conflicts with the tribunes. And so, for some time, the consulship remained well invested, as it were, in that family.⁸⁰ Then war with Veii began and the Volsci revolted. Rome’s strength was almost more than enough for foreign wars but was abused by infighting. To add to everyone’s apprehension, there were prodigies from the heavens, signaling almost daily threats in both the city and the countryside. Both publicly and privately, seers inspected entrails and observed the flight of birds, declaring that the reason for the divine displeasure was nothing less than that the sacred rites had not been properly performed. These fears eventually resulted in the condemnation of the Vestal Oppia for unchastity and her punishment.⁸¹

43. 482–480 BCE. Wars against the Aequi and Veientenes. The proposal of a land bill is thwarted. The plebs’ animosity increases, manifesting itself even on the battlefield as they refuse to pursue the fleeing enemy.

Quintus Fabius and Gaius Julius were the next consuls [482 BCE]. This year the discord at home did not slacken, and the war abroad was more violent. The Aequi took up arms, and the Veientines also invaded Roman territory and ravaged it. Caeso Fabius and Spurius Furius became consuls amid increasing concern about these wars [481 BCE]. The Aequi were besieging Ortona, a Latin city,⁸² while the Veientines had had their fill of plunder and were threatening to lay siege to Rome itself. These terrors, which ought to have restrained the plebeians’ animosity, actually increased it. They resumed their custom of refusing military service, though not on their own initiative. Spurius Licinius, a tribune of the plebs, thought that the time had come to force a land bill on the patricians by an extreme measure, and so he had undertaken to obstruct military preparations. But all the hatred connected with tribunician power was turned against his initiative. His colleagues were just as keen as the consuls to attack him. And so, the consuls held the levy with tribunician help.

Armies were enrolled at one and the same time for two wars. Fabius was to be the commander against the Veientines, while Furius was to oppose the Aequi. Nothing worthy of note was done against the Aequi. Fabius had considerably more trouble with his fellow citizens than with the enemy. He alone, as consul, saved the state that the army was betraying insofar as it could, because it so hated the consul. In addition to the many other leadership skills that he had manifested in preparing and conducting the war, the consul drew up the battle line in such a way that he routed the enemy simply by sending in the cavalry. The foot soldiers, however, refused to pursue the fleeing enemy. Not even their own disgrace—not to mention the bidding of their hated general, nor the immediate dishonoring of the state, nor the subsequent danger that would arise should the enemy recover their nerve—could force them to hasten their steps or, if nothing else, keep to their places in the ranks. Without orders they retreated and returned to their camp in dejection—you would have thought that they had been defeated—as they cursed now their commander and now the cavalry’s successful effort. The commander found no remedy for this ruinous and unprecedented behavior. Men of exceptional talent are more often deficient in the skill of governing their fellow citizens than in that of defeating an enemy. The consul returned to Rome with his military glory not so much enhanced as his soldiers’ hatred of him was aggravated and exacerbated. Nevertheless the senators held out to keep a consulship in the Fabian family. They elected Marcus Fabius as consul, with Gnaeus Manlius as his colleague [480 BCE].

44. 480 BCE. Appius Claudius points out how the tribunician veto can be used against the tribunes themselves. Rome’s civil strife and the behavior of the plebs in battle encourage the Etruscans to rearm.

This year also produced a tribune who sponsored a land bill, Tiberius Pontificius. He set out on the same road trodden by Spurius Licinius and obstructed the levy for a while. Again the senators were thrown into confusion, but Appius Claudius told them that the tribunician power had been defeated in the previous year when it was discovered that the strength of the office was the source of its own undoing. This was the case in the present situation and for all time. They would never lack a tribune who would be willing not only to seek for himself a victory over a colleague but also to ingratiate himself with the better element for the good of the state. There would be more tribunes, if more were necessary, who were prepared to help the consuls. One was enough, even to oppose all.⁸³ Just let the consuls and the leading senators make the effort to get some, if not all, of the tribunes on the side of the state and senate. On Appius’ advice and instructions, the senators united in addressing the tribunes in a courteous and friendly manner. Those of consular rank who had private claims on individual tribunes used both their political influence and their authority to ensure that tribunes were willing to use the power of the tribunate for the good of the state. The consuls conducted the levy with the help of four tribunes, against the one who would have thwarted the public good.

Then they set out for war with Veii, where auxiliary forces had gathered from all parts of Etruria. The Etruscans were spurred on, not so much by goodwill toward the Veientines, as by their hope that Rome could be destroyed by her internal strife. The leading men in all the councils of the Etruscan peoples were grumbling that the power of the Romans would last forever unless they turned their rage upon themselves in civil strife. This was the only poison; this was the decay that had been found to work on wealthy states, making great empires subject to mortality. For a long time the Romans had withstood this evil, partly because of the senate’s advice, partly because of the plebeians’ forbearance; but now matters had come to a crisis. Two states had been created from one, each having its own magistrates and its own laws. At first they had customarily raged against the levies, yet in war these same men had obeyed their leaders. Whatever the state of affairs in the city, they had been able to make a stand as long as military discipline remained. But now the habit of disobeying the magistrates was following the Roman soldiery even into camp. In the latest war, in the very battle line, in the very conflict, the army had been unanimous in handing victory to the defeated Aequi.⁸⁴ They had abandoned their standards, deserted their general in the line of battle, and, without his orders, returned to camp. Under such pressure, Rome could be defeated through her own soldiers. Indeed, all they had to do was to make a declaration and a show of war. The fates and the gods would automatically do the rest. These hopes armed the Etruscans, men who had experienced the vicissitudes of victory and defeat.

45. Confronted by the taunts of the Etruscans, the consul Marcus Fabius succeeds in restraining his soldiers and gets them to swear a new oath before he gives the order for battle.

The Roman consuls dreaded nothing except their own forces and military might. Recollection of the terrible precedent in the recent war deterred them from engaging in battle in a situation where two lines of combatants were to be feared. Restrained by this double danger, they kept within their camp, thinking that perhaps time and circumstance might soothe the soldiers’ anger and bring them to their senses. For this reason, the Veientines and other Etruscans were in greater haste to act. They attempted to provoke the Romans to battle first by riding up to their camp and challenging them to come out. Finally, when this had no effect, they shouted insults at both the consuls themselves and the army, charging that the pretense of civil discord was the remedy they had invented for their fear. The consuls distrusted their men’s fighting ability as much as their loyalty. It was a new kind of mutiny when armed men were silent and inactive. To these taunts they added others regarding the newness of their race and origin—some false, some true.

The consuls were not bothered by this noisy jeering beneath the very rampart and gates. But now indignation, now shame, stirred the hearts of the inexperienced rank and file, diverting them from thoughts of their grievances back home. They did not want the enemy to get away with this, yet they did not want either the consuls or the patricians to succeed. Hatred of the enemy vied in their minds with hatred for their fellow citizens. Finally the former feeling prevailed, so arrogant and insolent was the enemy’s mockery. The soldiers gathered in large numbers at the general’s headquarters, demanding battle and asking for the signal to be given. The consuls put their heads together, as if they were deliberating, and conferred for a long time. They were eager to fight, but their eagerness had to be restrained and concealed so that, by opposition and delay, they might add to the vehemence of the already aroused soldiery. The reply was given that it was premature to act; the time for battle had not yet come; they must keep within the camp. Then the consuls issued an order that they should abstain from fighting: if anyone fought without orders, he would be punished as if he were an enemy. With these words, the soldiers were dismissed. The more they believed the consuls did not want battle, the more their ardor increased.

The enemy inflamed them even more fiercely when it was known that the consuls had decided not to fight. Clearly they could insult the Romans with impunity; the Roman soldiers could not be trusted with weapons; absolute mutiny was about to erupt; the end of Roman power had come! Relying on such notions, the enemy charged at the gates, hurled their insults, and scarcely held back from storming the camp. At this point, the Romans could no longer tolerate the outrage. From everywhere in the entire camp, they rushed to the consuls. It was no indirect request, as before, made through the leading centurions, but a clamor from all sides. The time was ripe, but the consuls demurred. His colleague was already relenting in the face of the growing uproar and the fear of mutiny, when Fabius commanded silence with a blast from the trumpet. “I know, Gnaeus Manlius, that these men can win,” he said, “but they have acted in such a way that I do not know whether they want to win. Therefore it is my resolve and determination not to give the signal unless they swear that they will return victorious from this battle. In the line of battle, the Roman soldiers once broke their oath to a Roman consul, but they are never going to break their oath to the gods.” A centurion, Marcus Flavoleius, one of the leading agitators for battle, declared, “Marcus Fabius, I will return victorious from the field.” He invoked the anger of Father Jupiter, Mars Gradivus, and other gods, if he should break his oath. Then the whole army took the same pledge, each man individually. Once they had sworn, the signal was given. They took up their arms and went into battle, filled with anger and hope. Now let the Etruscans hurl their insults! Now that they were armed, let the ready-tongued enemy face them! On that day, the valor of all was exceptional, both of plebs and of patricians. But the Fabian name was especially preeminent. In that battle they were determined to regain the goodwill of the plebs, whom they had alienated in the course of many political struggles.

46. The Fabian clan distinguishes itself in battle, but Quintus Fabius (consul of 485 and 482 BCE) is killed.

The battle line was drawn up. The Veientine and Etruscan levies did not hold back. There was the almost certain expectation that the Romans would no more fight against them than they had against the Aequi.⁸⁵ In addition it was not too much to hope that their performance would be even worse, given their exasperation and the critical situation. The outcome was far different. Never in any previous war had the Romans gone into battle with keener hostility—the enemy’s insults and the consuls’ procrastination had so provoked them. The Etruscans scarcely had time to deploy their battle line when the Romans, after randomly hurling some javelins in the first excitement of battle instead of taking careful aim, were already engaged in the most brutal kind of fighting, hand to hand with the sword.

In the forefront was the distinguished Fabian clan, a spectacular example to their fellow citizens. One of them, Quintus Fabius, who had been consul three years earlier, was leading the attack on the close-packed line of the Veientines when an Etruscan, bold in his strength and fighting skill, caught him unawares in the midst of a crowd of enemy forces and ran his sword through Fabius’ chest. As the weapon was withdrawn, Fabius fell headlong on his wound. Though it was only the fall of one man, both sides were aware of it. The Romans were beginning to withdraw from that position when the consul Marcus Fabius leaped across the prostrate body, covering it with his shield and crying, “Men, was this the oath that you swore, to return to the camp in flight? Do you fear the most cowardly of enemies more than you do Jupiter or Mars, in whose names you took the oath? Though I have taken no oath, either I shall return victorious or I shall fall fighting near you, Quintus Fabius.” At this, Fabius Caeso, consul in the previous year, shouted, “Do you think, brother, that your words will make them fight? It is the gods by whom they swore, who will make them fight. Let us—as befits nobles, as is worthy of the Fabian name—let us fire up the hearts of the soldiers by fighting, rather than by exhortation.” With that, the two Fabii flew into the press of battle, their spears ready to strike, moving the whole line along with them.

47. The Romans are victorious, but the consul Manlius is killed. The other consul, Marcus Fabius, refuses a triumph because of the deaths of his brother and colleague.

This saved the battle in one part of the field. On the other wing, the consul Gnaeus Manlius was urging on the fight no less strenuously, when there was an almost similar turn of fortune. For just as had happened to Quintus Fabius on the other wing, so the consul Manlius, eagerly followed by his men, was driving the enemy in a near rout when he was severely wounded and retired from the fray. Thinking he was dead, his men turned back. They would have abandoned their position had not the other consul ridden up at a gallop, together with a cavalry squadron, and stopped their wavering. He cried out that his colleague was alive, and that he himself was victorious after routing the other wing and had come to help them. Manlius himself also made an appearance to restore the line of battle. The sight of the two consuls fired the spirit of the soldiers.

At the same time, the enemy battle line had been depleted; relying on their excessive numbers, they had withdrawn their reserves and sent them to storm the Roman camp. These troops forced their way without much opposition but wasted time, because their thoughts were on plunder rather than fighting. The Roman reserves from the third line, which had been unable to withstand the first onset, sent word of their situation to the consuls. Regrouping, they returned to headquarters and, of their own accord, renewed the fighting. The consul Manlius rode back to the camp and cut off the enemy’s exit routes by posting soldiers at all the gates. Desperation inflamed the Etruscans with rage, rather than boldness. Rushing wherever there appeared to be hope of an exit, they made several ineffectual attacks. One group of young men attacked the consul himself, who was conspicuous because of his arms. The first volley of javelins was sustained by those surrounding him, but the violence could not be withstood. The consul fell, mortally wounded, and all around him fled. The Etruscans’ boldness increased. Fear drove the Romans in terror right through the camp. The situation would have been desperate had not lieutenants seized the consul’s body and opened up a way for the enemy by one of the gates. The Etruscans broke out by this exit. Escaping in disarray, they encountered the victorious consul. There, for a second time, they were cut down, scattering in all directions.

An outstanding victory had been won, but it was saddened by the deaths of two distinguished men. When the senate decreed him a triumph, the consul Fabius replied that if an army could celebrate a triumph without its general, he would readily consent in view of his troops’ outstanding performance in the war. As for himself, since his family was in mourning for his brother’s death and the state was half-orphaned by the loss of the other consul, he would not accept a laurel that was marred by both public and private grief.⁸⁶ His refusal of a triumph was more famous than any triumph that was celebrated: occasionally, timely rejection of glory sometimes serves to increase it. The consul then conducted the funerals of his colleague and his brother, one after the other, giving the same eulogy for each, while also earning the greatest praise for himself by yielding his own glory to the deceased. Nor was he unmindful of winning over the hearts of the plebeians, a policy that he had adopted at the beginning of his consulship. He placed the wounded soldiers in the care of patricians. Most were assigned to the Fabii, and nowhere else did they receive greater care. Then the Fabii began to enjoy popular favor, a favor won by a skill that promoted the health of the state.

48. 479 BCE. After inconclusive and sporadic warfare with the Veientines, the Fabii offer to fight them at their own expense.

And so, with the enthusiasm of the plebeians as much as that of the senators, Caeso Fabius was elected as consul together with Titus Verginius. His first concern was neither war nor a levy, nor anything other than strengthening the unity of purpose between senators and plebeians, now that the prospect of harmony had been started. At the beginning of the year, he proposed that, before any tribune should rise up and advocate a land bill, the senators themselves should preempt the business and grant the captured land to the plebeians with as much impartiality as they could. For it was right that it should be possessed by those who had won it by their blood and sweat. But the senators rejected the proposal, and some even complained that Caeso was exulting in his excessive glory, with the result that his once-vigorous talents were declining.

Yet there were no outbreaks of civil strife. The Latins were harassed by incursions of the Aequi. Caeso was sent with an army and crossed into Aequian territory to plunder it. The Aequi retreated into their own towns and stayed within the walls. And so there was no memorable battle. The Romans, however, suffered a defeat at the hands of the Veientines because of the rashness of the other consul, and the army would have been destroyed had not Caeso Fabius opportunely come to its rescue. From that point there was neither peace nor war with the Veientines, but something like brigandage. At the approach of the Roman forces, the enemy soldiers would retreat into their city; but when they saw that the forces had withdrawn, they would raid the fields, alternating the avoidance of war with peace and peace with war. And so, the matter could neither be abandoned nor completed. Other wars, too, were immediately pressing, like those with the Aequi and Volsci, who were peaceful only as long as the pain of recent defeat was receding—and it was apparent that the ever bellicose Sabines and all of Etruria would soon start hostilities.

But the Veientines, a persistent rather than a serious foe, were more of a nuisance than a danger with their insolent behavior, because at no time could they be disregarded nor did they allow the Romans to turn their attention elsewhere. The Fabian clan then approached the senate, with the consul acting as their spokesman. “Gentlemen, as you know, a continuous force rather than a large defensive force is needed for the war with Veii. You attend to other wars, and leave the Fabii to oppose the Veientines. We undertake to safeguard the majesty of the Roman name in that area. It is our intention to wage this war at our own expense, as if it were a family feud. There is no need for the state to provide soldiers or money.” The senate expressed great gratitude. The consul came out of the senate house accompanied by the Fabii in marching formation—they had been standing in the vestibule, awaiting the senate’s decision—and he returned home. The Fabii were ordered to present themselves armed the next day at the consul’s house. Then they went home.

49. 479–478 BCE. Three hundred and six men from the Fabian clan set out from Rome, establish a garrison by the river Cremera, and plunder Etruscan territory. The new consul defeats an Etruscan army.

The news spread through the entire city. People praised the Fabii to the skies. One family had shouldered the burden of the state. The Veientine war had become a private concern, a private war. If there were two other clans of equal might in the city, one could take on the Volsci and the other the Aequi. Then all the neighboring people could be subdued while the Roman people enjoyed peace and tranquility. On the following day, the Fabii took up their arms and assembled at the appointed place. Wearing a general’s cloak, the consul came out into the vestibule and saw the whole clan drawn up in marching order. Going into their midst, he ordered the standards to be advanced. Never before had such a small, yet distinguished and admired, army marched through the city: 306 soldiers, all patricians, all of the one clan. No famous army would reject any one of them as a leader in any period of history.⁸⁷

So, the might of one family went forth, threatening to destroy the people of Veii. A crowd followed. Some were their own kinsmen and close friends, their minds set on boundless possibilities, not the ordinary emotions of hope and anxiety. Others, dumbfounded in their enthusiasm and amazement, were stirred by concern for the state. They bade them march bravely, with good fortune, bringing back results that matched the beginning of their undertaking. In return, they could expect consulships, triumphs—every reward and official position. As the Fabii passed the Capitol, the citadel, and other temples, they prayed to whatever gods they saw or thought of, asking them to send the army forth with favor and good fortune and bring them back soon and safely to country and kin.

But their prayers were in vain. Setting out by the unlucky way, the right arch of the Carmental Gate, the Fabii came to the river Cremera, a position that seemed suitable for establishing an outpost.⁸⁸

Lucius Aemilius and Gaius Servilius were then elected consuls [478 BCE]. As long as nothing more than plundering was involved, the Fabii sufficed to safeguard the outpost. In all the area where Etruscan territory adjoined that of Rome, they patrolled the border on either side, ensuring complete safety for their own citizens while also being a nuisance to the enemy. Then there was a brief intermission in the plundering. Summoning an army from Etruria, the Veientines attacked the garrison at the Cremera. The consul Lucius Aemilius brought up the Roman legions and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Etruscans in a pitched battle. The Veientines scarcely had time to draw up their battle line. At the first alarm, as the ranks were falling in behind the standards and the reserves were being positioned, a division of Roman cavalry suddenly attacked their flank, depriving them of the ability not only to begin fighting but even to hold their ground. And so, the Veientines were driven back to Red Rocks, where they had pitched camp.⁸⁹ They sued for peace as suppliants. This was granted, but, true to their ingrained fickleness, they wearied of the pact before the Roman garrison was withdrawn from the Cremera.

50. At the Cremera, all the Fabii except one are ambushed and killed because of their overconfidence and recklessness.

The struggle between the Fabii and the people of Veii resumed, but there was no preparation for a larger war. There were raids on the farmlands or sudden attacks on the raiding parties, and from time to time they fought on level ground in battle array. A single clan of the Roman people frequently won a victory over an Etruscan state that was the most powerful of its time. At first the Veientines felt bitter resentment, but then they came up with a plan to trap the ferocious enemy in an ambush. They even rejoiced when they saw that the great success of the Fabii was making them reckless. So, from time to time, they would drive flocks in the path of the plunderers, as if they had come there by accident. The fields would be abandoned and deserted because the farmers had fled. Rescue parties of armed men sent to defend against pillaging would also flee in a panic that was more feigned than real. The Fabii had developed such contempt for the enemy that they thought themselves invincible and not to be withstood, regardless of place or time.

This confidence reached such a pitch that, when they saw flocks ranging at a distance from the Cremera over a wide expanse of the plain, they rushed down, despite evidence here and there of enemy forces. In their disorganized rush, they did not see the ambush that had been laid on either side of their path, and so passed beyond it.⁹⁰ Scattering, they began to seize the flocks that were wandering this way and that, as flocks do when panicked. Suddenly the enemy arose from the ambush, opposing them in front and on every side. At first the battle cry terrified the Romans as it echoed around. Then weapons were falling on them from every direction. As the Etruscans converged, the Romans were fenced in by a continuous line of armed men. The more the enemy advanced, the smaller became the area into which the Fabii were forced to contract their circle. This maneuver made apparent not only the fewness of their numbers but also the size of the Etruscan forces that became deeper in the restricted space. The Romans gave up fighting in all directions at once, and concentrated themselves in one place, forcing their way, in wedge formation, with both their bodies and weapons. Their path lay up a gently rising hill.

There, at first, they made a stand. Soon, when the higher ground gave them time to catch their breath and recover from their great fright, they even drove back those who were coming up from below. With the help of this position, the small band of men would have prevailed had not a detachment of Veientines been sent round behind them over the ridge. And so the enemy emerged on the top of the hill, once again having the advantage. All the Fabii were slain to a man, and their garrison stormed. There is sufficient agreement that 306 men lost their lives; one alone remained, who was hardly more than a boy. But he would carry on the Fabian line and so bring the greatest help to the Roman people in times of crisis, both at home and in the field.⁹¹

51. 477–476 BCE. The Romans are hard-pressed for grain. The Etruscans seize the Janiculum but, like the Fabii, are lured into an ambush. Reckless and desperate action by both consuls eventually results in success.

At the time of this disaster, Gaius Horatius and Titus Menenius had begun their consulship [477 BCE]. Menenius was immediately sent to confront the Etruscans, who were elated by their victory. Again the Romans were unsuccessful in battle, and the enemy occupied the Janiculum. In addition to the war, the city was hard-pressed by a shortage of grain—the Etruscans had crossed the Tiber—and would have been besieged had not the consul Horatius been recalled from the Volscian campaign. The war came so close to the city that battles were fought first at the temple of Hope, where there was no decisive result, and then at the Colline Gate.⁹² There, although the Romans only gained a slight advantage, the engagement revived their old spirit, making them better soldiers for the battles that were to come.

Aulus Verginius and Spurius Servilius became consuls [476 BCE]. After the defeat they had suffered in their last fight, the Veientines avoided pitched battles and took to plundering. From the Janiculum, as from a citadel, they made attacks far and wide on Roman territory. Neither flocks nor farmers were safe. Then the enemy was caught by the same trick with which they had caught the Fabii. Having pursued the flocks that had deliberately been placed in their way as a decoy, the Veientines fell into an ambush. Just as their numbers were greater than those of the Fabii, so too were their losses.

The savagery of the Veientines’ anger as a result of this disaster was the cause and beginning of an even greater disaster. They crossed the Tiber by night and tried to storm the camp of the consul Servilius. There they were routed with great losses and, with difficulty, retreated to the Janiculum. Immediately the consul himself crossed the Tiber and fortified a camp beneath the Janiculum. At dawn on the following day, partly emboldened by the successful battle of the previous day, but more because lack of grain was driving him to headstrong measures that had to be rather speedy, Servilius recklessly led the army up the Janiculum to the enemy camp. But he suffered a more shameful repulse than he had inflicted the day before. He and his army were only saved by the intervention of his colleague. Caught between the two battle lines, the Etruscans turned their backs first on one and then on the other and were massacred. Thus the Veientine invasion was ended by a recklessness that had a fortunate outcome.

52. 476–475 BCE. Grain is imported from Campania. Civil strife again breaks out, and tribunes indict two former consuls, Titus Menenius and Spurius Servilius. Menenius is convicted and dies; Servilius is acquitted.

Peace brought the city relief from the grain shortage. Grain was imported from Campania, and when individuals had ceased to fear for their own future needs, they produced the stores they had concealed. Abundance and idleness again made the Romans irresponsible; once they no longer had troubles abroad, they sought the old problems at home. The tribunes began to stir up the plebs with their usual poison, a land bill. The senators resisted, but the tribunes incited the people against them, not only as a body, but individually. Quintus Considius and Titus Genucius, proposers of the agrarian law, indicted Titus Menenius. He was unpopular because of the loss of the garrison at the Cremera, since as consul he had had a permanent camp not far from there. This crushed him, although the senators supported him no less than they had Coriolanus, and the popularity of his father Agrippa had not yet faded. By imposing a fine, the tribunes showed restraint, even though they had indicted him on a capital charge. He was convicted and fined 2,000 asses.⁹³ But it affected his life. They say that he could not endure the shame and consequent ill health, and so he fell sick and died.

Then another man, Spurius Servilius, was put on trial when his consulship expired. The tribunes indicted him at the very beginning of the consulship of Gaius Nautilus and Publius Valerius [475 BCE], but unlike Menenius, he did not counter the tribunes’ attacks with pleas made by himself or by the senators. Instead he showed great confidence in his innocence and popularity. In his case, the charge was connected with the battle with the Etruscans near the Janiculum. But he was a man of burning spirit, which was as much in evidence at a time of danger to himself as when the state was endangered. In a fierce speech, he berated not only the tribunes but also the plebs, rebuking them for the condemnation and death of Titus Menenius, whose father had secured the restoration of the plebs and the possession of those offices and laws that they were now using to vent their savagery. His boldness dispelled the danger. His colleague Verginius helped him, coming forward as a witness and sharing his own glory with Servilius. But the trial of Menenius was even more influential—so changed were men’s minds.

53. 475 BCE. The Romans defeat the Veientines and Sabines. The Latins and Hernici harass the Volsci and Aequi; a Roman consul is sent against the Volsci.

Strife at home was ended, but war broke out with the Veientines, who were joined by the Sabines. The consul Publius Valerius was dispatched to Veii with an army and auxiliaries summoned from the Latins and the Hernici. He immediately attacked the Sabine camp that had been placed in front of their allies’ walls. This threw the enemy into such consternation that, while they were running hither and thither in small groups to repel the Roman forces, Valerius captured the gate against which he had directed his initial attack. Inside the stockade, there ensued a massacre rather than a battle. The uproar from the camp penetrated even the city. Panic-stricken, the Veientines rushed to arms as if Veii had been captured. Some went to the aid of the Sabines; others attacked the Romans, who were totally preoccupied with the camp. For a short time the Romans were beaten back and thrown into disorder. Then they faced in both directions and made a stand. The consul sent in the cavalry, which routed the Etruscans, putting them to flight. In one and the same hour, two armies belonging to two of the greatest and most powerful nations were defeated.

While this action was going on at Veii, the Volsci and Aequi had pitched camp in Latin territory and were plundering the countryside. The Latins, acting independently but with the assistance of the Hernici, drove them from their camp without either a general or help from Rome. They obtained great booty in addition to recovering their own property. Nevertheless the consul Gaius Nautius was sent against the Volsci. The Romans, I suppose, did not approve of the practice of their allies waging wars by means of their own forces and strategy, without a Roman commander and army.⁹⁴ There was no kind of disaster or indignity that was not inflicted upon the Volsci, but they could not be forced into a pitched battle.

54. 474–473 BCE. A forty-year truce is granted to the Veientenes. The tribune Genucius arrests the ex-consuls but is found dead on the day of the trial.

Lucius Furius and Gaius Manlius were the next consuls. The command against the Veientines fell to Manlius, but there was no war. A forty-year truce was granted in response to a request by the Veientenes; grain and a financial indemnity were exacted from them. Discord at home followed immediately upon peace abroad. The plebs were in a frenzy, goaded by the tribunes’ proposal of a land bill. The consuls were in no way intimidated by the condemnation of Menenius, nor the danger to Servilius, but resisted with the utmost violence. As their term expired, the tribune Gnaeus Genucius arrested them.

Lucius Aemilius and Opiter Verginius became consuls (473 BCE). I find the name Vopiscus Julius listed in place of Verginius in some sources. In this year—whoever the consuls were—Furius and Manlius went among the people as defendants, dressed in mourning, seeking out the younger patricians as well as the plebeians.⁹⁵ They advised and warned them not to seek office and public administration. They should regard the consular fasces, toga praetexta, and curule chair as nothing but the pageant of a funeral. Such splendid insignia marked one out for death, like the ribbons placed on a sacrificial victim. But if they found the consulship so attractive, they should by now realize that the office of consul had been captured and taken over by the power of the tribunes. Like one of the tribunes’ lackeys, a consul had to do everything at their command and behest. If he should take the initiative, if he should think about the senators, if he should imagine that there was any other element in the state besides the plebs, let him remind himself of Gnaeus Marcius’ exile and Menenius’ conviction and death.

Inflamed by these words, the senators began to hold councils, not in public, but privately, where the majority of people could not learn of them. There was general agreement that the defendants must be rescued, whether it be by fair means or foul. The most extreme suggestions received the most backing, and there was no lack of an agent to do the deed, whatever its daring. On the day of the trial, the plebs were standing in the forum, agog in their expectation. At first they were amazed that the tribune did not appear. Then, as the delay continued, they became increasingly suspicious. Believing that he had been frightened off by the nobles, they complained that he had abandoned and betrayed the people’s cause. Finally those who had presented themselves at the tribune’s vestibule announced that Genucius had been found dead in his house. When this report went through the whole assembly, they all slipped away in different directions, like an army scattering on the death of its commander. The tribunes were especially panicked, taking the death of their colleague as a warning that the laws that made them sacrosanct had no power whatsoever to protect them.⁹⁶ Nor did the senators restrain their joy appropriately. So little regret did anyone have for the unjust act that even the innocent wanted to be thought responsible for it, and men openly said that the power of the tribunes must be curbed by evil means.

55. 473 BCE. Genucius’ death intimidates the tribunes, who do nothing to help Publilius Volero when he resists conscription. Volero appeals to the plebs and an uproar breaks out.

After this victory that set a very bad precedent, the levy was proclaimed and completed by the consuls without the tribunes interceding: so afraid were they to use their veto. But then the plebs began to be enraged, more because of the tribunes’ silence than the consuls’ power. They said that it was all over as far as freedom was concerned; the old ways were back again. Tribunician power was dead and buried with Genucius. They would have to think of some other means of resisting the senators. There was only one strategy: since there was no other means of protection, the plebs must defend themselves.⁹⁷ Twenty-four lictors attended the consuls, all of them plebeians. Nothing was weaker or more contemptible than men’s contempt, which was only great and fearful because individuals imagined it to be so.

They had incited each other with such arguments, when the consuls sent a lictor to Publilius Volero, a plebeian, who denied their right to make him serve as an ordinary soldier since he had been a centurion. So, Volero called upon the tribunes. When no one came to his aid, the consuls ordered him to be stripped and the rods prepared. “I appeal to the people,” said Volero, “since the tribunes prefer to see a Roman citizen being flogged rather than let themselves be murdered in their beds by you.”⁹⁸ The more ferociously he shouted, the more roughly the lictor tore his clothing and stripped him. Then Volero, who was himself a powerful man, was helped by those he summoned to his assistance. Together they drove off the lictor. Plunging into the thick of the crowd, where the shouting was the fiercest, he cried out: “I appeal and implore the support of the plebs. Help, citizens! Help, fellow soldiers! You can expect nothing from the tribunes. They are the ones who need your help.”

Men were aroused as if preparing for battle. It looked as if the situation had reached a point of crisis: nothing was sacred; no one would respect public or private law. The consuls, confronted by this great storm, quickly learned that majesty is insecure unless accompanied by force. The lictors were manhandled, the fasces broken, and the consuls driven from the forum into the senate house, not knowing how Volero might exploit his victory. Then, as the uproar quieted down, they summoned the senators, complaining of the insults they had suffered, the plebs’ violence, and Volero’s outrageous behavior. Many harsh proposals were made, but the older senators prevailed. They had no wish for a confrontation between an angry senate and the reckless plebs.

56. 472–471 BCE. Elected as tribune of the plebs, Volero proposes a bill that the plebeian tribunes should be elected by the Tribal Assembly. The bill is opposed by Appius Claudius. Another tribune, Laetorius, attempts to thwart Appius’ efforts. Appius is rescued by his consular colleague, Quinctius.

The plebs took Volero into their favor and elected him as tribune at the next elections, in the consulship of Lucius Pinarius and Publius Furius [472 BCE]. Contrary to the expectation of all who believed that he would spend his tribunate persecuting the consuls of the previous year, he put the interests of the state above his private grievance. Without attacking the consuls with as much as a word, he brought a bill before the people proposing that the officers of the plebs should be elected by the Tribal Assembly. It was no trivial matter that he proposed under this heading, although at first sight it seemed harmless. But it deprived the patricians of all their power of using their clients’ votes to elect the tribunes they wanted.⁹⁹ This measure was very popular with the plebs, but the patricians resisted it with all their might. Yet the only effective force for resistance was to get one of the tribunes to use his veto. But neither the authority of the consuls nor that of the leading senators was able to achieve this. Nevertheless, the matter was of such grave importance that it was protracted by party strife until the end of the year.

The plebs reelected Volero as tribune. The patricians, thinking that the matter would become a critical fight, elected as consul Appius Claudius, son of Appius, a man whose unpopularity and hostility to the plebs went back to struggles between their fathers. As colleague, they gave him Titus Quinctius.¹⁰⁰ Right at the beginning of the year, nothing took precedence over discussion of the law. Although Volero was the one who originated the bill, his colleague Gaius Laetorius proved to be a more vigorous and acrimonious advocate. His great military glory emboldened him, since no one of that generation was a readier fighter. Since Volero spoke of nothing except the law and refrained from attacking the consuls, Laetorius launched into an attack on Appius and his family, who were most arrogant and cruel to the Roman plebs. When he maintained that the patricians had elected not a consul but a butcher to harass and torture the plebs, his unpracticed soldier’s tongue failed to express the freedom of his mind. As words began to fail him, he cried, “Since it is not so easy for me to speak as it is to make good my words, Quirites, come here tomorrow and give me your support. I shall either push the law through or die in your sight.”

The tribunes occupied the speaker’s platform. On the following day, the consuls and the nobles stationed themselves in the assembly to block the law.¹⁰¹ Laetorius ordered the removal of all those who were not voting. The young nobles stood there, refusing to give way to the tribune’s attendant. Then Laetorius ordered some of them to be arrested. The consul Appius denied that a tribune had the right to arrest anyone but a plebeian, since he was a magistrate not of the people, but of the plebs. Nor was he himself empowered by ancestral custom, not even by virtue of his power (imperium), to remove anyone, since the formula was: “If it seems good to you, then go, Quirites.”¹⁰² Appius was easily able to throw Laetorius into confusion by speaking of his rights in such contemptuous terms. Blazing with anger, the tribune sent his attendant to the consul. Then the consul sent a lictor to the tribune, exclaiming that Laetorius was a private citizen, without power and without a magistracy. The tribune would have been manhandled had not the entire assembly risen in fierce support of the tribune against the consul, as men rushed to the forum in an excited throng.

But Appius stubbornly withstood this mighty storm, and there would have been a bloody battle had not Quinctius, the other consul, entrusted the senators of consular rank with the business of getting his colleague out of the forum by force, if they could not achieve it by other means. Quinctius himself now soothed the raging plebs with entreaties, and now he begged the tribunes to dismiss their council. They should, he said, give their anger some time; time would not rob them of their force but would add wisdom to their strength. The senators would be subject to the people and the consul subject to the senators.

57. 471 BCE. Thanks to Quinctius, Appius finally yields and the bill is passed.

With difficulty, Quinctius calmed the plebs, but it was much more difficult for the senators to calm the other consul. At last the Council of the Plebs was dismissed and the consuls convened the senate. Fear and anger produced shifting and conflicting opinions. But as more time elapsed, their minds were drawn from aggression to consultation, as they increasingly drew back from a fight. They even went so far as to propose a vote of thanks to Quinctius, because it was through his efforts that the conflict had been mitigated. They begged Appius to agree that the majesty of the consulate should only be as great as could be compatible with the harmony of the state. While consuls and tribunes were each pulling in their own direction, there was no strength left in the middle. The state was torn and mangled. The question was in whose hands the state belonged, rather than how it might be safe. Appius, on the other hand, called men and gods to witness that the state was being betrayed through fear and abandoned. It was not the consul that was failing the senate, but the senate the consul. This law was harsher than those accepted on the Sacred Mount.¹⁰³ Nevertheless, he calmed down, prevailed on by the unanimity of the senate. The law was carried without opposition.

58. Five tribunes of the plebs are elected by the Tribal Assembly. Appius Claudius, as commander in the field, persists in his hatred of the plebs, who resist him by doing the opposite of his orders.

Then, for the first time, tribunes were elected by the Tribal Assembly. That three were added to their number, as if there had only been two before, is attested by Piso.¹⁰⁴ He also gives the names of the tribunes: Gnaeus Siccius, Lucius Numitorius, Marcus Duillius, Spurius Icilius, and Lucius Maecilius.

During this internal strife at Rome, war broke out with the Volsci and Aequi, who had ravaged the fields so that the Roman plebs would have a place of refuge if they should secede. When things were settled, they withdrew their camp. Appius Claudius was sent against the Volsci, and the command against the Aequi fell to Quinctius. Appius displayed the same savagery (saevitia) in the field as he had in the city, only he was more free since he was not constrained by the tribunes. He hated the plebs with a hatred that surpassed his father’s. He realized that he had been defeated by them. Although he had been elected consul as a man uniquely fitted to oppose the power of the tribunes, a law had been passed that former consuls had blocked with less effort and by no means such expectation of success on the part of the patricians. This anger and indignation goaded his fierce spirit to torment the army with the savage exercise of his power.

But the soldiers could not be subdued by any violence, this struggle had so intoxicated their minds. Sloth, idleness, negligence, and insubordination were in everything they did. Neither shame nor fear constrained them. If Appius wanted the column to advance more quickly, they deliberately marched more slowly. If he stood by encouraging their work, all would spontaneously slacken the effort they were making. In his presence they lowered their gaze, silently cursing him as he went by until that famous spirit, undefeated by the plebs’ hatred, was shaken from time to time. After every harsh measure had failed, he had nothing to do with the soldiers, saying that the army had been corrupted by the centurions; sometimes he jeered at them, addressing them as “tribunes of the plebs” and even “Voleros.”

59. The plebs continue to defy Appius Claudius. When he finally orders his troops to withdraw, they are defeated by the Volsci. Appius orders the execution of those who had lost their arms or deserted the ranks. One in ten of the remaining soldiers is executed.

All of this was known to the Volsci, who were putting more pressure on the Roman army in the hope that they would exhibit the same spirited opposition that they had shown to the consul Fabius.¹⁰⁵ But the army was even more antagonistic toward Appius than toward Fabius. They were not unwilling to conquer like Fabius’ army, but they wanted to be conquered. When drawn up in battle order, they made for their camp in a shameful flight. They did not make a stand until they saw the Volscian standards advancing on their fortifications and inflicting a disgraceful slaughter on their rearguard. Then they exerted themselves to fight, dislodging the enemy from the stockade when they were on the point of victory. It was quite clear that the only thing that the Roman soldiers refused to allow was the capture of their camp, and that everywhere else they rejoiced in their own defeat and shame.

Appius’ fierce spirit remained unbroken. Wanting to vent his rage, he was summoning an assembly when the lieutenants and tribunes rushed up to him and warned him not to put his authority to the test, since it depended for its effectiveness on the willingness of those under his command to obey. Everywhere, they said, the soldiers were saying that they would not go to the assembly. Voices were heard demanding that the camp be moved from Volscian territory. A short time ago, the victorious enemy had almost been in the gates and on the rampart. A huge disaster was not only to be suspected; it was confronting them, clearly in view, before their very eyes. Defeated at last, since the soldiers were gaining nothing but a postponement of their punishment, Appius canceled the assembly and gave the order for a march on the following day.

At dawn he had the order signaled by a trumpet. At the very moment the column was getting clear of the camp, the Volsci attacked the rear, as if they had been aroused by the same signal. The uproar spread, panicking those in the front and throwing the standards and lines into such confusion that it was impossible to hear the commands or form a battle line. Nobody thought of anything but flight. The column was in such confusion as men escaped over slaughtered bodies and discarded arms that the Volscians stopped their pursuit before the Romans stopped fleeing. When the soldiers were finally collected after their scattered rout, the consul pitched camp in friendly territory, after following his men in a futile attempt to call them back. Summoning an assembly, he berated them, not without reason, as an army that had betrayed military discipline and deserted the standards, asking them individually where their standards were, where were their arms. He ordered the unarmed soldiers, the standard-bearers who had lost their standards, and also the centurions and recipients of a double ration who had quit their ranks to be scourged with rods and beheaded with an ax.¹⁰⁶ Of the remaining number, every tenth man was selected by lot for execution.¹⁰⁷

60. Quinctius’ campaign against the Aequi. Livy comments on the results of Volero’s bill.

In the Aequian campaign, on the other hand, the consul and the soldiers vied with each other in goodwill and mutual support. By nature Quinctius was more gentle, and the disastrous savagery of his colleague made him all the more content with his own character. Confronted by this great harmony between the army and its general, the Aequi did not dare to offer any opposition but allowed the enemy to range through their territory in search of plunder. In no other previous war had booty been taken from a wider area. It was all given to the soldiers, and to this was added the general’s praise, which gladdens a soldier’s heart no less than do material rewards. The army returned more obedient both to its leader and, because of that leader, to the senators. They noted that the senate had given a father to them; but to the other army, a master.

This had been a year of varying fortunes in war and fierce discord at home and in the field, but it was chiefly distinguished by the Tribal Assembly, a matter more important because of the victory in the struggle the plebeians had undertaken than in its practical results.¹⁰⁸ The loss to the assembly’s prestige, caused by the removal of the patricians, was greater than the power gained or lost by the senators.

61. 470 BCE. Appius Claudius is indicted by two tribunes, but the trial is adjourned and protracted. Appius dies and is given the customary funeral and a eulogy.

There followed a more turbulent year under the consuls Lucius Valerius and Titus Aemilius [470 BCE], not only because of the struggle of the orders over the land bill, but also because of the trial of Appius Claudius. He was indicted by Marcus Duillius and Gnaeus Siccius, since he was the most bitter opponent of the law and was upholding the cause of those who were occupying the public land as if he were a third consul. Never before had a defendant who was so hated by the plebeians been brought to trial before the people, filling them with rage against both himself and his father. Nor had the senators ever made such determined and reasonable efforts on anyone’s behalf: this champion of the senate, protector of their dignity—who had opposed all the troublemaking of the tribunes and plebeians, though he had perhaps gone beyond the limit in the struggle—this man, Appius Claudius, was being exposed to the anger of the plebeians.

Appius Claudius was the only one of the senators who was unconcerned about the tribunes, plebeians, and his own trial. Neither the threats of the plebs nor the prayers of the senators were able to prevail on him to put on mourning or seek support as a suppliant. He refused to soften and subdue the customary harshness of his words in the slightest degree when he had to plead his case before the people. He exhibited the same facial expression, the same defiant look, and the same spirit in his speech, so much so that a large part of the plebeians feared Appius the defendant as much as they had feared him as consul. Once only did he plead his case in the prosecutorial spirit with which he had always done everything, and he so dumbfounded both tribunes and plebs with his steadfastness that they themselves voluntarily adjourned the trial and then allowed the matter to be protracted. Not much time intervened, but, before the appointed day arrived, Appius fell sick and died.¹⁰⁹ The tribunes of the plebs tried to prevent his eulogy, but the plebs did not want to cheat the great man of the customary honors on the day of his funeral. They listened to the praises of the dead man with the same receptiveness that they had accorded his accusers when he was alive, attending his funeral in large numbers.

62. Campaigns against the Aequi and Sabines.

In the same year, the consul Valerius set out with an army against the Aequi. Being unable to draw the enemy into battle, he began to attack their camp. He was stopped by a frightful storm that descended from the heavens with hail and thunderclaps. When he sounded the signal for retreat, the sky became clear again. This created such amazement that it was deemed a sacrilege to make a second attack on a camp that was apparently protected by some divine force. All the Romans’ anger and hostility were directed to ravaging the countryside. The other consul, Aemilius, waged war in Sabine territory. There too the countryside was devastated, since the enemy kept within their walls. Later they aroused the Sabines by setting fire to not only farmhouses but also villages where the people lived close together. The Sabines had an encounter with the pillagers but scattered after an indecisive engagement, withdrawing their camp to a safer position. The consul decided that this was sufficient reason to consider the enemy defeated, and so he retired with the war scarcely begun.

63. 469 BCE. A Volscian incursion postpones passage of the land bill. Warfare occupies the energies of the plebs.

Amid these wars and the lingering discord at home, Titus Numicius Priscus and Aulus Verginius were elected consuls [469 BCE]. It was apparent that the plebeians were not going to tolerate any further postponement of the land bill. Final measures were being prepared when smoke from the burning farmhouses and fugitives from the countryside made them realize that the Volsci were nearby. This event repressed the rebellion that was developing and had almost erupted. The consuls, under immediate pressure from the senate, led the young men out of the city to make war, thus calming the remaining plebeians. The enemy beat a hasty retreat after doing nothing more than causing the Romans needless fear.

Numicius set out for Antium against the Volsci, and Verginius against the Aequi. In the latter campaign, an ambush nearly resulted in a big defeat, but the courage of the soldiers saved a situation that had almost been lost through the consul’s negligence. The Volscian campaign was better directed. The enemy were routed in the first battle and driven in flight to Antium, a very wealthy city for that time. The consul did not venture to attack it but took Caeno, another town of far less wealth, from the Antiates.¹¹⁰ While the Aequi and Volsci kept the Roman armies busy, the Sabines reached the gates of the city on a plundering raid. A few days later, they were confronted by two armies, as anger drove each consul to invade their territories. The Sabines sustained greater losses than they had inflicted.

64. 469–468 BCE. The plebs refuse to vote in the consular elections. The campaigns against the Sabines and Volsci continue; the Volsci receive large reinforcements, expecting that the Romans will withdraw. The consul Quinctius tricks them and keeps them on the alert all night.

By the end of the year, there was a brief period of peace; but, as always, peace was disturbed by the struggle between patricians and plebeians. Enraged, the plebs refused to take part in the consular elections. So, Titus Quinctius and Quintus Servilius were elected consuls by the votes of the patricians and their clients [468 BCE]. Their year of office was similar to the previous one: political strife at the beginning, then a foreign war followed by tranquility. The Sabines marched swiftly into the plains around Crustumerium, burning and killing in the area of the river Anio. When they were almost at the Colline Gate and the city walls, they were driven back, though they carried off a large amount of booty, both men and cattle. The consul Servilius pursued them with his army but was not able to catch them on level ground to engage them. Nevertheless, he devastated the area so extensively that he left nothing untouched by the campaign, returning with many times the plunder that had been taken from the Romans.

Against the Volsci, the efforts of both general and soldiers also produced success. First there was a pitched battle on level ground, causing much slaughter and bloodshed on both sides. The fewness of their numbers made the Romans more sensitive to their losses, and they would have retreated had not the consul rallied the battle line by shouting out that the enemy were fleeing on the other wing. This was, in fact, a lie, but it saved the situation. The Romans charged and, believing that they were winning, won. The consul gave the signal for retreat, fearing that the struggle would be renewed if he pressed too hard.

A few days passed, giving both sides a respite, as if they had tacitly agreed on a truce. Meanwhile a huge force from all the people of the Volsci and Aequi came and encamped. They were sure that the Romans, if they perceived them, would retreat during the night. So, about the third watch, they advanced to storm the Roman camp. Quinctius calmed the uproar that the sudden alarm had caused, ordering the men to remain quietly in their tents. He led out a squadron of Hernici to an outpost and ordered the trumpeters and buglers to mount the horses and blow their instruments in front of the rampart, thus keeping the enemy in suspense until dawn. For the rest of the night, everything was so quiet in the camp that the Romans were even able to get some sleep. But the sight of the armed soldiers led the Volsci to suppose that they were Romans and more numerous than they actually were. In addition, the stamping and whinnying of the horses, which were enraged not only because of their unfamiliar riders but also because of the din in their ears, kept the Volsci on the alert as if the enemy were about to attack.

65. 468 BCE. The next day, the wearied Volsci retreat. The Roman forces insist on pursuing them but are almost overwhelmed. The Romans prevail and take Antium.

When it was light, the Romans, fresh after a good sleep, were led into the battle line. At the first charge they beat back the Volsci, who were weary after standing on guard duty all night. It was a withdrawal, however, rather than a rout, since there were hills behind them, offering a safe refuge into which the ranks withdrew in good order under cover of the first line. When they reached the rising ground, the consul ordered the line to halt. But the infantry could hardly be restrained, shouting and demanding to be allowed to press on against those they had beaten. The cavalry was even bolder. Surrounding the general, they cried out that they were going to go ahead of the standards. The consul hesitated, confident in the valor of his men, but less trustful of the terrain. The infantry, however, shouted that they were going, as they acted on their words. Planting their spears in the ground so that they would be less encumbered for their ascent, they went up at a run. The Volsci discharged their javelins at the first onset and then flung down the stones that were lying at their feet, as the enemy came up from below. The Romans were hard-pressed, thrown into confusion by the constant blows raining down on them from above. Their left wing was almost overwhelmed and was already retreating when the consul put them to shame and shook the fear out of them by berating both their rashness and their cowardice.

At first they made a resolute stand. Then, holding their ground, they began to revive and even dared to advance. Renewing the battle cry, they moved the line forward. Then, regaining their momentum, they struggled and surmounted the difficulty of the terrain. They were just emerging onto the top of the ridge when the enemy turned and fled. Running at full speed in almost a single line, pursued and pursuers rushed into the camp. In the panic, the camp was captured. Those Volscians who were able to flee made for Antium; to Antium the Roman army also marched. After a siege of a few days, the town surrendered, not because the besiegers had made any new attack, but because the Volsci had already lost heart after their unsuccessful fight and the capture of their camp.

1. people: the Latin word plebs foreshadows a major theme of this and ensuing books: the so-called struggle of the orders, between the patricians (patres) and the people or plebeians (plebs). On the plebs, see Cornell 1995: 257: “The likelihood is that … the organized plebeian movement embraced an undifferentiated mass of poor people who shared a common sense of distress and were united by their commitment to the cause.”

The patricians were a privileged group of Roman citizens who originally dominated political offices and retained a monopoly of the major priesthoods until the end of the fourth century BCE. Patrician status generally depended on birth. See Livy 1.8 for the tradition that Romulus appointed one hundred senators “who were called fathers (patres) because of their rank, and their descendants were called patricians (patricii).” For more detailed discussion, see Cornell 1995: 245–50.

2. tribunician demagogues: an allusion to the office of tribune of the plebs, which would be created in the early stages of the struggle of the orders; see 2.33.

senators: throughout his account of the struggle of the orders, Livy uses the term patres, which denotes both patricians and senators. “Patricians” and “senators” are almost synonymous, although not all senators were of patrician birth; see n. 4. Therefore, I will generally translate patres as “senators” in a governmental context, reserving “patricians” for contexts that emphasize the class struggle.

3. all the insignia of the king: the consuls did not, however, wear royal dress.

fasces: a bundle of rods surmounted by an ax that was part of the insignia carried by the lictors, symbolizing their power to flog or execute wrongdoers.

4. he brought its number up to 300 … : this number is unlikely for this period.

leaders of the equestrian class: another probable anachronism; see Ogilvie 1965: 236.

Fathers and the Conscripted: Latin patres et conscripti. This and the following sentence indicate a tradition that plebeians could be members of the senate in the early republic. See Cornell 1995: 246–51.

5. Brutus was related to the Tarquins on his mother’s side; see 1.56 and 2.4, and stemma, p. xliv.

Publius Valerius: see 1.58–9. On the Valerian family, see Appendix 1, pp. 418–20.

6. revolutionary plan: the Latin epithet novus means “new, novel,” and thus revolutionary.

7. together with the straw: usually the grain was cut close to the ear, but in this case, it was cut close to the ground to destroy the crop completely.

8. The temple of Aesculapius, the Greek god of healing, was built on the island in the early third century BCE.

9. removed from the spectators: note the emphasis on words of spectacle and sight throughout the concise account of this incident; see Feldherr 1998: 200–3.

10. vindicta: a legal process by which a master declared the freedom of his slave before a magistrate, who then ratified the emancipation.

11. Silvanus: a deity connected with woods and forests.

12. triumph: this is the first triumph under the republic that is recorded by Livy. The triumphing general rode in a parade into the city, accompanied by his soldiers, and went up to the Capitol, where he dedicated a part of his spoils to Jupiter. The general was dressed as Jupiter, with his face painted red. A slave held a crown above the general’s head, repeating the words “Look behind,” a warning to consider the future and not become arrogant, and so provoke the anger of the gods; see also 3.29 with n. 67.

13. envy: the Latin invidia means “envy, jealousy, unpopularity” and is often used, as here, in a political context.

14. cognomen: an additional (third) name; thus his full name was Publius (praenomen) Valerius (family name, or nomen) Publicola. Compare Marcus Tullius Cicero and Gaius Julius Caesar. Publicola derives from the adjective publicus, “belonging to the people,” and the verb colere, “to tend or care for”; thus it means the one who cares for the interests of the people, “the People’s Friend.”

15. Since similar laws of appeal are attested for 449 and 300 BCE, many scholars question the authenticity of such a law of appeal at this time. Cornell (1995: 196–7, 276–7) argues convincingly that some right of appeal was granted in the early republic.

16. A death in the family necessitated a purification ceremony after the burial of the deceased and the mourning period before the survivors could perform religious acts. Since Horatius had begun the dedication before he heard the news and the ceremony was already in progress, he was not polluted or contaminated by the death; see Ogilvie 1965: 254.

17. On the problems of chronology concerning the date of the first year of the republic, see Cornell 1995: 218–23.

18. Clusium: modern Chiusi, an Etruscan town, about a hundred miles north of Rome.

19. Cumae: a Greek colony in Campania, near Naples, under the rule of the tyrant Aristodemus.

20. In an earlier version of this story by the Greek historian Polybius (6.55), Horatius deliberately sacrificed his life.

21. Comitium: the place of assembly in the forum, close to the senate house.

22. Scaevola: the cognomen probably derives from the Greek word skaios, “left-handed”; see OLD 1698, scaeuus.

23. Livy has completely omitted the year 507 BCE; see Ogilvie 1965: 270–1, and also Livy’s comment on chronological problems with the sources for this period at 2.21.

24. Mamilius Octavius: see 1.49.

25. clients: a client was a free man who entrusted himself to another as a patron, receiving protection in return. A client was expected to support the patron both in his political and private life, going to his house each morning to greet him and attending him on all public occasions. Clientship was a hereditary social status that was recognized but not defined or enforced by law. On the Claudian family, see Appendix 1, pp. 406–11.

26. Pometia: a town several miles northeast of Antium that was captured by Tarquinius Superbus. The spoils from this town were sold to finance the temple of Jupiter in Rome; see 1.42 with n. 125 and 1.53 with n. 146.

Cora: a Latin community on the northwestern edge of the Volscian mountains.

Aurunci: an Italic, Oscan-speaking people, living on the borders of Latium and Campania, between the Liris and Volturnus rivers.

27. Octavius Mamilius: a leader at Tusculum and the son-in-law of Tarquinius Superbus, to whom Tarquin had fled; see 1.49 and 2.15 (where the text refers to him as “Mamilius Octavius”).

dictator: the power of a dictator overrode that of the consuls. A dictator was usually only appointed in times of emergency and held office for a maximum of six months or until the problem was solved, after which he was expected to resign from office.

28. master of the horse: an officer, captain of the cavalry, who was appointed by the dictator and was subordinate to him.

29. Manius Valerius, son of Marcus and grandson of Volesus: no consulship is recorded for this man, and he is not to be confused with his uncle, the third son of Volesus, who was dictator in 494 BCE, also without having been consul; see Appendix 1, pp. 418–20 with stemma, and 2.30 with n. 50.

30. axes: the axes that surmounted the fasces (see 2.1, n. 3) that the lictors carried before the dictator. The consuls, however, were obliged to remove the axes from the bundle of rods (fasces) when they were in the city. This was not the case with the dictator. Thus the sight of the twenty-four axes symbolized the people’s loss of the right of appeal, in addition to the fact that supreme power was in the hands of one, not two, magistrates; on the right of appeal, see 2.8 with n. 15.

31. Crustumeria and Fidenae: two towns northeast of Rome that were critical to Rome’s control of the left bank of the Tiber. Crustumeria is a variant of Crustemerium, mentioned in Book 1.

Praeneste: modern Palestrina, a town twenty-three miles east-southeast of Rome.

32. son of Lucius Tarquinius: this is Titus Tarquinius, mentioned at 1.56, since Sextus’ death is related in 1.60, and that of Arruns in 2.6.

33. Castor: a temple to Castor and Pollux, the Dioscuri, was built in the Roman forum and dedicated in 484 BCE. Other sources relate that these gods appeared at the battle and that this was the point at which Postumius made his vow.

34. Saturn: the origins of this god are controversial. One theory is that he was the god of seed corn, the god of sowing; some scholars suggest that he was of Etruscan origin, while others think that he was a Roman-Italic god. The temple of Saturn was in the Roman forum.

Saturnalia: this festival was originally celebrated on December 17 but was later extended to cover seven days. Occurring around the time of the winter solstice, it was a period of rest, festivity, gift-giving, and a relaxing of the normal social rules. Slaves and masters are said to have reversed roles, with the masters waiting on the slaves at a banquet.

35. Aristodemus was a Greek tyrant, a sole ruler, as Tarquin had been at Rome; see 2.9 n. 19.

36. Signia: see 1.56 with n. 154. The Romans were evidently trying to maintain the hegemony established by Tarquin in this area; see Cornell 1995: 209–10.

37. tribes: Roman citizens belonged to tribes according to their place of residence. Four urban tribes are said to have been established by Servius Tullius; see 1.43 with notes. Thus by 495 BCE there were seventeen rural tribes in addition to the original four urban tribes. The Tribal Assembly worked on the group-vote system, with the majority of votes within a tribe determining the vote of that tribe. By 241 BCE the total number of tribes was thirty-five, a number that was never exceeded. In 471 BCE a bill was passed that the tribunes of the plebs should be elected in the Tribal Assembly; see 2.56–7 with n. 99.

38. Mercury: the god of commerce and trading. The reestablishing of Signia, the formation of the tribes, and the dedication of the temples of Saturn and Mercury are indications of Rome’s recovery after the expulsion of the Tarquins.

39. pact of hospitality: Latin hospitium, a permanent relationship between host and guest that could be established between states, municipalities, and individuals.

40. plebeians: Latin plebs. Cornell remarks (1995: 256–7), “The plebs was not formed in opposition to any particular group, but rather had its own identity and its own agenda that distinguished it from the rest of the population… .” The plebs probably came from the poorest and most disadvantaged, and they are not to be identified with any particular group, such as farmers or urban artisans. Initially, their aims were protection and defense.

bound over: the precise details of this practice, which was abolished in 326 or 313 BCE, were obscure to the ancients themselves. Apparently a man could “bind himself” to work for his creditor until he had paid off the debt. The creditor could put such a bondsman in chains, but the debtor still kept his citizen rights and so was in a better situation than was a slave. Though theoretically possible, it was unlikely that he would ever regain his freedom.

41. a man of impetuous temperament: on the portrayal of Appius, see Appendix 1, pp. 406–8.

42. Suessa Pometia: see 2.16–7 for the destruction of this town by the Romans in 503 BCE. By 495 BCE, however, it evidently was under the control of the Volsci; see 2.22. Earlier it had been sacked by Tarquinius Superbus; see 1.53.

43. Ecetra: a town often mentioned in these early wars and listed by Pliny the Elder among the lost cities of Latium (Natural History 3.69). It was probably on the fringe of Volscian territory, southeast of Velitrae (see 2.30, n. 52).

44. temple of Mercury: this was on the southwest slope of the Aventine; see 2.21 with n. 38.

45. On the question of a right of appeal at this time, see 2.8 with n. 15.

46. meet at night: meetings, especially at night, in places other than the forum aroused suspicions of a conspiracy against the state.

47. by Hercules: an appeal to Hercules, the hero who became a god; this was a strong imprecation, generally made by males. See also 3.19 with n. 47.

48. both courses: persuading the senate to yield to the plebs’ demands, or coercing the plebs.

49. On the dictatorship: see 2.18 with n. 27.

50. Manius Valerius, a son of Volesus: a third son of Volesus who had not yet held a magistracy; for sources, see Ogilvie 1965: 306–7, and Broughton 1986(1): 14. On the Valerian family, see Appendix 1, pp. 418–20.

51. Although Livy did not mention this earlier, the Latins apparently were not to take up arms without permission of the Romans, a condition that may have been imposed as a result of the battle of Lake Regillus.

52. Velitrae: a Volscian town some twenty miles from Rome, on the southern rim of the Alban hills.

53. by sending in the cavalry … : this passage is generally agreed to be puzzling, but Ogilvie (1965: 308) makes the plausible suggestion that the redeployment of Sabine troops in an attempt to deepen their lines had created gaps that were penetrated by the Roman cavalry.

54. curule chair: see 1.8, n. 30.

55. Piso: the second-century BCE annalist Lucius Calpurnius Piso; see 1.55 with n. 152.

56. Some scholars question the historicity of this secession and the institution of the tribunate of the plebs during this year; see Cornell 1995: 258–61.

57. sacrosanct: if a person laid violent hands on a tribune, he would be accursed (sacer) and could be killed or sacrificed to the gods with impunity, since his action was deemed to have harmed the gods. Killing the offender was a sacred duty and did not incur a penalty or blood-guilt.

58. See 2.58, where Livy notes that the annalist Piso stated that originally there were only two plebeian tribunes. In either case, the number was five from 471 BCE (2.58) until it was raised to ten in 457 BCE (3.30).

59. Livy says little more about this important treaty, except to note later that the inscription indicates that it was made by Spurius Cassius alone. It was a bilateral agreement between the Romans and the Latins, making peace between the two parties and a defensive alliance that each would help the other if attacked. The main source is Dionysius of Halicarnassus 6.95; see Cornell 1995: 299–301.

60. Antium: modern Anzio, a coastal city in southern Latium. Originally Latin, it had come under Volscian control after the expulsion of the Tarquins.

Longula: a settlement on the road from Antium to Ardea, twenty-six miles from Rome.

Polusca: a settlement twenty miles from Rome and fifteen miles from Antium.

Corioli: northwest of Polusca, on the road to Rome; on these locations, see Ogilvie 1965: 318–9.

61. cognomen: see 2.8, n. 14. For discussion of the possible origins of the story of Coriolanus, see Ogilvie 1965: 314–6; Cornell 2003: 72–97; and Introduction, p. xvi.

62. See 2.5, and 2.21 with n. 35.

63. Pomptini: inhabitants of the area of the Pomptine Marshes, between Antium and Terracina.

64. sent under the yoke: an act symbolizing defeat and submission, inflicted on a defeated enemy.

65. live or die: this implies an indictment by tribunes before a popular assembly, a procedure that was not adopted until the third century BCE; see Ogilvie 1965: 325–6.

66. clients: see 2.16 with n. 25. The clients would probably have been plebeians.

67. Specific reference to the consular years 490 and 489 BCE is lacking in the ensuing narrative. The story of Coriolanus is resumed in 2.39, apparently in the consulship of Spurius Nautius and Sextus Furius, 488 BCE. The story of the repeat performance of the Great Games and the expulsion of the Volsci provides the reason for Coriolanus’ march on Rome.

68. Great Games: see 1.35, n. 113.

repeat performance: the incident of the slave being whipped before the games would have constituted a flaw in the conduct of the games, thus incurring the anger of Jupiter, in whose honor the games were celebrated. A similar story is related by Cicero (On divination 1.55). See also Appendix 3, p. 429.

69. leading dancer: the games began with dancers at the head of a procession in honor of the gods. In this case, however, the dancer was the slave.

70. For this incident, see 2.18.

71. Ferentine headwaters: a meeting place of the Latin League, near Aricia; see 1.50–1.

72. abomination: the Latin nefas implies something that is unlawful in the eyes of the gods.

73. Circeii: see 1.56 with n. 154.

74. There are two distinct campaigns: the first on the coastal plain west of the Alban hills, and the second in the Praenestine gap, northeast of the Latin Way; on these locations, see Ogilvie 1965: 331–3, and the map on pp. xlii–xliii.

Satricum: probably the former Pometia; see 1.42, n. 125.

Vetelia: probably to be identified with Vitellia, mentioned at 5.29.

Cluilian trench: see 1.23.

75. Livy has omitted the years 490 and 489 BCE; see 2.21 for Livy’s comment on chronological problems for this period.

76. Fabius: on Fabius Pictor, see 1.44, n. 133.

77. great upheavals: the account of Spurius Cassius’ bill is usually considered to have been influenced by the political struggles of the late republic, especially the land bill of Tiberius Gracchus, tribune in 133 BCE, who was thought to be aiming at kingship and so was assassinated. But throughout the republic there is a history of several such proposals that were aimed at gaining political support, as Livy observes. The land bills of the late republic, however, are better documented in the extant record. For discussion of the historicity of this episode, see Forsythe 2005: 193–5.

78. his father was responsible: An exercise of his rights as pater familias, head of the family. The father had the power of life and death over his son, and the son remained under the control of his father until the latter’s death.

personal property: Latin peculium referred to the property or goods given by the head of the family to his sons and slaves, another manifestation of the power of the pater familias.

79. Castor: this temple had been vowed at the battle of Lake Regillus; see 2.20 with n. 33.

80. for some time: the next four years, making a total of seven successive years in which the Fabii held one of the consulships. See Appendix 1, p. 412 for the stemma of the Fabian family.

81. The loss of the Vestal’s virginity invalidated the rituals she had performed, thus incurring the gods’ anger. The punishment was burial alive, outside the Colline Gate.

82. Ortona: a town probably located south of Tusculum.

83. oppose all: by use of the veto; see also Appendix 1, pp. 407–10. This passage has echoes of the Gracchan period, when the tribunes Marcus Octavius and Livius Drusus opposed Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, respectively.

84. the defeated Aequi: this reference to the defeated Aequi is inconsistent with Livy’s earlier notice that nothing memorable was done against the Aequi and his account (2.43) of Caeso Fabius’ inability to command the infantry when fighting the Veientines in 481 BCE. This is either a mistake on Livy’s part or a change of source. Ogilvie (1965: 350–1) inclines to the former. There is a further inconsistency at 2.46; see n. 85.

85. Aequi: another inconsistency on Livy’s part; see 2.44 with n. 84.

86. The triumphing general wore a crown of laurel leaves.

87. On the reading of “army” (exercitus) rather than “senate” (senatus), see Ogilvie 1965: 363.

88. Carmental Gate: this gate came to be associated with bad luck because of the defeat of the Fabii; see also Ogilvie 1965: 363–4.

Cremera: a small tributary of the Tiber, about six miles from Rome.

89. Red Rocks: modern Prima Porta, five miles from Rome on the later Via Flaminia.

90. passed beyond it: this interpretation follows that of Luce (1998: 349), who rejects Ogilvie’s suggested textual emendation (1965: 365).

91. There is sufficient agreement: satis convenit is similar to 1.1, satis constat, where Livy reports the stories of Aeneas and Antenor after the capture of Troy. Livy gives the generally accepted version but also implies his skepticism. Dionysius of Halicarnassus (9.1–9) dismisses the story of the lone survivor as a “false report,” while also pointing out that it was impossible that all the Fabii who went out from the fortress were unmarried or childless. The survivor became consul in 467 BCE; see 3.1.

greatest help … in times of crisis: an allusion to Quintus Fabius Maximus Cunctator (the Delayer), who changed Rome’s strategy of engaging in pitched battles after disastrous defeats at Trasimene and Cannae during the Hannibalic War in the late third century BCE.

92. temple of Hope: an ancient shrine on the Esquiline.

93. capital charge: such a charge involved a loss of caput; i.e., civic rights, the full legal status of a Roman citizen. This could mean banishment or even death.

asses: see 1.43, n. 128.

94. without a Roman commander: apparently the earliest treaty with the Latins was an equal treaty (foedus aequum) that left them free to act on their own initiative whenever they liked; see Ogilvie 1965: 371 and Cornell 1995: 299–301. On the Cassian treaty, see 2.33 with n. 59.

95. dressed in mourning: defendants regularly dressed in mourning to attract attention and arouse pity.

96. On sacrosanctity and the tribunes’ right to protect the plebeians against the consuls, see 2.33 with n. 57.

97. means of protection: the original function of the tribunes of the plebs was to give aid or help (auxilium) against actions of the consuls; see 2.33. Note the continued reference to aid, help, and protection throughout this episode.

98. I appeal to the people: on the people’s right of appeal, see 2.8 with n. 15.

99. Tribal Assembly: this assembly worked on the principle of the group vote. In 495 BCE there were twenty-one tribes, four of which were urban tribes; see 2.21 with n. 37. Under this system, the rural tribes would have a say, making the voting more democratic and the voting procedures quicker and less cumbersome than voting on the centuriate system. Note also Livy’s comment that Volero’s proposal was “no trivial matter.” It is, however, unclear how tribunes were elected before Volero’s measure; see Cornell 1995: 258–61.

clients’ votes: these votes apparently had less influence than they did in the Comitia Centuriata.

100. See 2.27 and Appendix 1, pp. 407–8 and 415–8, on the stereotyping of the Claudian and Quinctian families.

101. Here I follow the punctuation of the OCT (contra Foster’s Loeb translation); the implication is that the tribunes had occupied the speaker’s platform overnight.

102. go, Quirites: tribunes, unlike consuls, did not have imperium. As consul, Appius could only advise the people to “go.” He could not order them. Thus Laetorius, as tribune, had even less right to give such orders; see Ogilvie (1965: 379) for another possible explanation.

103. Sacred Mount: an allusion to the first secession of the plebs; see 2.32–3.

104. Piso: the second-century BCE annalist; see 1.55 and 2.32.

105. the consul Fabius: see 2.43.

106. recipients of a double ration: men who had previously distinguished themselves in valor received additional food.

107. This punishment is known as “decimation.”

108. See 2.56 with n. 99.

109. Appius fell sick and died: this report of Appius’ death has to be rejected if, as most modern historians do, one accepts the testimony of the Fasti Capitolini, which identifies the consul of 471 BCE with the decemvir of 451–0 BCE; see 3.33 with n. 75, and Appendix 1, pp. 407–9.

110. Caeno: a town some three miles southeast of Antium.