hill; and the panic spread from thence to Verrugo to the other detachment of the army. When Postumius, having withdrawn his men to a place of safety, summoned an assembly and upbraided them with their fright and flight; with having been beaten by a most cowardly and dastardly enemy; the entire army shout aloud that they deserved to hear all this, and admitted the disgrace they had incurred; but (they promised) that they would make amends, and that the enemy's joy should not be of long duration. Demanding that he would instantly lead them from thence to the camp of the enemy, (this lay in the plain within their view,) they submitted to any punishment, if they did not take it before night. Having praised them, he orders them to take refreshment, and to be in readiness at the fourth watch. And the enemy, in order to prevent the flight of the Romans from the hill through the road which led to Verrugo, were posted to meet them; and the battle commenced before daylight, (but the moon was up all the night,) and was not more confused than a battle fought by day. But the shout having reached Verrugo, when they thought that the Roman camp was attacked, occasioned such a panic, that in spite of the entreaties of Æmilius and his efforts to stop them, they fled to Tusculum in great disorder. From thence a report was carried to Rome that "Postumius and his army were cut to pieces." When the dawn of day had removed all apprehension of an ambuscade in case of a hasty pursuit, after riding through the ranks, by demanding (the performance of) their promises he infused such ardour into them, that the Æquans could no longer withstand their impetuosity. Then the slaughter of them in their flight, such as takes place when matters are conducted more under the influence of anger than of courage, was continued even to the total destruction of the enemy, and the melancholy news from Tusculum, the state having been alarmed without cause, was followed by a letter from Postumius decked with laurel, (announcing) that "the victory belonged to the Roman people; that the army of the Æquans was destroyed."
29
As the proceedings of the plebeian tribunes had not yet attained a termination, both the commons exerted themselves to continue their office for the promoters of the law, and the patricians to re-elect the opponents of the law; but the commons were more successful in the election of their own magistrates. Which annoyance the patricians avenged by passing a decree of the senate that consuls should be elected, magistrates detested by the commons. After an interval of fifteen years, Lucius Lucretius Flavus and Servius Sulpicius Camerinus were appointed consuls. In the beginning of this year, whilst the tribunes of the commons united their efforts to pass the law, because none of their college were likely to oppose them, and the consuls resisted them with no less energy, the Æquans storm Vitellia, a Roman colony in their territory. The chief part of the colonists made their way in safety to Rome, because the town, having been taken by treachery in the night, afforded an unimpeded mode of escape by the remote side of the city. That province fell to the lot of Lucius Lucretius the consul. He having set out with his army, vanquished the enemy in the field; and returned victorious to Rome to a much more serious contest. A day of trial had been appointed for Aulus Virginius and Quintus Pomponius, plebeian tribunes of the two preceding years, in whose defence by the combined power of the patricians, the honour of the senate was involved. For no one laid against them any other impeachment, either of their mode of life or of their conduct in office, save that, to gratify the patricians, they had protested against the tribunitian law. The resentment of the commons, however, prevailed over the influence of the senate; and by a most pernicious precedent these men, though innocent, were condemned (to pay a fine of] ten thousand asses in weight. At this the patricians were very much incensed. Camillus openly charged the commons with gross violation of duty, "who, now turning their venom against their own body, did not feel that by their iniquitous sentence on the tribune they abolished the right of protesting; that abolishing this right of protesting, they had upset the tribunitian authority. For they were mistaken in expecting that the patricians would tolerate the unbridled licentiousness of that office. If tribunitian violence could not be repelled by tribunitian aid, that the patricians would find out some other weapon." The consuls he also blamed, because they had in silence suffered those tribunes who had followed the authority of the senate to be deceived by (their reliance) on the public faith. By openly expressing these sentiments, he every day still further exasperated the angry feelings of the people.
30
But he ceased not to urge the senate to oppose the law; "that when the day for proposing the law had arrived they should go down to the forum with no other feeling than as men who remembered that they had to contend for their altars and homes, and the temples of the gods, and the soil in which they had been born. For that as far as he himself individually was concerned, if during this contest (to be sustained) by his country it were allowable for him to think of his own glory, it would even reflect honour on himself, that a city captured by him should be densely inhabited, that he would daily enjoy the monument of his glory, and that he would have before his eyes a city borne by him in his triumph, that all would tread in the footsteps of his renown. But that he deemed it an impiety that a city deserted and forsaken by the immortal gods should be inhabited; that the Roman people should reside in a captive soil, and that a vanquished should be taken in exchange for a victorious country." Stimulated by these exhortations of their leader, the patricians, both young and old, entered the forum in a body, when the law was about to be proposed: and dispersing themselves through the tribes, each earnestly appealing to the members of their own tribe, began to entreat them with tears "not to desert that country for which they themselves and their fathers had fought most valiantly and successfully," pointing to the Capitol, the temple of Vesta, and the other temples of the gods around; "not to drive the Roman people, exiles and outcasts, from their native soil and household gods into the city of the enemy; and not to bring matters to such a state, that it was better that Veii were not taken, lest Rome should be deserted." Because they proceeded not by violence, but by entreaties, and in the midst of these entreaties frequent mention was (made) of the gods, the greatest part (of the people) were influenced by religious scruples: and more tribes by one rejected the law than voted for it. And so gratifying was this victory to the patricians, that on the following day, on a motion made by the consuls, a decree of the senate was passed, that seven acres a man of Veientian territory should be distributed to the commons; and not only to the fathers of families, but so that all persons in their house in a state of freedom should be considered, and that they might be willing to rear up their children with that prospect.
31
The commons being won over by such a boon, no opposition was made to holding the elections for consuls. Lucius Valerius Potitus, and Marcus Manlius, who afterwards obtained the surname of Capitolinus, were elected consuls. These consuls celebrated the great games which Marcus Furius, when dictator, had vowed in the Veientian war. In the same year the temple of imperial Juno, vowed by the same dictator and during the same war, is dedicated; and they state that the dedication was attended with great zeal by the matrons. A war scarcely worth mentioning was waged with the Æquans at Algidum, the enemies taking to flight almost before they commenced the fight. To Valerius, because he was more persevering in slaughtering them in their flight, a triumph was granted; it was decreed that Manlius should enter the city with an ovation. The same year a new war broke out with the Volsinians; whither an army could not be led, on account of a famine and pestilence in the Roman territories, which arose from drought and excessive heat; on account of which the Volsinians forming a junction with the Salpinians, being elated with pride, made an unprovoked incursion into the Roman territories. War was then proclaimed against the two states. Caius Julius died during his censorship; Marcus Cornelius was substituted in his room; a proceeding which was afterwards considered as offensive to religion; because during that lustrum Rome was taken. Nor since that time has a censor ever been substituted in the room of one deceased. And the consuls being seized by the distemper, it was determined that the auspices should be taken anew during an interregnum.
32
Therefore when in pursuance of a decree of the senate the consuls resigned their office, Marcus Furius Camillus is created interrex, who appointed Publius Cornelius Scipio interrex, and he afterwards Lucius Valerius Potitus. By him were
