menu_book Chapter 18

IX. The contest, then, again lay between the Fabii and the Vientian state, unsupported by any additional forces on either side. There passed between them not only incursions into each other's territories, and sudden attacks on the parties employed in those incursions, but several pitched battles in the open field, in which a single family of the Roman people often obtained a victory over a state, at that time the most powerful in Etruria.

This at first stung the Vientians with grief and indignation. Afterwards they formed a design, suggested by the present circumstances, of ensnaring their enemy elated with success, and they even observed with pleasure the confidence of the Fabii daily increasing, from a series of successful attempts. In pursuance of this design, cattle were frequently driven in the way of the plundering parties, as if they had come there by chance. The fields were deserted by

the flight of the peasants, and the bodies of troops sent to repel the invaders, retreated with pretended, oftener than real fear. The Fabii had now contracted such a contempt of the enemy, that they thought their own arms invincible, and not to be withstood in any place or on any occasion. This presumption carried them so far, that on seeing from Cremera some cattle at a distance, a long tract of country lying between, in which, however, but few of the enemy's troops appeared,

they ran down to seize them, and pressed forward with such careless haste as to pass by the Vientians, who lay in ambush on each side of the very road through which they marched. They then dispersed themselves on all sides to collect the cattle, which ran up and down, as was natural on being frightened, when suddenly the soldiers rose from their concealments, and appeared not only in front, but on every side of them. The shout first struck them with terror,

and in a little time they were assailed by weapons on all sides. As the Etrurians closed in upon them, they were obliged, hemmed in as they were, by one continued line of troops, to contract the circle which they had formed, into a narrower compass, which circumstance showed plainly, both the smallness of their number, and the great superiority of the Etrurians, whose ranks were multiplied as the space grew narrower. They then changed their method of

fighting, and instead of making head on all sides, bent their whole force towards one point, where forming in the shape of a wedge, and exerting every effort of their bodies and arms, they at length forced a passage. Their course led to a hill of moderate acclivity. There first they halted, and then the advantage of the ground affording them a little time to breathe, and to recover from the consternation into which they had been thrown. They afterwards even

repulsed an attack of the enemy, and this little band would probably, with the aid of the ground, have come off victorious, had not a body of Vientians sent round the ridge of the hill made their way to the summit, by which means the enemy became again superior. The Fabii were all cut off to a man, and therefore taken. It is agreed on all hands that the three hundred and six perished, that only one single person, then quite a youth,

was left, as a stop for the propagation of the Fabian race, and who was afterwards on many emergencies, both in peace and war, to prove the firmest support of the state. At the time when this disaster happened, Caius Horatius and Titus Meninius were in the consulship. Meninius was immediately sent against the Etrurians, elated with their victory. He also was worsted in battle, and the enemy took possession of the Janiculum, nor would the city, which, besides the war,

was distressed also by scarcity, have escaped a siege, the Etrurians having passed the Tiber, had not the consul Horatius been recalled from the country of the Volscians. So near, indeed, did the enemy approach to the walls, that the first engagement was at the Temple of Hope, in which little was gained on either side, and the second at the Colline Gate, in which the romans obtained some small advantage and this though far from decisive yet by restoring to the soldiers their former courage qualified them the better to contend with the enemy in future aulus virginius and spurius servilius were next elected consuls

after the loss sustained in the last battle the viantians avoided coming again to an engagement they employed themselves in committing depredations by sending out parties from the geniculum which served them as a fortress and these parties scoured every part of the roman territories so that neither the cattle nor the husbandmen could anywhere remain in safety at last they were entrapped by the same stratagem by which they had circumvented the fabii pursuing some cattle which had been purposely thrown in their way as a temptation they fell into an ambuscade in proportion as their numbers were greater so was the slaughter the violent rage which this overthrow excited gave cause to one of greater magnitude for having crossed the tiber by night they made an assault on the camp of the consul servilius and being repulsed with great loss with difficulty effected a retreat to the janiculum the consul immediately passed the tiber and fortified a camp at the foot of the geniculum next day as soon as light appeared partly led by the confidence inspired by his success in the fight of the day before

but chiefly because the scarcity of corn made it expedient to adopt even dangerous measures provided they were expeditious he rashly marched up his troops against the steep of the geniculum to the camp of the enemy there he met with a repulse more shameful than that which he had given them the preceding day and both he and his army owed their preservation from destruction to the timely intervention of his colleague the etrurians now enclosed between the two armies to one or other of which their rear was by turns exposed were entirely cut off thus through a fortunate act of temerity the vientians were effectually overpowered and the war brought to a conclusion together with peace plenty returned to the city corn being brought from campagna and every one as soon as he was freed from the dread of impending famine producing the stores which he had concealed in this state of abundance and ease the people began again to grow licentious and not finding abroad any cause of complaint sought for it as usual at home by infusing into their minds the usual poison the agrarian law

the tribunes threw the people into a ferment at the same time rousing their resentment against the patricians who opposed it and not only against that body in general but against particular members of it quintus concidius and titus genuxius the present proposers of the agrarian law lodged an accusation against titus menenius the charge brought against him was the loss of the fort of crimera when he the consul was encamped in a fixed post at no great distance him they crushed although the patrician struggled in his cause with no less zeal than they had shown for coriolanus and though his father agrippa's title to the favour of the public was not yet forgotten the tribunes however went no farther than to impose a fine though they had carried on the prosecution as for a capital offence on his being found guilty they fixed the mulct at two thousand asses this proved fatal to him for we are told that he could not bear the ignominy and anguish of mind which it occasioned and that this threw him into a disorder which put an end to his life another was soon after brought to trial spurius servilius against whom as soon as he went out of the consulship in the beginning of the year in which caius nautius and publius valerius were consuls a prosecution was commenced by two tribunes lucius sadicius and titus statius

he did not like menenius meet the attacks of these tribunes with supplications from himself and the partitions but with the utmost confidence inspired by innocence and by the justice of his claim to the favor of the public he was charged with misconduct in the battle with the etrurians at the janiculum but being a man of an intrepid spirit as he had done formerly in the case of public peril so now in one that threatened himself he dispelled the danger by facing it with boldness in a speech full of undaunted fortitude he retorted on both tribunes and commons and upbraided them with the condemnation and death of titus mininius the son of that man to whose good offices the people stood indebted for the restoration of their privileges for those very laws and magistrates which enabled them now to let loose their passions in this unreasonable manner his colleague virginius too being produced as a witness greatly assisted his cause by attributing to him a share of his own merit but what did him the most essential service was the sentence passed on menenius so great a change had taken place in the minds of the people no sooner had these domestic disputes subsided than a new war broke out with the vientians with whom the sabines had united their forces

after auxiliaries had been brought from the latines and hernicians the consul valerius being sent with an army to veii instantly attacked the sabine camp which they had pitched under the walls of their allies this occasioned such consternation among the sabines that while they ran different ways in small parties to repel the enemy's assault the gate first attacked was taken and afterwards within the rampart there was rather a carnage than a battle from the tents the alarm spread into the city and the vientians ran to arms in as great a panic as if veii itself were taken some went to support the sabines others fell upon the romans whose whole force and attention were employed on the camp for a little time the latter were put to a stand and disordered but soon forming two fronts they faced the enemy on both sides and at the same time the cavalry being ordered by the consul to charge routed and dispersed the etrurians thus were overcome in the same hour two armies of the two greatest and most powerful of the neighbouring states during these transactions at veii the volscians and aquans had encamped in the latine territories and laid waste the country

the latines however being joined by the hernicians without the aid either of roman general or troops beat them out of their camp and there besides recovering their own effects got possession of immense booty the consul caius natius was however sent against the volscians from rome where i suppose it was considered as improper that the allies should get a custom of carrying on wars with their own forces and under their own direction without a roman general and troops every kind of severity and indignity was practised against the volskians yet they could not be brought to an engagement in the field the next consuls were lucius furius and aulus manlius the vientians fell to the lot of manlius as his province but the war with that people did not continue at their request a truce for forty years was granted them and they were obliged to furnish corn and to pay the soldiers no sooner was peace restored abroad than discord began at home the commons were set in a flame at the instigation of the tribunes on their constant subject the agrarian law which the consuls not deterred by the condemnation of menenius or the danger incurred by servilius opposed with all their might

on this account as soon as they went out of office titus genusius the tribune laid hold of them they were succeeded in the consulship by lucius amilius and opitor riginius in some annals instead of riginius i find vopiscus julius set down for council during this year whoever were the consuls furious and manliest being summoned to a trial before the people went about in the garb of suppliants addressing not only the commons but the younger patricians the latter they advised and cautioned to keep at a distance from public employments and the administration of affairs and to look on the consular fassus the pretexta and curul chair as nothing better than the decorations of a funeral for those splendid badges like the fillets of victims were placed on men who were doomed to death but if there were such charms in the consulship let them once for all be convinced that the office was crushed and held in captivity by the tribunitian power that a consul must act in every thing according to command and like a bailiff be obedient even to the tribune's nod if he should show any respect to the patricians if he should suppose that there was any powerful part in the state but the commons alone

let him place before his eyes the banishment of caius marcius with the penalty and death of menenius by such discourses the patricians were fired with indignation and from that time they no longer held their consultations publicly but in private and suffered but now to be privy to them and here however they might differ in other points in this they were unanimous that the accused should be rescued from danger by any means possible whether right or wrong and the most violent method proposed was the most acceptable nor were they at a loss for an actor to perpetrate any the most atrocious deed on the day of trial therefore the people standing in the forum in eager expectation of the tribunes appearing first began to wonder that he did not come down then beginning from his delay to suspect something amiss they supposed that he had been terrified from attending by the nobles while some complained that the cause of the public was deserted and betrayed by him at length an account was brought of the tribunes being found dead in his house as soon as this report had spread through the assembly every one separated different ways just as an army disperses on the fall of its leader

the tribunes particularly were seized with the greatest terror warned by the death of their colleague how very little security the devoting laws afforded them the patricians on the other side exulted with too little moderation and so far were they from feeling any compunction at the deed that even those who were clear of the crime wished to be considered as the perpetrators of it and they declared openly that the tribunician power must be subdued by severity soon after this victory had been obtained by means which furnished a precedent of the worst tendency a proclamation was issued for a levy of soldiers and the tribunes being awed into submission the consuls accomplished the business without any interruption the commons on this were highly enraged more on account of the acquiescence of the tribunes than of the execution of the orders of the consuls they declared that there was an end of their liberty that they were reduced again to their old condition for the tribunician power had expired with and was buried in the grave of genusius other means must be devised and practised to put a stop to the tyranny of the patricians there remained now only one method to be pursued which was that the commons since they were destitute of every other protection should undertake their own defence

the retinue of the consuls consisted of twenty-four lictors and even these were plebeians no force could be more contemptible or less capable of resistance if people had but the spirit to despise them but every one magnified those matters and made them objects of terror to himself while they thus spurred on each other with such discourses as these it happened that a lictor was sent by the consul to a plebeian of the name of bolero publilius who had insisted that having been a centurion he could not be compelled to enlist as a common soldier bolero appealed to the tribunes but none of them supporting him the consuls ordered the man to be stripped and the rods to be got ready i appeal to the people said valero the tribunes chose rather that a roman citizen should be beaten with rods before their eyes than that themselves should be murdered in their beds by your faction the more vehemently he exclaimed the more violently did the lictor proceed in tearing off his clothes and stripping him then valero who was a man of great bodily strength and aided also by those who took part with him drove away the lictor and retired into the thickest part of the crowd where he heard the loudest expressions of indignation at the treatment which he received

at the same time crying aloud i appeal and implore the protection of the commons support me citizens support me fellow-soldiers you have nothing to expect from the tribunes who themselves stand in need of your support the people inflamed with passion prepared themselves as for a battle and there was every appearance of the contest proceeding to such extremity that no regard whatever would be paid either to public or private rights the consuls having undertaken to face this violent storm quickly experienced that dignity unsupported by strength is not exempt from danger their lictors were abused the fasses broken and themselves forced to take refuge in the senate-house uncertain how far valero would push his victory in some time after the tumult subsiding they assembled the senators and complained to them of the ill-treatment which they had suffered of the violence of the commons and the audacious behavior of volero though many harsh methods of proceeding were proposed the opinion of the elder members prevailed who recommended to the senate not to let their conduct be as strongly marked by passionate resentment as that of the commons was by inconsiderate violence

the commons interesting themselves warmly in favor of valero chose him at the next election tribune for the year the consuls being lucius pinarius and publius furius and now contrary to the expectation of all men who supposed that he would give a loose to the reins of the tribunician power in harassing the consuls of the preceding year postponing his own resentment and affecting only the public interest without uttering even a word to offend the consuls he proposed a law that plebeian magistrates should be elected in assemblies where the votes were given by tribes this though covered under an appearance which at first showed not any evil tendency was considered as a matter of no trivial consequence as it would entirely deprive the patricians of the power of electing such tribunes as they liked by means of the votes of their dependents to prevent this proposition which was highly pleasing to the commons from passing into a law the patricians strained every nerve and though neither the influence of the consuls nor that of themselves could prevail on any one of the college of tribunes to protest against it that being the only power that could effectually stifle it

yet as it was in itself an affair of great weight and required long and laborious exertions the obstacles thrown in its way were sufficient to delay it until the following year the commons re-elected valero to the tribuneship and the patricians judging that this business would not end without the severest struggle procured the consulship for appius claudius son of appius who both hated and was hated by the commons in consequence of the contentions between them and his father titus quintius was given him for colleague the law was the first matter agitated in the beginning of the year and though valero was the author of it yet latorius his colleague from having more recently joined in the business became in consequence the more eager for its adoption his renown in war inspired him with confidence for there was no one of that age possessed of more personal prowess volero contented himself with arguing in favor of the law and avoided all abuse against the consuls but latourius began with severe invectives against appius and his family charging them with having always shown a disposition in the highest degree overbearing and cruel asserting that the patricians had elected him not for a consul but an executioner to torment and torture the plebeians

being however a rough soldier unskilled in the art of speaking he was at a loss for expression suited to the boldness of his thoughts and finding himself unable to proceed in his discourse he said citizens since i cannot speak with the same readiness with which i can perform what i have spoken i request your attendance to-morrow either i will lose my life here in your presence or i will carry the law next day the tribunes took possession of the temple and the consuls and nobles placed themselves among the crowd in order to oppose the law litorius ordered all persons to retire except those who were to vote but the younger nobility kept their seats and paid no regard to the officer on which litorius ordered some of them to be taken into custody the consul appius insisted that a tribune had no power over any but the plebeians for he was not a magistrate of the people at large but of the commons that even he himself could not conformably to ancient usage of his own authority compel people to withdraw the words in use being if ye think proper romans retire

it was easy for him to disconcert litorius in arguing even thus contemptuously about his authority the tribune therefore inflamed with anger sent one of his officers to the consul while the consul sent a lictor to the tribune calling out that he was but a private person without command and without magistracy nor would the tribune have escaped ill-treatment had not the whole assembly joined with great warmth in taking his part against the consul and at the same time the alarm having spread among the populace brought a great concourse from all parts of the city to the forum appius notwithstanding inflexibly withstood the violence of the storm and the dispute must have terminated in blood had not quintius the other consul giving it in charge to the consulars to take away his colleague from the forum by force if they could not do it otherwise now soothing the enraged plebeians with entreaties then begging the tribunes to dismiss the assembly so as to give time for their anger to cool telling them that delay would not diminish aught of their power but would afford them the advantage of uniting prudence with that power that the patrician would still be under the direction of the people and the consul under that of the patricians the