History of Rome

​Lucretius returned with vast booty, and with much greater glory. And, on his arrival, the display of all the booty in the Campus Martio increased his glory, so that everyone during three days might recognize and carry away his own. The remainder, for which owners did not appear, was sold.

​By the consensus of all, a triumph was due to the consul, but the matter was deferred because the tribune was pressing the law; that was of prior importance to the consul.

​The matter was debated for several days, both in the senate and before the people.

​At last the tribune yielded to the majesty of the consul and desisted. Then to the commander and the army their proper honor was rendered; he triumphed over the Volsci and Aequi, and his legions followed him in his triumph. To the other consul it was granted that he should enter the city in an ovation without his soldiers.

​Then in the following year the Terentilian law, brought forward again by the whole college, attacked the new consuls;

​the consuls were Publius Volumnius and Servius Sulpicius. In that year the sky seemed to burn, and the earth was shaken by a violent earthquake. That an ox had spoken, a thing which had not been believed the previous year, was now believed. Among other prodigies, it also rained meat, which rain a vast number of birds is said to have seized by flying among it; that which fell to the ground lay scattered for several days in such a way that its odor did not change at all.

​The sacred books were consulted by the duumviri of sacred rites; dangers from a gathering of foreigners were predicted, lest any attack on the highest points of the city and slaughter therefrom should occur; among other things, warning was given to abstain from seditions. The tribunes charged that this had been done to obstruct the law, and a huge conflict was at hand.

​Behold, as if the same cycle were turning year after year, the Hernici announced that the Volsci and Aequi, although their strength had been shattered, were rebuilding their armies; that the main control of the war was centered at Antium, and that the colonists of Antium were openly holding councils at Ecetra; that this was the head, this the strength of the war.

​When these things were reported in the senate, a levy was proclaimed. The consuls were ordered to divide the management of the war between them, so that the Volsci should be the province of one, and the Aequi of the other.

​The tribunes, in the forum, publicly declaimed that the story of a Volscian war was a fabricated play, and that the Hernici had been prepared for their parts. Now the liberty of the Roman people was not even being oppressed by valor, but was being evaded by trickery.

​Because the belief had now vanished that the Volsci and Aequi, who had been almost utterly destroyed, could move arms of their own accord, new enemies were being sought; a loyal and neighboring colony was being defamed.

​War was being declared against the innocent Antiates, but was being waged against the Roman plebs, whom, loaded with arms, they were about to drive from the city in a rapid march, avenging themselves upon the tribunes by the exile and relegation of the citizens.

​In this way — lest they think anything else was being done — the law was defeated, unless, while the matter was untouched, while they were at home and clad in the toga, they took care lest they be driven from the possession of the city, and lest they receive the yoke.

​If they had the spirit, aid would not be lacking; all the tribunes were in agreement. There was no external terror, no danger; the gods had provided in the previous year that liberty might be defended in safety. Thus far the tribunes.