History of Rome

​But on the other side, the consuls, having placed their chairs in the sight of them, were holding the levy. There the tribunes ran down and drew the assembly with them. A few were called, as if for the sake of testing the matter, and immediately violence arose.

​Whomever the lictor by order of the consul had seized, the tribune ordered to be released; nor did his own right set a limit for anyone, but the hope of strength did, and what one intended had to be obtained by force.

​In what manner the tribunes had behaved themselves in prohibiting the levy, in the same manner the patricians behaved themselves in obstructing the law, which was brought forward through all the comitial days.

​The beginning of the brawl was when the tribunes had ordered the people to disperse, because the patricians did not allow themselves to be removed. Nor were the elders for the most part present in the matter, since it was not to be ruled by counsel, but had been abandoned to rashness and audacity.

​The consuls also abstained much, lest in the confusion of affairs they should offer their majesty to the insult of anyone.

​There was Caeso Quinctius, a fierce youth, both by the nobility of his family and by the magnitude of his body and strength. To these gifts given by the gods, he himself had also added many military honors and eloquence in the forum, so that no one in the state was held more prompt either in tongue or in hand.

​When this man had stood in the midst of the body of the patricians, towering among the others, as if bearing all dictatorships and consulships in his voice and strength, he alone sustained the tribunician attacks and the popular storms.

​With him as leader, the tribunes were often driven from the forum, and the plebs were routed and put to flight; whoever had stood in his way went away beaten and stripped, so that it appeared clearly enough that, if it were permitted to act thus, the law was defeated.

​Then, when the other tribunes were now almost dismayed, Aulus Verginius alone of the college appointed a day of trial for Caeso on a capital charge. By this act he had inflamed his fierce disposition more than he had terrified it; so much the more sharply did he oppose the law, harass the plebs, and pursue the tribunes as if in a regular war.

​The accuser allowed the defendant to ruin himself, and to supply the flame of hatred and material for his charges; meanwhile he brought forward the law, not so much in hope of passing it as to provoke the rashness of Caeso.

​There, many things often spoken and done inconsiderately by the youth fell upon the suspected character of Caeso alone.

​Yet the law was resisted. And Aulus Verginius repeatedly said to the plebs: “Do you not now perceive, Quirites, that you cannot have Caeso as a citizen and the law which you desire at the same time?

​And yet, why do I speak of the law? He stands in the way of liberty; he surpasses all the Tarquins in pride. Wait until he becomes consul or dictator, this man whom you see ruling by force and audacity while still a private citizen.” Many assented, complaining that they had been beaten, and of their own accord incited the tribune to prosecute the defendant to the end.