§8.18.1foedus insequens annus seu intemperie caeli seu humana fraude fuit, M. Claudio Marcello C. Valerio consulibus. §8.18.2Flaccum Potitumque varie in annalibus cognomen consulis invenio; ceterum in eo parvi refert, quid veri sit; illud pervelim — nec omnes auctores sunt — proditum falso esse, venenis absumptos, quorum mors infamem annum pestilentia fecerit; §8.18.3sicut proditur tamen res, ne cui auctorum fidem abrogaverim, exponenda est. §8.18.4cum primores civitatis similibus morbis eodemque ferme omnes eventu morerentur, ancilla quaedam ad Q. Fabium Maximum aedilem curulem indicaturam se causam publicae pestis professa est, si ab eo fides sibi data esset, haud futurum noxae indicium. §8.18.5Fabius confestim rem ad consules, consules ad senatum referunt, consensuque ordinis fides indici data. §8.18.6tum patefactum muliebri fraude civitatem premi matronasque ea venena coquere et, si sequi extemplo velint, manifesto deprehendi posse. §8.18.7secuti indicem et coquentis quasdam medicamenta et recondita alia invenerunt. §8.18.8quibus in forum delatis et ad viginti matronis, apud quas deprehensa erant, per viatorem accitis, duae ex eis, Cornelia ac Sergia, patriciae utraque gentis, cum ea medicamenta salubria esse contenderent, ab confutante indice bibere iussae, ut se falsum commentam arguerent, spatio ad conloquendum sumpto,
The following year, either due to the inclemency of the weather or human wickedness, was a disastrous one, in the consulship of Marcus Claudius Marcellus and Gaius Valerius. I find the cognomen of the consul variously given in the annals as Flaccus and Potitus; however, in this matter, it is of little importance which is the truth; I should very much wish—though not all authors agree—that the story was falsely handed down that they were carried off by poison, whose deaths made the year infamous for pestilence; yet the story must be set forth as it is handed down, so that I may not destroy the credit of any of the authors. When the leading men of the state were dying of similar diseases and almost all with the same result, a certain maidservant declared to the curule aedile Quintus Fabius Maximus that she would disclose the cause of the public pestilence, if a pledge were given her by him that the disclosure would not bring her harm. Fabius immediately reported the matter to the consuls, and the consuls to the senate, and by the consensus of that body, the pledge was given to the informant. Then it was revealed that the state was being afflicted by female treachery, and that matrons were brewing those poisons, and if they wished to follow immediately, they could be caught in the act. Having followed the informant, they found some brewing the drugs and others hidden away. When these were brought into the forum, and about twenty matrons, in whose possession they had been detected, were summoned by an usher, two of them, Cornelia and Sergia, both of patrician house, since they maintained that the drugs were wholesome, were ordered by the refuting informant to drink them, in order to prove that they had invented a falsehood.
§8.18.9cum summoto populo in conspectu omnium rem ad ceteras rettulissent, haud abnuentibus et illis bibere, epoto medicamento suamet ipsae fraude omnes interierunt. §8.18.10conprehensae extemplo earum comites magnum numerum matronarum indicaverunt; ex quibus ad centum septuaginta damnatae. §8.18.11neque de veneficiis ante eam diem Romae quaesitum est. §8.18.12prodigii ea res loco habita captisque magis mentibus quam consceleratis similis visa; itaque memoria ex annalibus repetita in secessionibus quondam plebis clavum ab dictatore fixum alienatasque discordia mentes hominum eo piaculo conpotes sui fuisse, dictatorem clavi figendi causa creari placuit. §8.18.13creatus Cn. Quinctilius magistrum equitum L. Valerium dixit, qui fixo clavo magistratu se abdicaverunt.
Having taken time to consult, when the crowd was removed and they had referred the matter to the others in the sight of all, and since those others also did not refuse to drink, they all drank the drug and perished by their own wickedness. Their companions, being immediately arrested, informed against a great number of matrons; of these, about a hundred and seventy were condemned. Nor had there ever been an inquiry concerning poisoning in Rome before that day. The affair was regarded as a prodigy, and seemed to be the work of minds crazed rather than criminal; therefore, memory having been recalled from the annals that in former times, during the secessions of the plebeians, a nail had been driven by a dictator, and that the minds of men, distracted by discord, had been restored to sanity by that expiation, it was resolved that a dictator should be appointed for the purpose of driving the nail. Gnaeus Quinctilius, having been appointed, named Lucius Valerius master of the horse, and having driven the nail, they resigned their office.