Foundation Wherefore I rather give credit to Fabius who besides that he is the ancienter Author says there were forty Talents only than to Piso who says there were forty thousands of Silver set apart to that use for such a sum of Mony was not to be expected out of the spoils of any one City besides that it exceeded the magnificence even of any nay even of that Foundation Being intent to perfect this Temple he sent for Workmen from all parts of Etruria and did not only make use of the publick Stock to that end but of the common People too for Labourers who though they had great additional Impositions in point of Military Affairs yet they did not grudg to build the Temples of the gods with their own hands But they were afterwards drawn into other Tasks which though they seemed less required greater pains that is to say to make Partitions in the Circus or place of Games and Exercise and a great Common-sewer under Ground to be a receptable for all the filth in the City to which two Works this new Magnificence of his could hardly find any thing to compare The common People being exercised by these Labours he thinking the Multitude if they were not employed would be a burthen to the City and being desirous to enlarge the Bounds of the Empire by sending Colonies out of it he sent one to Signia and Circeii to be a future security to the City both by Sea and Land While he was thus employed a terrible portent appeared to him and that was a Snake crawling out of a Wooden Pillar which putting him into a fright made him run into the Palace but did not astonish him so much with sudden fear as it filled his Breast with anxious thoughts Therefore though the Etrurian Diviners only were made use of in case of publick Prodigies he sent this as being a private Wonder to Delphos to the most famous Oracle upon the face of the whole Earth nor daring to commit the trust of the answer to any other he sent his two Sons through Lands unknown at that time and Seas much stranger into Greece Their Names that went were Titus and Aruns who had for their Companion Lucius Junius Brutus Son to Tarquinia the Kings Sister a young man of a quite different temper from what he seemed He having heard that the chief men of the City were murthered by his Uncle and that his Brother was one resolved to give the King no occasion of fear from any designs of his nor any reason to covet his fortune but to be safe by being contemned since there was little security in Law and Justice He therefore industriously feigned himself a Fool and permitting the King to dispose of his Person and Estate as he thought fit he did not refuse even the Surname of Brutus that is foolish or sottish to the end that under the covert of that Surname his latent Soul which once was like to be the deliverer of the Roman People might in due time shew it self He therefore at that time being taken to Delphi along with the Tarquinii for a Laughing-stock more than a Companion 't is said he carried a Golden Staff enclosed in one of Corneil-wood which was hollowed for that purpose as a present to Apollo which was an Emblem of his own Ingenuity Where when they came having executed their Fathers Commands the young men were very desirous to know To which of them the Roman Kingdom should fall whereupon they say there came a Voice out of the bottom of the Cave saying He among you three shall have the chief Dominion at Rome who gives his Mother the first kiss The Tarquinii to the end that Sextus who was left at Rome might not know the Answer and so be deprived of the Empire commanded it to be kept with all secrecy imaginable and drew Lots among themselves which of them when they came to Rome should first kiss his Mother But Brutus imagining that the Oracle had some other meaning pretended to fall down by chance and kissed the Earth for that he considered was the common Mother of all men living Then they came back to Rome where there were very great preparations making against the Rutuli The Rutuli were then possessed of Ardea being a People who considering that Country and that Age were very rich which was indeed the very cause of that War for the King of Rome desired not only to enrich himself being now Exhausted by his Magnificence in publick Works but endeavoured likewise with Spoils and Plunder to engage the Affections of his Country-men who besides their insolence were also very uneasie and took it mighty ill that their King should keep them so long in the servile Employments of Masons and Carpenters They tryed first to take Ardea by a sudden Onset but that not succeeding Attacked the Enemies by Siege and Counter-works In that Campaign as it is more usual in a long than a sharp War they had liberty enough of passing to and fro but the Officers more than the common Soldiers The Kings Sons and Kinsmen did often spend their time in Feasting and Treating one another and as they were Drinking with Sextus Tarquinius where Collatinus Tarquinius the Son of Egerius then also supped there happened a Discourse concerning their Wives upon which each man most wonderfully praised his own and thence a quarrel arising Collatinus said It was in vain to talk since it might easily be known and in a short time how much his Lucretia excelled the rest wherefore if you have any vigour in you let us mount our Horses and go see with our own eyes what kind of Women our Wives are and that shall be the Test which occurs to each man upon his sudden arrival They were all heated with Wine and therefore cryed Come on 't is agreed and so Galloped to Rome whither when they came about the edg of night they went forward thence to Collatia where they found Lucretia not like the rest of the Kings Daughters-in-law whom they saw spending their time with their Equals in Banqueting and Luxury but sitting late at night in the middle of her House amongst her Maids a spinning Whereupon Lucretia was most commended who received her Husband and the Tarquinii very kindly and her Husband who was the Victor in that Controversie very courteously invited the Royal Youths to Supper at which time Sextus Tarquinius was seized with a lustful desire to Ravish Lucretia being incited both by her Beauty and known Chastity and when they had ended their Juvenile Pastimes for that Night they returned to the Camp Some few days after Sextus Tarquinius without the privity of Collatinus took one Companion only with him and came to Collatia where being received very kindly by them who knew nothing of his Design when after Supper he was conducted into his Lodging Chamber being inflamed with Love assoon as he thought all things secure enough and every body fast asleep he came with his Sword drawn
Horatius T. Romilius and Sp. Postumius Of whom Claudius and Genutius were made amends for the Honour of Consulship which that Year they were designed to have had by this other honourable Office and so likewise was Sestius one of the Consuls the Year before for having referred that matter to the Senate against his Collegues consent Next to whom were the three Embassadors that went to Athens but that not only to reward them with Honour for their long Embassy but because the Romans believed they being well skilled in Foreign Laws would be Men wery useful in making of new ones As for the rest they only filled up the number of whom they say That they were very old Men and chosen last that they might not too pertly thwart the Orders or Proposals of the others But the command of the whole Magistracy was in Appius only through the favour of the People for he had so changed his disposition that he was grown a very Poplicola i. e. a Courter of the People all on the sudden and mighty ambitious of popular applause instead of being what he once was a violent and severe Persecutor of them Every tenth day they each of them in their turns administred Justice to the People on which day he who was the chief Justice for that time had twelve Lictors or Serjeants and the other nine of his Collegues had each of them one under Officer called Accensus to attend him But there was an exact agreement between themselves which might sometimes prove disadvantageous to private Persons though the highest equity in respect of others at the same time To shew their moderation 't will be enough if I give you but this one example of it Though they were Created without Appeal yet when a dead Corps that was buried in the House of one P. Sestius a Patrician was found out and brought forth into the publick Assembly C. Julius being the Decemvir in that case which was as manifest as heinous appointed Sestius a day for Tryal and was his Accuser before the People though he himself was the lawful Judg of it foregoing his own right and making an addition to the Peoples Liberty by what he diminished from the Authority of his own Office This way of adminishing Justice so incorruptly as from an Oracle both rich and poor took great notice of and then they applied themselves to making of Laws in which affair having raised the Peoples expectation to a pitch by shewing them the ten Tables they summoned the Commons to an Assembly where wishing all happiness and prosperity to the Commonwealth themselves and their Children they bad them go and read the Laws proposed for they as much as ten Men were capable to do had made such Laws as were equitable and agreeable both to the highest and the lowest rank of Men but they knew the understanding and advice of the People might make some addition to them Wherefore they desired them to weigh every part of them and to discourse with one another about it producing their Reasons for what was too much or too little in any case For the Roman People should have such Laws as the general consent of all the People might not seem to have passed when they were preferred so much as to have preferred them When therefore the People had conferred concerning each Article of those Laws and found them correct enough they were confirmed in the Assembly called Comitia Centuriata by the Name of the Laws of the ten Tables being to this day even amidst such an heap of other Laws which have been made one upon another the fountain of all publick and private Justice But then there was a rumour spread abroad That there were two Tables wanting which if they were added the Body as it were of the whole Roman Law would be compleat Which expectation when the day of the Assembly drew nigh made them have a mind to make the same Decemviri again For the People besides that they hated the name of Consuls as much as that of Kings did not so much as seek after the Tribunes assistance because the Decemviri allowed one another to hear any great Cause over again as if they had granted an Appeal But when the Assembly for chusing of the Decemviri was appointed to be holden 27 days after there arose such a general ambition among Men that the very Heads of the City for fear I suppose lest if they should not take it some mean unworthy fellows would get the possession of that great Honour and Authority went about to beg Votes and humbly sued for Honour which they themselves with all their industry impugned from that People with whom they had before contended Now therefore his dignity being in danger his being at that Age and having enjoyed such Honours so netled Ap. Claudius that you could not tell whether you ought to have reckoned him among the Decemviri or the Candidates for he sometimes look'd more like to one that stood for than one that bore an Office being used to accuse the Nobility but extoll even the slightest and meanest of the Candidates and running into the Forum through the midst of the Duilians and Icilians to recommend himself by them to the People 'till such time as his Collegues who at that time extremely devoted to him turning their eyes upon him admired what his design was and thought there was no sincerity in him for they said His courtesie could not be without some end in him especially who was a person of so much pride that he submitted and debased himself too much and that to converse so much with private Persons was not the part of a Man who was hastening to quit an Office as of one that sought out means to continue it But yet not daring to withstand his ambition with open force they endeavoured to defeat him by a seeming compliance and respect for they consented to put him though he was the youngest of them upon holding the Assembly But their design was to hinder him from chusing himself which besides the Tribunes of the People who in that shewed a very ill example no man had ever done Whereupon he in good time he hoped declaring that he was to hold the Assembly made that his opportunity which they intended as an obstruction and having at the meeting degraded the two Quintii Capitolinus and Cincinnatus with his Uncle C. Claudius a most constant defender of the Nobility besides some others of the best Citizens created Decemviri much inferior to them of which himself was the first which action all good Men so disapproved that they did not believe he would have dared to do it With him were chosen M. Cornelius Maluginensis U. C. 302 M. Sergius L. Minucius Q. Fabius Vibulanus Q. Paetilius T. Antonius Merenda Caeso Duilius Sp. Oppius Cornicen and Man Rabuleius That was the last time that Appius took upon him the guise of another Man beginning from thence forward to live like himself and to
17. Of Aemilius Paulus in the Senate accusing Manlius for waging War in Gallo-Graecia unjustly 45. Manlius his Answer 47. Of P. Nasica to the people in behalf of L. Scipio when accused of converting Antiochus's money to his own use 58. Of Postumius Albinus the Consul to the people about suppressing the Bacchanalia xxxix 15. Of Appius in the Achaian Council touching the Lacedaemonians 35 Of King Philip being to hear the mutual Accusations of his two Sons one against the other xl 8. Of Perseus charging his Brother Demetrius with Parricide 9. Demetrius his Answer 12. Of L. Caecilius Metellus in the Campus Martius to compose the old fewds betwixt two persoâ—s chosen Censors 46. The Speech of Callicrates in the Achaian Council perswading a League with the Romans xli 23. Of Arco at the same time in favour of Perseus 24. Of Eumenes in the Roman Senate against Perseus xlii 11 12. Of the Carthaginians complaining of Masanissa 23. Of Sp. Ligustinus an old Souldier 34. Of Q. Marcius to King Perseus concerning the Causes of the War 40. The King 's Answer 41. Of King Perseus to the Macedonians 52. Of L. Aemilius Paulus setting out to the Macedonian War xliv 22. Another Speech of his in the Camp to P. Nasica shewing why he declined to fight the Enemy 38. Of Stratius a Physician to Attalus perswading him to Peace with Eumenes xlv 19. Of the Rhodian Embassadours begging pardon of the Roman Senate See the Supplement of the second defective passage of the forty fifth Book and the twenty first Chapter of the same Book Of M. Servilius to the People for the Triumph of L. Aemilius Paulus Ch. 37. and the Supplement Of Aemilius after his Triumph upon the loss of his Sons 41. Speeches sor and against the Voconian Law See the Supplement of the second defective passage in the sorty third Book Spye taken at Rome his hands cut off xxii 33. Stator why Jupiter so called i. 12. Statue whose sirst set up in the Forum viii 13. Stratagem a notable one of T. Quintius ii 64. Of C. Sulpicius the Dictator vii 14. Of Annibal xxii 17. Of the Gauls xxiii 24. Superstition mens minds labour therewith generally when their bodies are afflicted with diseases iv 30. People are for the most part superstitious after any late Disaster vi 5. Swear one man allowed to swear for another xxxi 50. Syphax entertains at once both Scipio and Asdrubal at Supper and makes a League with the Romans xxviii 18. Marries Asdrubal's Daughter joins with the Carthaginians sends to Scipio to forbear invading Africk xxix 23. Taken Prisoner xxx 12. Syracuse the strange Commotions and Cruelties there after the Murther of King Hieronymus xxiv 21 c. Besieged by the Romans 33. Taken xxv 23. T. TAbles two added to the former ten Tables of Laws iii. 37. Tanaquil a Woman skill'd in Coelestial Prodigies her story i. 34. Tarpeia a Virgin that bâ—tray'd the Capitol but was kill'd for her reward i. 11. Tarquinius Priscus comes to Rome i. 34. After the Death of King Ancus he makes a Speech to the people 35. And is chosen King and vanquishes the Sabines 37. Is kill'd by means of Ancus's Sons 40. Tarquin the Proud begins his Reign his Tyranny i. 47. Destroys Turnus the Latine by a stratagem 52. Sends his younger Son Sextus to trepan the Gabii 53. Whom he instructs by a dumb sign â—opping off the Heads of the highest Poppies 54. Is expell'd Rome by reason of his Sons ravishing of Lucretia 60. Retreats to Tusculum ii 15. Dies at Cumae 21. Tarquinians Sacrifice 307. Romans vii 15. That Cruelty is reveng'd 19. Tarentines begin a War with the Romans in a drunken sit xii 7. Their City taken xiv 45. Tarentum betray'd to Annibal all but the Castle xxv 9. Romans relieve the Castle 15. Tarentum retaken by the Romans xxvii 23. Temple one Temple cannot be erected to two Gods and the reason xxvii 27. Tenth not only of the Pillage but of the City and Fields taken paid to Apollo v. 25. Theoxena kills her self and her Sisters Children when sent for by King Philip xl 4. Thurines revolt to Annibal xxv 15. Tiber the River antiently call'd Albula and why the name chang'd i. 3. Timasetheis chief of the Lyparensian Pirates his Justice and Devotion in conveying the Roman Embassadors when they had been taken with their Presents to Delphos v. 28. Treachery handsomely rewarded by the Sabines i. 11. Tribunes of the Commons first chosen ii 33. augmented to the number of ten iii. 30. Their persons inviolable 55. Patricians even those that had been Consuls chosen Tribunes of the Commons 65. Tribunes threaten to Jail a Consul iv 16. The like to Tribunes Military v. 9. They force a Dictator to resign vii 3. Tribunes Military with Sovereign Authority iii. 51. Three Tribunes Military with Consular Authority chosen iv 6. Continued but three Months 7. Made eight in number v. 1. Discontinued five years vi 35. Triumph when first by Order of the people without the Approbation of the Senate iii. 63. The first over any Transmarine people xvi 38. The first time celebrated when there had been no War xl 38. Triumvirs for dividing of Lands first Created iii. 1. Triumviri Capitales or Judges Criminal erected xi 22. Tullus Hostilius chosen King i. 22. He causes Metius the Alban General to be pull'd to pieces 28. Reported to be destroy'd with Lightning 31. Tunis taken by Scipio xxx 9. V. VAlerius the Consul routs the Aequi and Volsci at Algidum iii. 61. M. Valerius sights a Duel with a Gaul vii 26. Vibius Virius his desperate Speech to the Capuans xxvi 13. He and others poison themselves 14. Virginius kills his own Daughter rather than expose her to the Lust of App. Claudius iii. 48. Vision to Antinias ii 36. Volscius accused of Perjury and forc'd to fly iii. 29. Voconian Law and the Debates thereon See the Supplement of the second defective passage in the forty third Book Vow cannot be discharg'd by any wicked act ii 32. W. WAR declared by the people not by the Senate iv 30. Winter the Roman Army first kept out all the Winter v. 2. Speeches pro and con on that occasion 3. White Horses first used in Triumph v. 23. Women a quarrel between the Noblemens and Commoners Wives x. 23. Their merits to the Roman State recounted xxxiv 5. A Woman that has once lost her modesty has nothing left her that is valuable i. 58. A Woman that thinks her self equal with her Husband will quickly be his Superiour xxxiv 3. Wrastling first practiz'd at Rome xxxix 22. Z. ZAnt the Isle delivered up to the Romans xxxvi 32. FINIS ERRATA BOok I. Chap. 2. line 9. For too great a security to their Neighbours read too great for the security of their Nighbours Ch. 4. line 1. For But original read But the original And line the 12. For Vicus read Ficus Ch. 16. line 18 For O the Romans read O ye Romans Ch. 34. line 2. For which the Tarquinii read which at Tarquinii Chap. 36. line 11. For Act read Art Ch. 44. line 8. For Crowns read Heads Ch. 46. Read the end of that Chapter thus Aruns Tarquinius and Tullia the younger being both almost at the same time taken out of the way and by their Death leaving each House empty and free for a new match Lucius and the elder Tullia intermarried not only with Servius 's allowance but approbation too Ch. 51. line 8. For in one night read in the night Ch. 53. line 3. After the word Volsci add which continued Ch. 54. l. 20. For walking without read walking about Book II. Ch. 2. l. 56. For prosecuted read preserved Ch. 9. line 10 11. read thus Porsena imagining that it would be a great honour to the Tuscans for him to be King of Rome as well as of the Etrurians came to Rome c. Ch. 24. line 3 4. For made an impression read made a quite contrary impression Ch. 28. line 2. For mighty read mighty meetings Book III. Ch. 25. line the last save one For they totally read they had totally Ch. 51. line the last save one For they would read they would not lay down Ch. 61. line 3. For they did fight read they did not sight Ch. 65. line 21. For ten read two years Book IV. Ch. 12. l. 15. For Foreign read Foreign War Book V. Ch. 8. line the first read The year following Ch. 22. Read the beginning thus The next day the Dictator sold the Freemen and though that were the only money reserv'd for the Exchequer yet the common people grumbled at it and as for what booty they got they said they had no reason to thank either the General or the Senate but only the good Licinian Family that procured for them that popular Decree Ch. 24. l. 21. For was it not fit read was it fit And line 24. For and T. Sicinius read and follow T. Sicinius Book VII Ch. 6. line 38. read By consent of the Patricians Book IX Ch. 1. line 1. For Claudian read Caudine Book XXV Ch. 12. in the last line save one of the first Verses For Beasts of prey read Beasts a prey Book XXVII Ch. 5. line 39. For Dictator read Consul Ch. 40. l. 14. For Annibal read Asdrubal Ch 53. l. 3. read All the road as far as the Bridge Milvius Book XXIX Ch. 10. line 17. Instead of That for a greater read That a far greater Ch. 23. line 21. For he should rely read he should not rely Ch. 29. Is not markt but should begin at these words And they having had a Battel with the Carthaginian Cavalry Book XXXIX Ch. 5. line 4. For and becoming read unbecoming Book XL. Ch. 37. line 1. For not after read not long after Book XLIV Ch. 18. line 1. instead of would manage read would not manage
much ignominy and lost so many of their Men. And soon after as they sate down together not far from the City Tusculum being unarmed they were set upon and suffered for an old grudg between them and the Tusculans insomuch that there were hardly two Men left to carry the news of their slaughter The Roman Consul in the mean time composed the Ardean Sedition Beheading the Ringleaders of it and Confiscating their Goods into the publick Treasury of that City Then the Ardeans were of opinion that the Romans had made them full satisfaction for the injury which was done them in the judgment concerning the Land but the Senate thought they ought to do something more still to obliterate the remembrance of such a publick piece of avarice The Consul therefore came back with Triumph into the City Cluilius the Volscian General being led before his Chariot and the spoils too carried before of which he had disarmed the Enemies Forces when he made them pass under the Jujum or Gallows Mean while Quintius in his Gown which is not easie equalled the Glory of his Collegues in Arms. For he took such care at home to preserve Concord by moderating the Laws in respect both to the highest and the lowest that the Senate thought him a severe Consul and the Commons believed him mild enough He likewise gained more upon the Tribunes by his Gravity and Authority than by contending with them In fine five Consulships managed all after the same rate and all his life having been spent in the affairs belonging to the Consuls made him full as venerable as the Dignity he bore for which reason there was no talk of the Tribunes Military in the time of these Consuls The next Year they chose for Consuls M. Fabius Vibulanus and Postumus Aebutius Cornicen U. C. 312 who considering they succeeded two such Men that had gained so much honour by their Conduct both at home and abroad but especially that their Year was very memorable among their Neighbours whether Allies or Enemies for the great care that they had taken to relieve the Ardeans in their necessity they endeavoured so much the more studiously to raze the memory of that infamous Judgment out of the minds of Men by making an Order of Senate That seeing the City of Ardea was reduced by their intestine tumults to a small number there should a Colony be sent thither as a Guard against the Volscians This was set up in Tables publickly to conceal the design they had of rescinding the Judgment from the People and the Tribunes For they had agreed that a far greater number of the old Rutilian Colony than of the Romans should be taken in and that no Lands should be divided among them but what had been taken away by that infamous Judgment of which no one Clod should be assigned to any Roman before all the Rutulians were served Thus their Land came again into the hands of the Ardeans The three that were appointed to carry the Colony to Ardea were Agrippa Menenius T. Claelius Siculus and M. Ebucius Aelua who having offended the People in acting so much against their minds when they assigned that Land to their Allies which the Romans had judged to be their own and having likewise disobliged the chief Senators in not shewing any extraordinary respect to e're an one of them were fain to stay in that Colony which could testifie for their Integrity and Justice to avoid vexatious Accusations at Rome where the Tribunes had appointed a Day for their Tryal There was Peace both at home and abroad all this and the following Year in which C. U. C. 313 F. Pacilus and M. Papirius Crassus were Consuls Then the Games which the Decemviri in the time of the Peoples secession from the Senate had designed were performed Petilius sought to move sedition but in vain for though when he was Tribune of the People he declared the very same things again he could not only not get the Consuls to leave the matter touching the division of Lands among the Commons to the Senate but besides that when he had with much ado obtained that the Senate might be Consulted whether they would have any Assemblies for Consuls or Tribunes there was an Order made for the chusing of Consuls so that they slighted the Tribunes menaces when he threatened to hinder the Levy for their Neighbours being all at quiet there was no need of War or any Preparations for U. C. 314 it But after this calm season of Affairs there came an Year in which Proculus Geganius Macerinus and L. Menenius Lanatus were Consuls remarkable for many sorts of death and dangers for Seditions Famin and the Peoples receiving almost the yoke of Kingly Government upon their necks through the sweetness of a bounteous largess made among them There wanted only a Foreign with which if they had been oppressed they could hardly have withstood though all the gods in Heaven had taken part with them Their Calamities began with a Famin whether the Year was unseasonable or that the People allured with the pleasure of being at Assemblies and in the City had neglected the manuring of their Land I know not for both causes are assigned for which the Senate accused the Commons as slothful and the Tribunes of the People blamed sometimes the knavery and sometimes the negligence of the Consuls At last the Commons prevailed with the Senates consent too that L. Minucius should be made Prefect of the Provisions who was more likely to be successful in that Office as to the preservation of his Liberty than diligent in his business though at last he was much beloved and honoured as he deserved for the Provisions which he raised He therefore after many Embassies had been sent round about to the neighbouring Nations both by Sea and Land but all in vain save that some small quantity of Corn was brought out of Etruria having got no considerable quantity of Provisions together and being reduced to an extremity did by compelling People to produce their Corn and sell what remained above enough for a Month as likewise by defrauding Servants of some part of their days allowance accusing and exposing the Corn-Merchants to the fury of the People rather discover than relieve their want many of the Common People being now without all hopes rather than live in Torment threw themselves headlong into the Tiber. Then Sp. Maelius a very rich Man of the Knightly Order as the City then was began a business which though it were to publick advantage was of very ill example and a worse design For he having bought Corn in Etruria with his own Mony by means of his Acquaintance and Clients which very thing I believe was the cause why they could not buy Provisions at the publick Charge began to make largesses of it among the People whom he drew after him wherever he went with much more vanity and pride than became a private Person they being pleased with his gifts for
his way to the relief of his Allies and being entered into the Fields of Calenum both himself beheld the fresh Marks of that Devastation they had made and the People informed him That they had got so much Plunder Cattel and other booty of all sorts that they could hardly march in good order insomuch that their own Captains had openly declared that they must forthwith march into Samnium to secure their Spoils and then return again for a fresh Expedition rather than to hazard an Army so over-charg'd upon a Battel Though this seem'd probable enough yet for more certainty he sent out a party of Horse to take up some of the Plunderers as they were stragling through the Fields by whom he understood That their Army lay upon the River Vulturnus whence at the third Watch that is about mid-night they would advance on their march for Samnium Having now sufficient Intelligence he makes after them and makes an halt at such a convenient distance as they might not perceive him and yet he might fall upon them as they went out of their Camp whither a little before day he sent some Scouts skill'd in the Oscian Language the Samnites Mother-tongue to see what they were doing These mingling with the Enemy as was easie to do in the night and that hurry they were in understand That the Ensigns were gone before but very slenderly guarded That the Booty and its Convoy were just then setting forwards That the whole Party were but a kind of a base Crew and sorry Fellows without order or discipline The day now began to break which was thought the fittest time to fall upon them and accordingly the Trumpets sounded and presently they came up with the Enemy The Samnites encumbered as they were and few of them arm'd began some of them to double their pace and drive their prey before them others stood still uncertain whether they were best go on or return into their Camp but whil'st they delay they are surprized and knock'd o' th' head by the Romans who were got over the Rampire The Samnite Army besides the unexpected assault of their Enemy was disordered by the revolt of a vast number of Prisoners whom they were carrying home for some of them being loose unbound the rest caught up Arms out of the Fardles and being confusedly intermingled in this running march made a more terrible havock than the Battel it self and at last performed one very notable Exploit for as Statius Egnatius one of the Samnites chief Commanders was riding through the Ranks and encouraging his Men they set upon him beat off the Troopers that attended him hem'd him in took him Prisoner and on Horse-back as he was carryed him to the Roman Consul Upon which tumult the Samnite formost Ensigns were called back and the skirmish which was in a manner over seem'd to be renewed but long they could not hold it There were slain about Six thousand Men Two thousand five hundred taken and amongst them four Colonels and thirty Colours and which most of all over-joy'd the Conquerors Seven thousand and four hundred Prisoners released with a mighty booty taken from their Friends recovered the Owners being summon'd in by Proclamation to come in and challenge and receive their own and such things as had no Owners appearing at the day appointed were distributed amongst the Soldiers but they were compelled to make sale thereof that they might not have their minds running after any thing but their Arms and their Duty This Inroad into Campania had set their hearts a pit-a-pat at Rome the rather because at the same time they were told That Etruria after Volumnius's Army was withdrawn from thence had again taken up Arms and not only drawn Gellius Egnatius the Samnites General and the People of Umbria to joyn in their defection but also hired the Gauls for a great sum of mony to assist them Alarm'd with this news the Senate commanded all proceedings at Law to cease and a levy to be made of all sorts of Men not only Youths and Free-born Citizens but likewise some Regiments of the Elder sort and of Libertines or Persons newly Enfranchised were listed in every Ward the City to be put into a posture of Defence and the Praetor P. Sempronius to have there the chief management of Affairs But they were in a great measure eased of these disquietudes by the Letters of Lucius Volumnius the Consul giving an account how the Foragers of Campania were routed therefore in favor of the Consul solemn Thanksgivings were ordered to be held for his success the Courts of Justice were again opened after eighteen days Vacation and the Thanksgiving Processions were joyfully celebrated Then they took into consideration the providing of a Guard for defence of those parts which the Samnites had wasted and it was Decreed That two Colonies should be Planted on the Vestine and Salern Coasts one at the mouth of the River Liris called Minturnae the other in the Vestine Forrest upon a Pass near the Salern Territories where 't is said a Greek City named Sinope once stood but by the Roman Colony called Sinuessa It was referred to the Tribunes of the Commons that by an Act of the Commonalty P. Sempronius should be empowered to create Triumvirs for conducting these Colonies to the respective places But much ado they had to find any that were willing to enter their names to go thither supposing they were indeed sent thither not so much to enjoy Lands as to lie in Garison since they must be almost always upon their Guard amongst such inveterate Warlike Enemies But from the care of these Affairs the Senate was diverted by the Tuscan War whereof the rumor daily increased as also Letters came thick from Appius advertising That by no means they should neglect the motions of that Province since four several Nations had united their Arms the Tuscans the Samnites the Umbrians and the Gauls and were already encamped at two places because one could not contain so vast a multitude Hereupon and because the Election-days drew nigh L. Volumnius the Consul is recall'd to Rome who before he would summon the several Wards to give their Suffrages assembled the people to an Audience and discours'd largely before them of the Importance of this Tuscan War That heretofore when he and his Colleague together manag'd it 't was such as one General nor one Army was sufficient But now 't is reported the Umbrians and a power of the Gauls are added thereto That they should remember they were that day to make choice of two Consuls against four Nations That for his own part were he not well assured that the People of Rome would declare him Consul who without dispute was the most able General of that Age he would presently nominate a Dictator None doubted but Q. Fabius would unanimously be chosen who accordingly was pitch'd upon by the Prerogative and other principal Tribes together with L. Volumnius Fabius made the like Apologies as he had done
two Years before but finding the same not accepted began to desire his old Colleague P. Decius alledging That he would be a prop to his Age That he had found by experience in one Censorship and two Consulates which he had already born with him That nothing could more tend to the safety and preservation of the Commonwealth than a good understanding between those that were intrusted with the Government That his mind now grown old would not so well suit with a new Partner and that he could more freely communicate his Thoughts and Councils to a Person whose humor and manners he had long been acquainted with The present Consul Volumnius though himself before nominated was so far from taking this as any affront that he seconded the motion and highly applauded P. Decius enumerating as well the advantages arising from the Agreement of Consuls as the mischiefs attending their jars and discord in the management of Military Affairs recounting how near they were to the very brink of destruction by the late differences between him and his Fellow-Consul App. Claudius and withal admonishing Decius and Fabius to live together with one heart and with one mind telling them They were both Persons born for War renowned for their mighty Deeds but regardless of fine Words and unapt for brawling Controversies which sort of Wits and Tempers were naturally most fit for the Consular Dignity But the crafty and subtle Men affecting the reputation of Eloquence and Skill in the Quirks of Law such as App. Claudius was would best be employed as Lord Presidents of the City or chief Justices or Pretors for the administration of the Laws These Speeches took up that day next morning by the Consuls order Assemblies were held for the Election both of Consuls and Praetor the Consuls Q. Fabius and P. Decius the Praetor App. Claudius all absent And L. Volumnius both by an Act of the Senate and Ordinance of the Commons was continued in his Command for the space of a Year That Year happened many Prodigies for averting their Presages the Senate ordered Solemn Supplications to be held for two days together where Wine and Incense for the Sacrifices was allowed at the publick Charge and the People both Men and Women went in Procession and to their Devotions in great numbers But that which rendred this Solemnity more remarkable was a Controversie which happened amongst the Ladies in the Chappel of the Goddess Pudicitia Patricia or the Chastity of the Noble Dames which stood in the Beast-Market by the round Temple of Hercules The Noblemens Wives would needs turn out Virginia the Daughter of Aulus and not suffer her to be present at the Sacred Rites because though she were a Noble-woman born she had married out of her Rank to Volumnius the Consul a Commoner A few hard words the bellows of Contention soon blew them up into a Flame as Women commonly are both impatient of Affronts and quick in their Resentments Virginia told them That being a Noblewoman born and of unspotted Reputation Married when she was a pure Virgin and but once she thought she had as good a right to resort to the Temple of Patricia Pudicitia as the best of them And as for her Husband she had no reason in the World to repent her Match or be ashamed either of him or the brave Actions he had done or the high Dignities which he had honorably born and discharged These generous Words she seconded with as Heroick a Deed for in the Long street where she dwelt she separated a part of her Mansion-house as much as would handsomly serve for a Chappel and set up an Altar therein and having invited the principal Commoners Wives thither and made her complaint to them of the unjust and injurious Treatment she had received from the Patrician Dames This Altar quoth she do I dedicate to Pudicitia Plebeia The Chastity of the Commons and do exhort you all That as the Men our Husbands in this City contend which shall surpass the other in feats of Arms and Military Glory so the Women with no less emulation may strive to exceed each other in Modesty and Chastity and that ye will all endeavor That this Altar may have the credit to be frequented with more devout Reverence and if it be possible of more chast Dames than that other of the Nobility And so it fell out indeed This Altar from that day forward was resorted unto with the same Rites and Ceremonies in a manner as the other which was more antient so that no Matrons but such as were of approved Chastity and but once Married were admitted to Sacrifice at the same But in process of time this Religious Institution was prophan'd and the Altar haunted by scandalous people not only Matrons but Women of all sorts until at last the abuse causing disuse it came to be altogether neglected and forgotten The same Year the two Ogulnii Cn. and Q. being Aediles of the Nobility Indicted several Persons for Usury and Extortion who being fined and their Goods levyed with the Mony they caused a Brazen Threshold to be made in the Capitol and three Cupboards of Plate for Jupiters Chappel and a Figure of Jove himself sitting in his Chariot drawn with four Eagles on the top of the Capitol Moreover at the Fig-tree called Ruminalis where the Wolf gave Romulus and Remus suck they erected the Statues of the two Children that were Founders of the City pendant at the Teats of a Shee-Wolf they also paved with Free-stone the Foot-way from the Gate Capena unto the Temple of Mars In imitation of whom the Aediles of the Commons L. Aemilius Paetus and C. Fulvius Curvus did employ the Fines they had set upon the Grasiers or Farmers of the Cities Pasture-Lands for some offences in exhibiting several fine Shows or Plays and setting up Golden Challices in the Temple of Ceres Now Q. Fabius the fifth time and P. Decius the fourth enter upon their Consulship Colleagues thrice in that Office and once in the Censorship and not more famous for the glory of their Actions which was very great than for that concord and good intelligence which had always been maintain'd between them And truly I think it was rather the fault of their several Ranks intermedling than any propensions of their own that this their loving Agreement was not perpetual for so it happened That the Patricians would needs have the Province of Tuscany assigned to Fabius without putting it to the Lot and the Commons were as earnest with Decius to bring the matter to that ancient course of decision The dispute began in the Senate where Fabius having the greatest Interest it was brought down to the People in the Common-Hall where both of them being Martial men and standing more upon deeds than words they made no long Harangues only Decius said That it was an affront for another to gather the Fruit of that Tree which he had planted That he was the Man that first pierced the
is true but no notice taken of the Author either of the Victory or Counsel That a Colony of twenty thousand Men was brought there by others is deliver'd by authentick Authors a great number and almost incredible unless we suppose that this multitude was setled there as a common garison among those savage people the Lucanians and Apulians But as the outragiousness of Posthumius besides his other miscarriages made all people hate him so it procur'd the esteem of all to Q. Fabius and to him after his return to Rome and that he had made his Speech touching his Actions a Triumph was easily granted He triumph'd in the Consuls stead over the Samnites surnam'd Pentri the first of August The old Fabius riding behind the Chariot was applauded by all the multitude not onely as the Adjutant to but the Author of the Victory But he being desirous to give the Consul all the credit of the Action us'd the Title as well as modesty of a Lieutenant being as well pleas'd to see his Son honour'd now as when he carry'd him about in his Chariot when he was a stripling at his own Triumph Moreover the Consul gave part of the booty to the Soldiers the rest was laid up in the publick Treasury C. Pontius the Samnite being led in triumph is beheaded immediately a valiant and renowned Soldier who sustained the Roman Power so long in those days having given 'em many smart blows and put 'em to the highest disgrace at the Gallows of Caudium Who by report us'd to say That if he had been born when the Romans had learnt to take bribes he would have suffer'd 'em to rule no longer So that then 't was not the puissance of Arms but a perseverance in vertue that supported the grandeur of the Commonwealth L. Posthumius in the mean time being angry for the Honours bestow'd on his Competitor no less than for those deny'd himself out of a peevish humour quarrel'd continually with the Senate but this was so far from curing his bleeding wounds that it incens'd those against him whom by his submission he might have made his Friends For he ceas'd not to complain of his Enemies to rail against the States and to vex the Senate yet more he divided all the plunder between the Soldiers and dismiss'd the Army ere one could be sent to succeed him The Triumph he celebrated against the Senates will though by some 't is reckon'd to fall within his second Consulship yet I rather judg it belongs to this time which is also attested by Historians noted both for diligence and faith For these his Actions he became liable to fresh displeasures insomuch that as soon as he went out of his Office two Tribunes of the people arrested A. U. 463 him and order'd him to come to his Trial before the Commons Besides what is mention'd already he was charg'd that as soon as he went out of Town in his Martial Habiliments he had sent two thousand Soldiers chosen out of the Legions into his ground to dig about his Trees and for many days had detain'd 'em in that work not considering that Soldiers and not Slaves had been given him and those not to manure his ground but to inlarge the Roman Territories Being shrewdly impeach'd of these crimes after he had in vain attempted to make his defence he was condemned by the Votes of all the Tribes and order'd to pay two hundred thousand Sesterces damage The two new Consuls P. Cornelius Rufinus and M. C. Dentatus now enter'd upon their Office both of which with their Legion wasted Samnium by ravaging the Country and destroying the Towns insomuch that they forc'd the Samnites who had in several places fought with 'em by great slaughters of their Men to sue for a Peace For whereas in so many Battels they had lost almost all their young Men and after C. Pontius their Councellour and Captain too was taken Having sent Ambassadours to the Consuls and with their consent to Rome they prevail'd to have the Peace renew'd with 'em the fourth time The Romans I suppose being likewise wearied with Victory and desiring sometimes to exchange an irksom War that had prov'd often calamitous to themselves for the tranquillity of a sure Peace The War I find began with the Samnites when M. Valerius was third time Consul and A. Cor. Castus his Colleague which continuing four and fifty years after with alternate fortune or intermitted onely by short Truces employ'd these two Nations Whether Cornelius triumph'd for this War is not certain but as for Manius there is no doubt of it whose success was therefore the more remarkable forasmuch as he having conquer'd other Enemies besides triumph'd twice in the same Office For the Sabines a potent Nation grown wealthy by a long Peace being mov'd either by the prayers of the Samnits and compassion to their Kinred or because they would stop the fire which was like to reach 'em after the conquest of their Neighbours now took Arms and invaded several places of the Roman Territories Curius marching with his Army against 'em being minded to divide the Enemy and also to spoil the Sabines Country sent part of his Forces by secret ways having order'd them to alarm the Country and wast it as far as they could This forc'd the several Armies to act separately that each of them might defend their own and thereby the formidable strength of the Sabine Army was broken so that the Consul easily routed people thus dispers'd asunder By this Expedition they came as far as the Adriatic Sea and took so much Men and Land by it that the saying of Curius was afterwards much celebrated who according to the discipline of those times being readier with his Hands than his Tongue said I have won so much ground that would be like to lie desolate had not I taken so many Men and I have taken so many Men as would be famish'd unless I had taken so much ground The Sabines suing for a Peace in memory of the ancient Alliance under Tatius and because the quarrel was not carried on with fierce animosities between 'em were made Denizens of Rome but without a Vote We have but a slender account left us of the Consuls next year M. Valerius Corvinus and Q. Caeditius A. U. 464 Noctua save that about that time we find that Colonies were brought to Castrum and Adria whence the Adriatic Sea is so call'd and also to Sena in the Gallic Country But considering those Countries were not then conquer'd as far as that place I am rather inclin'd to believe other Authors who refer the Origine of these Colonies to later times For suppressing Rogues in the City which were now very rise a new Magistracy was erected which had power to imprison and punish Malefactors These Magistrates were stiled the Capital Triumvirate or Lord chief Justices from their number there being three of ' em Of a Law touching this matter made by Papirius the Tribune of the Commons I
from the very beginning was rather willing to take it by storm and at last when having in vain try'd all Efforts both by Sea and Land he found he could not by force accomplish his purpose he rather chose to accept of two mean Fellows Sosis a Blacksmith and Meric a Spaniard to be Authors of betraying the Town than of the chief men of Syracuse who had so often freely offered their service therein which he did on purpose that he might with the better colour of Justice butcher massacre and plunder the most antient and faithful Allies of the people of Rome If it had been the people and Senate of Syracuse that revolted to Annibal and not Hieronymus a Tyrant If the Syracusians by common consent had shut their Gates against Marcellus and the same had not been done when they had no power to oppose by their insulting Oppressors Hippocrates and Epicides if they had wag'd War with the Romans with as much spight and animosity as the Carthaginians what more could Marcellus have done or wherein given greater instances of Hostile rage than in utterly destroying as he has done the whole City of Syracuse For 't is certain he hath left the Inhabitants nothing but the bare Walls and empty Houses and Temples of the Gods violated and ransackt the divine powers as well as the Citizens being robb'd of their Ornaments and such havock he hath every where made that they have nothing to maintain themselves their Wives and Children but hard stones and the bare ground therefore they did humbly request their Lordships that restitution might be made though not of all which was impossible yet at least of such things as could be found and rightfully claim'd by the Owners Having thus made their Complaint Laevinus order'd them to withdraw that the Fathers might debate thereon Nay rather let them stay quoth Marcellus that I may answer to their Faces since most worthy Fathers We are reduc'd to that pass that whilst we fight for you abroad those we subdue in the Field are admitted to be our Accusers in the Senate-House and that the taking of two Cities hath made both my self and Fulvius Criminals the one only guilty of subduing Syracuse the other Capua The Syracusians being brought again into the Senate-House the Consul proceeded thus I do not Venerable Fathers so far forget the Dignity of the People of Rome and my own Quality and present Command as to think that I your Consul am bound to plead for my self or answer the Accusation of these Greeks in case the Question were of any default or misdemeanour of my own but the business is not what I have done for howsoever I have treated Enemies the Law of War will justifie it but what they ought to suffer For if in truth they were not Enemies 't is all one as if I had invaded Syracuse whilst King Hiero was living but if they had not only revolted but attacqu'd our very Embassadours with their Arms and put them to the Sword If they had shut up their Gates and fortified their City against us and entertain'd a Garrison of Carthaginians for their defence who can complain that they suffer as Enemies who committed all sorts of Hostility But they say I refused to accept of the Offer of the principal Syracusians to surrender the City and chose to make use of Sosis and Meric the Spaniard in so great an Affair I suppose these Gentlemen present are none of the meanest of the Syracusians since they upbraid others with the poverty of their condition tell us therefore which of you it was that promised me to open the Gates or receive into the City my armed Souldiers Nay on the contrary you hate and revile those that did it and cannot even here forbear reproaching them so far were you your selves from offering any such matter The meanness of those persons O Conscript Fathers which they object is a mighty Argument that I refused not the Overtures of any people whatsoever that were willing to serve our Commonwealth Before ever I invested Syracuse I endeavoured all means of Peace both by sending Embassadours and offering my self to hold a personal Conference with them but after I found them so impudent as to offer violence to my Embassadours and that when I my self gave their Chiefs a Meeting at the Gates they would vouchsafe me no Answer having taking a world of pains and run infinite hazards both by Sea and Land I made you Masters of Syracuse What hardships they met with after the City taken they ought to complain of to Annibal and his Carthaginians vanquisht as well as themselves rather than before the Senate of the People of Rome who conquer'd them For certainly most Reverend Fathers if I intended to deny that I plunder'd Syracuse or thought I could not justifie it I would never have adorn'd the City of Rome with their Spoils And what I have as Conquerour given or taken away from any particular persons I may justly avow both by the Law of Arms or their respective Merits which whether you will please to allow of and ratifie concerns the Commonwealth much more than my self for I have discharged my Duty faithfully and now it imports the State that by reversing my Actions you do not render your Generals for the future more remiss in the like Employments In fine my Lords since you have heard both the Sicilians Complaint and my Defence face to face we will with your good leave all withdraw that in my absence your Honours may more freely debate the Point and determine as you shall judge fit So the Sicilians being dismissed he went away to the Capitol to muster his Souldiers In the mean time the other Consul put the matter to the Question in the Senate where for a long time with hard tugging it was debated Many of the Senators following the Opinion of T. Manlius Torquatus the Head of that Faction alledged That the War was waged with the Tyrants equally Enemies to the Syracusians and Romans the City was to be recovered not taken and being regain'd after it had so long been languishing under a domestick slavery 't was pity it should be exposed to all the Calamities of War But between the Tyrants on one side and the Roman Armies on the other here was a most fair and Noble City as if it had been the Prize of the Conquerour ruin'd a City that had been the Granary and Exchequer heretofore of the People of Rome by whose Bounty and frequent Assistances in difficulty Exigencies heretofore and even during the present Punick War this Commonwealth had been seasonably aided and honoured Should King Hiero arise from the dead he that had been so true and faithful a Friend to the Romans with what face could we shew him either Syracuse or Rome When he must on the one side behold his own dear native Country half razed and wholly ruinated by our hands and on the other could no sooner enter Rome but even at the very Gates
he returned to Seleucia with a much less Army than he brought from home There when he had order'd his Ships to be haled up into the Docks for it was now Winter he himself went on to winter at Antiochia And in this posture were the two Kings affairs That was the first year that ever there were Triumviri Epulones i. e. Three Officers created to take care of the sacred Feasts at the time of Sacrificing made at Rome whose names were C. Licinius Lucullus T. Romuleius who proposed the Law for their being created and P. Porcius Laeca To these Triumviri also as to the chief Priests was allow'd by the same Law the wearing of a white Gown guarded with Purple called Toga praetexta But the City Questors Q. Fabius Labeo and L. Aurelius that year had a great contest with all the Priests in general They had need of money because they were to pay the last payment of the money lent toward the carrying on of the War to those private persons of whom it was borrow'd The Questors therefore demanded of the Augurs and Priests the arrears of contribution which in the time of the War they had not paid Thereupon the Priests appealed to the Tribunes but all in vain for the stipend or aid-money was exacted from them for all those years that they had not paid it The same Year two of the chief-Priests dy'd and two more were put in their rooms M. Marcellus the Consul in the place of C. Sempronius Tuditanus who died whilst he was Praetor in Spain and L. Valerius in the room of M. Cornelius Cethegus Q. Fabius Maximus also the Augur or Soothsayer died very young before he had served an Office in the State nor was there any Augur that year put in his place Then the Consular Assembly was held by M. Marcellus the Consul in which there were created Consuls L. Valerius Flaccus and M. Porcius Cato After that they chose the Praetors who were C. Fabricius Luscinus C. Atinius Labco Manlius Vulso Ap. Claudius Nero P. Manlius and P. Porcius Laeca The Curule Aediles who were M. Fulvius Nobilior and C. Flaminius distributed ten hundred thousand Bushels of Wheat among the people at two Asses the Bushel which Corn the Sicilians had brought to Rome out of respect to C. Flaminius himself as well as to his Father But Flaminius let his Collegue partake with him in the peoples thanks for it That year the Roman Games were not only magnificently set forth but perform'd quite through thrice over The Aediles of the people Cn. Domitius Aenobarbus and C. Scribonius chief Curio i. e. Alderman brought a good many Graziers to justice before the people of whom there were three condemn'd and out of their Fines they built a Temple to Faunus in an Isle that was in the Tiber. The Plebeian Games were celebrated for two days and there was a Feast upon the same account When L. Valerius Flaccus and M. Porcius the day that they enter'd upon their Office had proposed to the Senate the division of the several Provinces the Senate thought fit that since there was a War broke out in Spain only for which reason of consequence they should want both a Consular General and a Consular Army the two Consuls should either agree between themselves concerning the hither Spain and Italy for their Provinces or cast Lots for them He that happen'd to have Spain should carry along with him two Legions five thousand Allies of the Latine Nation and five hundred Horse with twenty long Ships That the other Consul should raise two Legions which were enough to keep the Province of Gaul in awe since the Insubrians and Boians were subdu'd the year before Cato chanced to get Spain and Valerius Italy and then the Praetors chose their Provinces C. Fabricius Luscinus had the City C. Atinius Labeo the Foreign jurisdiction Cn. Manlius Vulso Sicily Ap. Claudius Nero the farther Spain P. Porcius Laeca Pisa that he might be on the back of the Ligurians and P. Manlius was sent as an assistant to the Consul into the hither Spain T. Quintius now that not only Antiochus and the Aetolians but Nabis also Tyrant of Lacedemon was suspected was continu'd in Commission a year longer and to have two Legions To which if there was any supplement wanting the Consuls were order'd to raise men and send them into Macedonia Ap. Claudius the Praetor had leave to raise besides the Legions which he had of Q. Fabius two thousand Foot and two hundred fresh Horse And the like number of new Horse and Foot was granted to P. Manlius for the service in the hither Spain with the Legion that had been commanded by the Praetor Minucius P. Porcius Laeca also had two thousand Foot and five hundred Horse out of the Gallick Army allotted him for the defence of Etruria about Pisa Sempronius Longus being continu'd in Commission at Sardinia The Provinces being thus divided the Consuls before they went from the City did sacrifice upon the score of the Spring by order of the chief Priests that being a thing which A. Cornelius Mammula the Praetor had vow'd to do by the Senates approbation and the peoples consent and was done twenty one years after it was vow'd when Cn. Servilius and P. Flaminius were Consuls At the same time C. Claudius Son of Appius surnamed Pulcher was chosen Augur in the place of Q. Fabius Maximus who died the year before and was then inaugurated i. e. install'd Now when all people were admiring that the War raised in Spain should be neglected there was a Letter brought from Q. Minucius That he had fought a successful pitch'd Battle at a Town call'd Turba with Budares and Besasides the Spanish Generals in which he had slain twelve thousand of the Enemies taken Budares Prisoner and routed all the rest Which Letter being read they were in less fear of Spain from whence they expected a mighty War But all their cares after the arrival of the ten Embassadors were imploy'd upon King Antiochus For they told them after they had first given an account of the transactions between them and Philip and upon what terms they had granted him a Peace that there was no less fear of a War to come upon them yet from Antiochus That he was come over with a vast Navy and a great Land Army into Europe and that unless the vain hopes he had which arose from a vainer rumour of invading Aegypt diverted him all Greece would shortly be in a flame Nor would the Aetolians themselves be at quiet being not only by nature a restless sort of people but now also offended at the Romans too That there was another mischief likewise that stuck in the very Bowels of Greece and that was Nabis who was at present Tyrant of Lacedemon and would be soon if he might sole Lord of all Greece being as covetous and as cruel as all the Tyrants that ever were heard of That if he were suffer'd to keep Argos as a Guard and a
Curule Aediles Questors c. But it is to be noted That neither Children under seventeen years of Age nor Old people above sixty were allowed to have Voices in any of these Assemblies And so much for Comitia The manner of their Voting shall be declared in the word Suffrages Conscript Fathers See Senators Consuls were two Persons yearly chosen who after the expulsion of Kings had the Supreme place and Authority amongst any ordinary Magistrates of the Romans to which none could be admitted unless he were above forty two years of Age and usually were persons eminent for their Prudence and Valour who had gradually passed through the Officers of Questors Aediles and Praetors nor could any be chosen thereunto unless he were present nor regularly until the second year after he had served Praetor as none could be Praetor till two years after he had been Aedile They were first both Patricians but in the year of the City 387. one Commoner was admitted and in the year 581. both were Commoners but usually they were one Patrician and one Commoner Their Insignia or Badges of Authority were first to have twelve Lictors marching before them where-ever they went that is to say before one of them one month and before the other the next and he of the two had this Honour first either because he had more Children than the other or was elder or was first chosen secondly they rode in Ivory Chairs and thirdly they wore certain peculiar Gowns to distinguish them which from the great embroider'd Works were called Trabeae The Romans as at first they dated all their Deeds and Transactions from the Building of Rome so afterwards omitting that their manner of Dating was by subscribing the Names of the Consuls when such a thing was done But if one or both Consuls dyed in their year and others were surrogated in their places yet the whole year was dated by the Name of the first elected Consuls and those only who had actually served the Office of Consuls were called Viri Consulares Consular Men out of whom upon occasion were elected Dictators Magistri Equitum and Censors Coronae Crowns or Chaplets were frequently as Badges of Honour for performing some signal Service and they were of several sorts according to the Quality of the Person and Nature of the Sâ—rvice as Corona Triumphalis which at first was made of Laurel but afterwards of Gold and was sent by the Senate unto the Lord General to adorn his Triumph Corona Obsidionalis a Wreath made of Cuich Grass presented by those that were besieged or encompassed by the Enemy to that General that relieved them and therefore it was to be made of Grass that grew in the very same place wherein they were so shut up and endanger'd Corona Civica was made of Oak and bestow'd on him that in a dangerous Battel saved the life of a Fellow-Citizen But Masurius saith That it was then wont to be given when he that saved a Citizen had at the same time killed an Enemy nor was during the whole Fight repulsed from that place for otherwise saith he the Right of a Civic Crown was not granted him yet Tiberius Caesar being consulted whether a person ought to have it who had saved a Citizen in a certain Battel and slain two Enemies but had not retain'd the ground on which he did it but the same was gain'd by the Enemy resolved the Case That he should have a Civic Crown because it appeared that he had saved a Citizen in a place so disaâ—vantageous that it could not be maintain'd by fighting never so valiantly L Gellius one that had been Censor gave his Opinion in the Senate That Tully when he was Consul ought to be presented with this sort of Crown in the Name of the whole Commonwealth as having saved it from ruine by discovering and crushing Cataline's Conspiracy for tâ—e same was given not only to him that saved a Citizen but likewise to him that killed the first Enemy that mounted the Walls But in the case of preserving a Citizen the party saved must acknowledge it for no Witnesses would be admitted and it must be a Citizen for if it were one of the Allies though a King that was preserved he that did it was allowed no such Honour which was not small for he that had once a Civic Crown conferr'd upon him might wear it ever after and when he came into the Theatre it was the Custom for all the People and Senators themselves to rise up and salute him and he was allow'd to sit there next to the Senators and both himself his Father and his Grandfather were thenceforth discharged of all publick Services Corona Muralis resembled the Battlements of Walls for it was given by the General to him that first scaled the Walls and mounted over in the Assault of Cities Corona Castrensis or Vallaris in its form resembled a Rampier being bestow'd on him that first broke into the Enemies Camp Corona Navalis had the Portraicture of Stems or Beaks of Ships and belong'd to him that in an Engagement at Sea first boarded the Enemy As for the Corona Ovalis see Ovation Curiae and Curio See before in Comitia Decemviri signifies a Committee of Ten men Magistrates or Officers appointed for some certain purpose as Decemviri Legibus scribendis were ten persons chosen with Supreme Authority for a years time to draw up Laws Decemviri Sacrorum were a kind of Priests who had the custody and perusal of the Fatal or Prophetick Books of Sibylla and from thence gave directions what means and Sacrifices were to be used for expiating of Prodigies Decemviri Stlitibus judicandis that is super Lites were ten Judges assistant to the Praetor or Lord Chief Justice who either might judicare give Judgment themselves or else Judicium dare appoint others from amongst the Centumviri to hear and determine Causes Dictator was an extraordinary Magistrate chosen by the Romans on some very urgent occasion as when they labour'd under more dangerous Wars abroad or some eminent Dissentions at home He was created but for six months and many times if he had setled the business he was created for would voluntarily resign his Office before that time Whilst he continued in his Office he had all the twenty four Lictors to attend him and the Power of all other Magistrates was as it were superseded except that of the Tribunes of the People His Authority was absolute as to War or Peace No Appeal lay from him to the People whence he was called Magister Populi the Master of the People He had Power of Life and Death over any Roman and might without any formal hearing of the Cause or consulting the People determine in any matter whatsoever as he list only he was never to appear on Horse-back but when he was marching to a War nor could he take any Money out of the Treasury without a Decree of the Senate or Ordinance of the People He was not