Roman History, Books I III - Titus Livius
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Verginius, on the other hand, affirmed that Appius Claudius was the
only person who had no part or share in the laws, or in any covenant
civil or human. Men should look to the tribunal, the fortress of all
villainies, where that perpetual decemvir, venting his fury on the
property, person, and life of the citizens, threatening all with his
rods and axes, a despiser of gods and men, surrounded by men who were
executioners, not lictors, turning his thoughts from rapine and murder
to lust, tore a free-born maiden, as if she had been a prisoner of
war, from the embraces of her father, before the eyes of the Roman
people, and gave her as a present to a dependent, the minister to his
secret pleasures: where too by a cruel decree, and a most outrageous
decision, he armed the right hand of the father against the daughter:
where he ordered the betrothed and uncle, on their raising the
lifeless body of the girl, to be led away to prison, affected more by
the interruption of his lust than by her death: that the prison was
built for him also which he was wont to call the domicile of the Roman
commons. Wherefore, though he might appeal again and again, he himself
would again and again propose a judge, to try him on the charge of
having sentenced a free person to slavery; if he would not go before a
judge, he ordered him to be taken to prison as one already condemned.
He was thrown into prison, though without the disapprobation of any
individual, yet not without considerable emotion of the public mind,
since, in consequence of the punishment by itself of so distinguished
a man, their own liberty began to be considered by the commons
themselves as excessive.[63]
The tribunes adjourned the day of trial.
Meanwhile, ambassadors from the Hernicans and Latins came to Rome
to offer their congratulations on the harmony existing between the
patricians and commons, and as an offering on that account to Jupiter,
best and greatest, they brought into the Capitol a golden crown, of
small weight, as money at that time was not plentiful, and the duties
of religion were performed rather with piety than splendour. On the
same authority it was ascertained that the Aequans and Volscians were
preparing for war with the utmost energy. The consuls were therefore
ordered to divide the provinces between them. The Sabines fell to the
lot of Horatius, the AEquans to Valerius. After they had proclaimed a
levy for these wars, through the good offices of the commons, not only
the younger men, but a large number, consisting of volunteers from
among those who had served their time,[64] attended to give in their
names: and hence the army was stronger not only in the number but also
in the quality of its soldiers, owing to the admixture of veterans.
Before they marched out of the city, they engraved on brass, and fixed
up in public view, the decemviral laws, which are named "the twelve
tables." There are some who state that the aediles discharged that
office by order of the tribunes.
Gaius Claudius, who, detesting the crimes of the decemvirs and, above
all, incensed at the arrogant conduct of his brother-in-law, had
retired to Regillum, his ancestral home. Though advanced in years, he
now returned to the City, to deprecate the dangers threatening the man
whose vicious practices had driven him into retirement. Going down to
the Forum in mourning garb, accompanied by the members of his house
and by his clients, he appealed to the citizens individually, and
implored them not to stain the house of the Claudii with such an
indelible disgrace as to deem them worthy of bonds and imprisonment.
To think that a man whose image would be held in highest honour
by posterity, the framer of their laws and the founder of Roman
jurisprudence, should be lying manacled amongst nocturnal thieves and
robbers! Let them turn their thoughts for a moment from feelings of
exasperation to calm examination and reflection, and forgive one man
at the intercession of so many of the Claudii, rather than through
their hatred of one man despise the prayers of many. So far he himself
would go for the honour of his family and his name, but he was not
reconciled to the man whose distressed condition he was anxious to
relieve. By courage their liberties had been recovered, by clemency
the harmony of the orders in the State could be strengthened. Some
were moved, but it was more by the affection he showed for his nephew
than by any regard for the man for whom he was pleading. But Verginius
begged them with tears to keep their compassion for him and his
daughter, and not to listen to the prayers of the Claudii, who had
assumed sovereign power over the plebs, but to the three tribunes,
kinsmen of Verginia, who, after being elected to protect the
plebeians, were now seeking their protection. This appeal was felt to
have more justice in it. All hope being now cut off, Appius put an end
to his life before the day of trial came.
Soon after Sp. Oppius was arraigned by P. Numitorius. He was only
less detested than Appius, because he had been in the City when his
colleague pronounced the iniquitous judgment. More indignation,
however, was aroused by an atrocity which Oppius had committed than
by his not having prevented one. A witness was produced, who after
reckoning up twenty-seven years of service, and eight occasions on
which he had been decorated for conspicuous bravery, appeared before
the people wearing all his decorations. Tearing open his dress he
exhibited his back lacerated with stripes. He asked for nothing but a
proof on Oppius' part of any single charge against him; if such proof
were forthcoming, Oppius, though now only a private citizen, might
repeat all his cruelty towards him. Oppius was taken to prison and
there, before the day of trial, he put an end to his life. His
property and that of Claudius were confiscated by the tribunes. Their
colleagues changed their domicile by going into exile; their property
also was confiscated. M. Claudius, who had been the claimant of
Verginia, was tried and condemned; Verginius himself, however, refused
to press for the extreme penalty, so he was allowed to go into exile
to Tibur. Verginia was more fortunate after her death than in her
lifetime; her shade, after wandering through so many houses in quest
of expiatory penalties, at length found rest, not one guilty person
being now left.
Great alarm seized the patricians; the looks of the tribunes were
now as menacing as those of the decemvirs had been. M. Duillius the
tribune imposed a salutary check upon their excessive exercise of
authority. "We have gone," he said, "far enough in the assertion of
our liberty and the punishment of our opponents, so for this year
I will allow no man to be brought to trial or cast into prison. I
disapprove of old crimes, long forgotten, being raked up, now that the
recent ones have been atoned for by the punishment of the decemvirs.
The unceasing care which both the consuls are taking to protect your
liberties is a guarantee that nothing will be done which will call for
the power of the tribunes." This spirit of moderation shown by the
tribune relieved the fears of the patricians, but it also intensified
their resentment against the consuls, for they seemed to be so wholly
devoted to the plebs, that the safety and liberty of the patricians
were a matter of more immediate concern to the plebeian than they were
to the patrician magistrates. It seemed as though their adversaries
would grow weary of inflicting punishment on them sooner than the
consuls would curb their insolence. It was pretty generally asserted
that they had shown weakness, since their laws had been sanctioned by
the senate, and no doubt was entertained that they had yielded to the
pressure of circumstances.
After matters had been settled in the City and the position of the
plebs firmly assured, the consuls left for their respective provinces.
Valerius wisely suspended operations against the armies of the Aequans
and the Volscians, which had now united at Algidum: whereas, if he had
immediately intrusted the issue to fortune, I am inclined to think
that, considering the feelings both of the Romans and of their enemies
at that time, after the unfavourable auspices of the decemvirs,[65]
the contest would have cost him heavy loss. Having pitched his camp
at the distance of a mile from the enemy, he kept his men quiet. The
enemy filled the space lying between the two camps with their army
in order of battle, and not a single Roman made answer when they
challenged them to fight. At length, wearied with standing and waiting
in vain for a contest, the Aequans and Volscians, considering that the
victory was almost yielded to them, went off some to Hernican, others
to Latin territory, to commit depredations. There was left in the camp
rather a garrison for its defence than sufficient force for a contest.
When the consul perceived this, he in turn inspired the terror which
his own men had previously felt, and having drawn up his troops in
order of battle on his side, provoked the enemy to fight. When they,
conscious of their lack of forces, declined battle, the courage of the
Romans immediately increased, and they considered them vanquished,
as they stood panic-stricken within their rampart. Having stood
throughout the day eager for the contest, they retired at night. And
the Romans, now full of hope, set about refreshing themselves. The
enemy, in by no means equal spirits, being now anxious, despatched
messengers in every direction to recall the plundering parties.
Those in the nearest places returned: those who were farther off were
not found. When day dawned, the Romans left the camp, determined on
assaulting the rampart, unless an opportunity of fighting presented
itself; and when the day was now far advanced, and no movement was
made by the enemy, the consul ordered an advance; and the troops being
put in motion, the Aequans and Volscians were seized with indignation,
at the thought that victorious armies had to be defended by a rampart
rather than by valour and arms. Wherefore they also earnestly demanded
the signal for battle from their generals, and received it. And now
half of them had got out of the gates, and the others in succession
were marching in order, as they went down each to his own post, when
the Roman consul, before the enemy's line, supported by their entire
strength, could get into close order, advanced upon them; and having
attacked them before they were all as yet led forth, and before those,
who were, had their lines properly drawn out, he fell upon them,
a crowd almost beginning to waver, as they ran from one place to
another, and gazed around upon themselves, and looked eagerly for
their friends, the shouts and violent attack adding to the already
panic-stricken condition of their minds. The enemy at first gave way;
then, having rallied their spirits, when their generals on every side
reproachfully asked them, whether they intended to yield to vanquished
foes, the battle was restored.
On the other side, the consul desired the Romans to remember that on
that day, for the first time, they fought as free men in defence of
Rome, now a free city. That it was for themselves they were about to
conquer, not to become, when victorious, the prize of the decemvirs.
That it was not under the command of Appius that operations were
being conducted, but under their consul Valerius, descended from the
liberators of the Roman people, himself their liberator. Let them show
that in former battles it had been the fault of the generals and not
of the soldiers, that they did not conquer. That it was shameful to
have exhibited more courage against their own countrymen than against
their enemies, and to have dreaded slavery more at home than abroad.
That Verginia was the only person whose chastity had been in danger
in time of peace; that Appius had been the only citizen of dangerous
lust. But if the fortune of war should turn against them, the children
of all would be in danger from so many thousands of enemies; that he
was unwilling to forebode what neither Jupiter nor their father Mars
would be likely to suffer to befall a city built under such auspices.
He reminded them of the Aventine and the Sacred Mount; that they
should bring back dominion unimpaired to that spot, where their
liberty had been won but a few months before; and that they should
show that the Roman soldiers retained the same disposition after the
expulsion of the decemvirs, as they had possessed before they
were appointed, and that the valour of the Roman people had not
deteriorated after the laws had been equalized. After he uttered these
words among the battalions of the infantry, he hurried from them to
the cavalry. "Come, young men," said he, "show yourselves superior to
the infantry in valour, as you already are their superiors in honour
and in rank. The infantry at the first onset have made the enemy give
way; now that they have given way, do you give reins to your horses
and drive them from the field. They will not stand your charge; even
now they rather hesitate than resist." They spurred on their horses,
and charged at full speed against the enemy, who were already thrown
into confusion by the attack of the infantry: and having broken
through the ranks, some dashing on to the rear of their line, others
wheeling about in the open space from the flanks, turned most of them
away from the camp as they were now flying in all directions, and by
riding beyond them headed them off. The line of infantry, the consul
himself, and the whole onset of the battle was borne toward the camp,
and having taken it with considerable slaughter, he got possession of
still more considerable booty. The fame of this battle, carried not
only to the city, but to the other army also in Sabine territory, was
welcomed in the city with public rejoicing; in the camp, it inspirited
the soldiers to emulate such glory. Horatius, by training them in
sallies, and making trial of them in slight skirmishes, had accustomed
them to trust in themselves rather than remember the ignominy incurred
under the command of the decemvirs, and these trifling engagements had
greatly contributed to the successful consummation of their hopes. The
Sabines, elated at their success in the preceding year, ceased not
to provoke and urge them to fight, constantly asking why they wasted
time, sallying forth in small numbers and returning like marauders,
and why they distributed the issue of a single war over a number of
engagements, and those of no importance. Why did they not meet them in
the field, and intrust to fortune the decision of the matter once and
for all?
Besides that they had already of themselves recovered sufficient
courage, the Romans were fired with exasperation at the thought that
the other army would soon return victorious to the city; that the
enemy were now wantonly affronting them with insolence: when,
moreover, would they be a match for the enemy, if they were not so
then? When the consul ascertained that the soldiers loudly expressed
these sentiments in the camp, having summoned an assembly, he spoke
as follows: "How matters have fared in Algidum, I suppose that you,
soldiers, have already heard. As became the army of the free people
to behave, so have they behaved; through the good judgment of my
colleague and the valour of the soldiers, the victory has been gained.
For my part, I shall display the same judgment and determination as
you yourselves, O soldiers, display. The war may either be prolonged
with advantage, or be brought to a speedy conclusion. If it is to be
prolonged, I shall take care, by employing the same method of warfare
with which I have begun, that your hopes and your valour may increase
every day. If you have now sufficient courage, and it is your wish
that the matter be decided, come, raise here a shout such as you will
raise in the field of battle, in token both of your wishes and your
valour." Whenthe shout was raised with great alacrity, he assured them
that he would comply with their wishes--and so might Heaven prosper
it--and lead them next day into the field. The remainder of the day
was spent in getting ready their arms. On the following day, as soon
as the Sabines saw the Roman army being drawn up in order of battle,
they too, having long since been eager for the encounter, advanced.
The battle was one such as would be fought between two armies who both
had confidence in themselves, the one on account of its long-standing
and unbroken career of glory, the other recently elated by its unusual
success. The Sabines aided their strength also by stratagem; for,
having formed a line equal to that of the Romans, they kept two
thousand men in reserve, to make an attack on the left wing of the
Romans in the heat of the battle. When these, by an attack in flank,
were on the point of overpowering that wing, now almost surrounded,
about six hundred of the cavalry of two legions leaped down from their
horses, and, as their men were giving way, rushed forward in front,
and at the same time both opposed the advance of the enemy, and roused
the courage of the infantry, first by sharing the danger equally with
them, and then by arousing in them a sense of shame. It was a matter
of shame that the cavalry should fight in their own proper fashion and
in that of others, and that the infantry should not be equal to the
cavalry even when dismounted.[66]
They marched therefore to the fight, which had been suspended on their
part, and endeavoured to regain the ground which they had lost, and in
a moment not only was the battle restored, but one of the wings of
the Sabines gave way. The cavalry, protected between the ranks of the
infantry, remounted their horses; they then galloped across to the
other division to announce their success to their party; at the same
time also they charged the enemy, now disheartened by the discomfiture
of their stronger wing. The valour of none shone forth more
conspicuous in that battle. The consul provided for all emergencies;
he applauded the brave, rebuked wherever the battle seemed to slacken.
When reproved, they displayed immediately the deeds of brave men; and
a sense of shame stimulated these, as much as praises the others. The
shout being raised anew, all together making a united effort, drove
the enemy back; nor could the Roman attack be any longer resisted.
The Sabines, driven in every direction through the country, left their
camp behind them for the enemy to plunder. There the Romans recovered
the effects, not of the allies, as at Algidum, but their own property,
which had been lost by the devastations of their lands. For this
double victory, gained in two battles, in two different places, the
senate in a niggardly spirit merely decreed thanksgivings in the name
of the consuls for one day only. The people went, however, on the
second day also, in great numbers of their own accord to offer
thanksgiving; and this unauthorized and popular thanksgiving, owing to
their zeal, was even better attended. The consuls by agreement came
to the city within the same two days, and summoned the senate to
the Campius Martius.[67] When they were there relating the services
performed by themselves, the chiefs of the patricians complained that
the senate was designedly convened among the soldiers for the purpose
of intimidation. The consuls, therefore, that there might be no room
for such a charge, called away the senate to the Flaminian meadows,
where the Temple of Apollo now is (even then it was called the
Apollinare). There, when a triumph was refused by a large majority
of the patricians, Lucius Icilius, tribune of the commons, brought a
proposition before the people regarding the triumph of the consuls,
many persons coming forward to argue against the measure, but in
particular Gaius Claudius, who exclaimed, that it was over the senate,
not over the enemy, that the consuls wished to triumph; and that it
was intended as a return for a private service to a tribune, and not
as an honour due to valour. That never before had the matter of a
triumph been managed through the people; but that the consideration of
that honour and the disposal of it, had always rested with the senate;
that not even the kings had infringed on the majesty of this most
august body. The tribunes should not so occupy every department with
their own authority, as to allow the existence of no public council;
that the state would be free, and the laws equalized by these means
only, if each order retained its own rights and its own dignity. After
much had been said by the other senior patricians also to the same
purpose, all the tribes approved the proposition. Then for the first
time a triumph was celebrated by order of the people, without the
authority of the senate.
This victory of the tribunes and people was well-nigh terminating in
an extravagance by no means salutary, a conspiracy being formed among
the tribunes that the same tribunes might be re-elected, and, in
order that their own ambition might be the less conspicuous, that
the consuls also might have their office prolonged. They pleaded, in
excuse, the combination of the patricians by which the privileges of
the commons were attempted to be undermined by the affronts of the
consuls. What would be the consequence, when the laws were as yet not
firmly established, if they attacked the new tribunes through consuls
of their own party? Men like Horatius and Valerius would not always be
consuls, who would regard their own interests as secondary after the
liberty of the people. By some concurrence of circumstances, useful in
view of the situation, it fell by lot to Marcus Duillius before
all others to preside at the elections, a man of prudence, and who
perceived the storm of public odium that was hanging over them from
the continuance of their office. And when he declared that he would
take no account of any of the former tribunes, and his colleagues
struggled to get him to allow the tribes to vote independently, or to
give up the office of presiding at the elections, which he held by
lot, to his colleagues, who would hold the elections according to law
rather than according to the pleasure of the patricians; a contention
being now excited, when Duillius had sent for the consuls to his
seat and asked them what they contemplated doing with respect to the
consular elections, and they answered that they would appoint new
consuls; then, having secured popular supporters of a measure by no
means popular, he proceeded with them into the assembly. There the
consuls were brought forward before the people, and asked what they
would do if the Roman people mindful of their liberty recovered at
home through them, mindful also of their services in war, should again
elect them consuls: and when they in no way changed their opinions,
he held the election, after eulogizing the consuls, because they
persevered to the last in being unlike the decemvirs; and five
tribunes of the people having been elected, when, through the zealous
exertions of the nine tribunes who openly pressed their canvass, the
other candidates could not make up the required number of tribes, he
dismissed the assembly; nor did he hold one afterward for the purpose
of an election. He said that the law had been satisfied, which,
without any number being anywhere specified, only enacted that
tribunes who had been elected should be left to choose their
colleagues and confirmed those chosen by them. He then went on to
recite the formula of the law, in which it was laid down: "If I shall
propose for election ten tribunes of the commons, if from any cause
you shall elect this day less than ten tribunes of the people, then
that those whom they may have chosen as colleagues for themselves,
that these, I say, be legitimate tribunes of the people on the same
conditions as those whom you shall on this day have elected tribunes
of the people." When Duillius persevered to the last, stating that the
republic could not have fifteen tribunes of the people, having baffled
the ambition of his colleagues, he resigned office, equally approved
of by patricians and commons.
The new tribunes of the people, in electing their colleagues
endeavoured to gratify the wishes of the patricians; they even elected
two who were patricians,[68] and men of consular rank Spurius Tarpeius
and Aulus Aternius. The consuls elected, Spurius Herminius, Titus
Verginius Caelimontanus, not being specially inclined to the cause
either of the patricians or commons, had perfect tranquillity both at
home and abroad. Lucius Trebonius, tribune of the commons, incensed
against the patricians, because, as he said, he had been imposed on
by them in the matter of choosing tribunes, and betrayed by his
colleagues, brought forward a proposal, that whoever proposed he
election of tribunes of the people before the commons, should go on
taking the votes, until he elected ten tribunes of the people; and he
spent his tribuneship in worrying the patricians, whence the surname
of Asper was given him. Next Marcus Geganius Macerinus, and Gaius
Julius, being elected consuls, quieted some disputes that had arisen
between the tribunes and the youth of the nobility, without displaying
any harshness against that power, and at the same time preserving the
dignity of the patricians. By proclaiming a levy for the war against
the Volscians and AEquans, they kept the people from riots by keeping
matters in abeyance, affirming that everything was also quiet abroad,
owing to the harmony in the city, and that it was only through civil
discord that foreign foes took courage. Their anxiety for peace abroad
was also the cause of harmony at home. But notwithstanding, the one
order ever attacked the moderation of the other. Acts of injustice
began to be committed by the younger patricians on the commons,
although the latter kept perfectly quiet. Where the tribunes assisted
the more humble, in the first place it accomplished little: and
thereafter they did not even themselves escape ill-treatment:
particularly in the latter months, when injustice was committed
through the combinations among the more powerful, and the power of the
office became considerably weaker in the latter part of the year. And
now the commons placed some hopes in the tribuneship, if only they
could get tribunes like Icilius: for the last two years they declared
that they had only had mere names. On the other hand, the elder
members of the patrician order, though they considered their young men
to be too overbearing, yet preferred, if bounds were to be exceeded,
that a superabundance of spirit should be exhibited by their own order
rather than by their adversaries. So difficult a thing is moderation
in maintaining liberty, while every one, by pretending to desire
equality, exalts himself in such a manner as to put down another,
and men, by their very precautions against fear, cause themselves to
become objects of dread: and we saddle on others injustice repudiated
on our own account, as if it were absolutely necessary either to
commit injustice or to submit to it. Titus Quinctius Capitolinus for
the fourth time and Agrippa Furius being then elected consuls, found
neither disturbance at home nor war abroad; both, however, were
impending. The discord of the citizens could now no longer be checked,
both tribunes and commons being exasperated against the patricians,
while, if a day of trial was appointed for any of the nobility, it
always embroiled the assemblies in new struggles. On the first report
of these the AEquans and Volscians, as if they had received a signal,
took up arms; also because their leaders, eager for plunder, had
persuaded them that the levy proclaimed two years previously could not
be proceeded with, as the commons now refused obedience to military
authority: that for that reason no armies had been sent against them;
that military discipline was subverted by licentiousness, and that
Rome was no longer considered a common country for its citizens; that
whatever resentment and animosity they might have entertained
against foreigners, was now directed against themselves; that now an
opportunity offered itself for destroying wolves blinded by intestine
rage. Having united their forces, they first utterly laid waste the
Latin territory: when none met them to avenge the wrong, then indeed,
to the great exultation of the advisers of the war, they approached
the very walls of Rome, carrying their depredations into the district
around the Esquiline gate[69] pointing out to the city in mocking
insult the devastation of the land. When they marched back thence to
Corbio unmolested and driving their booty before them, Quinctius the
consul summoned the people to an assembly.