Ab urbe condita

Never before had any one been brought to trial before the people whom the plebs so thoroughly detested, both on his own and his father's account. For hardly any one had the patricians exerted themselves more than for him whom they regarded as the champion of the senate and the vindicator of its authority, the stout bulwark against disturbances of tribunes or plebs, and now saw exposed to the rage of the plebeians simply for having gone too far in the struggle.

Appius Claudius himself alone of all the patricians, looked upon the tribunes, the plebs, and his own trial as of no account. Neither the threats of the plebeians nor the entreaties of the senate could induce him —I will not say to change his attire and accost men as a suppliant, but —even to soften and subdue to some extent his wonted asperity of language when he had to make his defence before the people.

There was the same expression, the same defiant look, the same proud tones of speech, so that a large number of the plebeians were no less afraid of Appius on his trial than they had been when he was consul.

He only spoke in his defence once, but in the same aggressive tone that he always adopted and his firmness so dumbfounded the tribunes and the plebs' that they adjourned the case of their own accord, and then allowed it to drag on.

There was not a very long interval however. Before the date of the adjourned trial arrived he was' carried off by illness.

The tribunes tried to prevent any funeral oration being pronounced over him, but the plebeians would not allow the obsequies of so great a man to be robbed of the customary honours. They listened to the panegyric of the dead as attentively as they had listened to the indictment of the living, and vast crowds followed him to the tomb.

[*](War with the Sabines, Aequi, and Volscians.)In the same year the consul Valerius advanced with an army against the Aequi, but failing to draw the enemy into an engagement he commenced an attack on their camp. A terrible storm, sent down from heaven, of thunder and hail prevented him from continuing the attack.

The surprise was heightened when after the retreat had been sounded, calm and bright weather returned. He felt that it would be an act of impiety to attack a second time a camp defended by some divine power. His warlike energies were turned to the devastation of the country. The other consul, Aemilius, conducted a campaign amongst the Sabines.

There, too, as the enemy kept behind their walls, their fields were laid waste.

The burning not only of scattered homesteads but also of villages with numerous populations roused the Sabines to action. They met the depredators, an indecisive action was fought, after which they moved their camp into a safer locality.

The consul thought this a sufficient reason for leaving the enemy as though defeated, and coming away without finishing the war.

T. Numicius Priscus and A. Verginius were the new consuls. The domestic disturbance continued through these wars,

and the plebeians were evidently not going to tolerate any further delay with regard to the Agrarian Law, and were pre-paring for extreme measures, when the smoke of burning farms and the flight of the country folk announced the approach of the Volscians. This checked the revolution which was now ripe and on the point of breaking out.

The senate was hastily summoned, and the consuls led the men liable for active service out to the war, thereby making the rest of the plebs more peaceably disposed.

The enemy retired precipitately, having effected nothing beyond filling the Romans with groundless fears.

Numicius advanced against the Volscians to Antium, Verginius against the Aequi. Here he was ambushed and narrowly escaped a serious defeat; the valour of the soldiers restored the fortunes of the day, which the consul's negligence had imperilled.