Ab urbe condita

It would be utterly inconsistent for you not to use your power, when it is your right and duty to do so, against the men on whom each of you has called down the wrath of heaven. The gods never lay hands themselves on the guilty; it is enough when they arm the injured with the opportunity for vengeance.”

The passions of the plebs were roused by these speeches, and they sentenced the accused to a fine of 10,000 “ ases ” each, in spite of Sergius' attempt to throw the blame on Fortune and the chances of war, and Verginius'

appeal that he might not be more unfortunate at home than he had been in the field. The[*](The First Plebeian Consular Tribune.) turning of the popular indignation in

this direction threw into the shade the memories of the co-optation of tribunes and the evasion of the Trebonian Law.

As a reward to the plebeians for the sentence they had passed, the victorious tribunes at once gave notice of an agrarian measure. They also prevented contributions being paid in for the war-tax, though pay was required for all those armies, and such successes as had been gained only served to prevent any of the wars from being brought to a close.