Ab urbe condita

into the Roman docks, others were burnt and their beaks (rostra) were fastened on the front of a raised gallery which was constructed at the end of the Forum, and which from this circumstance was called the Rostra.

[*](Hostilities on the Samnite Frontiers). —C. Sulpicius Longus and P. Aelius Paetus were the new consuls. The blessings of peace were now enjoyed everywhere, a peace maintained not more by the power of Rome than by the influence she had acquired through her considerate treatment of her vanquished enemies, when a war broke out between the Sidicines and the Auruncans.

After their surrender had been accepted by the consul Manlius, the Auruncans had kept quiet, which gave them a stronger claim to the help of Rome.

The senate decided that assistance should be afforded them, but before

the consuls started, a report was brought that the Auruncans had been afraid to remain in their town and had fled with their wives and children to Suessa —now called Aurunca —which they had fortified, and that their city with its ancient walls had been destroyed by the Sidicines.

The senate were angry with the consuls, through whose delay their allies had been betrayed, and ordered a Dictator to be nominated.

C. Claudius Regillensis was nominated accordingly, and he named as his Master of the Horse C. Claudius Portator. There was some difficulty about the religious sanction of the Dictator's appointment, and as the augurs pronounced that there was an