Ab urbe condita

Amongst the Romans there were so many wounded that those who left the field disabled were more numerous than those who had fallen in the battle.

The[*](Appius Claudius prolongs his Censorship in defiance of the Law.) consuls for the following year were Q. Fabius and C. Marcius Rutilus. Fabius took over the command at Sutrium, and brought reinforcements from Rome.

A fresh army was also raised in Etruria and sent to support the besiegers. Very many years had elapsed since there had been any contests between the patrician magistrates and the tribunes of the plebs.

Now, however, a dispute arose through that family which seemed marked out by destiny to be the cause of quarrels with the plebs and its tribunes. Appius Claudius had now been censor eighteen months, the period fixed by the Aemilian Law for the duration of that office.

In spite of the fact that his colleague, C. Plautius, had resigned, he could under no circumstances whatever be induced to vacate his office. P. Sempronius was the tribune of the plebs who commenced an action for limiting his censorship to the legal period.

In taking this step he was acting in the interests of justice quite as much as in the interests of the people, and he carried the sympathies of the aristocracy no less than he had the support of the masses.