Ab urbe condita

He, the consul, single handed, sustained the commonwealth, while his army through their hatred of the consul were doing their best to betray it.

For, besides all the other instances of his skill as a commander, which he had so abundantly furnished in his preparation for the war and his conduct of it, he had so disposed his troops that he routed the enemy by sending only his cavalry[*](The cavalry , drawn from the patricians and wealthy plebeians, would naturally, from their aristocratic sympathies, be on the consul's side.) against them.

The infantry refused to take up the pursuit; not only were they deaf to the appeals of their bated general, but even the public disgrace and infamy which they were bringing upon themselves at the moment, and the danger which would come if the enemy were to rally, were powerless to make them quicken their pace, or, failing that, even to keep their formation.

Against orders they retired, and with gloomy looks —you would suppose that they had been defeated —they returned to camp, cursing now their commander, now the work which the cavalry had done.

Against this example of demoralisation the general was unable to devise any remedy; to such an extent may men of commanding ability be more deficient in the art of managing their own people than in that of conquering the enemy.

The consul returned to Rome, but he had not enhanced his military reputation so much as he had aggravated and embittered the hatred of his soldiers towards him. The senate, however, succeeded in keeping the consulship in the family of the Fabii; they made M. Fabius consul, Gnaeus Manlius was elected as his colleague.

This year also found a tribune advocating the Agrarian Law. It was Tiberius Pontificius. He adopted the same course as Sp. Licinius and for a short time stopped the enrolment.[*](stopped the enrolment —This device was frequently adopted in those years by the tribunes in thier struggles with the patricians. They “extended the protection of their sacred office to those of the plebeians who on public grounds resisted the sovereignty of the consuls by refusing to serve as soldiers”(Arnold).)

The senate were again perturbed, but Appius Claudius told them that the power of the tribunes had been overcome in the previous year, it was actually so at the present moment, and the precedent thus set would govern the future, since it had been discovered that its very strength was breaking it

down. For there would never be wanting a tribune who would be glad to triumph over his colleague and secure the favour of the better party for the good of the State. If more were needed, more were ready to come to the assistance of the consuls, even one was sufficient, against the

rest. The consuls and leaders of the senate had only to take the trouble to secure, if not all, at least some of the tribunes on the side of the commonwealth and the senate.

The senators followed this advice, and whilst, as a body, they treated the tribunes with courtesy and kindness, the men of consular rank, in each private suit which they instituted, succeeded, partly by personal influence, partly by the authority their rank gave them, in getting the tribunes to exert their power for the welfare of the

State. Four of the tribunes were opposed to the one who was a hindrance to the public good; by their aid the consuls raised the

levy. Then they set out for the campaign against Veii. Succours had reached this city from all parts of Etruria, not so much out of regard for the Veientines as because hopes were entertained of the possible dissolution of the Roman State through intestine

discord. In the public assemblies throughout the cities of Etruria the chiefs were loudly proclaiming that the Roman power would be eternal unless its citizens fell into the madness of mutual