Ab urbe condita

“Whilst,” he cried, “I was serving in the field and whilst I was trying to restore my desolated home,

I paid in interest an amount equal to many times the principal, but as the fresh interest always exceeded my capital, I was buried beneath the load of debt.

It is owing to M. Manlius that I can now look upon the light of day, the Forum, the faces of my fellow-citizens; from him I have received all the kindness which a parent can show to a child; to him I devote all that remains of my bodily powers, my blood, my life. In that one man is centred everything that binds me to my home, my country, and my country's gods.”

The plebs, wrought upon by this language, had now completely espoused this one man's cause, when another circumstance occurred, still more calculated to create universal confusion.

Manlius brought under the auctioneer's hammer an estate in the Veientine territory which comprised the principal part of his patrimony — “In order,” he said, “that as long as any of my property remains, I may prevent any of you Quirites from being delivered up to your creditors as judgment debtors.” This roused them to such a pitch that it was quite clear that they would follow the champion of their liberties through anything, right or wrong.