At last, after the consul had vainly endeavoured to follow up and rally his men, the scattered troops were gradually got together again, and he fixed his camp on territory undisturbed by war. He called up the men for an assembly, and after inveighing, with perfect justice, against an army which had been false to military discipline and had deserted
its standards, he asked them individually where he standards were, where their arms were.
The soldiers who had thrown away their arms, the standard-bearers who
had lost their standards, and in addition to these the centurions and
Just the opposite state of things prevailed in the army campaigning amongst the Aequi, where the consul and his soldiers vied with each other in acts of kindness and comrade-ship. Quinctius was naturally milder, and the unfortunate severity of his colleague made him all the more inclined to follow the bent of his gentle disposition.
The Aequi did not venture to meet an army where such harmony prevailed between the general and his men, and they allowed their enemy to ravage their territory in all directions. In no previous war had plunder been gathered from a wider area.
The whole of it was given to the soldiers, and with it those words of praise which, no less than material rewards, delight the soldier's heart. The army returned home on better terms with their general, and through him with the patricians; they said that whilst the senate had given them a father it had given the other army a tyrant.
The year, which had been passed in varying fortunes of war and furious dissensions both at home and abroad, was chiefly memorable for the Assembly of Tribes, which were important rather for the victory won in a prolonged contest than for any real advantage gained.
For through the withdrawal of the patricians from their council the Assembly lost more in dignity than either the plebs gamed, or the patricians lost, in strength.