Ab urbe condita

The untrained tongue of the soldier was unable to express the freedom of his sentiments; as words failed him, he said, “I cannot speak so easily as I can prove the truth of what I have said; come here to-morrow, I will either perish before your eyes or carry the Law.”

Next day the tribunes took their places on the “ templum,” [*](templum —See note 6, Book I. Measures could only be submitted to the people from a place which the augurs had solemnly set apart for the purpose.) the consuls and the nobility stood about in the Assembly to prevent the passage of the

Law. Laetorius gave orders for all, except actual voters, to withdraw. The young patricians kept their places and paid no attention to the tribune's officer, whereupon Laetorius ordered some of them to be

arrested. Appius insisted that the tribunes had no jurisdiction over any but plebeians, they were not magistrates of the whole people, but only of the plebs; even he himself could not, according to the usage of their ancestors, remove any man by virtue of his authority, for the formula ran, “If it seems good to you, Quirites,