Ab urbe condita

Their camp was found to be full of everything —for they had been sent away with only their shirts on —and the Dictator gave the whole of the spoil to his own soldiers alone.

Addressing the consul and his army in a tone of severe rebuke, “You, soldiers,” he said, “will go without your share of the spoil, for you all but fell a spoil yourselves to the enemy from whom it was taken; and you, L. Minucius, will command these legions as a staff officer, until you begin to show the spirit of a consul.”

Minucius laid down his consulship and remained with the army under the Dictator's orders. But such obedience did men in those days pay to authority when ably and wisely exercised, that the soldiers, mindful of the service he had done them rather than of the disgrace inflicted on them, voted to the Dictator a gold crown a pound in weight, and when he left they saluted him as their “patron.” [*](patron—The patron was bound to defend and protect those dependent on him —his clients —especially those who had not strictly legal rights. The soldiers regarded the Dictator as their protector and deliverer from slavery and death.)

Quintus Fabius, the prefect of the City, convened a meeting of the senate, and they decreed that Quinctius, with the army he was bringing home, should enter the City

in triumphal procession. The commanding officers of the enemy were led in front, then the military-standards were borne before the general's chariot, the arm followed

loaded with spoil. It is said that tables spread with provisions stood before all the houses, and the feasters followed the chariot with songs of triumph and the customary jests and lampoons. On that day the freedom of the City was bestowed on L. Mamilius the Tusculan, amidst universal approval.

The Dictator would at once have laid down his office had not the meeting of the Assembly for the trial of M. Volscius detained him: fear of the Dictator prevented the tribunes from obstructing it. Volscius was condemned and went into exile at Lanuvium. Quinctius resigned on the sixteenth day the dictatorship which had been conferred upon him for six months. During that period the consul Nautius fought a brilliant action with the Sabines at Eretum, who suffered a severe defeat, in addition to the ravaging

of their fields. Fabius Quintus was sent to succeed Alinucius in command at Algidus. Towards the end of the year, the tribunes began to agitate the Law, but as two armies were absent, the senate succeeded in preventing any measure from being brought before the plebs. The latter gained their point, however, in securing the reelection of the tribunes for

the fifth time. It is said that wolves pursued by dogs were seen in the Capitol; this prodigy necessitated its purification. These were the events of the year.