Ab urbe condita

On the return to Rome, the order for the cessation of all public business was revoked. The sky seemed to be all on fire, and other portents were either actually seen, or people in their fright imagined that they saw them. To avert these alarming omens, public intercessions were ordered for three days, during which all the temples were filled with crowds of men and women imploring the protection of the

gods. After this the Latin and Hernican cohorts received the thanks of the senate for their services and were dismissed to their homes. The thousand soldiers from Antium who had come after the battle, too late to help, were sent back almost with ignominy.

[*](Pestilence in Rome.)Then the elections were held and L. Aebutius and P. Servilius were chosen as consuls; they entered upon office on August I, which was then the commencement of the consular year.

The season was a trying one, and that year happened to be a pestilential one both for the City, and the rural districts, for the flocks and herds quite as much as for human beings.

The violence of the epidemic was aggravated by the crowding into the City of the country people and their cattle through fear of raids. This promiscuous collection of animals of all kinds became offensive to the citizens, through the unaccustomed smell, and the country people, crowded as they were into confined dwellings, were distressed by the oppressive heat which made it impossible to sleep.