Ab urbe condita

oath. The army was marched to the citadel of Carventum, and though disaffected and embittered against the consul, they no sooner arrived at the place than they drove out the defenders and recaptured the citadel. The attack was facilitated by the absence of some of the garrison, who had through the laxity of their generals stolen away on a plundering

expedition. The booty which had been gathered in their incessant raids and stored here for safety was considerable. This the consul ordered to be sold “under the spear,” [*](See note chap. xxix.) the proceeds to be paid by the quaestors into the treasury. He announced that the army would only have a share in the spoils when they had not declined to

serve. This increased the exasperation of the plebs and the soldiers against the consul. The senate decreed him an “ovation,” and whilst he made his formal entry into the City, rude verses were bandied by

the soldiers with their accustomed licence in which the consul was abused and Menenius extolled in alternate couplets, whilst at every mention of the tribune the voices of the soldiers were drowned in the cheers and applause of the

bystanders. This latter circumstance occasioned more anxiety to the senate than the licence of the soldiers, which was almost a regular practice, and as there was no doubt that if Menenius became a candidate he would be elected as a consular tribune, he was shut out by the election of consuls.

The[*](The Plebeian Quaestors.) two who were elected were Cnaeus Cornelius Cossus and L. Furius Medullinus.

On no other occasion had the plebs been more indignant at not being allowed to elect consular tribunes. They showed their indignation in the election of quaestors, and they had their revenge, for that was the first time that plebeians were elected quaestors, and so far did they carry their resentment, that out of the four who were elected one place only was left open for a patrician, viz.,

Kaeso Fabius Ambustus. The three plebeians, Q. Silius, P. Aelius, and P. Pupius, were chosen in preference to scions of the most illustrious families.