Ab urbe condita

This grant began to be looked upon with contempt, they regarded it as a sop offered to them to divert them from hoping for something better. “Why,” they asked, “were plebeians to be sent into banishment amongst the Volscians when the splendid city of Veii and the territory of the Veientines was within view, more fertile and more ample than the territory of Rome?”

Whether in respect of its situation or of the magnificence of its public and private buildings and its open spaces, they gave that city the preference over Rome.

They even brought forward a proposal, which met with still more support after the capture of Rome by the Gauls, for migrating to Veii.

They intended, however, that Veii should be inhabited by a portion of the plebs and a part of the senate;

they thought it a feasible project that two separate cities should be inhabited by the Roman people and form one State. In opposition to these proposals, the nobility went so far as to declare that they would sooner die before the eyes of the Roman people than that any of those schemes should be put to the vote.

If, they argued, there was so much dissension in one city, what would there be in two? Could any one possibly prefer a conquered to a conquering city, and allow Veii to enjoy a greater good fortune after its capture than while it stood safe?

It was possible that in the end they might be left behind in their native City by their fellow-citizens, but no power on earth would compel them to abandon their native City and their fellow-citizens in order to follow T. Sicinius —the proposer of this measure —to Veii as its new founder, and so abandon Romulus, a god and the son of a god, the father and creator of the City of Rome.

This discussion was attended by disgraceful quarrels, for the senate had drawn over a section of the tribunes of the plebs to their

view, and the only thing that restrained the plebeians from offering personal violence was the use which the patricians made of their personal influence. Whenever shouts were raised to get up a brawl, the leaders of the senate were the first to go into the crowd and tell them to vent their rage on them, to beat and kill them.

The mob shrank from offering violence to men of their age and rank and distinction, and this feeling prevented them from attacking the other patricians.

Camillus went about delivering harangues everywhere, and saying that it was no wonder that the citizens had gone mad, for though bound by a vow, they showed more anxiety about everything than about discharging their religious obligations.

He would say nothing about the contribution, which was really a sacred offering rather than a tithe, and since each individual bound himself to a tenth, the State, as such, was free from the obligation.

But his conscience would not allow him to keep silence about the assertion that the tenth only applied to movables, and that no mention was made of the city and its territory, which were also really included in the vow.

As the senate considered the question a difficult one to decide, they referred it to the pontiffs, and Camillus was invited to discuss it with them. They decided that of all that had belonged to the Veientines before the vow was uttered and had subsequently passed into the power of Rome, a tenth part was sacred to Apollo. Thus the city and territory came into the estimate.

The money was drawn from the treasury, and the consular tribunes were commissioned to purchase gold with it. As there was not a sufficient supply, the matrons, after meeting to talk the matter over, made themselves by common consent responsible to the tribunes for the gold, and sent all their trinkets to the treasury.