Ab urbe condita

irregularity in his election, both the Dictator and the Master of the Horse resigned. This year Minucia, a Vestal, incurred suspicion through an improper love of dress[*](The Vestals had to dress in white, and were forbidden to use perfumes or to wear flowers. Whenever they offered sacrifice they wore a large white veil.), and subsequently was accused of unchastity on the evidence of a slave.

She had received orders from the pontiffs to take no part in the sacred rights and not to manumit any of her slaves[*](This would have prevented them from being examined under torture, to which no free person could be submitted, and consequently might have made it difficult to secure evidence against her.). She was tried and found guilty, and was buried alive near the Colline Gate to the right of the high road in the Campus Sceleratus (“the accursed field”), which, I believe, derives its name from this incident.[*](The following passage from Lanciani's Ancient Rome (pp. 143-4) helps us to realise what the punishment of being buried alive means: “The unfortunate girl, as soon as the trial was over and the condemnation pronounced, was divested of the distinctive garments of the order and flogged by the judges themselves. Then the funeral procession was organised. The culprit, covered by a pall and lying in the hearse, was brought through the Forum, the Vicus Longus, and the Alta Semita to the Porta Collina amidst the mourning and dejected crowd of her friends and relatives. let us quote the thrilling account of an execution given by Plutarch: “The Vestal convicted of incest is buried alive in the neighbourhood of the Porta Collina under the Agger of Servius Tullius. Here is a crypt, small in size, with an opening in the vault through which the ladder is lowered; it is furnished with a bed, and oil lamp, and a few scanty provisions, such as bread, water, milk, and oil. These provisions (in fact a refinement of cruelty) are prepared because it would appear a sacrilege to condemn to starvation women formerly consecrated to the gods. The unfortunate culprit is brought here in a covered hearse, to which she is tied with leather straps, so that it is impossible that her sighs and lamentations should be heard by the attendant mourners. The crowd opens silently for the passage of the hearse; not a word is pronounced, not a murmur is heard. Tears stream from the eyes of every spectator. It is impossible to imagine a more horrible sight; the whole city is shaken with terror and sorrow. The hearse being brought to the edge of the opening, the executor cuts the bands and the high priest mutters an inaudible prayer, and lifts up his hands towards the gods, before bidding the culprit good-bye. He follows and assists her to the top of the ladder, and turns back at the fatal instant of her disappearance. As soon as she reaches the bottom, the ladder is removed, the opening is sealed, and a large mass of earth is heaped upon the stone that seals it until the top of the embankment is reached and every trace of the execution made to disappear.” ” )

In this year also Q. Publilius Philo was elected as the first plebeian praetor against the opposition of the consul Sulpicius; the senate, after failing to keep the highest posts in their own hands, showed less interest in retaining the praetorship.

The consuls for the following year were L. Papirius Crassus and Caeso Duillius.

There was war with the Ausonians; the fact that it was against a new enemy rather than a formidable one made it noticeable.

This people inhabited the city of Cales, and had joined arms with their neighbours, the Sidicines. The combined army of the two cities was routed in a quite insignificant engagement; the proximity of their cities made them all the sooner seek a safety in flight which they did not find in fighting. The senate were none the less anxious about the war, in view of the fact that the Sidicines had so frequently either taken the aggressive themselves or assisted others to do so, or had been the cause of hostilities.

They did their utmost, therefore, to secure the election of M. Valerius Corvus, the greatest commander of his day, as consul for the fourth time.

M. Atilius Regulus was assigned to him as his colleague.

To avoid any chance of mistake, the consuls requested that this war might be assigned to Corvus without deciding it by lot. After taking over the victorious army from the previous consuls, he marched to Cales, where the war had originated. The enemy were dispirited through the remembrance of the former conflict, and he routed them at the very first attack.

He then advanced to an assault upon their walls . Such was the eagerness of the soldiers that they were anxious to bring up the scaling ladders and mount the walls forthwith, but Corvus perceived the difficulty of the

task and preferred to gain his object by submitting his men to the labours of a regular siege rather than by exposing them to unnecessary risks. So he con- structed an agger and brought up the vineae and the turrets close to the walls, but a fortunate circumstance rendered them unnecessary.

M. Fabius, a Roman prisoner, succeeded in eluding his guards on a festival, and after breaking his chains fastened a rope from a battlement of the wall and let himself down amongst the Roman works.

He induced the commander to attack the enemy while they were sleeping off the effects of their wine and feasting, and the Ausonians were captured, together with their city, with no more trouble than they had previously been routed in the open field. The booty seized was enormous, and after a garrison was placed in Cales the legions were marched back to Rome.

The senate passed a resolution allowing the consul to celebrate a triumph, and in order that Atilius might have a chance of distinguishing himself, both the consuls were ordered to march against the Sidicines.

Before starting they nominated, on the resolution of the senate, L. Aemilius Mamercinus as Dictator, for the purpose of conduct- ing the elections; he named Q. Publilius Philo as his Master of the Horse.

The consuls elected were T. Veturius and Spurius Postumius. Although there was still war with the Sidicines, they brought forward a proposal to send a colony to Cales in order to anticipate the wishes of the plebs by a voluntary act of kindness.

The senate passed a resolution that 2500 names should be enrolled, and the three commissioners appointed to settle the colonists and allocate the holdings were Caeso Duillius, T. Quinctius, and M. Fabius.

The new consuls, after taking over the army from their predecessors, entered the enemy's territory and carried their depredations up to the walls of their city.