ROMAN EMPIRE. 



389 



Roman 

 Empire. 



Laws of the 

 Twelve 

 Table*. 

 451 B. C. 



Appoint, 

 ment of 

 Decemvirs. 

 451 B. C. 



coml time from the labours of rural industry, he hast- 

 ened to provide for the pressing exigency of the Ro- 

 man army. He chose a poor man, Tarquitiua, to be 

 master of the horse. He assembled before sunset all 

 who could bear arms, and providing them with corn, 

 and with five days provisions, he marched all that night, 

 and arrived at day break before the camp of the Volsci. 

 He intimated, by the loud shouts of his army, that suc- 

 cour was at hand, and immediately threw up entrench- 

 ments to prevent the escape of the Kqui, who were 

 thus enclosed between two enemies. A furious combat 

 ensued. The Equi, assailed on both sides, offered Cin- 

 cinnatus his own terms. The generals and captains 

 were made prisoners of war. The enemy's camp was 

 given up to plunder ; and after Rome was thus saved 

 from imminent danger, Cincinnatus resigned his dicta- 

 torship, which he had held for a fortnight, and retired 

 to the tranquillity of a country life. The agrarian law 

 again agitated the contending factions. Licinius 

 Dentatus, a plebeian veteran of extraordinary bravery, 

 who had fought in 120 battles, and gained all kinds of 

 military honours, pleaded the cause of the people, by the 

 eloquence of his scars. The measure, however, was 

 violently opposed by several young patricians, who 

 broke the balloting urns, and dispersed the multitude 

 that threatened to oppose them. The tribunes joined 

 the offending parties, but declined to press the obnoxi- 

 ous measure. 



Both the Senate and the people were tired with the 

 endless discussions which had taken place between 

 them ; and all parties concurred in the opinion, that 

 these evils might be greatly removed by the enactment 

 of wholesome laws. Three ambassadors, Posthumius, 

 Sulpicius, and Manlius, were accordingly sent to col- 

 lect the legislative wisdom of Greece ; and after a year's 

 absepce, during which time Rome was depopulated 

 with the plague, they returned with a body of laws 

 which, when digested into ten tables, and two addi- 

 tional ones added, formed the celebrated code of the 

 Laws of the Twelve Tables, of which some fragments 

 still exist. 



In order to digest these new laws, and to carry them 

 into effect, ten of the principal senators were chosen, 

 whose power should be annual, and equal to that 

 of kings and consuls, without any appeal. Thus 

 clothed in absolute power, the decemvirs discharged 

 their duties with zeal and industry ; but at the expira- 

 tion of their year of authority, they were permitted by 

 the Senate to continue in office, on the ground that 

 laws were yet necessary to complete the code. 



When this pretence could no longer be urged, the 

 decemvirs openly resolved to continue in power. The 

 popular discontents which were thus excited, called 

 forth fresh acts of tyranny on the part of the decemvirs. 

 The very property of the people was seized, and a 

 system of slavery and proscription was thus organized 

 into law. 



Amid these intestine divisions the Equi and Volsci ad- 

 vanced within ten miles of Rome. The leading mem- 

 bers of the decemvirate took the command of the army ; 

 but in order to punish their generals, the Roman sol- 

 diers shamefully abandoned their camp on the approach 

 of the enemy. When the news of this defeat reached 

 Rome, the blame was thrown upon the generals ; some 

 cried out for a dictator, and the veteran Dentatus spoke 

 with openness and freedom of the commanders. En- 

 raged at this treatment, Appius, the principal leader 

 marked out Dentatus for destruction, and under the 

 pretence of doing him honour, he was sent from Rome 



with supplies for the army. The aged hero was re- 

 ceived most respectfully at the camp. Having found 

 fault with the (situation of it, he was put at the head 

 of 150 men, to discover a more commodious place. 

 The soldiers who attended him were ordered to assassi- 

 nate him. They conducted him into the hollow of a 

 mountain and attacked him from behind. The brave 

 veteran saw the design of his enemies ; he placed hi* 

 back against a rock, and killed fifteen of his assailants, 

 and wounded thirty. He kept off their javelins with 

 his shield, but he at last sunk beneath the tones which 

 they hurled down upon him from above. The decem- 1)fnt * tufc 

 virs decreed him a public funeral with military honours, 

 but their pretended sorrow only added to the detesta- 

 tion in which they were so justly held. 



An event of a still more horrible nature opened the 

 eyes of the Romans to a deep sense of the oppression 

 under which they groaned. Appius conceived an in- 

 controllable passion for Virginia, the daughter of Vir- Story of 

 ginius, a centurion. This lady, who was only fifteen il 8"'*- 

 years of age, possessed the most exquisite beauty, and 

 was betrothed to Julius, formerly a tribune of the 

 people. Appius would have himself married Virgi- 

 nia, had the new laws permitted the Patricians to in- 

 termarry with the Plebeians ; but finding that impos- 

 sible, he adopted the most flagitious measures for gain- 

 ing possession of her person. He bribed one Claudius 

 to maintain that Virginia was his slave, and to refer the 

 question to the decision of his own tribunal. The cause 

 accordingly came on ; the miscreant Claudius main- 

 tained that she was born of a female slave in his own 

 house, and that that slave sold her to the wife of Vir- 

 ginius when she was born ; and he offered to produce 

 witnesses to these facts. Appius decided that Virgi- 

 nia should be kept by Claudius till Virginius's arrival ; 

 but the clamours of the multitude became so violent 

 that Claudius fled from their fury, and Appius was 

 obliged to suspend his judgment. The following day 

 was fixed for the trial. Appius wrote to the General 

 to confine Virginius, who was with the army, about 

 eleven miles from Rome ; but these letters were in- 

 tercepted by the friends of the centurion, who made 

 him acquainted with the plot which had been laid 

 against his own liberty, as well as the honour of his 

 only daughter. Indignant and bent on revenge, the 

 centurion obtained leave to go to Rome, and appeared 

 next day at the tribunal of Appius, conducting his only 

 daughter, clad in the deepest mourning. When Clau- 

 dius had repeated his story, Virginius declared that his 

 wife had many children, that hundreds had seen her 

 pregnant ; and that Virginia had been nursed by her. 

 The people saw at once the justice of his cause, but the 

 brutal consul did not hesitate to adjudge her to Clau- 

 dius, and to order the lictors to carry her away. Virgi- 

 nius apparently acquiescing in the sentence, wished 

 permission to take a farewell of his child ; and while 

 he was supporting his distracted daughter in his arms, 

 he seized a knife, and buried it in her breast. Bran- 

 dishing in his hand the bloody weapon, he exclaimed, 

 " By this blood, Appius, I devote thy head to the in- 

 fernal gods," and running wildly through the city, he 

 roused the people to arms, and hastening to the camp, 

 he spread the same flame through the army, who in- 

 stantly left their generals, and again took their stations 

 on Mount Aventine. The army which opposed the 

 Sabines, joined them in large parties, and all the at- 

 tempts of Appius to quell the general insurrection were 

 utterly fruitless. The Senate yielded to the wishes of 

 the army. The decemvirs were abolished. Appius 



