The Republic. R O 
Rome in barks: but this was in a short time consumed, and 
the misery became excessive. The senate compelled a colony 
to go to Velitr®, a city which had lately been depopulated 
by the iEqui, and a second to take possession of Norba, a 
city of Latium. But the people who remained in Rome 
being more and more pressed by hunger and want, grew 
daily more angry with the senate. At first they assembled 
in small companies to vent their wrath in abusive complaints; 
and at length, in one great body, rushed into the forum, 
calling out upon their tribunes for succour. 
Having convened the people, Spurius Icilius, chief of the 
college of tribunes, inveighed most bitterly against the 
senate; and when he had ended his harangue, exhorted 
others to, speak freely their thoughts: Brutus and Sicinius 
enumerated all the past insults which the people had suffered 
from the nobles; and the former concluded his speech with 
loudly threatening, that if the plebeians would follow his 
advice, he would soon oblige those men who had caused the 
present calamity to find a remedy for it; after which the 
assembly was dismissed. 
The next day, the consuls, greatly alarmed at this com¬ 
motion, and apprehending from the menaces of Brutus some 
very mischievous event, thought it advisable to convene the 
senators, that they might consider of the best means to avert 
the impending evil. The fathers could not agree in opinion. 
Some were for employing soft words and fair promises to 
quiet and gain over the most turbulenl. But Appius’s advice 
prevailed: which was, that the consuls should call the people 
together, assure them that the patricians had not brought 
upon them the miseries they suffered, and promise, on the 
part of the senate, all possible care to provide for their 
necessities; but at the same time should reprove the disturbers 
of the public peace, and threaten them with the severest 
punishments if they did not amend their behaviour. 
When the consuls, towards the close of the day, having 
assembled the people, would have signified to them the dis¬ 
position and intention of the senate, they were interrupted 
by the tribunes. A dispute ensued, in which no order or 
decency was observed on either side. Several speaking' at 
the same time, and with great vociferation, no one could be 
well understood by the audience. The consuls judged, that 
being the superior magistrates, their authority extended to all 
assemblies of the citizens. On the other side, it was pre¬ 
tended, that the assemblies of the people were the province 
of the tribunes, as the senate was that of the consuls. 
The dispute grew warm, and both parties were ready to 
come to blows; when Brutus having put some questions to 
the consuls, ended it for that time. Next day he proposed 
a law which was carried, that no person whatever should 
interrupt a tribune when speaking in an assembly of the 
people ; by which means the influence and power of the 
popular party was greatly increased, and the tribunes became 
formidable opponents to the consuls and patricians. An 
opportunity soon offered for both parties to try their strength. 
A fleet of ships laden with corn from Sicily, a great part 
of which was a present from Gelon the king of that 
country to the Romans, and the rest purchased by the 
seuate with the public money, arrived in port. But 
Coriolanus, who, of all the imperious nobles, seems to have 
been the haughtiest, inhumanly and unfairly insisted that 
the corn should not be distributed until the people became 
obedient to the assumptions of power demanded by the 
senate. In the factious state of the country, this proposal 
was of course very indignantly received. The tribunes 
accused him of aiming at the sovereignty, an attempt the 
people were ever ready to punish, and of having embezzled 
the plunder of Antium. These accusations were probably 
unfounded; but the people banished Coriolanus, and this 
traitor immediately took refuge with Tullus Atticus, the 
general of the Volscians, received a command in this enemy’s 
army, and marched against his country. All the towns 
yielded to the attack of Tullus and Coriolanus; several even 
of the Roman troops deserted to their old and favourite 
leader, and Rome was invested. The deputations of the 
M E. The Republic. 227 
senate, the submission of the people, and the prayers of the 
ministers of religion, shook not in the least the determination 
of this vindictive patrician to trample on the ruins of his 
native city. At length his mother Vetruria, his wife, chil¬ 
dren,- and several Roman ladies came to the Volscian camp 
to plead the cause of Rome. Coriolanus relented : he pre¬ 
tended, that the city was too strong to be taken, and raised 
the siege. The Volscians assassinated this double traitor, 
and afterwards gave him a magnificent funeral. 
The Volsci and iEqui after this event fell out and fought 
a severe battle. Afterwards they retired unpursued by the 
Romans, whose commanders and consuls, Nautius and Fu- 
rius, appear to have been utterly destitute of military spirit. 
The next year (A.U. C. 266.) Aquii.iusTuscus and Sici¬ 
nius Sabinus were chosen consuls, and they began vigor¬ 
ously to carry on war against the Hernici, who, formerly 
their allies, had now joined the Volsci. The battles that oc¬ 
cupied the period of this consulate were remarkable for their 
severity, the Volsci having learned by experience and by the 
instructions of Coriolanus much of the art of war. In one 
decisive battle they were entirely defeated, and their general, 
Tullus Atticus, slain: and this victory was entirely owing to 
the infantry, the Roman knights having actually dismounted 
and left their horses, for the purpose of more effectually attack¬ 
ing the enemy with the spear. 
The year 267 introduced Spurius Cassius and Procu- 
lus Virginius to the consulship. They were at first occu¬ 
pied with taking possession of those lands belonging to the 
iEqui and Volsci, which the victories of the preceding con¬ 
suls had left almost defenceless. This being achieved, and 
peace proclaimed, there remained the disposal of these lands 
to be settled. Cassius proposed that the land should be equit¬ 
ably divided between the original proprietors and the Romans 
and Latins, their conquerors. Virginius and the populace 
were for taking the whole into the hands of the Romans, and 
Cassius, by way of diverting them from this unjust and im¬ 
politic measure, proposed that those lands previously 
conquered, -which had been usurped by some rick patri¬ 
cians, should now fairly be divided amongst the people. 
This proposal was the origin of that Agrarian law for 
which the populace clamoured during the whole duration of 
the republic. Appius Claudius opposed the division of lands 
into small parcels, and advised that they should be publicly 
sold, and the proceeds put in the public treasury, by which 
means taxes might be lowered. But he did not object to the 
reclaiming of the usurped lands from the patricians. It was 
finally arranged that the conquered lands should be partly 
divided between the people and the treasury. That those 
lands which the Romans had conquered by their own un¬ 
assisted power should belong to the Roman state and people; 
but that those lands which were recently taken from the 
Hernici should be enjoyed in part by the Latins as a reward 
for their assistance in the war; in part by the original pro¬ 
prietors, and partly by the indigent Romans. The care of 
apportioning these divisions was left to ten patricians called 
decemvirs. 
In the next consulship, which was that of Q. Fabius and 
S. Cornelius, two questors were appointed, who, in pursu¬ 
ance, as they gave out, of their duty, but rather, in truth, to 
indulge their party animosities, accused Cassius of attempting 
the sovereignty (an accusation the Roman mob was always 
ready to receive), and of depriving the citizens of their pro¬ 
perty, by stirring up the Latins and Hernici to demand a 
share of the conquered lands. The populace condemned 
their friend, and he was hurled from the Tarpeian rock. 
To the new consuls the task of appointing the decemvirs 
had been entrusted, but they shewed no haste in the appoint¬ 
ment. For the five succeeding years the consuls made their 
wars with the Volsci an excuse for evading the performance 
of their duty. The Volsci were during this period often 
victorious, and the parties of the patricians and plebeians 
still continued violent, and averse to each other. The 
choosing of the consuls was occasionally postponed for a 
long time, and the election usually ended by one consul 
being 
