Summary of book IV
A LAW about the marriage of patricians and plebeians
was carried by the tribunes, after a violent struggle,
against the opposition of the patricians. The tribunes
. . .
1 of the plebs. For some years the affairs of the Roman
People at home and in the field were administered through
this kind of magistracy. Likewise censors were then
elected for the first time. The land taken from the
Ardeates by the decision of the people was restored and
colonists were sent out to it. When the Roman People
was in sore straits on account of a famine, Spurius Maelius,
a Roman knight, distributed corn to the people at his own
expense. Having by this act gained the favour of the
plebs, he aimed at royal power and was killed by Gaius
Servilius Ahala, the master of the horse, at the command
of the dictator Quintus
2 Cincinnatus; Lucius Minucius gave evidence against him and was presented with a gilded ox. When the envoys of the Romans had been slain by
the Fidenates, because they had fallen in the service of the
state, statues were erected to them on the rostra. Cornelius Cossus, the military tribune, killed Tolumnius, king of
the Veientes, and returned with the second spoils of honour.
Mamercus Aemilius, the dictator, limited the office of
censor, which was wont to be held for five years, to the
period of eighteen months; for this he was stigmatized by
the senators. Fidenae was subjugated and colonists were
sent thither; the Fidenates, having slain these men and revolted, were defeated by Mamercus Aemilius the dictator,
and Fidenae was captured. A conspiracy of the slaves
was suppressed. Postumius, the military tribune, was for
his cruelty put to death by his army. Pay from the public
treasury was then for the first time given the soldiers. It
contains also campaigns waged against the Volsci and the
Fidenates and the Faliscans.
[p. 461]
