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38. A year rolled round before the legions1 could be brought back from Velitrae; consequently the question of the laws remained in abeyance and was put off until the coming in of the new military tribunes; for as to the tribunes of the plebs, the commons chose the same men over again —the two, at any rate, who had brought in the bills. [2] The military tribunes chosen were Titus Quinctius, Servius Cornelius, Servius Sulpicius, Spurius Servilius, Lucius Papirius, and Lucius Veturius. [3] At the very outset of the year came a final struggle over the laws; and when the tribes were summoned to vote, and the proposers of the measures would not yield to the vetoes of their colleagues, the frightened patricians were put to their two last shifts —the greatest office, and the greatest of the citizens. [4] They voted to name a dictator, and appointed Marcus Furius Camillus, who chose Lucius Aemilius for his master of the horse. To meet these formidable preparations of their adversaries, the proposers [p. 329]of the laws on their side armed the commons with2 tremendous enthusiasm for the cause, and proclaiming a council of the plebs, called up the tribes to vote.

[5] Attended by a body of patricians, and breathing wrath and menaces, the dictator took his seat, and the affair began with the usual skirmish between the tribunes of the plebs, some of whom urged the passing of the law while others interposed their vetoes. But powerful as the veto was on the legal side, it was being overcome by the popularity of the bills themselves and their proposers, and the tribes which had been summoned first were voting “Ay,” when Camillus addressed the people. [6] “Quirites,” he said, “since you are now swayed not by the authority of the tribunes but by their lawlessness, and are bringing to naught the right of protest —obtained through the secession of the plebs —with the same violence with which you won it; for your own sake no less than for the sake of tile whole republic, I shall, as dictator, sustain the veto, and safeguard with my absolute authority your defence which you are overthrowing. [7] If then Gaius Licinius and Lucius Sextius yield to the protest of their colleagues, I will in no way intrude a patrician magistracy upon a council of the plebs; but if, in defiance of the protest, they try to impose their terms, as though upon a conquered state, I will not permit the tribunician power to work its own undoing.”

[8] This warning the tribunes treated with contempt, and were proceeding with unabated energy to carry out their plans, when Camillus, in high dudgeon, sent his lictors to turn the commons out; and threatened, that if they continued in their course, he would [p. 331]administer the oath to all of military age, and3 forthwith lead the army out of the City.

[9] The plebs were greatly dismayed; but the courage of their leaders was rather kindled than damped by his vehemence. Yet before the matter had been decided either way, Camillus resigned his office, whether because there had been a flaw in his election —as certain writers have held —or because the tribunes proposed to the plebs and the plebs decreed, that if Marcus Furius should take any action in the capacity of dictator, he should be fined five hundred thousand asses. [10] But that the auspices, and not a law without a precedent, were responsible for his withdrawal, the very nature of the man inclines me to believe; also the fact that Publius Manlius was at once made dictator in his place —for what good would his appointment do, in a struggle in which Marcus Furius had been beaten? [11] Besides, Marcus Furius himself was dictator again in the following year, and he would surely have been ashamed to resume an authority which had broken down in his own hands the year before. [12] Moreover at the time when the proposal to fine him is said to have been made, either he had the power to resist this order —which [13] deprived him, as he could see, of all authority, —or else he lacked the power to obstruct even those measures in defence of which this order had been proposed. Finally, whatever conflicts have occurred between tribunes and consuls, down to the times we can ourselves remember, the dictatorship has always towered above them.

1 B. C. 368

2 B.C. 368

3 B.C. 368

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load focus Notes (W. Weissenborn, H. J. Müller, 1898)
load focus Summary (English, Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D., 1924)
load focus Summary (Latin, W. Weissenborn, H. J. Müller, 1898)
load focus Summary (Latin, Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D., 1924)
load focus English (D. Spillan, A.M., M.D., 1857)
load focus Latin (Charles Flamstead Walters, Robert Seymour Conway, 1919)
load focus English (Rev. Canon Roberts, 1912)
load focus Latin (W. Weissenborn, H. J. Müller, 1898)
load focus Latin (Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D., 1924)
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  • Commentary references to this page (10):
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 33-34, commentary, 33.25
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 33-34, commentary, 33.47
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 33-34, commentary, 34.31
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 35.10
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 35.15
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 37.59
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 38.36
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 39-40, commentary, 40.8
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 43-44, commentary, 43.16
    • Charles Simmons, The Metamorphoses of Ovid, Books XIII and XIV, 13.33
  • Cross-references to this page (25):
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (14):
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