lested the Tribunes in presence of the Tribes. Many of the most illustrious Patricians appeared in his defence; and his father, Quinctius Cincinnatus, a man remarkable for his unyielding temper, besought the pardon of his son. But as the trial continued, an individual, some time before a Tribune, came forward to accuse Cæso of having committed a murder for which he, the witness, had vainly entreated redress at the hands of the Consuls. The Plebeians heard his story with exasperation; and Cæso would have been cut down where he stood, had not the Tribunes interfered and taken bail for his appearance on another day, to defend himself against the new and weightier charge. He fled forthwith into Etruria.

69

If the wind were changing, it still blew with boisterous blasts. A thousand Casos seemed to have risen up in the place of one; 68 and the Tribunes were again and again insulted, the Plebeians and the poor again and again aggrieved. A conspiracy was soon on foot between the fugitive and his friends in Rome, to bring about his return; and the Plebeians, whose limbs and lives were not yet saved, awoke one night to hear the clash of arms and the cry that the Capitol was in the hands of strangers. The morning brought the report, that Appius Herdonius, a wellknown 70 Sabine, at the head of some exiles and slaves, had come in, of his or their own accord, to secure their return or their liberation; and procla

68 Liv., III. 14.

69 Dion. Hal., X. 10, 11.

70 Ibid., X. 14.

mation was made from the Capitol, that the slaves throughout the city should have their freedom, and the poor their rights, as soon as the enterprise of those in the citadel should succeed. One of the Consuls at the time was Valerius Publicola, a son of the old Patrician of that honorable name. While his colleague was consulting with the Senate, Valerius came forth to remonstrate with the Plebeians or their Tribunes, who, convinced that Caso Quinctius was with the exiles, and that the Patricians were all in the plot with him, were refusing to arm themselves for the recovery of the Capitol. It marks the idea which the Roman historians conceived, rather than the actual character of the Plebeians, that they should be described as endeavouring, while Herdonius or Caso was in the city, to pass their Terentilian bill, towards whose transformation into a law they could do no more than they had already done. Valerius, however, may very naturally have promised them that he would do his best to forward their favorite project as soon as the Capitol was cleared, at the same time that he assured them of the innocence of the Patricians of all participation in the return of the exiles, or the purposes which the Plebeians were no cowards to fear. His words persuaded the people, ready, indeed, as any, individually and collectively, to defend their homes against invasion; and, joined by a force sent in from Tusculum, they dashed up the hill and took the citadel by rapid assault. Herdonius was slain, and Cæso, if he was there; but the brave Valerius also fell, in the

moment of the victory he was foremost in winning."

Year followed year, in which the traditions of wrong and bloodshed lie thick and gloomy; nor is it here necessary to grope amongst them for any further evidence of the circumstances in which the first works of the Tribunes were accomplished. Even the men most distinguished above the rest, like Quinctius Cincinnatus,72 the father of Cæso, were filled with a species of fury which might have made them warm Patricians, but which certainly excludes them from any prominent place in the history of patriotism or liberty. There are some things, however, to observe as signs of better times. The union between the Plebeians and their Tribunes appears to have been remarkably constant, considering the trials through which they toiled and the breaks that are apt to occur between any popular party and its leaders. For five years, the same Tribunes were elected and reëlected, to pursue the same measures in promotion of the lingering Terentilian bill; 73 and it may very well have been, during these successive terms, that the supporters became the amenders of the project of their predecessor.

Some time or other before the bill prevailed, it was so enlarged as to propose the reformation, or, to speak

71 Liv., III. 15-18. Dion. Hal., all that sort of thing, scarcely agrees X. 14-17. A. C. 460. with the testimonies in history concerning him and his family.

72 Livy (III. 19, 20) describes the madman whom Christians have mistaken for a patriot. The story of Cincinnatus at the plough, and

73Iidem tribuni, eadem lex." Liv., III. 30.

more correctly, the inscription, in public, of all the laws concerning institutions or individuals, as well as those relating to the authority of the Consuls. Otherwise, indeed, it would be difficult, with all the proofs of Patrician temper before us, to account for the virulence with which the bill of Terentilius was still opposed. The Tribunes of the five years might have been again chosen, had not the number of their college, as they were called collectively, been increased from five to ten, under a condition, imposed by the Senate or the Curies, that the same Tribunes should never be chosen a second time.74 In a period of so much disorder, public and private, it was of the greatest advantage to the Plebeians to have as many protectors as they could obtain; and it is an additional intimation of increasing spirits amongst them, that, in spite of the terms just mentioned, the first ten Tribunes were all reëlected for the following year. In the course of this second term, the efficiency of their office was still further secured by the agreement of the Tribunes, under oath, to stand fast by one another, in the proceedings they should resolve together to pursue.'

75

This laudable resolution was almost immediately followed by the bill of the Tribune Lucius Icilius, to convey the Aventine hill to the Plebeians, as their peculiar and exclusive possession. Although the earliest homes of the lower estate had been marked out upon

74 Ne postea eosdem tribunos juberent." Liv., III. 30.

75 Dion. Hal., X. 31. Οὕτως

οἰόμενοι μάλιστα τὸ τῆς δημαρχίας ἀκατάλυτον ἔσεσθαι κράτος, κ. τ. λ.

the Aventine, they had of course been surrounded by fields or lots, like all the rest of the public domain in the occupation of the Patricians; and these were now demanded for the Plebeians. It was little for the higher order to surrender, not only because there could not be much land left upon a single hill, but likewise because the Aventine, still, as long after, stood beyond the Pomorium, the hallowed boundary of the city. The Consuls, accordingly, made no hesitation about presenting the bill to the Senate, before whom Icilius was admitted to speak in its behalf, and by whom it was accepted, being then confirmed by the Centuries. The law provided for the indemnification of the Patricians for any buildings or improvements they had made upon the lands; and when this was done, the Plebeians took possession of the hill with solemn ceremonies. There was no space, of course, for every member of the order to have a separate dwelling; nor would many, who were comfortably settled in town or country, have any desire to remove to the Aventine; but to all alike it was an object of congratulation that they had a place to meet in, apart and secure, even if there were comparatively few to make it their habitation.76

In deciding that the bill concerning the Aventine should become a law, the Senate may only have desired to stop the mouths still clamorous for the Te

76 Livy (III. 31) mentions the law as having been quietly passed; but Dionysius (X. 31, 32), more

improbably, makes it the cause of tumult and violent opposition