Curiosities & wonders > Titus Livius' Roman history

346
TITUS LIVI US’
Book IV.
such havock in town and country, both among the in¬
habitants and their cattle, that fearing the losses, the far¬
mers had sustained would bring on a famine, fhey sent
to Etruria, Pomptthum, Cumae, and last of all to Sicily,
for corn.
No. motion was made for a consular Comitia at this
time; so that L. Pinarius Mamercinus, L. Furius Me-
dulinus, and Sp. Posthumius Albus, were chosen mi¬
litary tribunes, with consular power; all of them Patri¬
cians. This year the plague began to subside, nor was
there any danger of famine, as measures had been taken
to prevent it. The Volsci and./Equi, however, in their
councils of state, and the Etrurians in a general diet,
held at the temole ofVolumna, were talking Tn a stile
which shew'ed tneir views were not pacific. The scheme,
however, was put off for a year, and it wras provided by
a decree, that there should be no general diet sooner,
notwithstanding all that could he urged by the Vejentes,
that Veii would soon share the fate of Fidenas, which w as
now in ruins.
In the meantime, at Rome, the wealthy Plebeians,
' who had long, "but to little purpose, waited at the pool
of promotion, now that they had a respite from foreign
wars, began to hold meetings at the tribunes houses.
There they had private consultations, complaining, ‘ That
* the people were ill affected to their interest, insomuch,
‘ that the military tribunes, with consular power, had
‘ been elected for a great many years, yet never one
‘ Plebeian had been admitted to that honour: their an-
‘ cestors surely had seen a great way before them, who
* had wisely provided, that no Patrician should epjoy an
* office among the Plebeians; or, long before this time,
‘ they would have been tribunes of the people ! so des-
‘ picable now were the commons to their own order,
c that they were held in no greater contempt by the se-
* nators, than the people.’ Others excused the people,
and laid all the blame upon the Patricians’: alledging,
< That it was owing to their intrigues and cunning ad-
‘ dress, thai the gate to promotion was shut against the
* commons. For, were these false lights extinguished,
* and the people neither flattered nor bullied by the
‘ Patricians, they would not, in their suffrages, forget their