fled to avoid being made slaves to their creditors. Under the consulship of T. Geganius and P. Minucius Rome was terribly afflicted by a famine, occasioned chiefly by the neglect of ploughing and sowing during the late troubles; for the sedition had happened after the autumnal equinox. The senate despatched agents into Etruria, Campania, the country of the Volsci, and even into Sicily, to buy corn, when those who embarked for Sicily, having been retarded by a storm, were constrained to pass the winter at Syracuse. At Cuma, the tyrant Aristodemus seized the money brought by the commissaries; and they themselves with difficulty saved their lives by flight. The Volsci, also, far from being disposed to assist the Romans, would have marched against them, if a sudden and destructive pestilence had not defeated their purpose. In Etruria alone the Roman commissaries met with success. They sent a considerable quantity of grain to Rome in barks; but, this being consumed, the misery became excessive. During this distress a deputation came from Velitræ, a Volscian city, where the Romans had formerly planted a colony, representing that nine parts in ten of its inhabitants had been swept away by a plague, and praying the Romans to send a new colony to re-people it. The senate granted the request, pressed the departure of the colony, and named three leaders to conduct it. The people, however, began to fear that the place might be still infected; and this apprehension became so universal that not one of them would consent to go. On this the senate published a decree that all the citizens should draw lots; and that those to whose lot it fell to be of the colony should instantly march for Velitræ, or suffer the severest punishment; at last, therefore, fear and hunger induced compliance; and the senate a few days after sent a second colony to Norba, a city of Latium. But the patricians were disappointed as to the benefit they expected from these measures. The plebeians who remained in Rome grew more and more disaffected to the senate. At first they assembled in small companies to vent their complaints; and at length, in one great body, rushed into the forum, calling upon the tribunes for help; when these othcers did but heighten the general discontent. Spurius Icilius, their chief, inveighed bitterly against the senate; and exhorted others to speak freely their thoughts; calling particularly, and by name, upon Brutus and Sicinius. the ringleaders of the former sedition, now ædiles. These men also added fuel to the fire: and, the more to inflame the spirits of the multitude, enumerated all the past insults which the people had suffered from the nobles. Brutus concluded his harangue with loudly threatening that, if the plebeians would follow his advice, he would soon oblige those who had caused the present calamity to find a remedy for it. The next day the consuls, greatly alarmed, and apprehending from the menaces of Brutus some mischievous event, thought it advisable to convene the senators. Some were for employing soft words and promises. But Appius's advice prevailed, that the consuls should call the people together, assure them that the patricians had not brought upon them the miseries they suffered, and engage on the

part of the senate that all possible care should' be taken to provide for their necessities; while they should reprove the disturbers of the public peace. But, when the consuls assembled the people, they were interrupted by the tribunes. A dispute ensued, in which no one could be well understood by the audience. The consuls contended, that, as the superior magistrates, their authority extended to all assemblies of the citizens. On the other hand, it was urged, 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 each party was ready to proceed to violence; when Brutus, having put some questions to the consul, closed the assembly. Next day he proposed a law, which was carried, that no person should interrupt a tribune when speaking to the people; by which means the power of the popular party was increased, and the tribunes became formidable opponents both to the consuls and patricians. An opportunity soon offered for the parties to try their strength. A great fleet of ships laden with corn from Sicily, a great part of which was a present from king Gelon to the Romans, and the rest purchased by the senate with the public money, raised their spirits: when Coriolanus incurred their resentment, by insisting that it should not be distributed till the grievances of the senate were removed. For this the tribunes summoned him to a trial before the people. On the day appointed all persons were anxious for the issue, and a vast concourse from the adjacent country assembled at the forum. Coriolanus presented himself before the people with a high degree of intrepidity. His graceful person, his persuasive eloquence, the cries of those whom he had saved from the enemy, inclined the auditors to relent. But being confounded with a new charge, which he did not expect, of having embezzled the plunder of Antium, the tribunes immediately took the votes, and Coriolanus was condemned to exile. This sentence against their bravest defender, struck the whole body of the senate with sorrow and consternation. Coriolanus alone, in the midst of the tumult, seemed unconcerned. He returned home, followed by the lamentations of the most respectable senators and citizens, to take leave of his wife, children, and mother. Thus recommending his children to their care, he left the city, without followers or fortune, to take refuge with Tullus Attius, a man of great power among the Volscians, who took him under his protection, and induced the Volsci to break the league which had been made with Rome. For this purpose Tullus sent many of his citizens thither, to the games then celebrating; but at the same time gave the senate private information that the strangers had dangerous intentions. This had the desired effect; the senate issued an order that all strangers, whoever they were, should depart from Rome at sunset. This order Tullus represented to his countrymen as an infraction of the treaty, and procured an embassy to Rome, complaining of the breach, and demanding back the territories belonging to the Volscians, of which they had been violently dispossessed: a message treated by the senate with contempt. War being declared on both sides, Coriolanus and Tullus were now made generals

of the Volscians; and invaded the Roman territories, laying waste the lands of the plebeians, but leaving those of the senators untouched. Mean time, the levies went on at Rome very slowly; the two consuls, who were re-elected by the people, seemed but little skilled in war, and feared to encounter a general whom they knew to be their superior in the field. The allies also showed their fears, and slowly brought in their succors. Fortune followed Coriolanus in every expedition; and he became so famous for his victories that the Volsci left their towns defenceless to follow him into the field. The very soldiers of his colleague's army came over to him. Thus finding himself unopposed in the field, and at the head of a numerous army, he at length invested the city of Rome. It was then that the senate and the people unanimously agreed to send deputies to him, with proposals of restoration, in case he should draw off his army. Coriolanus received these proposals at the head of his officers, and refused them with the sternness of a general that knew he was to give the law. Another embassy was now sent, conjuring him not to exact from his native city ought but what became Romans to grant. But Coriolanus still persisted in his demands, and granted them but three days to deliberate. All that was left was another deputation more solemn than either of the former, composed of the pontiffs, priests, and augurs. These, clothed in their sacred habits, and with a grave and mournful deportment, issued from the city, and entered the camp of the conqueror but in vain; they found him severe and inflexible as before. When the people saw them return ineffectually, they gave up the commonwealth as lost. The temples were filled with old men, women, and children, who, prostrate at their altars, put up ardent prayers for the preservation of their country: nothing was to be heard but anguish and lamentation, nothing to be seen but affright and distress. At length it was suggested that what could not be effected by the intercession of the senate, or the abjuration of the priests, might be brought about by the tears of his wife, or the commands of his mother. This measure was approved by all; and the senate itself gave it their sanction. Veturia, the mother of Coriolanus, therefore, undertook the embassy, and set forward from the city, accompanied by the principal matrons of Rome, Volumnia his wife, and his two children. Coriolanus, who at a distance discovered this mournful train of females, was resolved to give them a denial; but, when told that his mother and his wife were among the number, he instantly came down to meet them. At first the salutations and embraces of the interview took away the power of words; and the rough soldier could not refrain from sharing in their distress. Coriolanus seemed much agitated by contending passions; while his mother seconded her persuasive eloquence by sighs and tears: his wife and children bung round him, intreating for protection and pity; and the fair train, her companions, added their lamentations, and deplored their own and their country's distress. The patriot for a moment was silent, feeling the strong conflict between honor and inclination: at length, as if roused from a dream, he flew to take up his

mother, who had fallen at his feet, crying out, O my mother, thou hast saved Rome, but lost thy son.' He gave orders to draw off the army, pretending to the officers that the city was too strong to be taken. Tullus, who envied his glory, was not remiss in aggravating the lenity of his conduct. Upon their return, Coriolanus was slain in an insurrection of the people, and afterwards honorably buried, with ineffectual repen

tance.

The year following, the two consuls of the former year, Manlius and Fabius, were cited by the tribunes to appear before the people. The Agrarian law, which had been proposed some time before, for equally dividing the lands of the commonwealth, was the object invariably pursued, and they were accused of having put it off. The consuls made many delays and excuses, till at length they were obliged to have recourse to a dictator; and they fixed upon T. Quinctius Cincinnatus, a man who had for some time given up all views of ambition, and retired to his little farm, where the deputies of the senate found him holding the plough. He appeared but little elevated with the addresses of ceremony and the pompous habits they brought him; and, upon declaring to him the senate's pleasure, he testified rather a concern that his aid should be wanted. However he departed for the city, where both parties were strongly inflamed against each other, resolved to side with neither. By threats and well timed submission he prevailed upon the tribunes to put off the disputed law for a time, and carried himself so as to be a terror to the multitude. Having thus restored that tranquillity which he so much loved, be again gave up the splendor of ambition, to enjoy his little farm. Cincinnatus was not long retired, however, when a fresh exigence of the state required his assistance. The Equi and the Volsci, who, though worsted, were still for renewing the war, made new inroads into the territories of Rome. Minutius, one of the consuls who succeeded Cincinnatus, was sent to oppose them; but his army was driven into a defile between two mountains, from which, except through the lines of the enemy, there was no egress. This the qui had the precaution to fortify: by which the Roman army was so hemmed in on every side, that nothing remained but submission to the enemy, or famine. Some knights, who found means of getting away privately through the camp of the Volsci, were the first that brought the account of this disaster to Rome. Nothing could exceed the consternation of all ranks. The s nate at first thought of the other consul; but, not having sufficient experience of his abilities, they unanimously turned their eyes upon Cincinnatus, and resolved to make him dictator. He was found, as before, by the messengers in the field. Being called upon to nominate his master of the horse, he now chose a poor man named Tarquitius; and, upon entering the city, entreated all those who were able to bear arms to repair before sun-set to the Campus Martius, He put himself at their head, and, marching all night with great expedition, he arrived before day within sight of the enemy. Upon his ap proach the soldiers raised a loud shout, to apprize the consul's army of the relief that was at

hand; the Æqui, not a little amazed, saw themselves between two enemies; and when they perceived Cincinnatus making the strongest entrenchments beyond them, to prevent their escape, a furious combat ensued; until, attacked on both sides, they begged a cessation of arms. They offered the dictator his own terms; when he gave them their lives, but obliged them, in token of servitude, to pass under the yoke. Their captains and generals he made prisoners. Thus, having rescued a Roman army from inevitable destruction, having defeated a powerful enemy, having taken and fortified their city, and, still more, having refused any part of the spoil, he resigned his dictatorship, after having enjoyed it but fourteen days. The senate would have enriched him; but he declined their offers.

Still this repose from foreign invasions did not lessen the tumults of the city. The clamors for the Agrarian law continued, and raged yet more fiercely, when Sicinius Dentatus came forward, to enumerate his hardships. See DENTATUS. Notwithstanding his speech had great effect on the people, the Agrarian law was postponed by a number of young patricians who made a riot and broke the balloting urns. The republic of Rome had now near sixty years been fluctuating between the contending orders that composed it till, at length each side, as if weary, were willing to respire a while. The citizens, therefore, of every rank, now began to complain of the arbitrary decisions of their magistrates, and wished to be guided by a written body of laws; in which both the seuate and the people concurred. It was therefore agreed that ambassadors should be sent to the Greek cities in Italy, and to Athens, to bring home such enactments thence as by experience had been found most equitable; and three senators, Posthumius, Sulpicius, and Manlius, were fixed upon for the commission and galleys assigned to convey them. While they were abroad, a dreadful plague depopulated Rome for about a year. The ambassadors at the close of that period returned, bringing home a body of laws, collected from all the civilized states of Greece and Italy, which being afterwards formed into ten tables, and two more being added, constituted that celebrated code, called the Laws of the Twelve Tables, fragments of which are still extant. The tribunes now required that a body of men should be chosen to digest these laws into proper form. After long debates, whether this choice should not be partly made from the people as well as the patricians, it was at last agreed that ten of the principal senators should be elected, whose power, continuing for a year, should be equal to that of kings and consuls, and their decision final. The persons chosen were Appius and Genutius, who had been elected consuls for the ensuing year; Posthumius, Sulpicius, and Maulius, the three ambassadors; Sextus and Romulus, former consuls; with Julius Veturius, and Horatius, senators of the first consideration. The decemviri, being now invested with absolute power, agreed to take the reins of government by turns, and each to dispense justice for a day. For the first year these magistrates attended their duty with extreme application; and, their work being VOL. XVIII.

finished, it was expected that they would give up office; but, having known the charms of power, they were now unwilling to resign it; and, regardless either of the approbation of the senate or the people, resolved to continue in the decemvirate. A conduct so inconsistent and arbitrary produced discontents; and these again fresh acts of tyranny. The city was become almost a desert, with respect to all who had any thing to lose. Yet not one citizen was sufficiently assured to strike for his country's freedom; these tyrants continued to rule without control, constantly guarded by their lictors, and a numerous crowd of dependents. In this situation of the state, the qui and Volsci projected new incursions, and advanced within ten miles of Rome. But the decemviri, being in possession of the military as well as civil power, divided their army into three parts; of which one continued with Appius in the city, to keep it in awe; the other two were commanded by his colleagues, and were led, one against the Æqui, and the other against the Sabines. The Roman soldiers had now adopted a method of punishing the generals whom they disliked, by suffering themselves to be vanquished in the field. They put it in practice upon this occasion, and shamefully abandoned their camp on the approach of the enemy. Never was the news of a victory more joyfully received at Rome than the tidings of this defeat: the generals, as always, were blamed for the treachery of their men: some demanded that they should be deposed; others that a dictator should lead the troops to conquest: among the rest Sicinius Dentatus, an old tribune, spoke his sentiments with his usual openness ; and, treating the generals with contempt, showed the faults of their discipline in the camp and of their conduct in the field. Appius, in the mean time, was not remiss in observing the popular disposition. Dentatus, in particular, was marked out for vengeance, and, under pretence of doing him particular honor, was appointed legate, and put at the head of the supplies which were sent from Rome to the army. The office of legate was held sacred among the Romans, as in it were united the authority of a general with the reverence due to the priesthood. Dentatus proceeded to the camp with alacrity, where he was received with all the external marks of respect; but the generals soon found means of revenge. Appointed to head 100 men and examine a more commodious place for encampment, the soldiers, who were given as his attendants, were assassins, and led him out of the way into the bosom of a retired mountain. Dentatus, too late perceiving the treachery of the decemviri, was resolved to sell his life dearly; he therefore placed his back against a rock, and defended himself against those who pressed on him, killing no fewer than fifteen of the assailants, and wounding thirty. The assassins, terrified at his amazing bravery, now showered in their javelins upon him, all which he received on his shield; and the combat, though so unequal in numbers, was long managed with doubtful success, till at length his assailants, ascending the rock against which he stood, poured down stones on the brave old soldier from above, and crushed hi.n to

death. The decemviri, pretending to join in the general sorrow for so brave a man, decreed him a funeral, with military honors: but the greatness of their apparent distress, compared with their known hatred, only rendered them still more detestable to the people.

A transaction still more atrocious inspired the citizens with a resolution to break all measures of obedience. Appius, who remained at Rome, sitting one day on his tribunal to dispense justice, saw a maiden of exquisite beauty passing to one of the public schools, attended by her nurse. Conceiving a violent passion for her, he resolved to obtain the gratification of his desires; and though he found she was the daughter of Virginius a centurion, then with the army in the field, and had been contracted to Icilius, formerly a tribune of the people, he resolved to break this match and espouse her himself. The laws of the Twelve tables, however, had forbidden the patricians to intermarry with the plebeians; and he could not infringe these. A yet more criminal course was therefore determined on. He engaged one Claudius, who had long been the minister of his pleasures, to assert that Virginia was his slave, and to refer the cause to his tribunal for decision. Claudius behaved according to his instructions; and, entering into the school where she was playing among her female companions, seized upon her as his property, and was only prevented from dragging her away by force by the people drawn together by her cries. At length, after the opposition was over, he led the weeping virgin to the tribunal of Appius, and there alleged his claim. He asserted that she was born in his house, of a female slave, who sold her to the wife of Virginius, who had been barren. That he had several credible evidences to prove the truth of what he said; but that, until they could come together, it was but reasonable the slave should be delivered into his custody. Appius seemed to be struck with the justice of his claim. He observed that, if the reputed father himself were present, he might indeed be willing to delay the delivery of the maiden for some time; but that it was not lawful for him, in the present case, to detain her from her master. He therefore adjudged her to Claudius, as his slave, to be kept by him till Virginius should be able to prove his paternity. This sentence was received with loud clamors and reproaches; the women, in particular, came round Virginia, as if willing to protect her from the judge; while Icilius, her lover, boldly opposed the decree, and obliged Claudius to take refuge under the tribunal of the decemviri. All things now threatened an open insurrection; when Appius thought proper to suspend his judgment till the arrival of Virginius, who was then about eleven miles from Rome. The day following was fixed for the trial: in the mean time Appius sent letters to the generals to confine Virginius, as his arrival in town might only serve to kindle sedition. These letters, however, were intercepted by the centurion's friends, and, pretending the death of a near relation, he obtained permission to leave the camp, and flew to Rome. The next day he appeared before the tribunal, to the astonishment of Appius, leading his weeping daughter by the hand, both being habited in

the deepest mourning. Claudius, the accuser, was also there, and began by making his demand. Virginius next spoke: he represented that his wife had many children; that she had been seen pregnant by numbers; that, if he had intentions of adopting a supposititious child, he would have fixed upon a boy rather than a girl; that it was notorious to all that his wife had herself suckled her own child; and that it was surprising such a claim should be now made, after fifteen years had elapsed. While the father thus spoke Virginia's persuasive innocence seemed to add weight to all his remonstrances. The people were entirely satisfied of the hardship of his case, till Appius interrupting him, under a pretence of being sufficiently instructed in the merits of the cause, finally adjudged her to Claudius, and ordered the lictors to carry her off. Virginius seemed to acquiesce in the sentence. He only mildly intreated Appius to be permitted to take a last farewell of one whom he had long considered as his child. With this the decemvir complied, when the father, with the most poignant auguish, taking his almost expiring daughter in his arms, for a while supported her head upon his breast, and wiped away her tears: happening to be near the shops that surrounded the forum, he now snatched up a knife that lay on the shambles, and buried the weapon in her breast; then holding it up, reeking with the blood of his daughter, 'Appius, he cried,' 'by this blood of innocence, I devote thy head to the infernal gods.' Thus saying, with the bloody knife in his hand, and threatening destruction to whomsoever should oppose him, he ran through the city, wildly calling upon the people to strike for freedom, and thence went to the camp, spreading a like flame. Followed by a number of his friends, he informed the soldiers of all that was done, holding the bloody knife in his hand, and asked their pardon, and that of the gods, for having committed so rash an action. The army, already predisposed, instantly with shouts declared their approbation of the deed; and, decamping, left their generals behind, to take their station once more upon mount Aventine. The other army, which had been to oppose the Sabines, came over in large parties to join them. Appius, in the mean time, did all he could to quell the disturbances of the city: but, finding the tumult incapable of control, at first attempted to find safety by flight; then encouraged by Oppius, one of his colleagues, he ventured to assemble the senate, and urged the punishment of all deserters. The senate, however, foresaw the dangers and miseries that threatened the state, in case of opposing the army; they therefore despatched messengers to them, offering to restore the former mode of government. To this proposal all the people joyfully assented and the army gladly tendered their submission. Appius, and Oppius one of his colleagues, both died by their own hands in prison. The other eight decemvirs went into voluntary exile.

The tribunes now grew more turbulent: they proposed two laws; one to permit plebeians to intermarry with patricians, and the other to permit them to be admitted to the consulship These proposals the senators received with indignation, and seemed resolved to undergo the

utmost extremities rather than enact them. However, finding this resistance only increase the public commotions, they at last consented to pass the law concerning intermarriages. But the people were thus appeased only for a short time; returning to their old custom of refusing to enlist upon the approach of an enemy, the consuls were forced to hold a private conference with the chief of the senate; where, after many debates, Claudius proposed to create six or eight governors in the room of consuls, whereof onehalf at least should be patricians. This project was eagerly embraced by the people; yet, though many of the plebeians stood, the choice wholly fell upon the patrician candidates. These new magistrates were called military tribunes; they were at first but three, afterwards four, and at length six. They had the power and ensigns of consuls; yet, that power being divided among a number, each singly was of less authority. The first that were chosen only continued in office about three months, the augurs having found something amiss in the ceremonies of their election. Consuls once more, therefore, came into office; and, to lighten the weight of business which they were obliged to sustain, a new office was erected, namely, that of censors, to be chosen every fifth year. Their business was to take an estimate of the number and estates of the people, and to distribute them into their proper classes; to enquire into their lives and manners; to degrade senators for misconduct: to dismount knights; and to displace plebeians from their tribes into inferior ones, in case of misdemeanor. The two first censors were Papirius and Sempronius, both patricians; and from this order they continued to be elected for nearly 100 years. This new creation served to restore peace for some time; and the triumph gained over the Volscians by Geganius the consul added to the universal satisfaction. But some time after, a famine pressing hard upon the poor, the usual complaints against the rich were renewed; and these, as before, proving ineffectual, produced new seditions. The consuls were accused of neglect in not having laid in proper quantities of corn; they, however, disregarded the murmurs of the populace, content with exerting all their care in attempts to supply the pressing necessity: and appear to have done all that could be expected from active magistrates. Yet Spurius Mælius, a rich knight, who had bought up all the corn of Tuscany, outshone them in liberality. This demagogue, hoping to become powerful by the contention in the state, distributed corn in great quantities among the poor, till his house became the asylum of all such as wished to exchange a life of labor for one of lazy dependence. When he had thus gained a sufficient number of partizans, he procured large quantities of arms to be brought into his house, and formed a conspiracy, by which he was to obtain supreme command, while some of the tribunes, whom he had corrupted, were to act under him. Minucius discovered the plot, and, informing the senate, they resolved to create a dictator, who should quell the conspiracy, without appealing to the people. Cincinnatus, now eighty years old, was chosen once more to

rescue his country from impending danger. He began by summoning Mælius; who refused to obey. He next sent Ahala, the master of his horse, to compel his appearance; who, meeting him in the forum, and pressing him to follow to the dictator's tribunal, upon his refusal Ahala killed him on the spot. The dictator applauding his officer, now commanded the conspirator's goods to be sold, his house to be demolished, and his stores to be distributed among the people. But the tribunes were enraged at the death of Mælius; and, to punish the senate, at the next election, instead of consuls, insisted upon restoring their military tribunes. With this the senate were obliged to comply. The next year, however, the government returned to its ancient channel, and consuls were chosen.

The Verentes had at this period long been the rivals of Rome, and had ever taken the opportunity of its internal distresses to ravage its territories; they had even threatened its ambassadors sent to complain of these injuries with outrage. In war they had been extremely formidable, and had cut off almost all the Fabian family; who, to the number of 306 persons, had voluntarily undertaken to defend the frontiers against them. It was therefore determined that the city of Veii should be demolished; and the Roman army set down before it, prepared for a protracted resistance. The strength of the place may be inferred from the continuance of the siege, which lasted ten years. Various was the success, and many were the commanders: the besiegers' works were often destroyed, and many of their men cut off, until the undertaking seemed to threaten depopulation to Rome itself; so that a law was made for all the bachelors to marry the widows of the soldiers who were slain. To carry on this siege with greater vigor Furius Camillus was created dictator. Upon his appointment numbers of the people flocked to his standard, confident of success, and he at once prepared to mine the works of the enemy. Certain of the result, he sent to the senate, desiring that all who chose to share in the plunder of Veii should immediately repair to the army: and, entering the breech at the head of his men, the city was instantly filled with his legions. Thus, like a second Troy, was the city of Veii taken, after a ten years' siege, and with its spoils enriched the conquerors; while Camillus himself was decreed a triumph after the manner of the kings of Rome, having his chariot drawn by four milk-white horses. His usual good fortune attended Camillus in a new expedition against the Falisci; he routed their army, and besieged their capital Falerii, which threatened a long and vigorous resistance. schoolmaster, who had the care of the children belonging to the principal men of the city, having decoyed them into the Roman camp, offered to put them into the hands of Camillus, as the surest means of inducing the citizens to surrender. But the general, struck with the treachery of a wretch whose duty it was to protect innocence, and not to betray it, immediately ordered him to be stripped, his hands tied behind him, and in that ignominious manner to be whipped into the town by his pupils. This generous behaviour in Camillus effected more than his arms:

Here a