Book 3
31.4
An action was fought there; above 7000 of the enemy were killed, the rest were put to flight; immense booty was taken. This, owing to the low state of the public treasury, the consuls sold. Their action, however, created ill-feeling in the army, and afforded the tribunes material on which to base an accusation against them.
31.5
When, therefore, they went out of office, in which they were succeeded by Spurius Tarpeius and A. Aeternius, they were both impeached —Romilius by C. Calvius Cicero, plebeian tribune, and Veturius by L. Alienus, plebeian aedile.
31.6
To the intense indignation of the senatorial party, both were condemned and fined Romilius had to pay 10,000 “ ases,” and Veturius 15,000. The fate of their predecessors did not shake the resolution of the new consuls; they said that while it was quite possible that they might also be condemned, it was not possible for the plebs and its tribunes to carry the Law.
31.7
Through long discussion it had become stale, the tribunes now threw it over and approached the patricians in a less aggressive spirit They urged that an end should be put to their disputes and if they objected to the measures adopted by the plebeians they should consent to the appointment of a body of legislators, chosen in equal numbers from plebeians and patricians to enact what would be useful to both orders and secure equal liberty for each.
