e people, and
afterwards when consul, first about his election to the office, which
was annulled, and then about a triumph. He was also odious to the
fathers on account of a new law which Quintus Claudius, tribune of the
people, had carried against the senate, Caius Flaminius alone of that
body assisting him, that no senator, or he who had been father of a
senator, should possess a ship fit for sea service, containing more
than three hundred amphorae. This size was considered sufficient for
conveying the produce of their lands: all traffic appeared unbecoming
a senator. This contest, maintained with the warmest opposition,
procured the hatred of the nobility to Flaminius, the advocate of the
law; but the favour of the people, and afterwards a second consulship.
For these reasons, thinking that they would detain him in the city by
falsifying the auspices, by the delay of the Latin festival, and other
hinderances to which a consul was liable, he pretended a journey, and,
while yet in a private capacity, departed secretly to his province.
This proceeding, when it was made public, excited new and additional
anger in the senators, who were before irritated against him. They
said, "That Caius Flaminius waged war not only with the senate, but
now with the immortal gods; that having been formerly made consul
without the proper auspices, he had disobeyed both gods and men
recalling him from the very field of battle; and now, through
consciousness of their having been dishonoured, had shunned the
Capitol and the customary offering of vows, that he might not on the
day of entering his office approach the temple of Jupiter, the best
and greatest of gods; he might not see and consult the senate, himself
hated by it, as it was hateful to him alone; that he might not
proclaim the Latin festival, or perform on the Alban mount the
customary rights to Jupiter Latiaris; that he might not, under the
direction of the auspices, go up to the Capitol to recite his vows,
and thence, attended by the lictors, proceed to his province in the
garb of a general; but that he had set off, like some camp boy,
without his insignia, without the lictors, in secrecy and stealth,
just as if he had been quitting his country to go into banishment; as
if forsooth he would enter his office more consistently with the
dignity of the consul at Ariminum than Rome, and assume the robe of
office in a public inn better than before his own household gods."--it
was unani