ne of Juno Sospita, in the herb market, vowed
and contracted for four years before, in the time of the Gallic
war, by Cneius Cornelius, consul; and the same person, now censor,
performed the dedication. Another of Faunus, the building of which
had been agreed for two years before, and a fund formed for it out of
fines estreated by the aediles, Caius Scribonius and Cneius Domitius;
the latter of whom, now city praetor, dedicated it. Quintus Marcius
Ralla, constituted commissioner for the purpose, dedicated the temple
of Fortuna Primigenia, on the Quirinal Hill. Publius Sempronius Sophus
had vowed this temple ten years before, in the Punic war; and, being
afterwards censor, had employed persons to build it. Caius Servilius,
duumvir, also dedicated a temple of Jupiter, in the island. This
had been vowed in the Gallic war, six years before, by Lucius
Furius Purpureo, who afterwards, when consul, contracted for the
building.--Such were the transactions of that year.

54. Publius Scipio came home from his province of Gaul to choose new
consuls. The consular comitia were accordingly held, in which Lucius
Cornelius Merula and Quintus Minucius Thermus were chosen. Next
day were chosen praetors, Lucius Cornelius Scipio, Marcus Fulvius
Nobilior, Caius Scribonius, Marcus Valerius Messala, Lucius Porcius
Licinus, and Caius Flaminius. The curule aediles of this year, Caius
Atilius Serranus and Lucius Scribonius, first exhibited the Megalesian
theatrical games. At the Roman games, celebrated by these aediles, the
senators, for the first time, sat separate from the people, which, as
every innovation usually does, gave occasion to various observations.
Some considered this as "an honour, shown at length to that most
respectable body, and which ought to have been done long before;"
while others contended, that "every addition made to the grandeur of
the senate was a diminution of the dignity of the people; and that all
such distinctions as set the orders of the state at a distance from
each other, were equally subversive of liberty and concord. During
five hundred and fifty-eight years," they asserted, "all the
spectators had sat promiscuously: what reason then had now occurred,
on a sudden, that should make the senators disdain to have the commons
intermixed with them in the theatre, or make the rich disdain the poor
man as a fellow-spectator? It was an unprecedented gratification
of pride and over-bearing vanity, never even desired, an