eared as if the latter was kept out of the way
designedly, lest he might assert in person the same things which he
had written in his letters; and, face to face, either substantiate
his charges, or, if he had alleged any thing untrue, be convicted of
misrepresentation, until the truth should be clearly discovered. For
this reason he was of opinion, that the senate should not, at present,
assent to either of the decrees demanded by the consul." When he,
however, persisted with undiminished energy in putting the question,
that a thanksgiving should be ordered, and himself allowed to ride
into the city in triumph; the plebeian tribunes, Marcus and Caius
Titinius, declared, that they would enter their protest, if the senate
passed any decree on the subject.

9. In the preceding year, Sextus Aelius Paetus and Caius Cornelius
Cethegus were created censors. Cornelius now closed the lustrum. The
number of citizens rated was a hundred and forty-three thousand seven
hundred and four. Extraordinary quantities of rain fell in this
year, and the Tiber overflowed the lower parts of the city; and
some buildings near the Flumentan gate were even laid in ruins. The
Coelimontan gate was struck by lightning, as was the wall on each side
of it, in several places. At Aricia, Lanuvium, and on the Aventine,
showers of stones fell. From Capua, a report was brought that a very
large swarm of wasps flew into the forum, and settled on the temple of
Mars; that they had been carefully collected, and burnt. On account of
these prodigies, the decemvirs were ordered to consult the books; the
nine days' festival was celebrated, a supplication proclaimed, and
the city purified. At the same time, Marcus Porcius Cato dedicated a
chapel to Maiden Victory, near the temple of Victory, two years after
he had vowed it. During this year, a Latin colony was established
in the Thurian territory by commissioners appointed for the purpose,
Cneius Manlius Vulso, Lucius Apustius Fullo, and Quintus Aelius
Tubero, who had proposed the order for its settlement. There went out
thither three thousand foot and three hundred horsemen; a very small
number in proportion to the extent of the land. Thirty acres might
have been given to each footman, and sixty to a horseman, but, by
the advice of Apustius, a third part was reserved, that they might
afterwards, when they should judge proper, send out thither a new
colony. The footmen received twenty acres each, the horsemen forty