pposite cause. And thus, by playing a middle part, he neither escaped
the odium of the people, nor gained the favour of the senators.
The patricians looked upon him as wanting in energy and a
popularity-hunting consul, the people, as deceitful: and it soon
became evident that he had become as unpopular as Appius himself. A
dispute had arisen between the consuls, as to which of them should
dedicate the Temple of Mercury. The senate referred the matter from
themselves to the people, and ordained that, to whichever of them the
task of dedication should be intrusted by order of the people, he
should preside over the markets, establish a guild of merchants,[28]
and perform the ceremonies in presence of the Pontifex Maximus. The
people intrusted the dedication of the temple to Marcus Laetorius, a
centurion of the firstrank, which, as would be clear to all, was done
not so muchout of respect to a person on whom an office above his rank
had been conferred, as to affront the consuls. Upon this one of the
consuls particularly, and the senators were highly incensed: however,
the people had gained fresh courage, and proceeded in quite a
different manner to what they had at first intended. For when they
despaired of redress from the consuls and senate, whenever they saw a
debtor led into court, they rushed together from all quarters. Neither
could the decree of the consul be heard distinctly for the noise and
shouting, nor, when he had pronounced the decree, did any one obey
it. Violence was the order of the day, and apprehension and danger in
regard to personal liberty was entirely transferred from the debtors
to the creditors, who were individually maltreated by the crowd before
the very eyes of the consul. In addition, the dread of the Sabine war
spread, and when a levy was decreed, nobody gave in his name: Appius
was enraged, and bitterly inveighed against the self-seeking conduct
of his colleague, in that he, by the inactivity he displayed to win
the favour of the people, was betraying the republic, and, besides not
having enforced justice in the matter of debt, likewise neglected
even to hold a levy, in obedience to the decree of the senate. Yet
he declared that the commonwealth was not entirely deserted, nor the
consular authority altogether degraded; that he, alone and unaided,
would vindicate both his own dignity and that of the senators. When
day by day the mob, emboldened by license, stood round him, he
commanded a noted r