a great number of
Volscians came at the suggestion of Attius Tullius. Before the games
had commenced, Tullius, as had been arranged privately with Marcius,
approached the consuls, and said that there were certain matters
concerning the common-wealth about which he wished to treat with them
in private. When all witnesses had been ordered to retire, he said:
"I am reluctant to say anything of my countrymen that may seem
disparaging. I do not, however, come to accuse them of any crime
actually committed by them, but to see to it that they do not commit
one. The minds of our people are far more fickle than I could wish.
We have learned that by many disasters; seeing that we are still
preserved, not through our own merits, but thanks to your forbearance.
There is now here a great multitude of Volscians; the games are going
on: the city will be intent on the exhibition. I remember what was
done in this city on a similar occasion by the youth of the Sabines.
My mind shudders at the thought that anything should be done
inconsiderately and rashly. I have deemed it right that these matters
should be mentioned beforehand to you, consuls, both for your sakes
and ours. With regard to myself, it is my determination to depart
hence home immediately, that I may not be tainted with the suspicion
of any word or deed if I remain." Having said this, he departed. When
the consuls had laid the matter before the senate, a matter that was
doubtful, though vouched for by a thoroughly reliable authority, the
authority, more than the matter itself, as usually happens, urged them
to adopt even needless precautions; and a decree of the senate having
been passed that the Volscians should quit the city, criers were sent
in different directions to order them all to depart before night.
They were at first smitten with great panic, as they ran in different
directions to their lodgings to carry away their effects. Afterward,
when setting out, indignation arose in their breasts, to think that
they, as if polluted with crime and contaminated, had been driven away
from the games on festival days, a meeting, so to speak, both of gods
and men.

As they went along in an almost unbroken line, Tullius, who had
preceded them to the fountain of Ferentina, [46]received the chief
men, as each arrived, and, complaining and giving vent to expressions
of indignation, led both those, who eagerly listened to language that
favoured their resentment, and through them the