than that inherited from his father: he
had been defeated by them: when he had been chosen consul as the only
man able to oppose the influence of the tribunes, a law had been
passed, which former consuls had obstructed with less effect, amid
hopes of the senators by no means so great as those now placed in him.
His resentment and indignation at this stirred his imperious temper to
harass the army by the severity of his command; it could not, however,
be subdued by any exercise of authority, with such a spirit of
opposition were the soldiers filled. They carried out all orders
slowly, indolently, carelessly, and stubbornly: neither shame nor
fear restrained them. If he wished the march to be accelerated, they
designedly went more slowly: if he came up to them to encourage them
in their work, they all relaxed the energy which they had before
exerted of their own accord: they cast down their eyes in his
presence, they silently cursed him as he passed by; so that that
spirit, unconquered by plebeian hatred, was sometimes moved. Every
kind of severity having been tried without effect, he no longer held
any intercourse with the soldiers; he said the army was corrupted by
the centurions; he sometimes gibingly called them tribunes of the
people and Voleros.

None of these circumstances were unknown to the Volscians, and they
pressed on with so much the more vigour, hoping that the Roman
soldiers would entertain the same spirit of opposition against Appius
as they had formerly exhibited against the consul Fabius. However,
they showed themselves still more embittered against Appius than
against Fabius. For they were not only unwilling to conquer, like the
army of Fabius, but even wished to be conquered. When led forth into
the field, they made for their camp in ignominious flight, and did
not stand their ground until they saw the Volscians advancing against
their fortifications, and the dreadful havoc in the rear of their
army. Then they were compelled to put forth their strength for battle,
in order that the now victorious enemy might be dislodged from their
lines; while, however, it was sufficiently clear that the Roman
soldiers were only unwilling that the camp should be taken, in regard
to all else they gloried in their own defeat and disgrace. When the
haughty spirit of Appius, in no wise broken by this behaviour of the
soldiers, purposed to act with still greater severity, and summoned a
meeting, the lieutenants and tribun