and taken from
enemies who had been conquered in war. The patricians, having the
chief political power, gained exclusive occupation (possessio) of this
ager publicus, for which they paid a nominal rent in the shape of
produce and tithes. The nature of the charge brought by Cassius was
not the fact of its being occupied by privati, but by patricians to
the exclusion of plebeians.]

[Footnote 50: "Quaestors," this is the first mention of these officers
in Livy; in early times it appears to have been part of their duty
to prosecute those who were guilty of treason, and to carry out the
punishment.]

[Footnote 51: On the west slope of the Esquiline.--D.O.]

[Footnote 52: There seems to be something wrong in the text here, as
the subterfuge was distinctively a patrician one, and the commons had
nothing to gain and all to lose by it. If Livy means that the commons
provoked war by giving cause for the patricians to seek refuge in it,
he certainly puts it very vaguely.--D. O.]

[Footnote 53: July 15th.]

[Footnote 54: By being buried alive. The idea being that the
ceremonies could not be duly performed by an unchaste vestal.--D. O.]

[Footnote 55: By his power of veto.--D.O.]

[Footnote 56: These were veterans and formed the third line. The first
were the "hastati," so called from their carrying long spears,
which were later discarded for heavy javelins. The second were the
"principes," the main line.--D. O.]

[Footnote 57: The space assigned for the general's tent.--D. O.]

[Footnote 58: The legati of a general were at once his council of war
and his staff.--D. O.]

[Footnote 59: There is much in the description of this battle not easy
to understand, and I am inclined to believe it was at least no better
than drawn. The plundered camp, the defeat of the triarii, and
the failure to mention pursuit or consequences, all favour this
supposition.--D. O.]

[Footnote 60: It was to be victory or annihilation.--D. O.]

[Footnote 61: so called from the altar of Carmenta, which stood near
it. It was located in or near what is now the Piazza Montanara, and
was always after considered a gate of evil omen.--D. O.]

[Footnote 62: Now the Valchetta.--D. O.]

[Footnote 63: Probably of mercenaries, as the Veientines are alluded
to throughout the paragraph as commanding, and it was apparently not a
case of alliance.--D. O.]

[Footnote 64: On the Via Flaminia (near the grotta rossa).]

[Footnote 65: This story has been much q