ne invested with
it; he aspersed the nobles, extolled all the most unimportant and
insignificant candidates; surrounded by the Duellii and Icilii who had
been tribunes, he himself bustled about the forum, through their means
he recommended himself to the commons; until even his colleagues, who
till then had been devoted to him heart and soul, turned their eyes on
him, wondering what he was about. It was evident to them that there
was no sincerity in it; that such affability amid such pride would
surely prove not disinterested. That this excessive lowering of
himself, and condescending to familiarity with private citizens, was
characteristic not so much of one eager to retire from office, as of
one seeking the means of continuing that office. Not daring openly to
oppose his wishes, they set about mitigating his ardour by humouring
it. They by common consent conferred on him, as being the youngest,
the office of presiding at the elections. This was an artifice, to
prevent his appointing himself; which no one ever did, except the
tribunes of the people, and that with the very worst precedent. He,
however, declaring that, with the favour of fortune, he would preside
at the elections, seized upon what should have been an obstacle as a
lucky opportunity: and having succeeded by a coalition in keeping out
of office the two Quinctii, Capitolinus and Cincinnatus, and his
own uncle Gaius Claudius, a man most steadfast in the cause of the
nobility, and other citizens of equal eminence, he secured
the appointment as decemvirs of men by no means their equals
distinction--himself in the first instance, a proceeding which
honourable men disapproved of greatly, as no one believed that he
would have ventured to do it. With him were elected Marcus Cornelius
Maluginensis, Marcus Sergius, Lucius Minucius, Quintus Fabius
Vibulanus, Quintus Poetilius, Titus Antonius Merenda, Caeso Duilius,
Spurius Oppius Cornicen, Manius Rabuleius.

This was the end of Appius's playing a part at variance with his
disposition. Henceforward he began to live according to his natural
character, and to mould to his own temper his new colleagues before
they entered upon office. They daily held meetings in private: then,
instructed in their unruly designs, which they concocted apart from
others, now no longer dissembling their arrogance, difficult of
access, captious to all who conversed with them, they protracted the
matter until the ides of May. The ides of May