office. That indeed seemed undoubted regal
tyranny. Liberty was now deplored as lost forever: no champion of it
stood forth, or seemed likely to do so. And not only were the Romans
themselves sunk in despondency, but they began to be looked down upon
by the neighbouring states, who felt indignant that sovereign power
should be in the hands of a state where liberty did not exist. The
Sabines with a numerous body of men made an incursion into Roman
territory; and having committed extensive devastations, after they had
driven off with impunity booty of men and cattle, they recalled their
troops, which had been dispersed in different directions, to
Eretum, where they pitched their camp, grounding their hopes on the
dissensions at Rome, which they expected would prove an obstruction to
the levy. Not only the couriers, but also the flight of the country
people through the city inspired them with alarm. The decemvirs, left
in a dilemma between the hatred of the patricians and people, took
counsel what was to be done. Fortune, moreover, brought an additional
cause of alarm. The AEquans on the opposite side pitched their camp at
Algidum, and by raids from there ravaged Tusculan territory. News of
this was brought by ambassadors from Tusculum imploring assistance.
The panic thereby occasioned urged the decemvirs to consult the
senate, now that two wars at once threatened the city. They ordered
the patricians to be summoned into the senate-house, well aware what a
storm of resentment was ready to break upon them; they felt that all
would heap upon them the blame for the devastation of their territory,
and for the dangers that threatened; and that that would give them an
opportunity of endeavouring to abolish their office, if they did not
unite in resisting, and by enforcing their authority with severity on
a few who showed an intractable spirit repress the attempts of others.
When the voice of the crier was heard in the forum summoning the
senators into the senate-house to the presence of the decemvirs, this
proceeding, as altogether new, because they had long since given up
the custom of consulting the senate, attracted the attention of the
people, who, full of surprise, wanted to know what had happened, and
why, after so long an interval they were reviving a custom that had
fallen into abeyance: stating that they ought to thank the enemy and
the war, that any of the customs of a free state were complied with.
They looked around f