which Oppius had committed than
by his not having prevented one. A witness was produced, who after
reckoning up twenty-seven years of service, and eight occasions on
which he had been decorated for conspicuous bravery, appeared before
the people wearing all his decorations. Tearing open his dress he
exhibited his back lacerated with stripes. He asked for nothing but a
proof on Oppius' part of any single charge against him; if such proof
were forthcoming, Oppius, though now only a private citizen, might
repeat all his cruelty towards him. Oppius was taken to prison and
there, before the day of trial, he put an end to his life. His
property and that of Claudius were confiscated by the tribunes. Their
colleagues changed their domicile by going into exile; their property
also was confiscated. M. Claudius, who had been the claimant of
Verginia, was tried and condemned; Verginius himself, however, refused
to press for the extreme penalty, so he was allowed to go into exile
to Tibur. Verginia was more fortunate after her death than in her
lifetime; her shade, after wandering through so many houses in quest
of expiatory penalties, at length found rest, not one guilty person
being now left.

Great alarm seized the patricians; the looks of the tribunes were
now as menacing as those of the decemvirs had been. M. Duillius the
tribune imposed a salutary check upon their excessive exercise of
authority. "We have gone," he said, "far enough in the assertion of
our liberty and the punishment of our opponents, so for this year
I will allow no man to be brought to trial or cast into prison. I
disapprove of old crimes, long forgotten, being raked up, now that the
recent ones have been atoned for by the punishment of the decemvirs.
The unceasing care which both the consuls are taking to protect your
liberties is a guarantee that nothing will be done which will call for
the power of the tribunes." This spirit of moderation shown by the
tribune relieved the fears of the patricians, but it also intensified
their resentment against the consuls, for they seemed to be so wholly
devoted to the plebs, that the safety and liberty of the patricians
were a matter of more immediate concern to the plebeian than they were
to the patrician magistrates. It seemed as though their adversaries
would grow weary of inflicting punishment on them sooner than the
consuls would curb their insolence. It was pretty generally asserted
that they had shown weakness, s