affairs not yet matured
would have been destroyed by discord, which the tranquil moderation of
the government so cherished, and by proper nourishment brought to such
perfection, that, their strength being now developed, they were able to
produce the wholesome fruits of liberty. But the origin of liberty you
may date from this period, rather because the consular authority was
made annual, than that any diminution was made from the kingly
prerogative. The first consuls had all their privileges and ensigns of
authority, only care was taken that the terror might not appear doubled,
by both having the fasces at the same time. Brutus was, with the consent
of his colleague, first attended by the fasces, who had not been a more
zealous assertor of liberty than he was afterwards its guardian. First
of all he bound over the people, whilst still enraptured with their
newly-acquired liberty, by an oath that they would suffer no one to be
king in Rome, lest afterwards they might be perverted by the
importunities or bribes of the royal family. Next in order, that the
fulness of the house might produce more of strength in the senate, he
filled up the number of the senators, diminished by the king's murders,
to the amount of three hundred, having elected the principal men of the
equestrian rank; and from thence it is said the custom was derived of
summoning into the senate both those who were patres and those who were
conscripti.[65] Forsooth they styled those who were elected into the new
senate Conscripti. It is wonderful how much that contributed to the
concord of the state, and to attach the affection of the commons to the
patricians.

[Footnote 65: All were called _Patres conscripti_. Scil. Patres et
Conscripti, the conjunction being omitted. Nieb. i. p. 517.]

2. Then attention was paid to religious matters, and as some part of the
public worship had been performed by the kings in person, that they
might not be missed in any respect, they elect a king of the sacrifices.
This office they made subject to the pontiff, that honour being added to
the name might be no infringement on their liberty, which was now their
principal care. And I know not whether by fencing it on every side to
excess, even in the most trivial matters, they may not have exceeded
bounds. For when there was nothing else to offend, the name of one of
the consuls became an object of dislike to the state. "That the
Tarquinii had been too much habituated to soverei