nd
by their assistance the consuls hold the levy. An army is raised for the
two wars at the same time; one is given to Fabius to be led against the
AEqui, the other to Furius against the Veientians. And with respect to
the Veientians, nothing was done worthy of mention. Fabius had much more
trouble with his countrymen than with the enemy: that one man himself,
as consul, sustained the commonwealth, which the army was betraying, far
as in them lay, through their hatred of the consul. For when the consul,
in addition to his other military talents, which he exhibited amply in
his preparations for and conduct of war, had so drawn up his line that
he routed the enemy's army solely by a charge of his cavalry, the
infantry refused to pursue them when routed: and though the exhortation
of their general, whom they hated, could not move them, neither could
even their own infamy, and the present public disgrace and subsequent
danger, if the enemy should recover courage, oblige them to quicken
their pace, or even to stand in order of battle, if nothing else.
Without orders they face about, and with a sorrowful air (you would
suppose them beaten) they return to the camp, execrating at one time
their general, at another time the services rendered by the cavalry. Nor
were any remedies sought by the general for this so pestilent an
example; so true is it that the most distinguished talents are more
likely to be deficient in the tact of managing their countrymen than in
that of conquering an enemy. The consul returned to Rome, not having so
much increased his military glory as irritated and exasperated the
hatred of his soldiers towards him. The patricians, however, succeeded
in having the consulship remain in the Fabian family. They elect M.
Fabius consul: Cn. Manlius is assigned as a colleague to Fabius.

44. This year also had a tribune as a proposer of the agrarian law. It
was Titus Pontificius: he pursuing the same course, as if it had
succeeded with Sp. Licinius, obstructed the levy for a little time. The
patricians being once more perplexed, Appius Claudius asserts "that the
tribunitian power was put down last year: for the present by the very
act, for the future by the precedent established, and since it was found
that it could be rendered ineffective by its own strength; for that
there never would be wanting a tribune who would both be willing to
obtain a victory for himself over his colleague, and the favour of the
better part