d; immense booty was obtained. This
the consuls sold on account of the low state of the treasury; the
proceeding was the cause of dissatisfaction to the army, and it also
afforded to the tribunes materials for bringing a charge against the
consuls before the commons. Accordingly, as soon as they went out of
office, in the consulship of Spurius Tarpeius and Aulus Aterius, a day
was appointed for Romilius by Caius Claudius Cicero, tribune of the
people; for Veturius, by Lucius Alienus, plebeian aedile. They were both
condemned, to the great mortification of the patricians; Romilius to pay
ten thousand _asses_; Veturius, fifteen thousand. Nor did this
misfortune of their predecessors render the new consuls more remiss.
They said that they too might be condemned, and that the commons and
tribunes could not carry the law. Then having thrown up the law, which,
in its repeated publication, had now grown old, the tribunes adopted a
milder mode of proceeding with the patricians. "That they should at
length put an end to their disputes. If plebeian laws displeased them,
at least they should suffer legislators (chosen) in common, both from
the commons and from the patricians, who would propose measures
advantageous to both parties, and such as might tend to the
equalization of liberty." This proposal the patricians did not reject.
They said that "no one should propose laws, except some of the
patricians." When they agreed with respect to the laws, and differed
only with respect to the proposer; ambassadors were sent to Athens,
Spurius Posthumius Albus, Aulus Manlius, Publius Sulpicius Camerinus;
and they were ordered to copy out the celebrated laws of Solon, and to
become acquainted with the institutions, customs, and laws of the other
states of Greece.

[Footnote 133: It is extraordinary that Livy makes no mention here of
Siccius Dentatus, and his strenuous exertions in endeavouring to carry
the agrarian law, as well as of his angry contentions with the consuls.
For his character, see Dion. x. 31, 32.]

32. The year was undisturbed by foreign wars; the following one was
still more quiet, Publius Curiatius and Sextus Quintilius being consuls,
the tribunes observing uninterrupted silence, which was occasioned in
the first place by their waiting for the ambassadors who had gone to
Athens, and for the foreign laws; in the next place, two heavy
calamities arose at the same time, famine and pestilence, (which proved)
destructive to m