gnity of his
former position intact. One particular man, whom they styled
_principa_ of the senate (he would be called _prokritos_ by the
Greeks) was preferred before all for the time that he was president (a
person was not chosen for this position for life) and surpassed the
rest in dignity, without wielding, however, any power.

VII, 20.--For a time they maintained peace with each other and with
the adjacent tribes, but then a famine mastered them, so severe that
some not able to endure the pangs of hunger threw themselves into the
river, and they fell to quarreling. The one class blamed the
prosperous as being at fault in the handling of the grain, and the
other class blamed the poorer men for unwillingness to till the soil.
[Sidenote: B.C. 439 (_a.u._ 315)] Spurius Maelius, a wealthy knight,
seeing this attempted to set up a tyranny, and buying corn from the
neighboring region he lowered the price of it for many and gave it
free to many others. In this way he won the friendship of a great many
and procured arms and guardsmen. And he would have gained control of
the city, had not Minucius Augurinus, a patrician, appointed to have
charge of the grain distribution and censured for the lack of grain,
reported the proceeding to the senate. The senate on receiving the
information nominated at once and at that very meeting Lucius
Quinctius Cincinnatus, though past his prime (he was eighty years
old), to be dictator. They spent the whole day sitting there, as if
engaged in some discussion, to prevent news of their action from
traveling abroad. By night the dictator had the knights occupy in
advance the Capitol and the remaining points of vantage, and at dawn
he sent to Maelius Gaius Servilius, master of the horse, to summon him
pretendedly on some other errand. But as Maelius had some suspicions
and delayed, Servilius fearing that he might be rescued by the
populace--for they were already running together--killed the man
either on his own responsibility or because ordered to do so by the
dictator. At this the populace broke into a riot, but Quinctius
harangued them and by providing them with grain and refraining from
punishing or accusing any one else he stopped the riot.

Wars with various nations now assailed the Romans, in some of which
they were victorious within a few days; but with the Etruscans they
waged a long continued contest. Postumius conquered the AEqui and had
captured a large city of theirs, but the soldie