of their fellow-citizens.  That by these means—­and let them not think that there was any other object contemplated—­the law was defeated, unless, while the matter was still in abeyance, while they were still at home and in the grab of citizens, they took precautions, so as to avoid being driven out of possession of the city, or being subjected to the yoke.  If they only had spirit, support would not be wanting:  that all the tribunes were unanimous:  that there was no apprehension from abroad, no danger.  That the gods had taken care, in the preceding year that their liberty could be defended with safety.  Thus spoke the tribunes.

But on the other side, the consuls, having placed their chairs[18] within view of them, were holding the levy; thither the tribunes hastened down, and carried the assembly along with them; a few [19] were summoned, as it were, by way of making an experiment, and instantly violence ensued.  Whomsoever the lictor laid hold of by order of the consul, him the tribune ordered to be released; nor did his own proper jurisdiction set a limit to each, but they rested their hopes on force, and whatever they set their mind upon, was to be gained by violence.  Just as the tribunes had behaved in impeding the levy, in the same manner did the consuls conduct themselves in obstructing the law which was brought forward on each assembly day.  The beginning of the riot was that the patricians refused to allow themselves to be moved away, when the tribunes ordered the people to proceed to give their vote.  Scarcely any of the older citizens mixed themselves up in the affair, inasmuch as it was one that would not be directed by prudence, but was entirely abandoned to temerity and daring.  The consuls also frequently kept out of the way, lest in the general confusion they might expose their dignity to insult.  There was one Caeso Quinctius, a youth who prided himself both on the nobility of his descent, and his bodily stature and strength; to these endowments bestowed on him by the gods, he himself had added many brave deeds in war, and eloquence in the forum; so that no one in the state was considered readier either in speech or action.  When he had taken his place in the midst of a body of the patricians, pre-eminent above the rest, carrying as it were in his eloquence and bodily strength dictatorships and consulships combined, he alone withstood the storms of the tribunes and the populace.  Under his guidance the tribunes were frequently driven from the forum, the commons routed and dispersed; such as came in his way, came off ill-treated and stripped:  so that it became quite clear that, if he were allowed to proceed in this way, the law was as good as defeated Then, when the other tribunes were now almost thrown into despair, Aulus Verginius, one of the colleges, appointed a day for Caeso to take his trial on a capital charge.  By this proceeding he rather irritated than intimidated his violent temper:  so much the more vigorously