and his virtues ripened, they should allow so distinguished a man to grow old in the state.  Among these his father, Lucius Quinctius, who bore the surname of Cincinnatus, without dwelling too often on his services, so as not to heighten public hatred, but soliciting pardon for his youthful errors, implored them to forgive his son for his sake, who had not given offence to any either by word or deed.  But while some, through respect or fear, turned away from his entreaties, others, by the harshness of their answer, complaining that they and their friends had been ill-treated, made no secret of what their decision would be.

Independently of the general odium, one charge in particular bore heavily on the accused; that Marcus Volscius Fictor, who some years before had been tribune of the people, had come forward to bear testimony:  that not long after the pestilence had raged in the city, he had fallen in with a party of young men rioting in the Subura;[20] that a scuffle had taken place:  and that his elder brother, not yet perfectly recovered from his illness, had been knocked down by Caeso with a blow of his fist:  that he had been carried home half dead in the arms of some bystanders, and that he was ready to declare that he had died from the blow:  and that he had not been permitted by the consuls of former years to obtain redress for such an atrocious affair.  In consequence of Volscius vociferating these charges, the people became so excited that Caeso was near being killed through the violence of the crowd.  Verginius ordered him to be seized and dragged off to prison.  The patricians opposed force to force.  Titus Quinctius exclaimed that a person for whom a day of trial for a capital offence had been appointed, and whose trial was now close at hand, ought not to be outraged before he was condemned, and without a hearing.  The tribune replied that he would not inflict punishment on him before he was condemned:  that he would, however, keep him in prison until the day of trial, that the Roman people might have an opportunity of inflicting punishment on one who had killed a man.[21] The tribunes being appealed to, got themselves out of the difficulty in regard to their prerogative of rendering aid, by a resolution that adopted a middle course:  they forbade his being thrown into confinement, and declared it to be their wish that the accused should be brought to trial, and that a sum of money should be promised to the people, in case he should not appear.  How large a sum of money ought to be promised was a matter of doubt:  the decision was accordingly referred to the senate.  The accused was detained in public custody until the patricians should be consulted:  it was decided that bail should be given:  they bound each surety in the sum of three thousand asses; how many sureties should be given was left to the tribunes; they fixed the number at ten:  on this number of sureties the prosecutor admitted the accused to bail.[22] He was the first who gave public sureties.