did the tribunes strive on the other hand to render them suspicious in the eyes of the commons by alleging that a conspiracy had been formed; that Caeso was in Rome; that plans had been concerted for assassinating the tribunes, for butchering the commons.  That the commission assigned by the elder members of the patricians was, that the young men should abolish the tribunician power from the state, and the form of government should be the same as it had been before the occupation of the Sacred Mount.  At the same time a war from the Volscians and AEquans, which had now become a fixed and almost regular occurrence every year, was apprehended, and another evil nearer home started up unexpectedly.  Exiles and slaves, to the number of two thousand five hundred, seized the Capitol and citadel during the night, under the command of Appius Herdonius, a Sabine.  Those who refused to join the conspiracy and take up arms with them were immediately massacred in the citadel:  others, during the disturbance, fled in headlong panic down to the forum:  the cries, “To arms!” and “The enemy are in the city!” were heard alternately.  The consuls neither dared to arm the commons, nor to suffer them to remain unarmed; uncertain what sudden calamity had assailed the city, whether from without or within, whether arising from the hatred of the commons or the treachery of the slaves:  they tried to quiet the disturbances, and while trying to do so they sometimes aroused them; for the populace, panic-stricken and terrified, could not be directed by authority.  They gave out arms, however, but not indiscriminately; only so that, as it was yet uncertain who the enemy were, there might be a protection sufficiently reliable to meet all emergencies.  The remainder of the night they passed in posting guards in suitable places throughout the city, anxious and uncertain who the enemy were, and how great their number.  Daylight subsequently disclosed the war and its leader.  Appius Herdonius summoned the slaves to liberty from the Capitol, saying, that he had espoused the cause of all the most unfortunate, in order to bring back to their country those who had been exiled and driven out by wrong, and to remove the grievous yoke from the slaves:  that he had rather that were done under the authority of the Roman people.  If there were no hope in that quarter, he would rouse the Volscians and Aequans, and would try even the most desperate remedies.

The whole affair now began to be clearer to the patricians and consuls; besides the news, however, which was officially announced, they dreaded lest this might be a scheme of the Veientines or Sabines; and, further, as there were so many of the enemy in the city, lest the Sabine and Etruscan troops might presently come up according to a concerted plan, and their inveterate enemies, the Volscians and Aequans should come, not to ravage their territories, as before, but even to the gates of the city, as being already in part taken.