Italy fell to Lucius Cornelius Lentulus, Macedonia
to Publius Villius. Of the praetors, the city
jurisdiction fell to Lucius Quinctius, Ariminum to
Cneius Baebius, Sicily to Lucius Valerius, Sardinia
to Lucius Villius. The consul Lentulus was ordered
to levy new legions; Villius, to receive the army
from Publius Sulpicius; and, to complete its number,
power was given him to raise as many men as he thought
proper. To the praetor Baebius were decreed the
legions which Caius Aurelius, late consul, had commanded,
with directions that he should keep them in their present
situation, until the consul should come with the new
army to supply their place; and that, on his arriving
in Gaul, all the soldiers who had served out their
time should be sent home, except five thousand of
the allies, which would be sufficient to protect the
province round Ariminum. The command was continued
to the praetors of the former year; to Cneius Sergius,
that he might superintend the distribution of land
to the soldiers who had served for many years in Spain,
Sicily, and Sardinia; to Quintus Minucius, that he
might finish the inquiries concerning the conspiracies
in Bruttium, which, while praetor, he had managed
with care and fidelity. That he should also send
to Locri, to suffer punishment, those who had been
convicted of sacrilege, and who were then in chains
at Rome; and that he should take care, that whatever
had been carried away from the temple of Proserpine
should be replaced with expiations. The Latin
festival was repeated in pursuance of a decree of
the pontiffs, because ambassadors from Ardea had complained
to the senate, that during the said solemnity they
had not been supplied with meat as usual on the Alban
mount. From Suessa an account was brought, that
two of the gates, and the wall between them, had been
struck with lightning. Messengers from Formiae
related, that the temple of Jupiter had also been
struck by lightning; from Ostia, likewise, news came
of the like accident having happened to the temple
of Jupiter there; it was said, too, that the temples
of Apollo and Sancus, at Veliternum, were struck in
like manner; and that in the temple of Hercules, hair
had grown (on the statue). A letter was received
from Quintus Minucius, propraetor, from Bruttium, that
a foal had been born with five feet, and three chickens
with three feet each. Afterwards a letter was
brought from Macedonia, from Publius Sulpicius, proconsul,
in which, among other matters, it was mentioned, that
a laurel tree had sprung up on the poop of a ship of
war. On occasion of the former prodigies, the
senate had voted, that the consuls should offer sacrifices
with the greater victims to such gods as they thought
proper. On account of the last prodigy, alone,
the aruspices were called before the senate, and,
in pursuance of their answer, the people were ordered
by proclamation to perform a supplication for one
day, and worship was solemnized at all the shrines.