unequal.”  Minucius urged, that they had both been appointed to the government of one province, Italy; and that, through the course of their administration, his colleague and himself had been united in sentiments and in counsels; to which Cornelius added, that, when the Boians were passing the Po, to assist the Insubrians and Caenomanians against him, they were forced to return to defend their own country, from his colleague ravaging their towns and lands.  In reply the tribunes acknowledged, that the services performed in the war by Cornelius were so great, that “no more doubt could be entertained respecting his triumph than respecting the ascribing of glory to the immortal gods.”  Nevertheless they insisted, that “neither he nor any other member of the community should possess such power and influence as to be able, after obtaining the honour that was due to himself, to bestow the same distinction on a colleague, who immodestly demanded what he had not deserved.  The exploits of Quintus Minucius in Liguria were trifling skirmishes, scarcely deserving mention; and in Gaul he had lost great numbers of soldiers.”  They mentioned even military tribunes, Titus Juvencius and Cneius Labeo, of the fourth legion, the plebeian tribune’s brother, who had fallen in unsuccessful conflict, together with many other brave men, both citizens and allies:  and they asserted, that “pretended surrenders of a few towns and villages, fabricated for the occasion, had been made, without any pledge of fidelity being taken.”  These altercations between the consuls and tribunes lasted two days:  at last the consuls, overcome by the obstinacy of the tribunes, proposed their claims separately.

23.  To Cneius Cornelius a triumph was unanimously decreed:  and the inhabitants of Placentia and Cremona added to the applause bestowed on the consul, by returning him thanks, and mentioning, to his honour, that they had been delivered by him from a siege; and that very many of them, when in the hands of the enemy, had been rescued from captivity.  Quintus Minucius just tried how the proposal of his claim would be received, and finding the whole senate averse from it, declared, that by the authority of his office of consul, and pursuant to the example of many illustrious men, he would triumph on the Alban mount.  Caius Cornelius, being yet in office, triumphed over the Insubrian and Caenomanian Gauls.  He produced a great number of military standards, and earned in the procession abundance of Gallic spoils in captured chariots.  Many Gauls of distinction were led before his chariot, and along with them, some writers say, Hamilcar, the Carthaginian general.  But what, more than all, attracted the eyes of the public, was a crowd of Cremonian and Placentian colonists, with caps of liberty on their heads, following his chariot.  He carried in his triumph two hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred asses,[1] and of silver denarii, stamped with a chariot, seventy-nine thousand.[2]