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However, for those not registering their property and themselves in the censuses, the censors sold their property, and the consuls sold the men themselves. For some time, then, these things were done in this way, but later it was decided that one who had once been enrolled in the senate should be a senator for life, and not be struck off, unless someone had been dishonored for committing an injustice and being judged, or was convicted of living a wicked life; for they would strike off such men and enroll others in their place. Of the magistrates who held office for a term, the first rank was given to the dictators, the second to the censors, and the third rank was assigned to the masters of the horse; and thus 2.145 these things were ordered, whether they were in office or had left it. For if someone passed from a higher office to a lower one, he kept the dignity of the former intact. But one man, whom they named princeps senatus, or in Greek 'prokritos' (first man), had precedence over all for the time he was so chosen—for one was not appointed to this for life—and he surpassed the others in dignity, but did not exercise any actual power. For some time, then, they maintained peace with one another and with their neighbors; then when a famine prevailed, so that some even threw themselves into the river, unable to bear the hunger, they fell into civil strife. For some blamed the wealthy for malpractice concerning the grain, while others blamed the poor for not wanting to work the land. Seeing this, Spurius Maelius, a wealthy equestrian, attempted to seize tyrannical power; having bought grain from the surrounding country, he sold it cheaply to many, and gave it to many for free, and by this means having won over a great number, he provided himself with arms and guards; and he would have gained control of the city, if Minucius Augurinus, a patrician, who was in charge of the grain supply and was being blamed for the grain shortage, had not reported to the senate what was happening. The senate, having learned of the information, immediately proclaimed Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus dictator in the senate-house, even though he was past the prime of life; for he was eighty years old. And there they spent the whole day sitting together, as if deliberating on some matter, so that what had happened would not leak out. But at night the dictator 2.146, having pre-emptively occupied the Capitol and the other most strategic points with the cavalry, at dawn sent Gaius Servilius, the master of the horse, to Maelius, as if summoning him for some other reason. But he, as Maelius suspected something and was delaying, fearing that he might be rescued by the crowd, for they were already running together, killed the man, either acting on his own authority or having been ordered to do this by the dictator. When the people were in an uproar over this, Quinctius addressed them, and by providing them with grain and neither punishing nor blaming anyone else, he stopped the disturbance. When wars were brought upon the Romans by various nations, they conquered some in a few days, but with the Tyrrhenians they warred for a long time. And when Postumius had conquered the Aequi and taken a great city of theirs, because the soldiers were neither allowed to plunder it nor received any of the booty when they asked for it, they surrounded and murdered the quaestor who was distributing it, and they also killed Postumius when he rebuked them for this and sought the perpetrators, and they distributed among themselves not only the captured land, but all the land that was then public property. And the sedition would have lasted for a very long time, if war had not again been brought upon the Romans by the Aequi. For, frightened because of this, they became quiet, and they submitted to the punishment for the murders, which fell upon a few, and marching against the enemy they conquered them in battle. For this reason, the powerful men distributed the booty to them and voted pay for the infantry, and then also for the cavalry; for until then they had campaigned without pay and at their own expense; but then for the first time they began to receive pay. 2.147 When a war arose for them against the Veientines, as long as the latter fought by themselves, the Romans defeated them many times, and brought them to a state of siege; but when allies joined them, they marched out against the Romans and prevailed. And amidst these things, the one near the Alban mount

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μέντοι μὴ ἀπογραψαμένων τὰς οὐσίας ἐν ταῖς ἀπογραφαῖς καὶ ἑαυτοὺς τὰς μὲν οὐσίας οἱ τιμηταί, αὐτοὺς δ' ἐκείνους οἱ υπατοι ἐπίπρασκον. χρόνῳ μὲν ουν τινι ταῦθ' ουτως ἐπράχθη, υστερον δὲ τὸν απαξ τῇ βουλῇ καταλεχθέντα διὰ βίου βουλεύειν εδοξε, μηδ' ἀπαλείφεσθαι, εἰ μή τις ἀδικήσας καὶ κριθεὶς ἠτίμωτο η κακῶς ζῶν ἠλέγχθη· τοὺς γὰρ τοιούτους ἀπήλειφον καὶ ἀντ' αὐτῶν ἑτέρους ἐνέγραφον. Τῶν δὲ προσκαίρως ἀρχόντων πρεσβεῖα μὲν ἐδίδοτο τοῖς δικτάτωρσι, δευτερεῖα δέ γε τοῖς τιμηταῖς, ἡ δὲ τρίτη τάξις τοῖς ἱππάρχοις νενέμητο· καὶ ουτω 2.145 ταῦτα ἐτέτακτο, καν ἐν ταῖς ἀρχαῖς ησαν καν ἀπηλλάγησαν. εἰ γάρ τις ἐκ μείζονος ἀρχῆς εἰς ὑποδεεστέραν κατέστη, τὸ τῆς προτέρας ἀξίωμα ειχεν ἀκέραιον. εις δέ τις, ον πρίγκιπα μὲν τῆς γερουσίας ὠνόμαζον, λέγοιτο δ' αν καθ' Ελληνας πρόκριτος, συμπάντων προεῖχε τὸν χρόνον ον προεκρίνετο, οὐ γὰρ διὰ βίου τις εἰς τοῦτο προεχειρίζετο, καὶ προέφερε τῶν αλλων τῷ ἀξιώματι, οὐ μὴν καὶ δυνάμει ἐχρῆτό τινι. Χρόνον μὲν ουν τινα εἰρήνην πρὸς ἀλλήλους καὶ πρὸς τοὺς περιοίκους ηγαγον· ειτα λιμοῦ ἐπικρατήσαντος, ωστε τινὰς καὶ εἰς τὸν ποταμὸν ἑαυτοὺς ἐμβαλεῖν μὴ φέροντας τὸν λιμόν, ἐστασίασαν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ τοὺς εὐπόρους ὡς περὶ τὸν σῖτον κακουργοῦντας ἐν αἰτίᾳ πεποίηντο, οἱ δὲ τοὺς πένητας ὡς τὴν γῆν μὴ βουλομένους ἐργάζεσθαι. ἰδὼν δὲ τοῦτο Σπούριος Μάλιος, ἀνὴρ ἱππεὺς πλούσιος, τυραννίδι ἐπικεχείρηκε, καὶ σῖτον ἐκ τῆς περιχώρου πριάμενος πολλοῖς μὲν ἐπευωνίζων, πολλοῖς δὲ καὶ προῖκα ἐδίδου, κἀκ τούτου συχνοὺς προσοικειωσάμενος, οπλα τε ἐπορίσατο καὶ φρουρούς· καὶ ἐκράτησεν αν τῆς πόλεως, εἰ μὴ Μινούκιος Αὐγουρῖνος, ἀνὴρ εὐπατρίδης, ἐπὶ τῇ σιτοδοσίᾳ τεταγμένος καὶ αἰτιώμενος ἐπὶ τῇ σιτοδείᾳ, εἰσήγγειλε τῇ βουλῇ τὸ πραττόμενον. ἡ δὲ γερουσία μαθοῦσα τὸ μήνυμα δικτάτωρα παραυτίκα ἐν τῷ συνεδρίῳ ἀνεῖπε τὸν Κυΐντιον τὸν Λούκιον τὸν Κικινάτον, καὶ ταῦτα παρήλικα οντα· ὀγδοηκοντούτης γὰρ ην. κἀκεῖ τὴν ἡμέραν πᾶσαν ἀνάλωσαν συγκαθήμενοι, ως τι δὴ βουλευόμενοι, ινα μὴ τὸ γεγονὸς ἐκφοιτήσῃ. νυκτὸς δ' ὁ δικτάτωρ τὸ 2.146 Καπιτώλιον καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τὰ ἐπικαιρότατα διὰ τῶν ἱππέων προκαταλαβών, εωθεν ἐπὶ τὸν Μάλιον επεμψε Γάιον Σερουίλιον τὸν ιππαρχον, ὡς δι' αλλο τι ἐκεῖνον μετακαλούμενος. ὁ δέ, ὑποτοπήσαντός τι τοῦ Μαλίου καὶ διαμέλλοντος, δείσας μὴ ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους ἐξαρπασθῇ, ηδη γὰρ συνέτρεχον, εκτεινε τὸν ανδρα, η αὐτογνωμονήσας η τοῦτο κεκελευσμένος πρὸς τοῦ δικτάτωρος. θορυβηθέντος δ' ἐπὶ τούτῳ τοῦ πλήθους ὁ Κυΐντιος δημηγορήσας καὶ σῖτον σφίσι παρασχὼν καὶ μή τινα ετερον η κολάσας η ἐπαιτιασάμενος τὸν θόρυβον επαυσε. Πολέμων δὲ τοῖς ̔Ρωμαίοις ἐκ διαφόρων ἐθνῶν ἐπενηνεγμένων, τοὺς μὲν ἐν ὀλίγαις ἡμέραις ἐνίκησαν, τοῖς δὲ Τυρσηνοῖς ἐπὶ μακρὸν ἐπολέμησαν. Ποστουμίου δὲ νενικηκότος τοὺς Αἰκουοὺς καὶ μεγάλην πόλιν ἑλόντος αὐτῶν, οτι μήτ' ἐκείνην οἱ στρατιῶται εἰς προνομὴν ἐξεχωρήθησαν μήτε τι τῆς λείας αἰτήσαντες ελαβον, τόν τε ταμίαν τὸν διατιθέμενον αὐτὴν περιστάντες ἐφόνευσαν καὶ τὸν Ποστούμιον ἐπιτιμῶντα αὐτοῖς ἐπὶ τούτῳ καὶ ζητοῦντα τοὺς αὐτόχειρας προσαπέκτειναν, καὶ τὴν χώραν οὐ τὴν αἰχμάλωτον μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πᾶσαν προσένειμαν ἑαυτοῖς τὴν ἐν τῷ δημοσίῳ τότε τυγχάνουσαν. καν ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἡ στάσις διήρκεσεν, εἰ μὴ πόλεμος αυθις ̔Ρωμαίοις παρὰ τῶν Αἰκουῶν ἐπενήνεκτο. φοβηθέντες γὰρ διὰ τοῦτο ἡσύχασαν, καὶ τὴν τιμωρίαν τῶν φόνων εἰς ὀλίγους ἐλθοῦσαν ὑπέμειναν, καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐναντίους στρατεύσαντες μάχῃ αὐτοὺς νενικήκασι. διὸ τήν τε λείαν αὐτοῖς οἱ δυνατοὶ διέδοσαν καὶ μισθὸν τοῖς πεζοῖς, ειτα καὶ τοῖς ἱππεῦσιν ἐψηφίσαντο· ἀμισθὶ γὰρ μέχρι τότε καὶ οἰκόσιτοι ἐστρατεύοντο· τότε δὲ πρῶτον μισθοφορεῖν ηρξαντο. 2.147 Πολέμου δὲ αὐτοῖς πρὸς Οὐιέντας συστάντος, εως μὲν κατὰ σφᾶς ἐπολέμουν ἐκεῖνοι, πολλάκις αὐτοὺς οἱ ̔Ρωμαῖοι ἐνίκησαν, καὶ ἐς πολιορκίαν κατέστησαν· προσγενομένων δὲ αὐτοῖς συμμάχων ἐπεξῆλθον τοῖς ̔Ρωμαίοις καὶ ἐπεκράτησαν. ἐν τούτοις δὲ ἡ πρὸς τῷ ορει τῷ ̓Αλβανῷ