unchanged in all essential points to the latest times of the republic. But when the _Plebes_ refused to serve, it did not answer (_non respondebat_): such a silence is the most awful that can be. Since this now happened, the consuls knew not which way to turn. A loud outcry arose, that people would not be so foolish as to shed their blood for their tyrant-masters; that the whole gain of the war fell to the lot of the patricians; that the booty was shared among them, and that it passed into the _publicum_ (the chest of the patricians), not into the _ærarium_; that the plebeian became poorer and poorer, and that he was obliged to pledge himself and his to the patrician, and to serve him as a bondman. Among the patricians a split began to show itself. Livy tells us, that the _minores natu_ among the _patres_ were foremost in the fray;--probably this ought to be the _minores_, who are the Luceres, as it is impossible to think of young patricians at that time as members of the senate, which in reality was a γερουσία. The consuls (A. 259) belonged to opposite parties; Appius Claudius representing the interest of the most furious oligarchs, Servilius being moderate. In the danger which was threatening, one could only succeed by mildness: every attempt to raise an army by force disgracefully failed. Servilius had himself authorized by the senate to arrange matters. He issued a proclamation calling upon all those who had been pledged for debt to present themselves, and he gave them security as long as they should be in the field, and for their children and dependants as well. Numbers now crowded to the standards, and with the army thus formed, Servilius went out to war, and returned victorious. He had promised to do his utmost with the senate to make them cancel the contracts for debt; but the senate did not grant any thing, and the army was dismissed. Appius Claudius undertook the jurisdiction, and, without paying any regard to the word of the consul, addicted all those who had been in the field to their creditors, or obliged them to enter into a _nexum_. The rest of the year was passed in the greatest commotion. The consuls who came next, A. Virginius and T. Vetusius (A. 260), were both of them men of moderate views;--a proof that the election lay still with the centuries, as the curies would have chosen the most violent oligarchs. Yet they were not able to do any thing either with the senate or their own order. It was again attempted to raise an army, and the difficulties were the same as before. The consuls were reproached with cowardice; others who wanted to strike terror into the people, had to think of saving their lives instead. Real danger there was only on market days; the _Plebes_ consisting of peasants who lived in the country. In Italy tillage requires extraordinary care. The land must be weeded several times during summer; the Romans plough the fallow ground five, six, or seven times; they weed the fields, and weed them again,