lowed was great, and the consuls prepared to meet
the storm. These were Appius Claudius, the proud Sabine nobleman who had
lately become a Roman, and who now led the high patrician party with all
the unbending energy of a chieftain whose will had never been disputed
by his obedient clansmen; and P. Servilius, who represented the milder
and more liberal party of the Fathers.

It chanced that an aged man rushed into the Forum on a market-day,
loaded with chains, clothed with a few scanty rags, his hair and beard
long and squalid; his whole appearance ghastly, as of one oppressed by
long want of food and air. He was recognized as a brave soldier, the old
comrade of many who thronged the Forum. He told his story, how that in
the late wars the enemy had burned his house and plundered his little
farm; that to replace his losses he had borrowed money of a patrician,
that his cruel creditor (in default of payment) had thrown him into
prison,[39] and tormented him with chains and scourges. At this sad
tale, the passions of the people rose high.

[Footnote 39: Such prisons were called _ergastula_, and afterward became
the places for keeping slaves in.]

Appius was obliged to conceal himself, while Servilius undertook to
plead the cause of the plebeians with the senate.

Meantime news came to the city that the Roman territory was invaded by
the Volscian foe. The consuls proclaimed a levy; but the stout yeomen,
one and all, refused to give in their names and take the military oath.
Servilius now came forward and proclaimed by edict that no citizen
should be imprisoned for debt so long as the war lasted, and that at the
close of the war he would propose an alteration of the law. The
plebeians trusted him, and the enemy was driven back. But when the
popular consul returned with his victorious soldiers, he was denied a
triumph, and the senate, led by Appius, refused to make any concession
in favor of the debtors.

The anger of the plebeians rose higher and higher, when again news came
that the enemy was ravaging the lands of Rome. The senate, well knowing
that the power of the consuls would avail nothing, since Appius was
regarded as a tyrant, and Servilius would not choose again to become an
instrument for deceiving the people, appointed a dictator to lead the
citizens into the field. But to make the act as popular as might be,
they named M. Valerius, a descendant of the great Poplicola. The same
scene was repeated over again. V