d, as long as possible, to
exclude the plebeians from all access to the higher honours; and since
merit, by its own intrinsic power, had prevailed so far, as that it
should not, in any rank of men, be precluded from the attainment of
honours, expedients were sought how not only the suffrages of the
people, but even the decisions of fortune may be rendered ineffectual,
and be converted to the aggrandizement of a few. All the consuls
before him had disposed of the provinces by lots; now, the senate
bestowed a province on Fabius without lots. If this was meant as a
mark of honour, the merits of Fabius were so great towards the
commonwealth, and towards himself in particular, that he would gladly
second the advancement of his reputation, provided only its splendour
could be increased without reflecting dishonour on himself. But who
did not see, that, when a war of difficulty and danger, and out of the
ordinary course, was committed to only that one consul, the other
would be considered as useless and insignificant. Fabius gloried in
his exploits performed in Etruria: Publius Decius wished for a like
subject of glory, and perhaps would utterly extinguish that fire,
which the other left smothered, in such a manner that it often broke
out anew, in sudden conflagrations. In fine, honours and rewards he
would concede to his colleague, out of respect to his age and
dignified character: but when danger, when a vigorous struggle with an
enemy was before them, he never did, nor ever would, willingly, give
place. With respect to the present dispute, this much he would gain at
all events, that a business, appertaining to the jurisdiction of the
people, should be determined by an order of that people, and not
complimented away by the senate. He prayed Jupiter, supremely good and
great, and all the immortal gods, not to grant him an equal chance
with his colleague, unless they intended to grant him equal ability
and success, in the management of the war. It was certainly in its
nature reasonable, in the example salutary, and concerned the
reputation of the Roman people, that the consuls should be men of such
abilities, that under either of them a war with Etruria could be well
managed." Fabius, after requesting of the people nothing else than
that, before the tribes were called in to give their votes, they would
hear the letters of the praetor Appius Claudius, written from Etruria,
withdrew from the Comitium, and with no less unanimity o