The elections and allocation of the provinces.-It was almost at the close of the year that the consul M. Valerius came from Liguria to elect new magistrates. He had done nothing worth mentioning in his province, and this might have been the reason why he had come at a later date than usual to conduct the elections. The consular elections were held on February 1 OO the new consuls were M. Aemilius Lepidus and C. Flaminius The praetors elected on the following day Claudius Pulcher, Ser. Sulpicius Galba, Q. Terentius .Terentius Massiliota, Q. Fulvius Flaccus, and M. Furius Crass币es. When the elections were over the consuls asked the senate to settle what provinces were to be assigned to the praetors. They decreed that there should be two in Rome for the administration of justice;two outside Italy, namely Sicily and Sardinia; two in Italy itself, namely Tarentum and Gaul;and the praetors were ordered to ballot at once for these before they took office. The civic jurisdiction fell to Ser. Sulpicius, the alien to Q. Terentius, Sicily went to L. Terentius, Sardinia to Q. Fulvius, Tarentum to Ap. Claudius, and Gaul to M. Furius. During the year L. Minucius Myrtilus and L. Manlius were charged with having beaten the Carthaginian ambassadors. They were handed over to them by the fetials and carried off to Carthage. There were rumours of a warlike movement on a large scale in Liguria, which was every day growing more serious. In consequence of this the senate decreed that both the consuls pleasure of the senate that there should be armies in those countries it was more fitting that consuls should command them than unofficial citizens.13 They were visiting with all the horrors of war nations against whom no war had been proclaimed, and selling peace to them at a price. If it was necessary that armies should occupy those provinces, then C. Livius and M. Valerius as consuls ought to succeed Fulvius and Manlius, just as L. Scipio, when consul, succeeded Manius Acilias, and M. Fulvius and Cn. Manlius, when they became consuls, succeeded L. Scipio. Now, at all events, seeing that the war in Aetolia was at an end, Asia taken from Antiochus, and the Gauls subjugated, either consuls ought to be sent to command consular armies, or the legions brought home and restored to the republic. After listening to this speech the senate adhered to their decision that Liguria should be the province of both consuls, and Manlius and Fulvius were to resign their provinces, bring their armies away and return to Rome.