This was the man who was a candidate for the censorship, and the nobility tried now, as they had done all through his life, to crush him. With the exception of L. Flaccus, who had been his colleague in the consulship, all the candidates combined to keep him out, not so much because they wanted the post for themselves, or because they were indignant at the prospect of a "novus homo" as censor, as because they expected that his censorship would be strict and severe and damaging to many reputations; most of them had done him a bad turn and he would be eager to retaliate. Even in his candidature he assumed a menacing tone and accused his opponents of trying to prevent his election, because they were afraid of a censor who would act with impartiality and courage. At the same time he supported the candidature of L. Valerius, for he considered him the only man with whom as colleague he could repress the vices of the time and restore the old standard of morality. His speeches awoke general enthusiasm and the people, in the teeth of the nobility, not only made him censor but gave him L. Valerius as his colleague. Close upon the election of censors followed the departure of the consuls and praetors for their provinces. Q. Naevius, however, did not leave for Sicily till four months had elapsed, as he was detained by the task of investigating charges of poisoning. These were gone into mostly in the boroughs and market towns, a more convenient arrangement than transferring them to Rome. If we are to believe Valerius Antias, he sentenced more than 2000 persons. L. Postumius, to whom Tarentum had been assigned as his province, crushed the wide-spread conspiracy of the herdsmen, and made a close and careful examination into the remaining cases connected with the Bacchanalia. Many who had been summoned to Rome had not put in an appearance or had deserted their securities and were in hiding in that part of Italy. Some he arrested and sent to Rome for the senate to deal with, others he convicted and sentenced. They were all thrown into prison by P. Cornelius.
The Greek stands ready in the workroom; the English is served. Both faces will read together.
Antias — a candidate entry
The History of Rome, Livy — translated by Rev. Canon Roberts, 1912
Apparatus shelf + pinned Wikisource — Livy, The History of Rome (Rev. Canon Roberts translation, Everyman's Library) · Rev. Canon Roberts, Everyman's Library (J. M. Dent & Sons / E. P. Dutton), first issue 1912; six volumes
license: public-domain (the Roberts translation's Everyman first issue is 1912, pre-1930; Wikisource dates the translation 1905 — either way decades inside the US public domain; digital-door text carries no additional rights)