all hope, and rather than drag on a life of misery muffled their heads ?and threw themselves into the Tiber. III. The Treaso二二d Death of Spurius Maelius. It was at time that Spurius Maelius, a member of the equestrian order and a very wealthy man for those days, entered upon an undertaking, serviceable in itself, but forming a very bad precedent and dictated by still worse motives. Through the instrumentanty of nxs clients and forexan fnenas I'le Durcnasect corn in r.Itruna, and this very circumstance, f. oeneve, namperea the Government in their efforts to cheapen the market. He distributed this corn gratis, and so won the hearts of the plebeians by this generosity that wherever he moved, conspicuous and consequential beyond an ordinary mortal, they followed hind., and this popularity seemed to his hopes a sure earnest of a cons「ulship, But the minds of men are never satisfied with Fortune's promises, and he began to entertain loftier and unattainable aims:he knew the consulship would have to be won in the teeth off: the patricians, so he began to dream of royalty. After all his grand schemes and efforts he looked upon that as the only fitting reward which owing to its ,greatness must be won by the greatest exertions. The consular elections were now close at hand, and as his P飞 ，1二，- ans were not yet matured, this circumstance proved瓦s Quinctius CaDitolinus. a very awkward man for any one, J.， meditating a revolution, was chosen consul 'for the sixth time and Agrippa Menenius, surnamed Lanatus, was assigned to him as his colleague. Lucius Minucius was either reappointed prefect of the corn-market,r 12 11 or his original appointment was for an indefinite period as long as circumstances required; there is nothing definitel y stated beyond the fact that the name of the prefect was ent} wasentered on the“Linen Rolls”among the magistrates允r hni-h vears。 M inucius was dis charging the sam.e function as a State official which Maelius had undertaken asa private citizen, and the same class of people frequented b their houses. ,ale made a discovery which乎“.brought to， notice of the senate, v iz., that arms were being collected Maelius' house, and that he was holding secret meetings which plans were Oeing uncloubtea坟tormea to estaDnsi monarchy. The moment for action was not yet fixed, but everything else had been. settled;the tribunes had been bought over to betray the liberties of the people, and these leaders of parts ass d to them. report til was almost Oetne too late zor me pumic sazezy, iesr ne snouia appear toauthor of vague and groundless suspicions.On hearing this the leaders of the senate censured theof the previous year for having allowed those free distriof corn anal secret meetings to go on, and they were cons谧S butions equally severe on the new consuls for having waited till the prefect of the corn--market had made his report, for the matter was of such importance that少e consuls ought not only to have reported it, but also dealt with apt. dIn reply, Quideserved, for, h粼said that the censure on the consuls was un-ed as they were by the laws giving the right of appeal, which were passed to weaken their authority, they were faratt粼possessing aswith the s ev默power as will to punish, the atrocioust deserved. What was wanted was by the 'laws. I e should therefore nominate _ Lucius Quinctius great powers。 demanded.a This met with univQuinctius at first refused and asked them what裂approval.meant by exposing him at the close of his life to such a bitter struggle. ,fit last, after well-merited commendations were showered upon him from all parts of the House and he was assured that“in that aged mind there was not only more wisdom but more courage than in all the rest," whilst the consul adhered to his decision, he yielded. After a prayer to heaven that in such a time of danger his old age might not prove a source of harm or discredit to the republic, Cincinnatus was made Dictator. He appointed Caius Servilius Ahala as his Master of the :horse.