Towards the close of the year there were thanksgivings for one day for the successes gained in Spain under the auspices and generalship of Appius Claudius, and twenty of the larger victims were offered in sacrifice. The next day special intercessions were offered up at the temples of Ceres, Liber and Libera, owing to a report which had come in of a violent earthquake in the Sabine country which had laid many buildings in ruins. On Appius Claudius' return from Spain the senate decreed that he should enter the City in ovation. The consular elections were now approaching and there was keen competition owing to the large number of candidates. L. Postumius Albinus and M. Popilius Laenas were elected. The new praetors were N. Fabius Buteo, M. Matienus, C. Cicereius, M. Furius Crassipes for the second time, A. Atilius Serranus for the second time, and C. Cluvius Saxula also for the second time. When the elections were over, Ap. Claudius celebrated his triumph over the Celtiberi by entering the City in ovation, and he brought into the treasury 10,000 pounds of silver and 5000 pounds of gold. Cnaeus Cornelius was inaugurated as Flamen Dialis. During the year a tablet was placed in the temple of Mater Matuta with this inscription: "Under the auspices and command of the consul Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, the legions of the army of Rome have subjugated Sardinia. In that province there have been 80,000 natives either killed or made prisoners. He was most happy in his administrations; he liberated the allies of Rome; he restored the revenues and brought his army safely home laden with enormous booty. For the second time he entered Rome in triumph. Because of this he has given this tablet as an offering to Jove." There was a representation of the island and pictures of the battles on the tablet. Several gladiatorial exhibitions were given this year, most of them on a small scale; the one given by T. Flamininus far surpassed the rest. On the occasion of his father's death he exhibited this spectacle for four days, and accompanied it with a distribution of meat, a funeral feast, and scenic plays. But even in this magnificent exhibition the total number of men who fought was only seventy-four. ======================================================================