Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 3
Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D., Ed.

11. But the consuls, on the other hand, had placed their chairs in full sight of the tribunes, and began to hold the levy. The tribunes hastened to the place, drawing the people after them. A few were cited, as if by way of a test, and immediately a riot began. [2] As often as a lictor arrested a man on the consul's order, a tribune would command that he be released; in every case it was not a man's right that determined his conduct, but the confidence he had in his strength; and one had to make good by force what one meant to do.

[3] Precisely as the tribunes had borne themselves in preventing the levy, so did the senators in blocking the law, which was brought forward every day the comitia could be held.¹ [4] The quarrel broke out when the tribunes had ordered the people to separate,² since the patricians would not permit themselves to be removed. And yet the older nobles for the most part took no share in an affair which was not to be [p. 41]guided by wisdom, but had been committed to³ rashness and impudence. [5] To a considerable extent the consuls too kept aloof, lest they should expose their dignity to some affront in the general confusion.

[6] There was a young man, Caeso Quinctius, emboldened not only by his noble birth but also by his great stature and physical strength; and to these gifts of the gods he had himself added many honours in the field, and also forensic eloquence, so that no citizen was held to be readier, whether with tongue or with hand. [7] When this man had taken his place in the midst of the band of senators, towering above his fellows as though wielding all the might of dictators and consuls in his voice and strength of body, he would sustain unaided the attacks of the tribunes and the fury of the rabble. [8] His leadership often drove the tribunes from the Forum and ignominiously routed the plebeians; the man who crossed his path came off bruised and stripped; so that it was clear that if things were allowed to go on in this way the law was beaten. [9] Finally, when the other tribunes had already been pretty well cowed, one of their college named Aulus Verginius summoned Caeso to stand trial on a capital charge.⁴ The man's fierce nature was rather aroused by this than terrified; and he continued all the more bitterly to resist the law, to harry the plebs, and to assail the tribunes as if in actual warfare. [10] The accuser permitted the defendant to storm, and to fan the flames of popular resentment, while furnishing fresh materials for the charges which he intended to bring against him; meanwhile he continued to urge the law, not so much from any hope of carrying it as to provoke Caeso to [p. 43]recklessness. [11] In these circumstances it was Caeso alone,⁵ as being a suspected character, who got all the blame for many a rash word and act which proceeded from the young aristocrats. [12] Nevertheless the law continued to meet resistance. And Aulus Verginius kept saying to the plebeians: “I suppose you see now, Quirites, that you cannot at the same time have Caeso for a fellow-citizen and obtain the law you desire? [13] And yet why do I say law It is liberty he is thwarting; in all the Tarquinian house was no such arrogance. Wait till this man becomes consul or dictator, whom you see lording it over us while a private citizen, by virtue of his strength and impudence!” There were many who agreed with him; they complained of the beatings they had received, and freely urged the tribune to see the business through.