1By contrast, among the Aequi consul and soldiers vied with each other in courtesy and kindnesses. 1Quinctius was by nature milder, and his colleague's ill-starred savagery had made him take more pleasure in his own character. 2The Aequi, not daring to confront such great harmony between general and army, allowed the enemy to range through their fields plundering; 2nor in any war before was booty driven off from there over a wider area. 3All of it was given to the soldiers. 3Praises were added too, in which soldiers' hearts rejoice no less than in reward. 3The army returned better disposed both to its general and, because of its general, to the senators as well, saying that the senate had given them a parent, the other army a master.
4The year, spent amid the varying fortunes of war and fierce discord at home and abroad, was made especially memorable by the tribal assembly, a thing more important for the victory in the contest undertaken than for its practical effect; 5for more dignity was taken from the assembly itself by excluding the senators from the council than strength was either added to the plebs or taken from the senators.