1The multitude is roused, partly by the atrocity of the crime, partly by the hope of seizing the opportunity to regain liberty. 2Appius orders Icilius first to be summoned, then, when he held back, to be seized, and at last, when his attendants were given no chance of getting at him, he himself, making his way through the crowd with a column of young patricians, orders him to be led off to prison. 3By now there were around Icilius not only the multitude but also the multitude's leaders, Lucius Valerius and Marcus Horatius, who thrust back the lictor and said that if he was proceeding by law, they were defending Icilius against a private citizen; 3if he tried to use force, there too they would be no unequal match.
3From this a fierce brawl arises. 4The decemvir's lictor attacks Valerius and Horatius; 4the fasces are broken by the multitude. 4Appius mounts the platform to address the people; 4Horatius and Valerius follow. 4The assembly listens to them; 5the decemvir is shouted down. 5Valerius was already ordering the lictors, as though he held authority, to leave a private citizen, when Appius, his spirit broken and fearing for his life, takes refuge with his head covered in a house near the Forum, unseen by his opponents. 6Spurius Oppius bursts into the Forum from the other side to help his colleague. 6He sees authority overcome by force. 6Then, tossed among plans, having wavered as he agreed with many advisers on every side, he at last ordered the senate to be summoned.
7This step, because the acts of the decemvirs seemed to displease a large part of the fathers, calmed the multitude with the hope that their power would be ended through the senate. 7The senate decided that the plebs should not be provoked, and that much more care must be taken that Verginius' arrival should not cause any upheaval in the army.