1Great fear had come upon the senators, and the faces of the tribunes were now the same as those of the decemvirs had been, when Marcus Duillius, tribune of the plebs, wholesomely checking their excessive power, said: 'Enough has been done both for our liberty and for punishing our enemies; 2and so this year I shall not allow anyone to be summoned to trial or anyone to be led off to prison. 2For I do not wish old offences, now forgotten, to be raked up, when the new ones have been atoned for by the punishment of the decemvirs; and that nothing will be committed which calls for the tribunes' force is guaranteed by the unceasing care of both consuls in protecting your liberty.' 4This moderation of the tribune first removed the senators' fear, and it also increased the odium against the consuls, because they had been so wholly devoted to the plebs that a plebeian magistrate had shown concern for the safety and liberty of the senators before a patrician one, and their enemies had had their fill of punishing them before it was apparent that the consuls would stand in the way of their licence.
5And there were many who said that the senators had acted too weakly in ratifying the laws the consuls had proposed, and there was no doubt that, in the troubled state of the commonwealth, they had yielded to the times.