Corn came from Etruria by the Tiber: by means of this the people were supported.

Amid this distressing scarcity they would have been harassed by a very inconvenient war, had not a dreadful pestilence attacked the Volsci when about to commence hostilities.

The minds of the enemy being alarmed by this calamity, so that they were influenced by some terror, even after it had abated, the Romans both augmented the number of their colonists at Velitrae, and despatched a new colony to the mountains of Norba, to serve as a barrier in the Pomptine district.

Then in the consulship of M.Minucius, and A.Sempronius, a great quantity of corn was imported from Sicily, and it was debated in the senate at what rate it should be given to the commons.

Many were of opinion, that the time was come for putting down the commons, and for recovering those rights which had been wrested from the senators by secession and violence.