For the incursions had been made by the Volscians on the skirts of the borders, as they were afraid lest an army might in the mean time come forth from Rome: the Romans, on the contrary, had a motive for tarrying in the enemy's country, in order to entice them to an engagement.

All the houses therefore on the lands, and some villages also, being burnt down, not a fruit-tree nor the seed being left for the hope of a harvest, all the booty both of men and cattle, which was outside the walls, being driven off, the troops were led back from both quarters to Rome.
32.

A short interval having been granted to the debtors to recover breath, when matters became perfectly quiet with respect to the enemy, legal proceedings began to be instituted anew; and so remote was all hope of relieving the former debt, that a new one was now contracted by a tax for building a wall of hewn stone bargained for by the censors: to which burden the commons were obliged to submit, because the tribunes of the commons had no levy which they could obstruct.

Forced by the influence of the nobles, they elected all the military tribunes from among the patricians, Lucius AEmilius, Publius Valerius a fourth time, Caius Veturius, Servius Sulpicius, Lucius and Caius Quinctius Cincinnatus.

By the same influence they succeeded in raising three armies against the Latins and Volscians, who with combined forces were encamped at Satricum, all the juniors being bound by the military oath without any opposition; one army for the protection of the city; the other to be sent for the sudden emergencies of war, if any disturbance should arise elsewhere.