1 Occasio. This, so Livy tells us, was the jealousy between the Fabian sisters, the one married to the patrician Sulpicius, the other to the plebeian Licinius Stolo.
1-2 propter . . . alieni. The old Roman law of debt was very harsh and severe.
3 in summo imperio, i.e. the Consulate.
4 accingendum . . . esse = they must brace themselves to the execution of that idea.—R. accingendum, reflexive here.
5 iam eo, i.e. to the office of Consular Tribune, created 444 B.C.
6 si porro annitantur = if they now make a further effort. This use of Pres. Subj. in Or. Obl. frequent in Livy.
7 tam honore quam virtute = in official rank as (they were already) in merit.—Rawlins.
12-14 ut deducto . . . persolveretur = ‘after deducting from the amount of the loan (capite = principal) what had been paid in interest, the balance should be paid in three equal instalments.’—Cluer and Matheson.
15 de modo agrorum = relating to the limitation of land-holding.
16-17 tribunorum militum (sc. cum consulari potestate) created 444 B.C., but no plebeian obtained that honour till 400 B.C., and only two after that date.