34. On the fathers' looking round to see whom they should appoint as
consuls, Caius Claudius Nero appeared pre-eminently. They then looked
out for a colleague for him, and although they considered him a man of
the highest talents, they also were of opinion that he was of a more
forward and vehement disposition than the circumstances of the war, or
the enemy, Hannibal, required, they resolved that it would be right to
qualify the impetuosity of his temper by uniting with him a cool and
prudent colleague. The person fixed upon was Marcus Livius, who, many
years ago, was, on the expiration of his consulship, condemned in a
trial before the people; a disgrace which he took so much to heart,
that he retired into the country, and for many years absented himself
from the city, and avoided all public assemblies. Much about the
eighth year after his condemnation, Marcus Claudius Marcellus and
Marcus Valerius Laevinus, the consuls, had brought him back into the
city; but he appeared in a squalid dress, his hair and beard allowed
to grow, and exhibiting in his countenance and attire the deep
impression of the disgrace he had sustained. Lucius Veturius and
Publius Licinius, the censors, compelled him to have his beard and
hair trimmed, to lay aside his squalid garb, to come into the senate,
and discharge other public duties. But even then he either gave his
assent by a single word, or signified his vote by walking to one side
of the house, till the trial of Marcus Livius Macatus, a kinsman
of his, whose character was at stake, obliged him to deliver his
sentiments in the senate upon his legs. On being heard in the senate
on this occasion, after so long an interval, he drew the eyes of all
upon him, and gave occasion to conversations to the following effect:
"That the people had injuriously disgraced a man who was undeserving
of it and that it had been greatly detrimental to the state that,
in so important a war, it had not had the benefit of the service
and counsels of such a man. That neither Quintus Fabius nor Marcus