these rumors, Quintus Marcius Rex[151] was dispatched, by a decree of
the senate, to Faesulae, and Quintus Metellus Creticus[152] into
Apulia and the parts adjacent; both which officers, with the title of
commanders,[153] were waiting near the city, having been prevented
from entering in triumph, by the malice of a cabal, whose custom it
was to ask a price for every thing, whether honorable or infamous. The
praetors, too, Quintus Pompeius Rufus, and Quintus Metellus Celer, were
sent off, the one to Capua, the other to Picenum, and power was given
them to levy a force proportioned to the exigency and the danger. The
senate also decreed, that if any one should give information of the
conspiracy which had been formed against the state, his reward should
be, if a slave, his freedom and a hundred sestertia; if a freeman, a
complete pardon and two hundred sestertia[154]. They further appointed
that the schools of gladiators[155] should be distributed in Capua and
other municipal towns, according to the capacity of each; and that, at
Rome, watches should be posted throughout the city, of which the
inferior magistrates[156] should have the charge.

XXXI. By such proceedings as these the citizens were struck with
alarm, and the appearance of the city was changed. In place of that
extreme gayety and dissipation,[157] to which long tranquillity[158]
had given rise, a sudden gloom spread over all classes; they became
anxious and agitated; they felt secure neither in any place, nor with
any person; they were not at war, yet enjoyed no peace; each measured
the public danger by his own fear. The women, also, to whom, from the
extent of the empire, the dread of war was new, gave way to lamentation,
raised supplicating hands to heaven, mourned over their infants, made
constant inquiries, trembled at every thing, and, forgetting their pride
and their pleasures, felt nothing but alarm for themselves and their
country.