[9] The consulship of Claudius and Servilius was marked by the welcome news of the death of Tarquin at Cumae, where the last King of Rome had fled after the Battle of Lake Regillus.
However, the end of a threat which had unified the social strata at Rome also encouraged the patrician aristocracy to take advantage of its position, foreshadowing the approaching Conflict of the Orders.
New settlers were sent to Signia, where a colony had been established by the old king; the tribus Claudia was formally incorporated into the Roman state; and a new Temple of Mercury was completed.
Stung by their recent defeat at Lake Regillus, the Latins were in no mood for war, and instead delivered the Volscian envoys to Rome, warning the Senate of the pending military threat.
Popular sentiment was that the patricians should fight their own war, without aid from the plebs; so the Senate, feeling that the consul Servilius would be more likely to gain the trust of the plebeians in this time of emergency, entreated him to effect a reconciliation.
[16][17] After detecting a Volscian surprise attack, the consul Servilius, in whose vanguard were many of the freed debtors, led a successful assault on the Volsci, who broke and fled.
[22] Plebeian mobs soon began interceding on behalf of those who had been bound for debt, freeing them and beating their creditors, shouting down the orders of the consul and ignoring his decrees.
[22] When news of a Sabine invasion arrived, the people refused to enlist, and Claudius accused his colleague of treason for failing to pass sentence on debtors or raise troops as demanded, in defiance of the Senate's orders.
Titus Larcius, who had been twice consul, as well as the first Roman dictator, felt that preferential treatment for some debtors and not others risked increasing the unrest, and argued that only general relief would resolve the situation.
[32][33] With the city all but defenseless, and the remaining inhabitants each fearful of the other, Agrippa Menenius Lanatus, who had himself been consul in 503 BC, urged the Senate to attempt a reconciliation with the plebs, and was seconded by Valerius, who described Claudius as "an enemy of the people, and a champion of oligarchy," leading the Roman state to its destruction.
[7] Rome was struck by a grain shortage in the following year, and strife between the patricians and plebeians returned, as the wealthy were accused of hoarding food.
[39][40] Claudius, who had long distinguished himself as "the greatest enemy of the plebeians", rallied to Coriolanus' defense, haranguing the populace for their treachery and ingratitude, and accusing them of conspiring against the government of the Republic.
Manius Valerius again spoke in opposition, urging that the people had the right to bring Coriolanus to trial, and that he might be acquitted, or treated with leniency, were the cause against him to proceed.
Coriolanus submitted to trial, and was convicted of aspiring to tyranny by a vote of twelve of the twenty-one tribes; but in recognition of his former service to the state, he was only sentenced to banishment.
[41] In 486, the consul Spurius Cassius Vecellinus concluded a treaty with the Hernici, and proposed the first agrarian law, with the intention of distributing a neglected portion of public land among the plebeians and the allies.
Once again, Claudius was in the forefront of the opposition in the Senate, arguing that the people were idle and would be unable to farm the land, and accusing Cassius of encouraging sedition.
Convicted, he was scourged and put to death, his house was pulled down, his property seized by the state, and his three young sons barely escaped execution.