Appius Claudius Crassus Inregillensis Sabinus
As consul in 471, Claudius is portrayed in Roman historical tradition as a violent opponent of the plebeians in matters of voting rights and military discipline.
[11][12] Crassus, which must have been a personal cognomen, means "thick" or "stout", and could apply equally to a large man or a dullard;[13] although if the latter were intended, it was probably given ironically, for Claudius was by all accounts a very clever schemer.
On the day appointed for the election, the consuls, a number of senators of consular rank, and other members of the Roman aristocracy attempted to block the passage of the law.
Gaius Laetorius, one of the tribunes, who had unwisely harangued Appius and his family the previous day, and vowed with his life to see the law carried through, ordered the patricians to depart so that the plebeians could vote on the matter.
[17] The next day, Quinctius, who had helped settle the crowd and managed to have the matter postponed until passions had calmed, urged the Senate to defer to the people, as the stand off between the patricians and plebeians over this issue was threatening the state itself.
[19][20] After reaching the safety of Roman territory, Appius gathered the remnants of his army, and ordered that all of the soldiers who had lost their equipment or standards, and all of the officers who had deserted their posts should be flogged and beheaded.
[21][20][22] In 470 BC, Appius opposed the agrarian law originally proposed by Spurius Cassius, and was summoned to answer for his conduct by the plebeian tribunes, Marcus Duilius and Gnaeus Siccius.
But here popular opinion was against them, so great was Appius' majesty that thousands attended his funeral and listened to the words spoken in praise of their enemy.
The envoys, Spurius Postumius Albus, Aulus Manlius Vulso, and Servius Sulpicius Camerinus, returned in 452 and reported their findings.
Shortly after Claudius and his colleague took office, it was decided to appoint a committee of ten men (decemviri), all of consular rank,[iii] who would draw up the tables of Roman law, based on both existing traditions and Greek precedents.
The decemvirs were seen to cooperate for the good of the state, and drew up the first ten tables of Roman law, winning the general approval of the people.
[29][30] Despite the reputation of his family for cruelty and hostility to the plebeians, Claudius gave the appearance of a fair and noble-minded man, earning the people's trust.
The plebeian members were Quintus Poetilius Libo Visolus, Titus Antonius Merenda, Caeso Duilius Longus, Spurius Oppius Cornicen, and Manius Rabuleius.
[35][36] The decemvirs did not hesitate to make an example of those who criticized them, subjecting their opponents to beatings and summary execution, and confiscating the property of anyone who offended their dignity.
When her plight became known, Appius consented to release her pending a trial of his claim, but maintained steadfastly, and over the objections of Verginia's father and Icilius, that she was his slave.
[vii][46][47][48] The entire account in Livy and Dionysius of Claudius's consulship in 471 BC is rejected by Friedrich Münzer,[5] and modern scholarship dismisses his supposed excesses as decemvir as well.
[49][50] Theodor Mommsen and T. P. Wiseman argued that the tale of Verginia and other myths about the Claudii were fabricated in the late Republic by the historian Valerius Antias.
