The tribunes of the plebs, representatives of the people, demanded in vain for many years that the power of the consuls be limited in written law.
The two consuls levied an army,[3] consisted primarily of patricians, but also of some plebeian volunteers,[8] to defend the Tusculan allies.
The public treasury was then exhausted, and so the consuls decided to sell the abundant spoils (praeda), which would otherwise be rewarded to the soldiery.
This proved impracticable, and so a law was passed allowing the indemnity to be satisfied by an equivalent value in cattle and bronze.
[13] In 451 BC, Titus Romilius was part of the First Decemvirate which wrote the first written laws of Rome and whose government lasted one year and acted in moderation.