on board their ship; supposing it to be the abode of the deity, they bring it with them; and, upon its quitting their vessel, and swimming to the island in the Tiber, they consecrate there a temple to Aesculapius.  L. Postumius, a man of consular rank, condemned for employing the soldiers under his command in working upon his farm. [Y.R. 462.  B.C. 290] Curius Dentatus, consul, having subdued the Samnites, and the rebellious Sabines, triumphs twice during his year of office. [Y.R. 463.  B.C. 289.] The colonies of Castrum, Sena, and Adria, established.  Three judges of capital crimes now first appointed.  A census and lustrum:  the number of citizens found to be two hundred and seventy-three thousand.  After a long-continued sedition, on account of debts, the commons secede to the Janiculum:  [Y.R. 466.  B.C. 286.] are brought back by Hortensius, dictator, who dies in office.  Successful operations against the Volsinians and Lucanians, [Y.R. 468.  B.C. 284.] against whom it was thought expedient to send succour to the Thuringians.

BOOK XII.—­[Y.R. 469.  B.C. 283.] The Senonian Gauls having slain the Roman ambassadors, war is declared against them:  they cut off L. Caecilius, praetor, with the legions under his command, [Y.R. 470.  B.C. 282.] The Roman fleet plundered by the Tarentines, and the commander slain:  ambassadors, sent to complain of this outrage, are ill-treated and sent back; whereupon war is declared against them.  The Samnites revolt; against whom, together with the Lucanians, Bruttians, and Etruscans, several unsuccessful battles are fought by different generals. [Y.R. 471.  B.C. 281.] Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, comes into Italy, to succour the Tarentines.  A Campanian legion, sent, under the command of Decius Jubellius, to garrison Rhegium, murder the inhabitants, and seize the city.

BOOK XIII.—­[Y.R. 472.  B.C. 280.] Valerius Laevinus, consul, engages with Pyrrhus, and is beaten, his soldiers being terrified at the unusual appearance of elephants.  After the battle, Pyrrhus, viewing the bodies of the Romans who were slain, remarks, that they all of them lay with their faces turned towards their enemy.  He proceeds towards Rome, ravaging the country as he goes along.  C. Fabricius is sent by the senate to treat for the redemption of the prisoners:  the king, in vain, attempts to bribe him to desert his country.  The prisoners restored without ransom.  Cineas, ambassador from Pyrrhus to the senate, demands, as a condition of peace, that the king be admitted into the city of Rome:  the consideration of which being deferred to a fuller meeting, Appius Claudius, who, on account of a disorder in his eyes, had not, for a long time, attended in the senate, comes there; moves, and carries his motion, that the demand of the king be refused.  Cneius Domitius, the first plebeian censor, holds a lustrum; the number of the citizens found to be two hundred and seventy-eight thousand two hundred and twenty-two.  A second, but undecided battle with Pyrrhus. [Y.R. 473.  B.C. 279.] The treaty with the Carthaginians renewed a fourth time.  An offer made to Fabricius, the consul, by a traitor, to poison Pyrrhus; [Y.  R. 474.  B. C. 278.] he sends him to the king, and discovers to him the treasonable offer.  Successful operations against the Etruscans, Lucanians, Bruttians, and Samnites.