The first business of the new consuls was to consult the senate about their provinces and armies. It was decreed that they should both have Liguria for their province and they were each to raise two fresh legions for service in that province and also 10,000 infantry and 600 cavalry from the Latin allies. [2] They were also required to call up 3000 Roman infantry and 200 cavalry to reinforce the army in Spain. A further force of 1500 infantry and 100 cavalry was to be raised for the operations in Corsica. [3] M. Atilius was to remain in charge of Sardinia till his successor arrived. Then the praetors balloted for their provinces. [4] A. Atilius Serranus received the civic and C. Cluvius Saxula the alien jurisdiction; Hither Spain fell to N. Fabius Buteo; Further Spain to C. Matienus; Sicily to M. Furius Crassipes; Sardinia to C. Cicereius. [5] Before the magistrates left for their provinces the senate decided that L. Postumius should go into Campania to fix the boundaries between the State land and the land in private occupation. [6] It was a matter of common knowledge that persons had appropriated a large part of the State domain by gradually advancing their boundaries. Postumius was angry with the Praenestines because when he had gone there in a private capacity to offer a sacrifice in the temple of Fortune, he had not received any marks of honour, either publicly or privately. [7] So before he left Rome he sent a despatch to Praeneste ordering the chief magistrate to go out and meet him, to have a place prepared by the municipality where he could stay, and to see that pack animals were ready to carry his luggage when he left. No one before this consul had ever been a burden or expense to the allies. [8] The magistrates were provided with mules and tents and all other requisites simply that they might not requisition anything of the kind from the allies; they enjoyed the hospitality of private citizens whom they treated with courtesy and consideration; [9] and their own houses in Rome were open to those with whom they were accustomed to stay. [10] When officials were despatched to some place on a sudden emergency they only demanded one mule apiece from the towns through which their journey lay. [11] No other expense was incurred by the allies in the case of Roman magistrates. The vindictiveness of the consul, even if justifiable, ought not in any case to have appeared while he was in office. [12] The Praenestines unfortunately, whether through modesty or timidity, allowed the matter to pass without protest, and this silence furnished the magistrates with a legal colouring, as though following an unquestioned precedent, to demands which became continuously more burdensome.
