ch. 288.28This year (326 B.C.> was marked by the dawn, as it
were, of a new era of liberty for the plebs; creditors were no
longer allowed to attach the persons of their debtors. This
change in the law was brought about by a signal instance of lust
and cruelty upon the part of a moneylender. L. Papirius was
the man in question. C. Publilius had pledged his person to him
for a debt which his father had contracted. The youth and
beauty of the debtor which ought to have called forth feelings
of compassion only acted as incentives to lust and insult. Find-
ing that his infamous proposals only filled the youth with horror
and loathing, the man reminded him that he was absolutely in
his power and sought to terrify him by threats. As these failed
to crush the boy's noble instincts, he ordered him to be stripped
and beaten. Mangled and bleeding the boy rushed into the
street and loudly complained of the usurer's lust and brutality.
A vast crowd gathered, and on learning what had happened
became furious at the outrage offered to one of such tender
years, reminding them as it did of the conditions under which
they and their children were living. They ran into the Forum
and from there in a compact body to the Senate-house. In
face of this sudden outbreak the consuls felt it necessary to
convene a meeting of the senate at once, and as the members
entered the House the crowd exhibited the lacerated back of
the youth and flung themselves at the feet of the senators as
they passed in one by one. The strongest bond and support
of credit was there and then overthrown through the mad
excesses of one individual. The consuls were instructed by the
senate to lay before the people a proposal that no man be
kept in irons or in the stocks, except such as have been guilty
of some crime, and then only till they have worked out their
sentence; and, further, that the goods and not the person of
the debtor shall be the security for the debt. So the nexi [Note]
were released, and it was forbidden for any to become nexi in
the future.
