This equality completely explains why Sp. Cassius alone ratified the league with the Latins at Rome, a fact which has furnisht room for an utterly groundless inference, adopted by Livy. His collegue was absent, because he was taking the same oath among the Latins; and his name would be recorded on the tablet which they set up.

The preservation of the Roman document down to the age of Macer, who undoubtedly read it himself, perfectly authenticates the contents reported by Dionysius, though long before he came to Rome it had disappeared; and we may be assured that he followed his authors literally here, because elsewhere he is misled by the inveterate Roman prejudices to form a totally different conception of the relation of the Latins to Rome. So that the treaty contained these terms, which were ratified by the sacrifice. There shall be peace between the Romans and the Latins so long as heaven and earth shall keep their place: neither state shall war against the other, nor instigate forein powers to do so; nor grant a passage through its territory to forein armies against its ally: but when either suffers damage or vexation, the other shall loyally render it protection, help, and succour. The booty and everything gained in a joint war shall be shared equally. Private suits shall be decided within ten days, in the place where the cause of litigation arose.