whereas Antyllius, a mere servant, who perhaps had suffered more than he deserved, but was himself chiefly to blame for it, had been laid out in the forum, and was surrounded by the Roman senate, which shed tears and shared in the obsequies of a hireling fellow, to the end that the sole remaining champion of the people might be done away with. Then the senators went back into the senate-house, where they formally enjoined upon the consul Opimius to save the city as best he could, The formal decree of martial law: consul videret ne quid respublica detrimenti caperet ( Cicero, In Cat. 1. 2, 4 ). and to put down the tyrants.