majesty of my office and of the Senate." Claudius then ordered the arrest of one of the plebeian leaders, who appealed from the consul's judgment as the lictors were dragging him away. At first Claudius thought to ignore the appeal, in violation of the lex Valeria, which granted the right of appeal to all Roman citizens; but so fierce was the uproar that he was forced to release the man. Before the year was out, groups of plebeians began meeting in secret to discuss a course of action. Secession of the plebs In the following year, word reached the Senate of groups of plebeians meeting at night on the Aventine and Esquiline Hills. The senators called for the harsh response of a man like Appius Claudius, and ordered the consuls to levy troops in order to quell the unrest and meet an impending threat from the Aequi, Volsci, and Sabines. But none of the plebs would answer the summons unless their demands for relief and liberty from the harsh debt that oppressed them were met. Powerless to carry out their instructions, the consuls were called upon to resign, but they demanded the senators stand with them as they attempted to do so. After abandoning the effort, the Senate debated three proposals: the consul Aulus Verginius Tricostus Caeliomontanus opposed general debt relief, but suggested that the Senate make good on his predecessor's promises to the men who had fought against the Volsci, Aurunci, and Sabines the previous year. Titus Larcius, who had been twice consul, as well as the first Roman dictator, felt that preferential treatment for some debtors and not others risked increasing the unrest, and argued that only general relief would resolve the situation. Opposing any relief was Claudius, who asserted that the true cause of the unrest was the people's disregard for the law, and the right of appeal, which had deprived the consuls of their proper authority: "I urge you, therefore, to appoint a dictator, from whom there is no right of appeal. Do that, and you will quickly enough throw water on the blaze. I should like to see anyone use force against a lictor then, when he knows that the power to scourge or kill him is wholly in the hands of the man whose majesty he has dared to offend!" This measure seemed overly severe to many of the senators, but Claudius won the