Silvanus made use of the principle of popular sovereignty, and with the aid of the nobility succeeded in carrying a law which directed each district (tribus) to elect fifteen men. The five hundred and twenty-five men thus selected were to constitute the panel of jurors for the next year. The result was that senators and members of the lower classes, as well as knights, became jurors, and Q. Varius was condemned by his own commission.
The political difficulties were complicated and intensified by a financial crisis. In order to relieve the distress of the debtors, the city praetor, Aulus Sempronius Asellio, had recourse to the Genucian plebiscite of 342 (p. 73), and, in actions regarding debt, instructed the jurors in accordance with its provisions. As a consequence the enraged creditors attacked him while he was performing a sacrifice, and when he took to flight, they pursued and killed him. This murder also was perpetrated with impunity.
