Note 002 His birth at Bubalia, a little village in Pannonia (Eutrop. ix. Victor in Caesarib. et epitom.) seems to contradict, unless it was merely accidental, his supposed descent from the Decii. Six hundred years had bestowed nobility on the Decii; but at the commencement of that period they were only Plebeians of merit, and among the first who shared the consulship with the haughty Patricians. Plebeia Deciorum animae, etc. Juvenal, Sat. viii. 254 See the spirited speech of Decius, in Livy, x. 9, 10.

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Note to Chapter 10 of DECLINE & FALL by Gibbon