Spurius Oppius Cornicen
Spurius Oppius Cornicen was a Roman politician and member of the Second Decemvirate in 450 and 449 BC. Biography According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Spurius Oppius Cornicen was plebeian. He was one of the ten members of the Second Decemvirate, presided over by Appius Claudius Crassus, and elected in order to draft the Law of the Twelve Tables, first body of written law in Roman history. The Second Decemvirate seemed to be made up just as much by plebeians, like Spurius Oppius, as it was of patricians. At the instigation of Crassus, the decemvirs illegally held on to power the following year, and refused to allow the election of consuls. In 449 BC, a war escalated with the Sabines setting up in Eretum and with the Aequi fortified on Mount Algidus. Roman forces were divided into two armies commanded each by four decemvirs, in order to fight on two fronts; Appius Claudius Crassus and Spurius Oppius Cornicen remained in Rome in order to assure the defense of the city. The two Roman armies were kept in check on each front respectively, retreating to Fidenae, Crustumerium, and Tusculum. Meanwhile the soldier Lucius Siccius Dentatus, former tribune of the plebs and staunch