61.10. The infantry and the consul himself swept on into the camp in the full tide of battle, and took possession of it.
61.10. acies et consul ipse visque omnis belli fertur in castra, captisque cum ingenti caede maiore praeda potitur.
61.11. The enemy's losses in men were great, but in booty were even greater. The report of this battle having been brought not only to Rome but also to the Sabine country and the other army, was celebrated in the City with rejoicings, and in the camp inspired the soldiers with a desire to emulate the glorious achievement.
61.11. pugnae fama perlata non in urbem modo sed in Sabinos ad alterum exercitum, in urbe laetitia celebrata est, in castris animos militum ad aemulandum decus accendit.
61.12. Horatius had already accustomed them, by practice in raids and skirmishes, to be self-reliant, instead of dwelling on the disgrace they had incurred under the leadership of the decemvirs; and small engagements had encouraged the highest hopes of the general outcome.
61.12. Horatius eos excursionibus proeliisque levibus experiundo adsuefecerat sibi potius fidere quam meminisse ignominiae decemvirorum ductu acceptae, parvaque certamina in summam totius profecerant spei.
61.13. Nor were the Sabines backward —emboldened as they were by their victory of the year before —with challenges and threats. Why, they asked, did the Romans waste their time advancing swiftly in small companies, like brigands, and as hurriedly retreating; thus dissipating in many little combats the issues of one pitched battle?
61.13. cessabant Sabini, feroces ab re priore anno bene gesta, lacessere atque instare, rogitantes quid latrocinii modo procursantes pauci recurrentesque tererent tempus et in multa proelia parvaque carperent summam unius belli?
61.14. Why did they not attack in line and suffer fortune to decide the matter once for all?
61.14. illi congrederentur acie inclinandamque semel fortunae rem darent?
62.1. Besides the fact that they had of themselves accumulated a good store of confidence, the Romans were also kindled with indignation. The other army, they said, would presently be returning victorious to the City; they themselves were actually being insulted and reviled by the enemy; but when should they be a match for him, if they were not at that moment?
62.1. id quod sua sponte satis conlectum animorum erat indignitate etiam Romani accendebantur: iam alterum exercitum victorem in urbem rediturum, sibi ultro per contumelias hostem insultare; quando autem se, si tum non sint, pares hostibus fore?
62.2. When the consul became aware how the soldiers were murmuring in the camp, he called them together. “Soldiers,” said he, “you have heard, I suppose, how matters have gone on Algidus. The army has proved to be such as it was fitting that the army of a free people should be. By my colleague's strategy and the bravery of his men a victory has been won.”
62.2. haec fremere militem in castris consul sensit, contione advocata Quem ad modum inquit, in Algido res gesta sit, arbitror vos, milites, audisse. liberi populi exercitum decuit esse, talis fuit. collegae, virtute militum victoria parta est.
62.3. “As for me, my strategy and my courage will be what you make them yourselves. It is within our power either to prolong the war with advantage or to bring it to a speedy and successful end.” “If it is to be prolonged, I shall seek to increase your hopes and courage from day to day by the same course of training I have begun; if your spirits are already high enough and you wish the war to be decided, come, give a shout here in the camp, to show your good-will and your courage, like the cheer you will raise in the battle!”
62.3. ad me attinet, id consilii animique habiturus sum quod vos mihi feceritis. trahi bellum salubriter et mature perfici potest. trahendum est, ego ut in dies spes virtusque vestra crescat, eadem qua institui disciplina efficiam: si iam satis animi est decernique placet, agitedum clamorem qualem in acie sublaturi estis tollite hic hie indicem voluntatis virtutisque vestrae.
62.5. The shout was given with great alacrity, and the consul promised, invoking good fortune on the enterprise, that he would do as they wished and lead them forth to battle on the morrow. The rest of the day they spent in making ready their arms.
62.5. ingenti alacritate clamor est sublatus, quod bene vertat gesturum se illis morem posteroque die in aciem deducturum adfirmat. diei apparandis armis consumptum est.
62.6. Next day, as soon as the Sabines saw the Romans forming, they came out themselves, for they had long been eager to fight. It was a battle such as takes place when both armies are confident; for the glory of the one was ancient and unbroken, and the other was exalted by its recent unaccustomed victory.
62.6. die simul instrui Romanam aciem Sabini videre et ipsi, iam pridem avidi certaminis, procedunt. fuit, quale inter fidentes sibimet ambo exercitus, veteris perpetuaeque alterum gloriae, alterum nuper nova victoria elatum.
62.7. Moreover the Sabines employed a stratagem to increase their strength; for when they had marshalled a front of equal extent with the Roman, they held two thousand men in reserve to hurl against their opponent's left, as soon as the battle should be under way.
62.7. etiam Sabini vires adiuvere; nam cum aequassent aciem, duo extra ordinem milia quae in sinistrum cornu Romanorum in ipso certamine impressionem facerent tenuere.
62.8. These troops, attacking in flank, had almost encompassed that wing, and were beginning to overpower it; when the cavalry of the two legions, numbering about six hundred, leaped down from their horses and rushed to the front, where their comrades were already giving ground. There they made a stand against the foe and at the same time roused the courage of the infantry, first by sharing the danger on equal terms, and then by causing them to feel ashamed.
62.8. ubi inlatis ex transverso signis degravabant prope circumventum cornu, equites duarum legionum sescenti fere ex equis desiliunt cedentibusque iam suis provolant in primum simulque et hosti se opponunt et aequato primum periculo, pudore deinde animos peditum accendunt;
62.9. They felt humiliated that the cavalry should be fighting in their own fashion and in that of infantry too, and that the infantry should not be as good as the horsemen, even when these were dismounted.
62.9. verecundiae erat equitem suo alienoque Marte pugnare, peditem ne ad pedes quidem degresso equiti parem esse.
63.1. They therefore renewed the battle which on their flank had been given up, and advanced again into the position from which they had retreated, and in a trice the fighting was not merely even, but the Sabine wing had begun to yield.
63.1. igitur in proelium ab sua parte omissum et locum ex quo cesserant repetunt; momentoque non restituta modo pugna, sed inclinatur etiam Sabinis cornu.
63.2. The horsemen, under cover of the ranks of infantry, regained their mounts. Then they galloped across to the other wing, announcing the victory to their friends; and at the same time they made a charge against the enemy, who were already panic-stricken, as they might well be when the stronger of their wings had been defeated. No other troops showed more conspicuous courage in that battle.
63.2. inter ordines peditum tectus se ad equos recipit. inde in partem alteram suis victoriae nuntius; simul et in hostes iam pavidos, quippe fuso suae partis validiore cornu, impetum facit. aliorum eo proelio virtus magis enituit.
63.3. The consul looked out for every contingency, commended the brave, and upbraided any who fought listlessly. Being rebuked they would at once begin to acquit themselves like men, —shame proving as powerful an incentive to them as praise to the others.
63.3. providere omnia, laudare fortis, increpare sicubi segnior pugna esset. fortium statim virorum opera edebant, tantumque hos pudor quantum alios laudes excitabant.
63.4. With a fresh cheer all along the line the Romans made a concerted effort and drove the enemy back, and from that moment there was no resisting the violence of their onset. The Sabines fled in confusion through the fields and left their camp to be plundered by their foes. There the Romans won back not the possessions of their allies, as on Algidus, but their own which had earlier been lost to them through the raids on their lands.
63.4. clamore undique omnes conisi hostem avertunt, nec deinde Romana vis sustineri potuit. Sabini fusi passim per agros castra hosti ad praedam relinquunt. non sociorum sicut in Algido res, sed suas Romanus populationibus agrorum amissas recipit.
63.5. Though a double victory had been gained in two separate battles, the senate was so mean as to decree thanksgivings in the name of the consuls for one day only. The people went unbidden on the second day also in great numbers, to offer up thanks to the gods; and this unorganized and popular supplication was attended with an enthusiasm which almost exceeded that of the other.
63.5. victoria duobus bifariam proeliis parta maligne senatus in unum diem supplicationes consulum nomine decrevit. iniussu et altero die frequens iit supplicatum; et haec vaga popularisque supplicatio studiis prope celebratior fuit.
63.6. The consuls had arranged to approach the City within a day of one another, and summoned the senate out into the Campus Martius. While they were there holding forth on the subject of their victories, complaints were made by leading senators that the senate was being held in the midst of the army on purpose to inspire fear.
63.6. ex composito eodem biduo ad urbem accessere senatumque in Martium campum evocavere. cum de rebus ab se gestis agerent, questi primores patrum senatum inter milites dedita opera terroris causa haberi. inde consules, ne criminationi locus esset, in prata Flaminia, ubi nunc aedes Apollinis est—iam tum Apollinare appellabant,— avocavere senatum.
63.8. And so the consuls, to allow no room for the accusation, adjourned the senate from that place to the Flaminian Meadows, where the temple of Apollo is now, and which was called even then Apollo's Precinct. When the Fathers, meeting there, refused with great unanimity to grant a triumph, Lucius Icilius the plebeian tribune laid the issue before the people.
63.8. cum ingenti consensu patrum negaretur triumphus, L. Icilius tribunus plebis tulit ad populum de triumpho consulum multis dissuasum prodeuntibus, maxime C.
63.9. Many came forward to dissuade them, and Gaius Claudius was particularly vehement. It was a triumph, he said, over the patricians, not Rome's enemies, which the consuls desired; they were seeking a favour in return for personal services they had done the tribune, not an honour in requital of valour.
63.9. Claudio vociferante de patribus, non de hostibus consules triumphare velle, gratiamque pro privato merito in tribunum, non pro virtute honorem peti. ante de triumpho per populum actum; semper aestimationem arbitriumque eius honoris penes senatum fuisse;
63.10. Never before had a triumph been voted by the people; the decision whether this honour had been deserved had always rested with the senate; not even the kings had infringed the majesty of the highest order in the state; let not the tribunes so dominate all things as not to suffer the existence of any public council; if each order retained its own rights and its own dignity, then, and only then, would the state be free and the laws equal for all.
63.10. ne reges quidem maiestatem summi ordinis imminuisse; ne ita omnia tribuni potestatis suae implerent, ut nullum publicum consilium sinerent esse; ita demum liberam civitatem fore, ita aequatas leges, si sua quisque iura ordo, suam maiestatem teneat.
63.11. After many speeches had been made to the same purpose by the other older members of the senate, all the tribes voted in favour of the motion. Then, for the first time, a triumph which lacked the authorization of the senate was celebrated at the bidding of the people.
63.11. eandem sententiam multa et a ceteris senioribus patrum cum essent dicta, omnes tribus eam earn rogationem acceperunt. primum sine auctoritate senatus populi iussu triumphatum est.
64.1. This victory of the tribunes and the commons had nearly resulted in a dangerous abuse; for the tribunes conspired together to obtain their re-election, and, that their own ambition might be less conspicuous, to procure as well the return to office of the consuls.
64.1. victoria tribunorum plebisque prope in haud salubrem luxuriam vertit conspiratione inter tribunos facta ut iidem tribuni reficerentur, et quo sua minus cupiditas emineret, consules quoque continuarent magistratum.
64.2. Their pretext was the solidarity of the patricians, which had operated, by injurious treatment of the consuls, to break down the authority of the tribunes of the plebs.
64.2. patrum causabantur, quo per contumeliam consulum iura tribunorum plebis labefactata essent.
64.3. What would happen if, ere the laws were firmly established, the new tribunes should be assailed through the agency of consuls belonging to the patricians' own party? For there would not always be consuls like Valerius and Horatius, who preferred the liberty of the plebs to their own interests.
64.3. futurum nondum firmatis legibus, si novos tribunos per factionis suae consules adorti essent? enim semper Valerios Horatiosque consules fore, qui libertati plebis suas opes postferrent.
64.4. By a fortunate chance in this emergency the superintendence of the elections fell by lot to none other than Marcus Duillius, a far-seeing man who perceived that the re-election of the magistrates would be fraught with odium.
64.4. quadam utili ad tempus ut comitiis praeesset potissimum M. Duillio sorte evenit, viro prudenti et ex continuatione magistratus invidiam imminentem cernenti.
64.5. But when he asserted that he would not consider the candidacy of any of the former tribunes, his colleagues vehemently insisted that he should receive the suffrages of the tribes without restriction, or else resign the presidency of the election to his fellow-tribunes, who would conduct the voting in accordance with the law rather than the desires of the patricians. A controversy having thus arisen, Duillius summoned the consuls before the benches of the tribunes and asked them what course they meant to pursue in the consular elections; and finding, by their replying that they should have new consuls chosen, that he had got in them popular supporters of his unpopular policy, he went with them before the assembly.
64.5. cum ex veteribus tribunis negaret se ullius rationem habiturum, pugnarentque collegae ut liberas tribus in suffragium mitteret aut concederet sortem comitiorum collegis, habituris e lege potius comitia quam ex voluntate patrum, iniecta contentione Duillius consules ad subsellia accitos cum interrogasset quid de comitiis consularibus in animo haberent, respondissentque se novos consules creatures, auctores populares sententiae haud popularis nactus in contionem cum iis processit.
64.7. When the consuls, on being there brought forth to the people and asked what they would do if the Roman People, mindful of their help in the recovery of liberty at home and remembering their military successes, should again elect them to office, declined to alter their determination, Duillius first praised the consuls for persisting to the end in their unlikeness to the decemvirs, and then held the election.
64.7. cum consules producti ad populum interrogatique, si eos populus Romanus, memor libertatis per illos receptae domi, memor militiae rerum gestarum, consules iterum faceret, quidnam facturi essent, nihil sententiae suae mutassent, conlaudatis consulibus quod perseverarent ad ultimum dissimiles decemvirorum esse, comitia habuit;
64.8. And after five tribunes had been chosen and no other candidates obtained a majority of the tribes, on account of the eagerness with which the nine incumbents openly sought re-election, he dismissed the assembly, nor did he afterwards convene it for an election.
64.8. et quinque tribunis plebi creatis cum prae studiis aperte petentium novem tribunorum alii candidati tribus non explerent, concilium dimisit nec deinde comitiorum causa habuit.
64.9. He declared that the law had been satisfied, which, without anywhere prescribing the number, provided only that the tribunate should not be left vacant; and directed that those who had been elected should co-opt colleagues. He recited too the formula of the announcement, in which the following words occurred: “If I shall call for your suffrages for ten tribunes of the plebs; if for any reason you shall elect to-day less than ten tribunes of the plebs, then let those whom the elected tribunes co-opt as their colleagues be as legally tribunes of the plebs as those whom you shall this day have chosen to that office.” Having persevered to the end in denying that the state could have fifteen plebeian tribunes, and having defeated the cupidity of his colleagues, Duillius laid down his magistracy, approved by patricians and plebs alike.
64.9. legi aiebat, quae numero nusquam praefinito tribuni modo ut relinquerentur sanciret, et ab iis qui creati essent cooptari collegas 10 iuberet; recitabatque rogationis carmen, in quo sic erat: tribunos plebei decem rogabo; si qui vos minus hodie decem tribunos plebei feceritis, tum ut ii quos hi sibi collegas cooptassint legitimi eadem lege tribuni plebei sint ut illi quos hodie tribunos plebei feceritis. Duillius cum ad ultimum perseverasset negando quindecim tribunos plebei rem publicam habere posse, victa collegarum cupiditate pariter patribus plebeique acceptus magistratu abiit.
65.1. The new tribunes of the plebs consulted the wishes of the nobles in the co-optation of colleagues; they even chose two who were patricians and ex-consuls, Spurius Tarpeius and Aulus Aternius.
65.1. tribuni plebis in cooptandis collegis patrum voluntatem foverunt; duos etiam patricios consularesque, Sp. Tarpeium et A. Aternium, cooptavere.
65.2. The new consuls, Spurius Herminius and Titus Verginius Caelimontanus, being specially devoted neither to the cause of the patricians nor to that of the plebs, enjoyed a peaceful year both at home and abroad.
65.2. creati Sp. Herminius T. Verginius Caelimontanus, nihil magnopere ad patrum aut plebis causam inclinati, otium domi ac foris habuere.
65.3. Lucius Trebonius, a tribune of the commons, being angry with the patricians, because, as he said, he had been defrauded by them in the co-optation of the tribunes and had been betrayed by his colleagues, proposed a law that he who called upon the Roman plebs to elect tribunes should continue to call upon them until he should effect the election of ten; and he so baited the nobles during his year of office as even to gain the surname of Asper, or “the Truculent.”
65.3. L. Trebonius tribunus plebis, infestus patribus quod se ab iis in cooptandis tribunis fraude captum proditumque a collegis aiebat, rogationem tulit ut qui plebem Romanam tribunos plebi rogaret, is usque eo rogaret dum decem tribunos plebi faceret; insectandisque patribus, unde Aspero etiam inditum est cognomen, tribunatum gessit.
65.5. Next, Marcus Geganius Macerinus and Gaius Julius became consuls, and assuaged the strife of the tribunes with the young nobles, without censuring those magistrates or sacrificing the dignity of the patricians.
65.5. M. Geganius Macerinus et C. Iulius consules facti contentiones tribunorum adversus nobilium iuventutem ortas sine insectatione potestatis eius conservata maiestate patrum sedavere.
65.6. They withheld the plebs from sedition by suspending a levy which had been decreed with a view to making war on the Volsci and the Aequi, averring that so long as the City was quiet their foreign relations were likewise entirely peaceful; that it was discord in Rome which made other nations take heart.
65.6. decreto ad bellum Volscorum et Aequorum dilectu sustinendo rem ab seditionibus continuere, urbano otio foris quoque omnia tranquilla esse adfirmantes, per discordias civiles externos tollere animos.
65.7. The pains they were at to maintain peace were also productive of internal harmony. But the one order was always taking advantage of the moderation of the other; the plebs were tranquil, but the younger patricians began to insult them.
65.7. pacis concordiae quoque intestinae causa fuit. alter semper ordo gravis alterius modestiae erat; quiescenti plebi ab iunioribus patrum iniuriae fieri coeptae.
65.8. When the tribunes attempted to assist the lowly, at first their services were of little effect; and later they did not even escape violence themselves, especially in the last months of their term, since not only were wrongs committed through cabals of the more powerful, but the effectiveness of every magistrate rather languished, as a rule, in the latter part of the year.
65.8. tribuni auxilio humilioribus essent, in primis parum proderat; deinde ne ipsi quidem inviolati erant, utique postremis mensibus, cum et per coitiones potentiorum iniuria fieret et vis potestatis omnis aliquanto posteriore anni parte languidior ferme esset.
65.9. By this time the plebs had ceased to count upon the tribunate, unless they could have tribunes like Icilius; for two years they had had mere names.
65.9. iamque lamque plebs ita in tribunatu ponere aliquid spei, si similes Icilio tribunos haberet: nomina tantum se biennio habuisse.
65.10. The elder patricians, for their part, though they thought their young men too headstrong, yet preferred, if moderation must be left behind, that the excess of spirits should be on their side rather than with their adversaries.
65.10. contra patrum, ut nimis feroces suos credere iuvenes esse, ita malle, si modus excedendus esset, suis quam adversariis superesse animos.
65.11. So difficult is it to be moderate in the defence of liberty, since everyone, while pretending to seek fair-play, so raises himself as to press another down; while insuring themselves against fear, men actually render themselves fearful to others; and having defended ourselves from an injury, we proceed —as though it were necessary either to do or suffer wrong —to inflict injury upon our neighbour.
65.11. moderatio tuendae libertatis, dum aequari velle simulando ita se quisque extollit ut deprimat alium, in difficili est, cavendoque ne metuant, homines metuendos ultro se efficiunt, et iniuriam a nobis repulsam, tamquam aut facere aut pati necesse sit, iniungimus aliis.
66.1. Titus Quinctius Capitolinus (for the fourth time) and Agrippa Furius were then made consuls. They experienced neither domestic sedition nor foreign war, but were threatened with both.
66.1. T. Quinctius Capitolinus quartum et Agrippa Furius consules inde facti nec seditionem domi nec foris bellum acceperunt; sed imminebat utrumque.
66.2. The strife between citizens could now no longer be repressed, since tribunes and plebs alike were inflamed against the patricians, and the trial of one or another of the nobles was continually embroiling the assemblies in new quarrels.
66.2. non ultra discordia civium reprimi poterat et tribunis et plebe incitata in patres, cum dies alicui nobilium dicta novis semper certaminibus contiones turbaret.
66.3. At the first disturbance in these meetings the Aequi and Volsci took up arms, as though they had received a signal, and also because their leaders, being eager for plunder, had convinced them that the Romans had found it impossible, the year before, to carry out the levy which they had proclaimed, since the plebs were no longer amenable to authority; and that this had been the reason why armies were not dispatched against themselves.
66.3. quarum primum strepitum velut signo accepto arma cepere Aequi ac Volsci, simul quod persuaserant iis duces, cupidi praedarum, biennio ante dilectum indictum haberi non potuisse abnuente iam plebe imperium; eo adversus se non esse missos exercitus.
66.4. Lawlessness was breaking down their martial traditions, nor was Rome any longer a united nation; all the hostility and quarrelsomeness they had formerly entertained towards other nations was now being turned against themselves; the wolves were blinded with mad rage at one another, and there was now an opportunity to destroy them.
66.4. licentia militandi morem, nec pro communi iam patria Romam esse. irarum simultatiumque cum externis fuerit in ipsos verti. lupos intestina rabie opprimendi occasionem esse.
66.5. Combining their armies, they first desolated the country of the Latins, and then, when it appeared that there was no one in that region to punish them, they carried their marauding, amidst the triumphant rejoicings of the advocates of war, to the very walls of Rome, in the direction of the Esquiline Gate, where they insolently exhibited to the inhabitants of the City the devastation of their lands.
66.5. exercitibus Latinum primum agrum perpopulati sunt; deinde postquam ibi nemo vindex occurrebat, tum vero exsultantibus belli auctoribus ad moenia ipsa Romae populabundi regione portae Esquilinae accessere vastationem agrorum per contumeliam urbi ostentantes.
66.6. After they had withdrawn unmolested, and driving their booty before them had marched to Corbio, the consul Quinctius summoned the people to an assembly.
66.6. postquam inulti praedam prae se agentes retro ad Corbionem agmine iere, Quinctius consul ad contionem populum vocavit.
67.1. There he spoke, as I understand, to the following effect: "Although I am conscious, Quirites, of no wrong-doing, nevertheless it is with great shame that I have come to this assembly to confront you. To think that you know, to think that future generations will be told, that the Aequi and the Volsci, but now scarce a match for the Hernici, have in the fourth consulship of Titus Quinctius approached the walls of the City of Rome —with impunity, and armed! We have now for a long time been living under such conditions that my mind could foresee nothing good; yet had I known that such a disgrace was in store for this year, of all others, I should have shunned it even at the cost of exile or of death, in default of other means of escaping office. So! Had they been men whose swords were there at our gates, Rome might have been captured in my consulship!
67.1. in hanc sententiam locutum accipio: " mihi nullius noxae conscius, Quirites, sum, tamen cum pudore summo in contionem in conspectum vestrum processi. vos scire, hoc posteris memoriae traditum iri, Aequos et Volscos, vix Hernicis modo pares, T. Quinctio quartum consule ad moenia urbis Romae impune armatos venisse! ego ignominiam, quamquam iam diu ita vivitur ut nihil boni divinet animus, si huic potissimum imminere anno scissem, vel exsilio vel morte, si alia fuga honoris non esset, vitassem.
67.3. I had enjoyed honours enough, I had had enough, and more than enough, of life; death should have come to me in my third consulship. For whom, pray, did the most dastardly of our enemies feel such contempt?
67.3. si viri arma illa habuissent quae in portis fuere nostris, capi Roma me consule potuit. honorum, satis superque vitae erat;
67.4. For us, the consuls, or for you, Quirites? If the fault is ours, deprive us of authority we do not merit; and if that is not enough, then punish us to boot: if yours, may neither god nor man seek to punish your sins, Quirites; only may you yourselves repent of them!
67.4. mori consulem tertium oportuit. tandem ignavissimi hostium contempsere? consules an vos, Quirites? culpa in nobis est, auferte imperium indignis, et si id parum est, insuper poenas expetite:
67.5. It was not cowardice in you that they despised, nor was it their own courage in which they put their trust; in truth they have been too often beaten and routed, despoiled of their camps, stripped of their lands, and sent under the yoke, not to know both themselves and you: it was the discord betwixt the classes, and the quarrels —poison of this City —between the patricians and the plebs that roused their hopes, as they beheld our greed for power and yours for liberty; your disgust at the patrician magistracies and ours at the plebeian.
67.5. si in vobis, nemo deorum nec hominum sit qui vestra puniat peccata, Quirites: vosmet tantum eorum paeniteat. illi vestram ignaviam contempsere nec suae virtuti confisi sunt; quippe totiens fusi fugatique, castris exuti, agro multati, sub iugum missi et se et vos novere:
67.6. In Heaven's name what would you have? You conceived a longing for tribunes of the plebs; for the sake of harmony we granted them. You desired decemvirs; we allowed them to be elected.
67.6. discordia ordinum et venenum urbis huius, patrum ac plebis certamina, dum nec nobis imperii nec vobis libertatis est modus, dum taedet vos patriciorum, nos plebeiorum magistratuum, sustulere illis animos.
67.7. You grew exceedingly weary of the decemvirs; we compelled them to abdicate. When your resentment against them persisted in their retirement to private life, we permitted men of the highest birth and the most distinguished careers to suffer death and exile.
67.7. deum fidem quid vobis voltis? plebis concupistis; concordiae causa concessimus. desiderastis; creari passi sumus. vos pertaesum est;
67.8. Again you desired to choose tribunes of the plebs, and chose them; to appoint consuls of your own faction, and though we saw that this was unfair to the patricians, we beheld even the patrician magistracy presented to the plebs.
67.8. coegimus abire magistratu. in eosdem privatos ira vestra mori atque exsulare nobilissimos viros honoratissimosque passi sumus.
67.9. That you should enjoy the support of tribunes and the right of appeal to the people; that the decrees of the plebs should be made binding upon the patricians; that on the pretext of equalizing the laws our rights should be trodden under foot —all this we have endured and are now enduring.
67.9. plebis creare iterum voluistis; creastis; consules facere vestrarum partium; etsi patribus videbamus iniquum, patricium quoque magistratum plebi donum fieri vidimus. tribunicium, provocationem ad populum, scita plebis iniuncta patribus, sub titulo aequandarum legum nostra iura oppressa tulimus et ferimus.
67.10. What end will there be to our dissensions? Will a time ever come when we can have a united City? Will a time ever come when this can be our common country? We, the beaten party, accept the situation with more equanimity than do you, the victors.
67.10. finis erit discordiarum? unam urbem habere, ecquando communem hanc esse patriam licebit? nos aequiore animo quiescimus quam vos victores.
67.11. Is it not enough that we must fear you? It was against us that the Aventine was taken; against us that the Sacred Mount was occupied; we have seen the Esquiline almost captured by the enemy, and the Volscian mounting our rampart. The enemy found none to drive him back; against us you show your manhood; against us you have drawn the sword.
67.11. est nobis vos metuendos esse? nos Aventinum capitur, adversus nos Sacer occupatur mons; Esquilias vidimus ab hoste prope captas, et scandentem in aggerem Volscum. nemo submovit: in nos viri, in nos armati estis.
68.1. “Come now, when you have laid siege to the senate-house here, and rendered the Forum unsafe, and filled the gaol with our leading men, go out in that same valorous spirit beyond the Esquiline Gate;” “or if your courage is not equal even to that, behold from the walls how your fields have been laid waste with fire and sword, how your cattle are being driven off, while far and wide the smoke is rising from burning buildings.”
68.1. , ubi hic curiam circumsederitis et forum infestum feceritis et carcerem impleveritis principibus, iisdem istis ferocibus animis egredimini extra portam Esquilinam, aut si ne hoc quidem audetis, ex muris visite agros vestros ferro ignique vastatos, praedam abigi, fumare incensa passim tecta.
68.3. 'But,' you may say, 'it is the community that suffers by these things: the fields are burned; the City is besieged; the glory of the war rests with the enemy.' How now? In what plight are your private interests?
68.3. enim communis res per haec loco est peiore; ager uritur, urbs obsidetur, belli gloria penes hostes est. tandem? res vestrae quo statu sunt? unicuique ex agris sua damna nuntiabuntur.
68.4. “Every man of you will presently be getting from the country a report of his personal losses. Pray what resources do you command for supplying the want of these things? Shall the tribunes restore and make good to you your losses? Resounding words they will pour forth to your hearts' content, and accusations against prominent men, and laws one after another, and assemblies; but from those assemblies there was never one of you returned home the better off in circumstances or in fortune.”
68.4. est tandem domi unde ea expleatis? vobis amissa reddent ac restituent? verborumque quantum voletis ingerent et criminum in principes et legum aliarum super alias et contionum; sed ex illis contionibus nunquam vestrum quisquam re, fortuna domum auctior rediit.
68.5. “Has ever one of you carried aught back to wife and children but animosities, complaints, and quarrels, both public and private? —from which you always fly for refuge, not to your own bravery and innocence, but to the help of others.”
68.5. rettulit aliquid ad coniugem ac liberos praeter odia offensiones simultates publicas privatasque? quibus semper non vestra virtute innocentiaque, sed auxilio alieno tuti sitis.
68.6. “But, by Hercules! when you used to serve under us, the consuls, instead of under tribunes, and in camp instead of in the Forum; when your shout was raised in the battle-line, not the assembly, and caused not the Roman nobles but the enemy to shudder; —in those days, I say, you were wont to capture booty, to strip the enemy of his lands, and crowned with success and glory —for the state no less than for yourselves —to return in triumph to your homes and your household gods; now you suffer the foe to load himself with your riches and depart.”
68.6. hercules cum stipendia nobis consulibus, non tribunis ducibus, et in castris, non in foro faciebatis, et in acie vestrum clamorem hostes, non in contione patres Romani horrebant, praeda parta, agro ex hoste capto, pleni fortunarum gloriaeque simul publicae simul privatae triumphantes domum ad penates redibatis: nunc oneratum vestris fortunis hostem abire sinitis.
68.7. “Hold fast to your assemblies and live your lives in the Forum; you shall still be pursued by the necessity of that service which you seek to evade. It was hard to march against the Aequi and Volsci; the war is before your gates. If it is not driven back, it will soon be within the walls and will scale Citadel and Capitol and pursue you into your homes.”
68.7. adfixi contionibus et in foro vivite: sequetur vos necessitas militandi quam fugitis. erat in Aequos et Volscos proficisci: ante portas est bellum. inde non pellitur, iam intra moenia erit et arcem et Capitolium scandet et 8 in domos vestras vos persequetur. ante senatus dilectum haberi et educi exercitum in Algidum iussit: sedemus desides domi mulierum ritu inter nos altercantes, praesenti pace laeti nec cernentes ex otio illo brevi multiplex bellum rediturum.
68.8. “Last year the senate commanded that an army should be levied and led out to Algidus: we are still sitting idly at home, scolding each other like so many women, rejoicing in the temporary peace, and not perceiving that we shall soon be paying for this brief repose with a war many times as great.”
68.8. ego gratiora dictu alia esse scio; sed me vera pro gratis loqui, etsi meum ingenium non moneret, necessitas cogit. equidem vobis placere, Quirites; sed multo malo vos salvos esse, qualicumque erga me animo futuri estis.
68.9. “I know that there are other things more pleasant to hear; but even if my character did not prompt me to say what is true in preference to what is agreeable, necessity compels me. I could wish to give you pleasure, Quirites, but I had far sooner you should be saved, no matter what your feeling towards me is going to be.”
68.9. hoc ita comparatum est ut qui apud multitudinem sua causa loquitur gratior eo sit cuius mens nihil praeter publicum commodum videt; nisi forte adsentatores publicos, plebicolas istos, qui vos nec in armis nec in otio esse sinunt, vestra vos causa incitare et stimulare putatis.
68.10. “It has been ordained by nature that he who addresses a crowd for his own selfish ends should be more acceptable to it than he whose mind regards nothing but the general welfare; unless perhaps you suppose that it is for your sakes that the public flatterers —I mean your courtiers of the plebs, who will suffer you neither to be at war nor to keep the peace-are exciting you and urging you on.”
68.10. aut honori aut quaestui illis estis, et quia in concordia ordinum nullos se usquam esse vident, malae rei se quam nullius duces esse volunt.
68.11. “Once thoroughly aroused you are a source of political advancement or of profit to them; and because they see that so long as the orders are harmonious they themselves count for nothing anywhere, they had rather lead an evil cause than none.” “If you are capable at last of feeling a disgust for these things, and are willing to resume your fathers' and your own old-fashioned manners, in ” “place of these new-fangled ones, I give you leave to punish me as you like, if within a few days I have not defeated and routed these devastators of our fields, stripped them of their camp, and shifted this alarm of war which now dismays you from our gates and walls to the cities of our enemies.”
68.11. rerum si vos taedium tandem capere potest et patrum vestrosque antiquos mores voltis pro his novis sumere, nulla supplicia recuso, nisi paucis diebus hos populatores agrorum nostrorum fusos fugatosque castris exuero et a portis nostris moenibusque ad illorum urbes hunc belli terrorem quo nunc vos attoniti estis transtulero.
69.1. Rarely has the speech of a popular tribune been more agreeable to the plebs than was at that time this speech by the sternest of consuls.
69.1. alias tribuni popularis oratio acceptior plebi quam tunc tune severissimi consulis fuit.
69.2. Even the young men, who amid such alarms were wont to regard a refusal to enlist as their sharpest weapon against the nobles, began to look forward to war and arms. And the flight of the country-people and the presence of those who had been plundered while on their farms and wounded, and who reported worse outrages than those which met the eyes of the citizens, filled all Rome with resentment.
69.2. quoque, quae inter tales metus detractationem militiae telum acerrimum adversus patres habere solita erat, arma et bellum spectabat. agrestium fuga spoliatique in agris et volnerati, foediora iis quae subiciebantur oculis nuntiantes, totam urbem ira implevere.
69.3. When the senate had met, then in truth all turned to Quinctius, whom they looked on as the sole champion of Roman majesty. The foremost senators declared that his speech had been worthy of the consular authority, worthy of the many consulships he had held in the past, worthy of his whole life, crowded as it had been with honours which, often as he had received them, he had still oftener deserved.
69.3. senatum ubi venture est, ibi vero in Quinctium omnes versi ut unum vindicem maiestatis Romanae intueri, et primores patrum dignam dicere contionem imperio consulari, dignam tot consulatibus ante actis, dignam vita omni, plena honorum saepe gestorum, saepius meritorum.
69.4. Other consuls had either flattered the plebs by betraying the dignity of the patricians, or by harshly inforcing the rights of their order had exasperated the populace while seeking to subjugate them; Titus Quinctius had spoken without forgetting the dignity of the patricians, or the harmony of the orders, or —what was particularly important —the existing crisis.
69.4. consules aut per proditionem dignitatis patrum plebi adulatos aut acerbe tuendo iura ordinis asperiorem domando multitudinem fecisse: T. Quinctium orationem memorem maiestatis patrum concordiaeque ordinum et temporum in primis habuisse.
69.5. They begged him and his colleague to undertake the guidance of the state; they besought the tribunes to unite with the consuls in a single-minded effort to repel their enemies from the walls of the City, and to cause the plebs to yield obedience to the patricians in so alarming a situation; the appeal to the tribunes came, they said, from their common country, which implored their assistance for its wasted fields and its well-nigh beleaguered City.
69.5. eum collegamque ut capesserent rem publicam; orare tribunos ut uno animo cum consulibus bellum ab urbe ac moenibus propulsari vellent plebemque oboedientem in re tam trepida patribus praeberent; appellare tribunos communem patriam auxiliumque eorum implorare vastatis agris, urbe prope oppugnata.
69.6. By general consent a levy was proclaimed and held. The consuls announced in the assembly that there was no time to consider excuses; that all the juniors should present themselves at dawn of the following day in the Campus Martius;
69.6. omnium dilectus decernitur habeturque. consules in contione pronuntiassent tempus non esse causas cognoscendi; omnes iuniores postero die prima luce in campo Martio adessent;
69.7. that they would take time when the war was over to listen to the excuses of those who had failed to hand in their names; and that any man whose excuse they did not approve would be treated as a deserter.
69.7. cognoscendis causis eorum qui nomina non dedissent bello perfecto se daturos tempus; pro desertore futurum cuius non probassent causam;—omnis iuventus adfuit postero die.
69.8. Next day the entire body of young men appeared. The cohorts each chose their own centurions, and two senators were put in command of every cohort. We are told that all these measures were carried out so promptly that the standards were fetched from the treasury by the quaestors that very day, and being carried to the Campus Martius, headed the line of march from the mustering ground at ten o'clock in the morning; and the newly recruited army, with the voluntary escort of a few cohorts of veterans, encamped over night at the tenth mile-stone.
69.8. sibi quaeque centuriones legerunt, bini senatores singulis cohortibus praepositi. omnia adeo mature perfecta accepimus ut signa eo ipso die a quaestoribus ex aerario prompta delataque in campum quarta diei hora mota ex campo sint exercitusque novus paucis cohortibus veterum militum voluntate sequentibus manserit ad decimum lapidem.
69.9. The following day brought the enemy into view, and the Roman camp was established close to theirs, near Corbio. On the third day, the Romans being urged on by indignation, and the enemy, who had so often revolted, by the consciousness of their guilt and by despair, no attempt was made to delay the battle.
69.9. dies hostem in conspectum dedit, castraque ad Corbionem castris sunt coniuncta. die, cum ira Romanos, illos, cum totiens rebellassent, conscientia culpae ac desperatio inritaret, mora dimicandi nulla est facta.
70.1. Although the two consuls were of equal authority in the Roman army, yet they made an arrangement which is extremely advantageous in the administration of important measures, by which Agrippa yielded the supreme command to his colleague. The latter, thus preferred, responded courteously to the ready self-effacement of the other by admitting him to a share in his plans and his achievements, and treating him as an equal, despite his inferiority.
70.1. exercitu Romano cum duo consules essent potestate pari, quod saluberrimum in administratione magnarum rerum est, summa imperii concedente Agrippa penes collegam erat; et praelatus ille facilitati summittentis se comiter respondebat communicando consilia laudesque et aequando imparem sibi.
70.2. In the battle-line Quinctius held the right wing, Agrippa the left; to Spurius Postumius Albus, the lieutenant, they gave the centre in charge; and the other lieutenant, Publius Sulpicius, they put in command of the horse.
70.2. acie Quinctius dextrum cornu, Agrippa sinistrum tenuit; Sp. Postumio Albo legato datur media acies tuenda, legatum alterum P. Sulpicium equitibus praeficiunt.
70.3. The infantry on the right fought brilliantly, and were vigorously resisted by the Volsci.
70.3. ab dextro cornu egregie pugnavere haud segniter resistentibus Volscis.
70.4. Publius Sulpicius broke through the enemy's centre with his cavalry. He might have returned to the Roman side the way he went, before the enemy could re-form their broken ranks; but it seemed better to assail them in the rear. It would have been but the work of a moment to charge them from behind and throw them into confusion between the two attacks; but the Volscian and Aequian cavalry met him with his own kind of troops and held him in check for some little while.
70.4. P. Sulpicius per mediam hostium aciem cum equitatu perrupit. cum eadem reverti posset ad suos priusquam hostis turbatos ordines reficeret, terga impugnare hostium satius visum est; momentoque temporis in aversam incursando aciem ancipiti terrore dissipasset hostes, ni suo proprio eum proelio equites Volscorum et Aequorum exceptum aliquamdiu tenuissent.
70.5. Thereupon Sulpicius cried out that there was no time for hesitation; they were surrounded and cut off from their fellows, unless they put forth all their might and disposed of the enemy's cavalry.
70.5. vero Sulpicius negare cunctandi tempus esse, circumventos interclusosque ab suis vociferans, ni equestre proelium conixi omni vi perficerent.
70.6. Nor was it enough to rout them and let them get safely off; they must destroy them, horse and man, that none might ride back into the battle or renew the fight. It would be impossible, he said, for their cavalry to resist his men, when the close ranks of their infantry had given way before them.
70.6. fugare equitem integrum satis esse: conficerent equos virosque, ne quis reveheretur inde ad proelium aut integraret pugnam; non posse illos resistere sibi, quibus conferta peditum acies cessisset.
70.7. His words did not fall upon deaf ears. With a single rush the Romans routed the entire body of cavalry. Hurling great numbers of them from their horses, they transfixed men and steeds with their javelins.
70.7. surdis auribus dicta. una totum equitatum fudere, magnam vim ex equis praecipitavere, ipsos equosque spiculis confodere.
70.8. This ended the cavalry-battle. Then they fell upon the hostile infantry, and sent off gallopers to announce their success to the consuls, where the enemy's line was already beginning to give way. The tidings at once aroused fresh ardour in the conquering Romans and filled the faltering Aequi with confusion.
70.8. finis pugnae equestris fuit. adorti peditum aciem nuntios ad consules rei gestae mittunt, ubi iam inclinabatur hostium acies. Nuntius deinde et vincentibus Romanis animos auxit et referentes gradum perculit Aequos.
70.9. It was in the centre that their defeat began, where the attack of the troopers had thrown their ranks into disorder; then the left wing began to fall back before the consul Quinctius.
70.9. media primum acie vinci coepti, qua permissus equitatus turbaverat ordines;
70.10. The Romans experienced most difficulty on the right; there Agrippa, young, active, and courageous, perceiving that the battle was everywhere going better than on his own front, snatched the standards from the men who bore them, and began to carry them forward himself, and even to fling some of them into the press of the enemy. The disgrace with which his soldiers were thus threatened spurred them to the attack, and the victory was extended to every part of the line.
70.10. sinistrum deinde cornu ab Quinctio consule pelli coeptum; in dextro plurimum laboris fuit. Agrippa, aetate viribusque ferox, cum omni parte pugnae melius rem geri quam apud se videret, arrepta signa ab signiferis ipse inferre, quaedam iacere etiam in confertos hostes coepit;
70.11. A message then came from Quinctius, saying that he had beaten the enemy and was already threatening their camp, but did not wish to storm it until he knew that the fight had been decided on the left wing also;
70.11. cuius ignominiae ignomniniae metu concitati milites invasere hostem. aequata ex omni parte victoria est Nuntius tum a Quinctio venit victorem iam se imminere hostium castris; nolle inrumpere antequam sciat debellatum et in sinistro cornu esse:
70.12. if Agrippa had already defeated his opponents, let him bring up his troops, that the entire army might enter together into possession of the spoils. The victorious Agrippa accordingly joined his victorious colleague, with mutual congratulations, in front of the enemy's camp.
70.12. si iam fudisset hostes, conferret ad se signa, ut simul omnis exercitus praeda potiretur.
70.13. Its handful of defenders was speedily put to flight, and the Romans burst into the entrenchments without encountering resistance. The consuls led their army back to the City laden with a vast quantity of booty, as well as with the goods which they had lost by the pillage of their fields but had now recovered.
70.13. Agrippa cum mutua gratulatione ad victorem collegam castraque hostium venit. paucis defendentibus momentoque fusis sine certamine in munitiones inrumpunt, praedaque ingenti conpotem exercitum suis etiam rebus reciperatis quae populatione agrorum amissae erant reducunt.
70.14. I do not find either that the consuls themselves asked for a triumph or that one was offered them by the senate; nor is there any record of the reason why they despised the honour or did not hope for it.
70.14. nec ipsos postulasse nec nee delatum iis ab senatu accipio, nec traditur causa spreti aut non sperati honoris.
70.15. The best conjecture I myself can offer, after so long an interval of time, is this: since the consuls Valerius and Horatius, who besides beating the Volsci and Aequi had also attained renown by bringing the Sabine war to a successful conclusion, had been refused a triumph by the senate, they were ashamed to ask for that distinction in recompense of an achievement only half as great, lest even if it should be granted, it might seem that account had been taken rather of persons than of deserts.
70.15. quantum in tanto intervallo temporum conicio, cum Valerio atque Horatio consulibus, qui praeter Volscos et Aequos Sabini etiam belli perfecti gloriam pepererant, negatus ab senatu triumphus esset, verecundiae fuit pro parte dimidia rerum consulibus petere triumphum, ne etiamsi impetrassent magis hominum ratio quam meritorum habita videretur.
71.1. The glory of defeating the enemy was sullied by a shameful judgment given by the people in Rome regarding the boundaries of her allies.
71.1. honestam ex hostibus partam turpe domi de finibus sociorum iudicium populi deformavit.
71.2. The men of Aricia and those of Ardea had often gone to war over a territory which both cities claimed. Exhausted by the many defeats which each had experienced, they referred their quarrel to the Roman People for decision.
71.2. Aricini atque Ardeates de ambiguo agro cum saepe bello certassent, multis in vicem cladibus fessi iudicem populum Romanum cepere. ad causam orandam venissent, concilio populi a magistratibus dato magna contentione actum.
71.3. When they had come to plead their cause, and a popular assembly had been granted them by the magistrates, they argued their respective claims with great vehemence. The testimony had already been taken, and the time had come for the tribes to be summoned and the people to give their votes, when Publius Scaptius, an aged plebeian, arose and said: “If I am permitted, consuls, to speak concerning the nation's interests, I will not suffer the people to go wrong in this matter.”
71.3. editis testibus cum tribus vocari et populum inire suffragium oporteret, consurgit P. Scaptius de plebe magno natu et licet inquit, consules, de re publica dicere, errare ego populum in hac causa non patiar.
71.4. The consuls declared that he was an untrustworthy fellow and ought not to be listened to, and when he protested noisily that the public cause was being betrayed, they ordered him to be removed; whereat he appealed to the tribunes.
71.4. ut vanum eum negarent consules audiendum esse vociferantemque prodi publicam causam submoveri iussissent, tribunos appellat.
71.5. The tribunes, as almost always happens, were swayed by the crowd, instead of swaying it, and, to please the greedy ears of the plebs, gave Scaptius leave to say what he wished.
71.5. , ut fere semper reguntur a multitudine magis quam regunt, dedere cupidae audiendi plebi ut quae vellet Scaptius diceret.
71.6. He therefore began, and said that he was eighty-two years old and had fought in the army, in that district which was under discussion, not as a youth, but as one already in his twentieth year of service at the time of the campaign before Corioli.
71.6. infit annum se tertium et octogensimum agere et in eo agro de quo agitur militasse, non iuvenem, vicesima iam stipendia merentem, cum ad Coriolos sit bellatum. rem se vetustate oblitteratam, ceterum suae memoriae infixam adferre, agrum de quo ambigitur finium Coriolanorum fuisse captisque Coriolis iure belli publicum populi Romani factum.
71.7. Hence it came that he was telling them of a matter forgotten with the lapse of years, but fixed in his own memory, namely that the disputed land had been a part of the territory of Corioli, and had consequently, on the capture of that town, become, by right of conquest, the property of the Roman People. He marvelled, he said, at the effrontery with which the men of Ardea and Aricia hoped to deprive the Roman People —whom they had made the judge, in place of being the owner —of a territory over which they had never exercised any authority so long as the state of Corioli was intact. He had himself but a little while to live; yet he had not been able to convince himself that, having as a soldier done his part to conquer the land, he should not defend it, even in his old age, with the only weapon left him, to wit his voice. He earnestly counselled the people not to condemn their own cause from an unreasonable motive of propriety.
71.7. se quonam ore Ardeates Aricinique, cuius agri ius nunquam usurpaverint incolumi Coriolana re, eum se a populo Romano, quem pro domino iudicem fecerint, intercepturos sperent. exiguum vitae tempus superesse; non potuisse se tamen inducere in animum quin, quem agrum miles pro parte virili manu cepisset, eum senex quoque voce, qua una posset, vindicaret. se suadere populo, ne inutili pudore suam ipse causam damnaret.
72.1. When the consuls had perceived that Scaptius was listened to not only in silence but actually with approval, they called on gods and men to witness that a great outrage was being perpetrated, and sent for the leaders of the senate. With them they went about among the tribes and implored them not to be guilty of an act which, utterly wrong in itself, would establish a precedent that was even worse, by diverting to their own possession, as judges, the property in dispute; and that too when, even if it were right that a judge should be concerned for his own advantage, they would by no means gain so much by the seizure of the land as they would lose by the wrongful estrangement of their allies.
72.1. , cum Scaptium non silentio modo, sed cum adsensu etiam audiri animadvertissent, deos hominesque testantes flagitium ingens fieri 2 patrum primores arcessunt. iis circumire tribus, orare ne pessimum facinus peiore exemplo admitterent iudices in suam rem litem vertendo, cum praesertim etiam si fas sit curam emolumenti sui iudici esse, nequaquam tantum agro intercipiendo adquiratur, quantum amittatur alienandis iniuria sociorum animis. famae quidem ac fidei damna maiora esse quam quae aestimari possent. legatos referre domum, hoc volgari, hoc socios audire, hoc hostes, quo cum dolore hos, quo cum gaudio illos!
72.3. For reputation at least and trustworthiness were things the loss of which was beyond all reckoning. Was this to be the report carried home by the envoys? Was this to be noised abroad and come to the ears of allies and enemies?
72.3. hoc, contionali seni, adsignaturos putarent finitimos populos? hac fore imagine Scaptium; sed populum Romanum quadruplatoris et interceptoris litis alienae personam laturum.
72.4. What grief it would cause the former, and what joy the latter! Did they suppose that Scaptius, a meddling old hanger-on of assemblies, would be held responsible for this by the neighbouring nations? It would be a famous thing for Scaptius to have inscribed beneath his portrait, but the Roman People would be playing a role of chicanery and of usurpation of the claims of others.
72.4. enim hoc private rei iudicem fecisse ut sibi controversiosam adiudicaret rem? Scaptium ipsum id quidem, etsi praemortui iam sit pudoris, non facturum.
72.5. For what umpire in a private suit would have thought of awarding to himself the object of litigation? Even Scaptius, though he had already outlived all sense of shame, would not do that.
72.5. consules, haec patres vociferantur; sed plus cupiditas et auctor cupiditatis Scaptius valet. tribus iudicaverunt agrum publicum populi Romani esse.
72.6. These arguments were loudly urged both by the consuls and by the Fathers; but they were less convincing than men's cupidity, or than Scaptius, who had aroused it. The tribes, being called upon to vote, decided the territory to be public land belonging to the Roman People. Nor is it denied that such would have been the verdict if recourse had been had to another court; but in the circumstances the excellence of the cause did not in the slightest degree extenuate the disgrace of the judgment, which seemed no less scandalous and harsh to the Roman senators than to the men of Aricia and Ardea. The remainder of the year passed without disturbances in either domestic or foreign relations.
72.6. abnuitur ita fuisse, si ad iudices alios itum foret; nunc haud baud sane quicquam bono causae levatur dedecus iudicii; idque non Aricinis Ardeatibusque quam patribus Romanis foedius atque acerbius visum. anni quietum ab urbanis motibus et ab externis mansit.