- Source
- Titi Livi ab urbe condita libri editionem priman, Pars I-IV, Libri I-XL. Editio Stereotypica. Weissenborn, Wilhelm; Mueller, Moritz, editors. Leipzig: Teubner, 1884-1911.
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
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- CTS URN
- urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:3.9.1-3.9.13
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-02
With the foreign wars successfully concluded, the tribune Terentilius introduced a proposal to limit the absolute power of the consuls, provoking domestic political tension, which was countered by a fierce speech from the prefect Fabius, resulting in the postponement of the bill.
sic res Romana in antiquum statum rediit, secundaeque belli res extemplo urbanos motus excitaverunt. C. Terentilius Harsa tribunus plebis eo anno fuit.
Thus the Roman state returned to its ancient condition, and the successful progress of the war immediately excited urban disturbances. Gaius Terentilius Harsa was a tribune of the plebs in that year.
is consulibus absentibus ratus locum tribuniciis actionibus datum, per aliquot dies patrum superbiam ad plebem criminatus, maxime in consulare imperium tamquam nimium nec tolerabile liberae civitati invehebatur. nomine enim tantum minus invidiosum, re ipsa prope atrocius quam regium esse;1
He, thinking that an opportunity was given for tribunician activities while the consuls were absent, having for several days declaimed against the arrogance of the patricians to the plebeians, inveighed especially against the consular authority as excessive and intolerable to a free state. For he argued that it was only less odious in name, but in reality almost more harsh than the royal power;
quippe duos pro uno dominos acceptos immoderata, infinita potestate, qui, soluti atque effrenati ipsi, omnis metus legum omniaque supplicia verterent in plebem.
since two masters had been accepted instead of one, with immoderate, infinite power, who, themselves free and unbridled, turned all the fear of the laws and all punishments upon the plebeians.
quae ne aeterna illis licentia sit, legem se promulgaturum, ut quinque viri creentur legibus de imperio consulari scribendis: quod populus in se ius dederit, eo consulem usurum; non ipsos libidinem ac licentiam suam pro lege habituros.
Lest this license should be eternal to them, he declared that he would propose a law that five men be elected to draw up laws concerning the consular authority: whatever right the people had granted over themselves, the consul should use that; they themselves should not hold their own lust and license as law.
qua promulgata lege cum timerent patres, ne absentibus consulibus iugum acciperent, senatus a praefecto urbis Q. Fabio vocatur, qui adeo atrociter in rogationem latoremque ipsum est invectus, ut nihil, si ambo consules infesti circumstarent tribunum, relictum minarum atque terroris sit: insidiatum eum et tempore capto adortum rem publicam.
When this law was proposed, as the patricians feared lest they should receive the yoke in the absence of the consuls, the senate was convened by the prefect of the city, Q. Fabius, who inveighed so fiercely against the bill and its proposer himself, that if both consuls were standing hostilely around the tribune, nothing more of threats and terror could have been left: he asserted that he had plotted and, having seized a favorable time, had attacked the republic.
si quem similem eius priore anno inter morbum bellumque irati dii tribunum dedissent, non potuisse sisti.2 mortuis duobus consulibus, iacente aegra civitate, in conluuione omnium rerum ad tollendum rei publicae consulare imperium laturum leges fuisse, ducem Volscis Aequisque ad oppugnandam urbem futurum.3
If the angry gods had given any tribune like him in the previous year during the plague and war, the state could not have been saved. With two consuls dead, and the sick state lying down, in the confusion of all things, he would have proposed laws to abolish the consular authority of the republic, and would have been a leader to the Volsci and Aequi for attacking the city.
quid tandem? illi non licere,4 si quid consules superbe in aliquem civium aut crudeliter fecerint, diem dicere, accusare iis ipsis iudicibus, quorum in aliquem saevitum sit?
What indeed? Was it not permitted to him, if the consuls did anything arrogantly or cruelly against any of the citizens, to appoint a day of trial and accuse them before those very judges against whom violence had been committed?
non illum consulare imperium, sed tribuniciam potestatem invisam intolerandamque facere, quam placatam reconciliatamque patribus de integro in antiqua redigi mala. neque illum se deprecari, quo minus pergat, ut coeperit; “vos” inquit Fabius, “ceteri tribuni, oramus, ut primum omnium cogitetis potestatem istam ad singulorum auxilium, non ad perniciem universorum comparatam esse: tribunos plebis vos creatos, non hostes patribus.
He was making not the consular authority, but the tribunician power odious and intolerable, which, having been appeased and reconciled to the patricians, was being dragged back anew into ancient evils. Nor did he beg him not to proceed as he had begun; “You,” said Fabius, ”the other tribunes, we entreat that first of all you consider that this power of yours was prepared for the assistance of individuals, not for the destruction of all: that you were created tribunes of the plebs, not enemies to the patricians.
nobis miserum, invidiosum vobis est desertam rem publicam invadi. non ius vestrum, sed invidiam minueritis.5 agite cum collega, ut rem integram in adventum consulum differat. ne Aequi quidem ac Volsci morbo absumptis priore anno consulibus crudeli superboque nobis bello institere.”
To us it is miserable, to you it is odious, that the deserted republic should be invaded. You will diminish not your right, but your unpopularity. Entreat your colleague that he defer the matter untouched until the arrival of the consuls. Not even the Aequi and Volsci, when the consuls were carried off by the plague last year, pressed us with a cruel and arrogant war.”
agunt cum Terentilio tribuni, dilataque in speciem actione, re ipsa sublata consules extemplo arcessiti.
The tribunes dealt with Terentilius, and the action being deferred in appearance, but in reality removed, the consuls were immediately summoned.
- 3.9.2nomine enim tantum minus invidiosum, re ipsa prope atrocius quam regium esse
Accusative with infinitive in indirect discourse. The clause with esse has the previously mentioned consulare imperium as its subject, expressing the content of Terentilius' speech, dependent on the main verb invehebatur (or an implied verb of saying).
- 3.9.8non potuisse sisti
The apodosis of a past contrary-to-fact conditional sentence in indirect discourse. What would have been non potuisset sisti in direct speech becomes the perfect infinitive potuisse here. sisti is the present passive infinitive of sisto, used impersonally to mean 'to be maintained' or 'to withstand'.
- 3.9.8laturum leges fuisse, ducem ... futurum
The active form of the apodosis of a contrary-to-fact conditional in indirect discourse. What would be the pluperfect subjunctive in direct discourse (tulisset, fuisset) regularly becomes the future active participle with fuisse (laturum fuisse and futurum [fuisse]).
- 3.9.9illi non licere
A rhetorical question in indirect discourse. A first- or third-person question in direct speech is regularly expressed by the accusative with infinitive (licere) rather than the subjunctive when transferred to indirect discourse. illi (to him) is the dative referring to the tribune Terentilius.
- 3.9.12non ius vestrum, sed invidiam minueritis
The verb minueritis is second-person plural of either the future perfect indicative or the perfect subjunctive. Here it is best interpreted as a future perfect, expressing with confidence the future consequence of an action: 'you will have diminished not your right, but your unpopularity.'