§21.1τῷ δʼ ἑξῆς ἔτει πάλιν ὑπάτευε Ποπλικόλας τὸ τέταρτον· ἦν δὲ προσδοκία πολέμου Σαβίνων καί Λατίνων συνισταμένων.
In the following year, Poplicola was again consul for the fourth time; and there was expectation of a war from the Sabines and Latins combining.
καί τις ἅμα δεισιδαιμονία τῆς πόλεως ἥψατο· πᾶσαι γὰρ αἱ κυοῦσαι τότε γυναῖκες ἐξέβαλλον ἀνάπηρα, καί τέλος οὐδεμία γένεσις ἔσχεν.
At the same time, a certain superstition laid hold of the city; for all the women who were then pregnant miscarried and brought forth deformed offspring, and in the end there was no birth.
ὅθεν ἐκ τῶν Σιβυλλείων ὁ Ποπλικόλας ἱλασάμενος τῷ Ἅιδῃ καί τινας ἀγῶνας πυθοχρήστους ἀναλαβὼν καί ταῖς ἐλπίσι πρὸς τὸ θεῖον ἡδίονα καταστήσας τὴν πόλιν, ἤδη τοῖς ἀπʼ ἀνθρώπων φοβεροῖς προσεῖχε.
Wherefore Poplicola, having appeased Hades according to the Sibylline books, and having revived certain games commanded by the oracle, and having rendered the city more cheerful in its hopes towards the divine, now turned his attention to the dangers threatened by men.
μεγάλη γὰρ ἐφαίνετο κατασκευὴ τῶν πολεμίων καί σύστασις.
For the preparation and combination of the enemy appeared great.
§21.2ἦν οὖν Ἄππιος Κλαῦσος ἐν Σαβίνοις, ἀνὴρ χρήμασί τε δυνατὸς καί σώματος ῥώμῃ πρὸς ἀλκὴν ἐπιφανής, ἀρετῆς δὲ δόξῃ μάλιστα καί λόγου δεινότητι πρωτεύων, ὃ δὲ πᾶσι συμβαίνει τοῖς μεγάλοις οὐ διέφυγε παθεῖν, ἀλλʼ ἐφθονεῖτο·
Now there was among the Sabines Appius Clausus, a man powerful in wealth and conspicuous for bodily strength in valor, and preeminent especially in reputation for virtue and eloquence of speech; but he did not escape suffering what happens to all great men, but was envied.
καὶ τοῖς φθονοῦσιν αἰτίαν παρέσχε καταπαύων τὸν πόλεμον αὔξειν τὰ Ῥωμαίων, ἐπὶ τυραννίδι καί δουλώσει τῆς πατρίδος.
And he gave to those who envied him a cause of accusation, because he tried to stop the war and thus increase the power of the Romans, with a view to tyranny and enslavement of his fatherland.
§21.3αἰσθόμενος δὲ τοὺς λόγους τούτους βουλομένῳ τῷ πλήθει λεγομένους, καί προσκρούοντα τοῖς πολεμοποιοῖς καί στρατιωτικοῖς ἑαυτόν, ἐφοβεῖτο τὴν κρίσιν, ἑταιρείαν δὲ καί δύναμιν φίλων καί οἰκείων ἔχων ἀμύνουσαν περὶ αὑτὸν ἐστασίαζε.
And perceiving that these stories were being told to the willing multitude, and that he was clashing with the war-makers and the military faction, he feared a trial; but having an association and a force of friends and relatives protecting him, he stirred up a faction.
καί τοῦτʼ ἦν τοῦ πολέμου διατριβὴ καί μέλλησις τοῖς Σαβίνοις.
And this was a cause of delay and putting off of the war to the Sabines.
§21.4ταῦτʼ οὖν ὁ Ποπλικόλας οὐ μόνον εἰδέναι ποιούμενος ἔργον, ἀλλὰ καί κινεῖν καί συνεξορμᾶν τὴν στάσιν, εἶχεν ἄνδρας ἐπιτηδείους οἳ τῷ Κλαύσῳ διελέγοντο παρʼ αὑτοῦ τοιαῦτα, ὡς ὁ Ποπλικόλας ἄνδρα σε χρηστὸν ὄντα καί δίκαιον οὐδενὶ κακῷ δεῖν οἴεται τοὺς σεαυτοῦ πολίτας ἀμύνεσθαι, καίπερ ἀδικούμενον· εἰ δὲ βούλοιο σῴζων ἑαυτὸν μεταστῆναι καί φυγεῖν τοὺς μισοῦντας, ὑποδέξεταί σε δημοσίᾳ καί ἰδίᾳ τῆς τε σῆς ἀρετῆς ἀξίως καί τῆς Ῥωμαίων λαμπρότητος. §21.5ταῦτα πολλάκις ἀνασκοποῦντι τῷ Κλαύσῳ βέλτιστα τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἐφαίνετο, καί τοὺς φίλους συμπαρακαλῶν, ἐκείνων τε πολλοὺς ὁμοίως συναναπειθ όντων, πεντακισχιλίους οἴκους ἀναστήσας μετὰ παίδων καί γυναικῶν, ὅπερ ἦν ἐν Σαβίνοις ἀθόρυβον μάλιστα καί βίου πρᾴου καί καθεστῶτος οἰκεῖον, εἰς Ῥώμην ἦγε, προειδότος τοῦ Ποπλικόλα καί δεχομένου φιλοφρόνως καί προθύμως ἐπὶ πᾶσι δικαίοις.
Poplicola, therefore, making it his business not only to know these things, but also to stir up and help to excite the dissension, had suitable men who spoke to Clausus on his behalf in such terms as these: "Poplicola thinks that you, being an honorable and just man, ought not to be requited with any harm by your own citizens, even though you are wronged; but if you should wish to save yourself, to migrate, and to flee from those who hate you, he will receive you publicly and privately, in a manner worthy of your virtue and the splendor of the Romans." To Clausus, as he repeatedly considered these things, they appeared the best of his necessary choices, and calling upon his friends to join him, and many of them likewise helping to persuade him, he moved five thousand families with their children and wives—who were of the most quiet character among the Sabines, and accustomed to a gentle and settled life—and led them to Rome, Poplicola knowing of it beforehand and receiving them kindly and eagerly on all fair terms.
§21.6τοὺς μὲν γὰρ οἴκους εὐθὺς ἀνέμιξε τῷ πολιτεύματι, καί χώραν ἀπένειμεν ἑκάστῳ δυεῖν πλέθρων περὶ τὸν Ἀνίωνα ποταμόν, τῷ δὲ Κλαύσῳ πλέθρα πέντε καί εἴκοσι γῆς ἔδωκεν, αὑτὸν δὲ τῇ βουλῇ προσέγραψεν, ἀρχὴν πολιτείας λαμβάνοντα ταύτην, ᾗ χρώμενος ἐμφρόνως ἀνέδραμεν εἰς τὸ πρῶτον ἀξίωμα καί δύναμιν ἔσχε μεγάλην, καί γένος οὐδενὸς ἀμαυρότερον ἐν Ῥώμῃ τὸ Κλαυδίων ἀφʼ αὑτοῦ κατέλιπε.
For he immediately mingled the families with the citizen body, and assigned to each two plethra of land along the river Anio, and to Clausus he gave twenty-five plethra of land, and enrolled him in the senate, starting his public career with this, which he used wisely to rise to the first rank of dignity and acquired great power, and left behind him the family of the Claudii, a lineage second to none in brilliance in Rome.