§20.36.1ἐν δὲ τῇ Ῥώμῃ κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν τιμητὰς εἵλοντο καὶ τούτων ὁ ἕτερος Ἄππιος Κλαύδιος ὑπήκοον ἔχων τὸν συνάρχοντα Λεύκιον Πλαύτιον πολλὰ τῶν πατρῴων νομίμων ἐκίνησε· τῷ δήμῳ γὰρ τὸ κεχαρισμένον ποιῶν οὐδένα λόγον ἐποιεῖτο τῆς συγκλήτου.
In Rome, during this year, censors were chosen, and one of them, Appius Claudius, having his colleague Lucius Plautius in subjection to him, altered many of the ancestral customs; for by doing what was pleasing to the people, he made no account of the senate.
καὶ πρῶτον μὲν τὸ καλούμενον Ἄππιον ὕδωρ ἀπὸ σταδίων ὀγδοήκοντα κατήγαγεν εἰς τὴν Ῥώμην καὶ πολλὰ τῶν δημοσίων χρημάτων εἰς ταύτην τὴν κατασκευὴν ἀνήλωσεν ἄνευ δόγματος τῆς συγκλήτου·
And first of all, he brought into Rome from a distance of eighty stades the water called Appian, and spent a great deal of the public money on this construction without a decree of the senate.
§20.36.2μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῆς ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ κληθείσης Ἀππίας ὁδοῦ τὸ πλεῖον μέρος λίθοις στερεοῖς κατέστρωσεν ἀπὸ Ῥώμης μέχρι Καπύης, ὄντος τοῦ διαστήματος σταδίων πλειόνων ἢ χιλίων, καὶ τῶν τόπων τοὺς μὲν ὑπερέχοντας διασκάψας, τοὺς δὲ φαραγγώδεις ἢ κοίλους ἀναλήμμασιν ἀξιολόγοις ἐξισώσας κατηνάλωσεν ἁπάσας τὰς δημοσίας προσόδους, αὑτοῦ δὲ μνημεῖον ἀθάνατον κατέλιπεν, §20.36.3εἰς κοινὴν εὐχρηστίαν φιλοτιμηθείς.
After this, he paved with solid stones the greater part of the road named Appian after him, from Rome as far as Capua, the distance being more than a thousand stades; and having dug through the elevated parts of the terrain and leveled the ravine-like or hollow parts with remarkable retaining walls, he consumed all the public revenues, but left behind an immortal monument of himself, having exerted himself for the common utility.
κατέμιξε δὲ καὶ τὴν σύγκλητον, οὐ τοὺς εὐγενεῖς καὶ προέχοντας τοῖς ἀξιώμασι προσγράφων μόνον, ὡς ἦν ἔθος, ἀλλὰ πολλοὺς καὶ τῶν ἀπελευθέρων υἱοὺς ἀνέμιξεν· ἐφʼ οἷς βαρέως ἔφερον οἱ καυχώμενοι ταῖς εὐγενείαις.
He also reorganized the senate, not enrolling only the well-born and those preeminent in dignity, as was the custom, but he mixed in many sons of freedmen; at which those who boasted of their noble birth were deeply displeased.
§20.36.4ἔδωκε δὲ τοῖς πολίταις καὶ τὴν ἐξουσίαν ἐν ὁποίᾳ τις βούλεται φυλῇ τάττεσθαι καὶ ὅποι προαιροῖτο τιμήσασθαι.
He also gave the citizens the power to be enrolled in whichever tribe one wished, and to have their property assessed wherever they preferred.
τὸ δʼ ὅλον, ὁρῶν τεθησαυρισμένον κατʼ αὐτοῦ παρὰ τοῖς ἐπιφανεστάτοις τὸν φθόνον, ἐξέκλινε τὸ προσκόπτειν τισὶ τῶν ἄλλων πολιτῶν, ἀντίταγμα κατασκευάζων τῇ τῶν εὐγενῶν ἀλλοτριότητι τὴν παρὰ τῶν πολλῶν εὔνοιαν.
On the whole, seeing that hatred against him was stored up among the most illustrious citizens, he avoided offending any of the other citizens, building up the goodwill of the multitude as a counter-defense against the hostility of the nobles. He also gave the citizens the power to be enrolled in whichever tribe one wished, and to have their property assessed wherever they preferred. On the whole, seeing that hatred against him was stored up among the most illustrious citizens, he avoided offending any of the other citizens, building up the goodwill of the multitude as a counter-defense against the hostility of the nobles.
§20.36.5καὶ κατὰ μὲν τὴν τῶν ἱππέων δοκιμασίαν οὐδενὸς ἀφείλετο τὸν ἵππον, κατὰ δὲ τὴν τῶν συνέδρων καταγραφὴν οὐδένα τῶν ἀδοξούντων συγκλητικῶν ἐξέβαλεν, ὅπερ ἦν ἔθος ποιεῖν τοῖς τιμηταῖς.
And in the review of the knights he took away no one's horse, and in the registration of the senators he expelled none of those who were in disrepute, which it was the custom for censors to do.
εἶθʼ οἱ μὲν ὕπατοι διὰ τὸν φθόνον καὶ διὰ τὸ βούλεσθαι τοῖς ἐπιφανεστάτοις χαρίζεσθαι συνῆγον τὴν σύγκλητον οὐ τὴν ὑπὸ τούτου καταλεγεῖσαν, ἀλλὰ τὴν ὑπὸ τῶν προγεγενημένων τιμητῶν καταγραφεῖσαν·
Consequently, the consuls, because of their hatred and their desire to please the most illustrious citizens, convoked the senate not as enrolled by him, but as registered by the preceding censors.
§20.36.6ὁ δὲ δῆμος τούτοις μὲν ἀντιπράττων, τῷ δὲ Ἀππίῳ συμφιλοτιμούμενος καὶ τὴν τῶν συγγενῶν προαγωγὴν βεβαιῶσαι βουλόμενος ἀγορανόμον εἵλετο τῆς ἐπιφανεστέρας ἀγορανομίας υἱὸν ἀπελευθέρου Γναῖον Φλάυιον, ὃς πρῶτος Ῥωμαίων ἔτυχε ταύτης τῆς ἀρχῆς πατρὸς ὢν δεδουλευκότος. ὁ δʼ Ἄππιος τῆς ἀρχῆς ἀπολυθεὶς καὶ τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς συγκλήτου φθόνον εὐλαβηθεὶς προσεποιήθη τυφλὸς εἶναι καὶ κατʼ οἰκίαν ἔμενεν.
But the people, acting in opposition to them, and sharing the ambition of Appius and wishing to secure the advancement of their own class, elected Gnaeus Flavius, the son of a freedman, as one of the more illustrious class of aediles; he was the first of the Romans to obtain this office whose father had been a slave. As for Appius, when he was released from office, fearing the hatred of the senate, he pretended to be blind and remained at home. But the people, acting in opposition to them, and sharing the ambition of Appius and wishing to secure the advancement of their own class, elected Gnaeus Flavius, the son of a freedman, as one of the more illustrious class of aediles; he was the first of the Romans to obtain this office whose father had been a slave. As for Appius, when he was released from office, fearing the hatred of the senate, he pretended to be blind and remained at home.