§10.2.1τότε δʼ αὐτὸ παραλαβόντες οἱ περὶ Αὖλον Οὐεργίνιον δήμαρχοι τελειῶσαι ἐβούλοντο· ἵνα δὲ μὴ τοῦτο γένοιτο μηδὲ κατὰ νόμους ἀναγκασθεῖεν πολιτεύεσθαι, πάντα ἐπιμηχανώμενοι διετέλουν οἵ τε ὕπατοι καὶ ἡ βουλὴ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πολιτῶν οἱ πλεῖστον ἐν τῇ πόλει δυνάμενοι·
At that time, the tribunes under Aulus Verginius, having taken it over, wished to bring it to completion; but in order that this might not happen and that they might not be forced to govern according to laws, the consuls, the senate, and those of the other citizens who had the greatest power in the city, continued to devise every means.
βουλαί τε πολλαὶ καὶ ἐκκλησίαι συνεχεῖς ἐγίνοντο πεῖραί τε παντοῖαι ταῖς ἀρχαῖς κατʼ ἀλλήλων, ἐξ ὧν οὐκ ἄδηλον ἅπασιν ἦν, ὅτι μεγάλη τις καὶ ἀνήκεστος ἐξ ἐκείνης τῆς φιλονεικίας ἀναστήσεται τῇ πόλει συμφορά.
Many senate meetings and continuous assemblies were held, and all kinds of attempts were made by the magistrates against one another, from which it was clear to all that some great and incurable calamity would arise for the city out of that rivalry.
§10.2.2συνήπτετο δὲ τοῖς ἀνθρωπίνοις λογισμοῖς καὶ τὰ θεῖα δείματα προσγενόμενα, ὧν ἔνια οὔτʼ ἐν δημοσίαις εὑρίσκετο γραφαῖς οὔτε κατʼ ἄλλην φυλαττόμενα μνήμην οὐδεμίαν.
And to human calculations were added divine terrors, some of which were neither found in public records nor preserved by any other memory.
§10.2.3ὅσα μὲν γὰρ ἐν οὐρανῷ σέλα φερόμενα καὶ πυρὸς ἀνάψεις ἐφʼ ἑνὸς μένουσαι τόπου γῆς τε μυκήματα καὶ τρόμοι συνεχεῖς ἐγίνοντο, μορφαί τʼ εἰδώλων ἄλλοτʼ ἀλλοῖαι δι’ ἀέρος φερόμεναι καὶ φωναὶ ταράττουσαι διάνοιαν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ πάντα ὅσα τούτοις ὅμοια συνέπιπτεν, εὑρίσκετο καὶ πάλαι ποτὲ γεγονότα ἧττον τε καὶ μᾶλλον· οὗ δὲ ἄπειροί τε καὶ ἀνήκοοι ἔτι ἦσαν καὶ ἐφʼ ᾧ μάλιστα ἐταράχθησαν, τοιόνδʼ ἦν· νιφετὸς ἐξ οὐρανοῦ κατέσκηψεν εἰς γῆν πολὺς οὐ χιόνα καταφέρων, ἀλλὰ σαρκῶν θραύσματα ἐλάττω τε καὶ μείζω.
For as for all the flashes flying in the heaven, the kindlings of fire remaining in one place, the bellowings and continuous shaking of the earth, the various shapes of phantoms flying through the air, and the voices disturbing the minds of men, and everything similar to these that happened, they were found to have occurred more or less in ancient times as well; but that of which they were still without experience and of which they had never heard, and by which they were most disturbed, was of this sort: a great shower rushed down from heaven to the earth, not bringing down snow, but fragments of flesh, both smaller and larger.
§10.2.4τούτων τὰ μὲν πολλὰ μετάρσια προσπετόμεναι πτηνῶν ὅσαι εἰσὶν ἀγέλαι τοῖς στόμασιν ἥρπαζον, τὰ δʼ ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ἐνεχθέντα ἐν αὐτῇ τε τῇ πόλει καὶ κατὰ τοὺς ἀγροὺς μέχρι πολλοῦ χρόνου κείμενα ἦν οὔτε χρόαν μεταβάλλοντα, οἵαν ἴσχουσι παλαιούμεναι σάρκες, οὔτε σηπεδόνι διαλυόμενα, ὦζέ τε ἀπʼ αὐτῶν οὐδὲν πονηρόν.
Of these, flying high in the air, whatever flocks of birds there were snatched the greater part in their mouths, while those carried down to the earth lay both in the city itself and in the fields for a long time, neither changing their color, such as old flesh gets, nor being dissolved by rot, and no foul smell arose from them.
§10.2.5τοῦτο τὸ τέρας οἱ μὲν ἐπιχώριοι μάντεις οὐχ οἷοί τʼ ἦσαν συμβαλεῖν· ἐν δὲ τοῖς Σιβυλλείοις εὑρέθη χρησμοῖς, ὅτι πολεμίων ἀλλοεθνῶν παρελθόντων εἰς τὸ τεῖχος ἀγὼν ὑπὲρ ἀνδραποδισμοῦ καταλήψεται τὴν πόλιν, ἄρξει δὲ τοῦ πρὸς τοὺς ἀλλοεθνεῖς πολέμου στάσις ἐμφύλιος, ἣν χρῆν ἀρχομένην ἐξελαύνοντας ἐκ τῆς πόλεως καὶ θεοὺς παραιτουμένους θυσίαις τε καὶ εὐχαῖς ἀποτρέψαι τὰ δεινά· καὶ §10.2.6κρείττους ἔσεσθαι τῶν ἐχθρῶν.
This portent the local soothsayers were unable to interpret; but in the Sibylline oracles it was found that, if foreign enemies passed within the wall, a struggle over enslavement would seize the city, and that a civil strife would begin the war against the foreigners, which strife, as it was beginning, they must expel from the city and, appeasing the gods with sacrifices and prayers, avert the dread dangers, and they would be superior to their enemies.
ὡς δʼ ἐξηνέχθη ταῦτʼ εἰς τὸ πλῆθος, ἱερὰ μὲν πρῶτον ἔθυσαν, οἷς ἡ τούτων ἐπιμέλεια ἀνέκειτο, θεοῖς ἐξακεστηρίοις τε καὶ ἀποτροπαίοις, ἔπειτα συναχθέντες εἰς τὸ βουλευτήριον οἱ σύνεδροι παρόντων καὶ τῶν δημάρχων ὑπὲρ ἀσφαλείας τε καὶ σωτηρίας τῆς πόλεως ἐσκόπουν.
When these things were published to the multitude, first those to whom the care of these matters was committed sacrificed victims to the expiatory and averting gods; then the senators, assembling in the senate-house, with the tribunes also present, considered the safety and preservation of the city.