§11.16.1ἐφʼ ᾧ διαταραχθέντες οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἄππιον ἐβουλεύσαντο μηκέτι καθʼ ἡλικίαν καὶ βουλῆς ἀξίωσιν συμβούλους καλεῖν, ἀλλὰ κατʼ οἰκειότητα καὶ τὴν πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἑταιρίαν.
Disturbed by this, Appius and his associates resolved no longer to call on advisors according to age and senatorial dignity, but according to personal intimacy and friendship toward them.
καὶ παρελθὼν Μάρκος Κορνήλιος ἀνίστησι Λεύκιον Κορνήλιον τὸν ἀδελφόν, ὃς Κοίντῳ Φαβίῳ Οὐιβουλανῷ συνυπάτευσε τὸ τρίτον ὑπατεύοντι, δραστήριον ἄνδρα καὶ πολιτικοὺς διεξελθεῖν λόγους οὐκ ἀδύνατον.
And Marcus Cornelius, stepping forward, put up his brother Lucius Cornelius, who had been consul together with Quintus Fabius Vibulanus when the latter was consul for the third time, an active man and one not incapable of delivering political speeches.
§11.16.2οὗτος ἀναστὰς ἔλεξε τοιάδε· θαυμαστὸν μὲν ἦν καὶ τοῦτʼ, ὦ βουλή, εἰ ταύτην ἔχοντες ἄνθρωποι τὴν ἡλικίαν ἔχουσιν, οἱ πρὸ ἐμοῦ γνώμην ἀποφηνάμενοι καὶ πρωτεύειν ἀξιοῦντες τῶν συνέδρων, τὴν ἐκ τῶν πολιτικῶν προσκρουσμάτων ἀπέχθειαν ἀδιάλλακτον πρὸς τοὺς προεστηκότας τῆς πόλεως, οὓς ἐχρῆν% οἷόν τε δεῖ φυλάττειν, καὶ τοῖς νέοις παραινεῖν ἀπὸ τοῦ κρατίστου ποιεῖσθαι τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῶν καλῶν ἀγῶνας, καὶ μὴ πολεμίους, ἀλλὰ φίλους ἡγεῖσθαι τοὺς περὶ τῶν κοινῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀντιπάλους.
He, standing up, spoke as follows: "It would indeed be a matter of wonder also, O senate, if men of such an age, who expressed their opinions before me and who claim to lead the senators, hold an implacable hatred, arising from political clashes, towards those who stand at the head of the city—whom they ought to protect as far as possible, and advise the young to make their struggles for noble causes from the best motives, and not to consider as enemies, but as friends, those who rival them for the common good.
§11.16.3πολλῷ δʼ ἔτι τούτου θαυμασιώτερόν ἐστιν, εἰ τὰς ἰδίας ἀπεχθείας ἐπὶ τὰ κοινὰ τῆς πόλεως πράγματα μεταφέρουσι καὶ συναπολέσθαι τοῖς ἑαυτῶν ἐχθροῖς βούλονται μᾶλλον ἢ σωθῆναι μετὰ πάντων τῶν φίλων.
But it is still much more wonderful than this, if they transfer their private hatreds to the public affairs of the city, and wish to perish together with their own enemies rather than to be saved along with all their friends.
ὑπερβολὴν γὰρ ἀνοίας τούτοις καὶ οὐ πόρρω θεοβλαβείας πεποιήκασιν οἱ πρόεδροι τῆς βουλῆς ἡμῶν.
For the leaders of our senate have shown an excess of folly in these matters, and something not far from divine infatuation.
§11.16.4οὗτοι γὰρ ἀγανακτοῦντες, ὅτι μετιόντας αὐτοὺς τὴν τῶν δέκα ἀρχήν, ἧς αὐτοὶ νῦν κατηγοροῦσιν, ἐνίκησαν ἐν ἀρχαιρεσίαις ἐπιτηδειότεροι φανέντες, ἀεὶ πολεμοῦσιν αὐτοῖς πόλεμον ἀδιάλλακτον, καὶ εἰς τοῦθʼ ἥκουσιν εὐηθείας, μᾶλλον δὲ μανίας, ὥσθʼ, ἵνα τούτους διαβάλλωσι πρὸς ὑμᾶς, ὅλην ὑπομένουσιν ἀνατρέψαι τὴν πατρίδα· §11.16.5οἵ γʼ ὁρῶντες μὲν ἀνάστατον τὴν χώραν ἡμῶν ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων γενομένην, ὁρῶντες δὲ ὅσον οὔπω καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν αὐτοὺς ἐλεύσεσθαι — τὸ γὰρ διὰ μέσου χωρίον οὐ πολύ — ἀντὶ τοῦ παρακαλεῖν καὶ παρορμᾶν τοὺς νέους ἐπὶ τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος ἀγῶνα, καὶ αὐτοὶ πάσῃ προθυμίᾳ καὶ σπουδῇ βοηθεῖν, ὅση γοῦν ἐν τοῖς τηλικούτοις ἐστὶν ἰσχύς, περὶ πολιτείας κόσμου νῦν ἀξιοῦσιν ὑμᾶς σκοπεῖν καὶ νέας ἀρχὰς ἀποδεικνύναι καὶ πάντα μᾶλλον ἢ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς κακῶς ποιεῖν· καὶ οὐδʼ αὐτὸ τοῦτο δύνανται συνιδεῖν, ὅτι γνώμας ἀσυμφόρους εἰσφέρουσι, μᾶλλον δʼ εὐχὰς ἀδυνάτους ἔχουσιν.
For these men, being resentful because the decemvirs, appearing more fit, defeated them in the elections when they were seeking the office of the ten, which they themselves now accuse, always wage an implacable war against them, and have come to such a point of silliness, or rather madness, that, in order to slander these men before you, they submit to overthrowing the entire fatherland; they who, though seeing our territory laid waste by the enemy, and seeing that they will almost immediately come against the city itself—for the intervening distance is not great—instead of encouraging and urging the young to the struggle for the fatherland, and themselves helping with all eagerness and zeal, at least with as much strength as is in men of their age, now demand that you consider the constitution of the state and appoint new magistrates, and do anything rather than harm the enemy; and they cannot even see this very thing, that they are introducing disadvantageous opinions, or rather have impossible wishes."