§11.58.1τοιαῦτα Γαΐου Κανοληίου μετὰ πολλοῦ σχετλιασμοῦ λέγοντος καὶ τῶν μὴ παραληφθέντων εἰς τὸ συνέδριον βουλευτῶν πρὸς ὀργὴν δεξαμένων τὸ πρᾶγμα παρελθὼν ἅτερος τῶν ὑπάτων Γενύκιος ἀπολογεῖσθαι καὶ πραΰνειν τὰς ὀργὰς αὐτῶν ἐπειρᾶτο διδάσκων, ὅτι τοὺς μὲν φίλους παραλάβοιεν, οὐχ ἵνα τι κατὰ τοῦ δήμου διαπράξαιντο, ἀλλʼ ἵνα μετὰ τῶν ἀναγκαιοτάτων βουλεύσαιντο, τί πράττοντες οὐδʼ ὁποτέραν δόξουσιν ἐλαττοῦν τῶν αἱρέσεων, πότερον ταχεῖαν ἀποδιδόντες τῇ βουλῇ περὶ τοῦ νόμου διάγνωσιν ἢ §11.58.2χρονιωτέραν.
While Gaius Canuleius was speaking in this manner with much indignation, and the senators who had not been invited to the council received the matter with anger, Genucius, the other of the consuls, came forward and tried to defend their actions and appease their anger, explaining that they had invited their friends not to carry out anything against the people, but to deliberate with their closest associates as to by doing what they would seem to diminish neither of the alternatives—whether by granting a speedy decision to the senate concerning the law or a more prolonged one.
Ὁράτιον δὲ καὶ Οὐαλέριον οὐκ ἄλλης τινὸς χάριν αἰτίας μὴ παραλαβεῖν εἰς τὸ συνέδριον, ἀλλʼ ἵνα μή τις ὑποψία περὶ αὐτῶν παρʼ ἀξίαν ᾖ τοῖς δημοτικοῖς, ὡς μεταβεβλημένων τὴν προαίρεσιν τῆς πολιτείας, ἐὰν ἄρα ἐπὶ τῆς ἑτέρας γένωνται γνώμης, τῆς ἀξιούσης ἀναβαλέσθαι τὴν ὑπὲρ τοῦ νόμου διάγνωσιν εἰς ἕτερον καιρὸν ἐπιτηδειότερον.
And as for Horatius and Valerius, he said that they had not failed to invite them to the council for any other reason than to prevent any unjust suspicion from arising among the plebeians concerning them, as though they had changed their political stance, if indeed they should happen to be of the other opinion, which demanded to postpone the decision concerning the law to another, more suitable time.
ἐπειδὴ δʼ ἅπασι τοῖς παραληφθεῖσιν ἡ συντομωτέρα διάγνωσις ἀμείνων ἔδοξεν εἶναι τῆς βραδυτέρας, πράττειν ὡς ἐκείνοις ἐφάνη.
And since to all those who had been invited the shorter decision seemed to be better than the slower one, they had acted as had seemed best to them.
§11.58.3ταῦτʼ εἰπὼν καὶ θεοὺς ἐπομοσάμενος ἦ μὴν τἀληθῆ λέγειν καὶ τοὺς παρακληθέντας ἐκ τῶν βουλευτῶν, ἔφη, πᾶσαν ἀπολύσεσθαι διαβολὴν οὐ λόγοις, §11.58.4ἀλλʼ ἔργοις.
Having said this and having sworn by the gods that he indeed spoke the truth, he said that both themselves and those invited from among the senators would clear themselves of all slander not by words, but by deeds.
ὅταν γὰρ οἱ βουλόμενοι κατηγορεῖν καὶ ἀπολογεῖσθαι περὶ τοῦ νόμου διεξέλθωσι τὰ δίκαια, πρώτους ἐπὶ τὴν ἐρώτησιν τῆς γνώμης καταλέγειν οὐχὶ τοὺς πρεσβυτάτους καὶ τιμιωτάτους τῶν βουλευτῶν, οἷς ἐκ τῶν πατρίων ἐθισμῶν καὶ τοῦτʼ ἀποδεδόσθαι τὸ γέρας, οὐδὲ τοὺς διʼ ὑποψίας ὄντας παρὰ τοῖς δημοτικοῖς, ὡς οὐδὲν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν χρηστὸν οὔτε λέγοντας οὔτε φρονοῦντας, ἀλλʼ ἐκ τῶν νεωτέρων τοὺς δοκοῦντας εἶναι φιλοδημοτάτους.
For when those who wished to accuse and defend concerning the law should have gone through their arguments of justice, he would call upon first for the asking of their opinion not the oldest and most honored of the senators, to whom by ancestral customs this privilege was granted, nor those who were under suspicion among the plebeians as neither saying nor thinking anything good for them, but from the younger ones, those who seemed to be the most well-disposed to the people.