§5.19.1μετὰ δὲ τὴν Βρούτου τελευτὴν ὁ συνύπατος αὐτοῦ Οὐαλέριος ὕποπτος γίνεται τοῖς δημοτικοῖς ὡς βασιλείαν κατασκευαζόμενος·
After the death of Brutus, his colleague Valerius became suspected by the plebeians of preparing a tyranny.
πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι μόνος κατέσχε τὴν ἀρχὴν δέον εὐθὺς ἑλέσθαι συνύπατον, ὥσπερ ὁ Βροῦτος ἐποίησε Κολλατῖνον ἐκβαλών· ἔπειθʼ ὅτι τὴν οἰκίαν ἐν ἐπιφθόνῳ τόπῳ κατεσκευάσατο λόφον ὑπερκείμενον τῆς ἀγορᾶς ὑψηλὸν ἐπιεικῶς καὶ περίτομον, ὃν καλοῦσι Ῥωμαῖοι Οὐελίαν, §5.19.2ἐκλεξάμενος.
First, because he held the office alone, whereas he ought to have chosen a colleague immediately, as Brutus had done after expelling Collatinus; and secondly, because he built his house in an invidious place, having chosen a hill that overlooked the Forum, moderately high and steep, which the Romans call Velia.
πυθόμενος δὲ παρὰ τῶν ἐπιτηδείων, ὅτι ταῦτα λυπεῖ τὸν δῆμον, ἀρχαιρεσιῶν προθεὶς ἡμέραν ὕπατον αἱρεῖται Σπόριον Λουκρήτιον, ὃς οὐ πολλὰς ἡμέρας τὴν ἀρχὴν κατασχὼν ἀποθνήσκει.
But when he learned from his friends that these things were distressing the people, he appointed a day for the elections, and chose Spurius Lucretius as consul, who died after holding office for only a few days.
εἰς δὲ τὸν ἐκείνου τόπον καθίστησι Μάρκον Ὁράτιον, καὶ τὴν οἰκίαν ἀπὸ τοῦ λόφου μετατίθεται κάτω, ἵνʼ ἐξείη Ῥωμαίοις, ὡς αὐτὸς ἐκκλησιάζων ἔφη, βάλλειν αὐτὸν ἄνωθεν ἀπὸ τοῦ μετεώρου τοῖς λίθοις, ἐάν τι λάβωσιν ἀδικοῦντα.
In his place he appointed Marcus Horatius, and moved his house down from the hill, so that it might be possible for the Romans, as he himself said when addressing the assembly, to pelt him with stones from above, from the high ground, if they caught him doing any wrong.
§5.19.3βεβαίαν τε πίστιν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐλευθερίας τοὺς δημοτικοὺς λαβεῖν βουλόμενος ἀφεῖλεν ἀπὸ τῶν ῥάβδων τοὺς πελέκεις, καὶ κατεστήσατο τοῖς μεθʼ ἑαυτὸν ὑπάτοις ἔθος, ὃ καὶ μέχρι τῆς ἐμῆς διέμεινεν ἡλικίας, ὅταν ἔξωθεν τῆς πόλεως γένωνται χρῆσθαι τοῖς πελέκεσιν, ἔνδον δὲ ταῖς ῥάβδοις κοσμεῖσθαι μόναις·
And wishing to give the plebeians a firm assurance of their liberty, he removed the axes from the rods, and established a custom for the consuls after him, which has continued down to my own time, that they should use the axes when they are outside the city, but within the city be adorned with the rods alone.
§5.19.4νόμους τε φιλανθρωποτάτους ἔθετο βοηθείας ἔχοντας τοῖς δημοτικοῖς·
He also enacted laws of a most benevolent character, which afforded protection to the plebeians.
ἕνα μέν, ἐν ᾧ διαρρήδην ἀπεῖπεν ἄρχοντα μηδένα εἶναι Ῥωμαίων, ὃς ἂν μὴ παρὰ τοῦ δήμου λάβῃ τὴν ἀρχήν, θάνατον ἐπιθεὶς ζημίαν, ἐάν τις παρὰ ταῦτα ποιῇ, καὶ τὸν ἀποκτείναντα τούτων τινὰ ποιῶν ἀθῷον·
One was that in which he expressly forbade any Roman to be a magistrate who did not receive the office from the people, imposing death as the penalty if anyone should act contrary to this, and rendering immune from punishment anyone who killed such a person.
ἕτερον δʼ, ἐν ᾧ γέγραπται, Ἐάν τις ἄρχων Ῥωμαίων τινὰ ἀποκτείνειν ἢ μαστιγοῦν ἢ ζημιοῦν εἰς χρήματα θέλῃ, ἐξεῖναι τῷ ἰδιώτῃ προκαλεῖσθαι τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ δήμου κρίσιν, πάσχειν δʼ ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ χρόνῳ μηδὲν ὑπὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς, ἕως ἂν ὁ δῆμος ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ ψηφίσηται. §5.19.5ἐκ τούτων γίνεται τῶν πολιτευμάτων τίμιος τοῖς δημοτικοῖς, καὶ τίθενται αὐτῷ ἐπωνύμιον Ποπλικόλαν· τοῦτο κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλήνων διάλεκτον βούλεται δηλοῦν δημοκηδῆ. καὶ τὰ μὲν ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ ἐνιαυτῷ συντελεσθέντα ὑπὸ τῶν ὑπάτων τοιάδε ἦν·
The other was that in which it is written: "If any magistrate of the Romans wishes to put to death, scourge, or fine any citizen, the private individual shall have the right to appeal the decision of the magistrate to the judgment of the people, and in the meantime shall suffer nothing at the hands of the magistrate until the people have voted upon him." By these measures of government he became esteemed by the plebeians, and they gave him the surname Poplicola; which in the Greek language signifies "one who cares for the people." And the things accomplished by the consuls in that year were as follows: