§5.75.1ὃν δὲ τρόπον ὁ Λάρκιος ἐχρήσατο τοῖς πράγμασι δικτάτωρ πρῶτος ἀποδειχθεὶς καὶ κόσμον, οἷον περιέθηκε τῇ ἀρχῇ, συντόμως πειράσομαι διεξελθεῖν, ταῦτα ἡγούμενος εἶναι χρησιμώτατα τοῖς ἀναγνωσομένοις, ἃ πολλὴν εὐπορίαν παρέξει καλῶν καὶ συμφερόντων παραδειγμάτων νομοθέταις τε καὶ δημαγωγοῖς καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασι τοῖς πολιτεύεσθαί τε καὶ τὰ κοινὰ πράττειν βουλομένοις.
But in what manner Lartius administered affairs, having been appointed the first dictator, and what dignity he conferred upon the office, I shall endeavor briefly to relate, considering that these things will be most useful to those who read them, and will provide an abundant store of noble and advantageous examples for legislators, popular leaders, and all others who wish to take part in government and conduct public affairs.
οὐ γὰρ ἀζήλου καὶ ταπεινῆς πόλεως πολιτεύματα καὶ βίους οὐδὲ ἀνωνύμων καὶ ἀπερριμμένων ἀνθρώπων βουλεύματα καὶ πράξεις μέλλω διηγεῖσθαι, ὥστε ὄχλον ἄν τινι καὶ φλυαρίαν φανῆναι τὴν περὶ τὰ μικρὰ καὶ φαῦλα ἡμῶν σπουδήν· ἀλλʼ ὑπὲρ τῆς ἅπασι τὰ καλὰ καὶ δίκαια ὁριζούσης πόλεως καὶ περὶ τῶν εἰς τοῦτο καταστησαμένων αὐτὴν τὸ ἀξίωμα ἡγεμόνων, ἅ τις ἂν σπουδάσειε μὴ ἀγνοεῖν §5.75.2φιλόσοφος καὶ πολιτικὸς ἀνήρ, συγγράφω.
For I am not about to relate the institutions and lives of an unenvied and humble city, nor the counsels and actions of nameless and rejected men, so that our zeal about small and worthless things might appear to someone to be trouble and babbling; but I am writing about the city that defines what is noble and just for all, and about the leaders who established it in this dignity, which things any philosophical and political man would be eager not to be ignorant of.
εὐθὺς μὲν οὖν ἅμα τῷ παραλαβεῖν τὴν ἐξουσίαν, ἱππάρχην ἀποδείκνυσι Σπόριον Κάσσιον, τὸν ὑπατεύσαντα κατὰ τὴν ἑβδομηκοστὴν ὀλυμπιάδα.
Immediately upon assuming power, therefore, he appointed Spurius Cassius, who had been consul in the seventieth Olympiad, as master of the horse.
τοῦτο τὸ ἔθος ἕως τῆς κατʼ ἐμὲ γενεᾶς ἐφυλάττετο ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων, καὶ οὐθεὶς εἰς τόδε χρόνου δικτάτωρ αἱρεθεὶς χωρὶς ἱππάρχου τὴν ἀρχὴν διετέλεσεν.
This custom was preserved by the Romans down to my generation, and no one chosen dictator down to this time completed his term of office without a master of the horse.
ἔπειτα τῆς ἐξουσίας τὸ κράτος ἐπιδεῖξαι βουληθεὶς ὅσον ἐστί, καταπλήξεως μᾶλλον ἢ χρήσεως ἕνεκα τοῖς ῥαβδούχοις ἐκέλευσεν ἅμα ταῖς δεσμαῖς τῶν ῥάβδων τοὺς πελέκεις διὰ τῆς πόλεως φέρειν· ἔθος ἐπιχώριον μὲν τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν, ἐκλειφθὲν δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν ὑπάτων, ἐξ οὗ Οὐαλέριος Ποπλικόλας ὁ πρῶτος ὑπατεύσας ἐμείωσε τὸν φθόνον τῆς ἀρχῆς, αὐτὸς ἀνανεωσάμενος.
Next, wishing to display how great the authority of his power was, for the sake of inspiring terror rather than for actual use, he ordered the lictors to carry the axes through the city together with the bundles of rods; this was a custom native to the kings, but discontinued by the consuls ever since Valerius Publicola, who was the first consul, lessened the envy of the office, having himself reformed it.
§5.75.3καταπληξάμενος δὲ τούτῳ τε καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις συμβόλοις τῆς βασιλικῆς ἡγεμονίας τοὺς ταρακτικοὺς καὶ νεωτεριστάς, τὸ κράτιστον τῶν ὑπὸ Σερουΐου Τυλλίου τοῦ δημοτικωτάτου βασιλέως κατασταθέντων νομίμων, πρῶτον ἐπέταξε ποιῆσαι Ῥωμαίοις ἅπασι, τιμήσεις κατὰ φυλὰς τῶν βίων ἐνεγκεῖν, προσγράφοντας γυναικῶν τε καὶ παίδων ὀνόματα καὶ ἡλικίας ἑαυτῶν τε καὶ τέκνων.
And having terrified the turbulent and revolutionary elements by this and by the other symbols of royal authority, he first ordered all the Romans to perform the finest of the regulations established by Servius Tullius, the most democratic king, namely, to make declarations of their properties by tribes, adding the names of their wives and children, and the ages of themselves and their offspring.
§5.75.4ἐν ὀλίγῳ δὲ χρόνῳ πάντων τιμησαμένων διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς τιμωρίας· τήν τε γὰρ οὐσίαν ἀπολέσαι τοὺς ἀπειθήσαντας ἔδει καὶ τὴν πολιτείαν·
And in a short time all made their declarations because of the severity of the punishment; for those who disobeyed were to lose both their property and their citizenship.
ἑπτακοσίοις πλείους εὑρέθησαν οἱ ἐν ἥβῃ Ῥωμαῖοι πεντεκαίδεκα μυριάδων.
The Romans of military age were found to be seven hundred more than fifteen hundred thousand.
μετὰ τοῦτο διακρίνας τοὺς ἔχοντας τὴν στρατεύσιμον ἡλικίαν ἀπὸ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων καὶ καταχωρίσας εἰς λόχους, διένειμε πεζούς τε καὶ ἱππεῖς εἰς τέτταρας μοίρας·
After this, having separated those of military age from the elders and enrolled them into companies, he divided the infantry and cavalry into four divisions.
ὧν μίαν μὲν τὴν κρατίστην περὶ αὑτὸν εἶχεν, ἐκ δὲ τῶν ὑπολειπομένων Κλοίλιον ἐκέλευσε τὸν συνύπατον ἣν αὐτὸς ἐβούλετο λαβεῖν, τὴν δὲ τρίτην Σπόριον Κάσσιον τὸν ἱππάρχην, τὴν δὲ καταλειπομένην τὸν ἀδελφὸν Σπόριον Λάρκιον· αὕτη φρουρεῖν τὴν πόλιν ἐτάχθη σὺν τοῖς πρεσβυτέροις ἐντὸς τείχους μένουσα.
Of these, he kept the strongest one with himself, and of those remaining, he ordered his colleague Cloelius to take whichever he wished, the third he gave to Spurius Cassius, the master of the horse, and the remaining one to his brother Spurius Lartius; this last division was appointed to guard the city, remaining within the walls together with the elders.