§6.96.1οὐ πολλῷ δʼ ὕστερον χρόνῳ τῆς ἑορτῆς τῶν ὑπατικῶν εἷς Μενήνιος Ἀγρίππας ἐτελεύτησε τὸν βίον, ὁ νικήσας Σαβίνους καὶ τὸν ἐξ αὐτῶν θρίαμβον ἐπιφανέστατον καταγαγών, ᾧ πεισθεῖσα ἡ βουλὴ τὴν κάθοδον ἐπέτρεψε τοῖς φυγάσι, καὶ ὁ δῆμος πιστεύσας ἀπέστη τῶν ὅπλων·
Not long after the festival, Menenius Agrippa, one of the consulars, departed this life—the man who had conquered the Sabines and celebrated a most illustrious triumph over them, persuaded by whom the senate had permitted the return of the exiles, and trusting whom the plebs had laid down their arms.
καὶ αὐτὸν ἔθαψεν ἡ πόλις δημοσίᾳ καὶ καλλίστῃ πάντων ἀνθρώπων καὶ λαμπροτάτῃ ταφῇ.
The state buried him publicly with a funeral that was the most beautiful and splendid of any in the memory of man.
οὐσία γὰρ οὐκ ἦν τῷ ἀνδρὶ εἰς μεγαλοπρέπειαν ἐκκομιδῆς καὶ ταφῆς ἀποχρῶσα· ὥστε καὶ τοῖς ἐπιτρόποις αὐτοῦ τῶν παίδων βουλευομένοις ἔδοξεν ὡς ἕνα τῶν πολλῶν εὐτελῶς ἐκκομίσαι τε καὶ §6.96.2θάψαι.
For the man did not possess sufficient property to afford a magnificent funeral procession and burial; so that even to the guardians of his children, when they consulted together, it seemed best to carry him out and bury him cheaply as one of the common people.
οὐ μέντοι γε ὁ δῆμος εἴασεν, ἀλλὰ συναγαγόντες οἱ δήμαρχοι τὸ πλῆθος εἰς ἐκκλησίαν καὶ πολλὰ διελθόντες ἐγκώμια τῶν τε κατὰ πόλεμον ἔργων τοῦ ἀνδρὸς καὶ τῶν πολιτικῶν, τήν τε σωφροσύνην αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν λιτότητα τοῦ βίου, μάλιστα δὲ τὴν εἰς χρηματισμὸν ἐγκράτειαν ἐπὶ μήκιστον ἄραντες τοῖς ἐπαίνοις, αἴσχιστον ἔφησαν εἶναι τῶν πραγμάτων ἄνδρα τηλικοῦτον ἀσήμου καὶ ταπεινῆς κηδείας τυχεῖν διὰ πενίαν·
The plebs, however, would not permit it; but the tribunes, having assembled the multitude in an assembly and delivered many panegyrics on the man's deeds both in war and in peace, raising to the highest pitch with their praises his temperance, the simplicity of his life, and especially his self-control regarding the acquisition of wealth, declared it would be the most shameful of things for so great a man to receive an obscure and humble burial because of poverty.
παρῄνεσάν τε τῷ δήμῳ τὴν δαπάνην ἀναδέξασθαι, καὶ συνεισενεγκεῖν κατʼ ἄνδρα, ὅσον ἂν αὐτοὶ §6.96.3τάξωσι.
They advised the plebs to take the expense upon themselves and to contribute individually as much as they themselves should appoint.
τοῖς δʼ ἀκούσασιν ἄσμενον ἐγένετο, καὶ αὐτίκα φέροντος ἑκάστου τὸ ταχθὲν πολύ τι χρῆμα συνήχθη διαφόρου.
Those who heard it were pleased, and since each man immediately brought the appointed sum, a great deal of money was collected.
μαθοῦσα δὲ τοῦθʼ ἡ βουλὴ διʼ αἰσχύνης τὸ πρᾶγμα ἔλαβε καὶ ἔκρινε μὴ κατʼ ἄνδρα ἐρανισμῷ τὸν ἐπιφανέστατον Ῥωμαίων περιιδεῖν θαπτόμενον, ἀλλʼ ἐκ τῶν δημοσίων ἐδικαίωσε τὸ ἀνάλωμα γενέσθαι τοῖς ταμίαις ἐπιτρέψασα τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν.
When the senate learned of this, they took the matter as a cause for shame and decided that they should not permit the most illustrious of the Romans to be buried by individual contributions, but decreed that the expense should be defrayed from the public treasury, committing the care of it to the quaestors.
οἱ δὲ πολλῶν πάνυ μισθώσαντες χρημάτων τὰς παροχὰς κόσμῳ τε πολυτελεστάτῳ κοσμήσαντες αὐτοῦ τὸ σῶμα καὶ πάντα τὰ λοιπὰ ἐπιχορηγήσαντες εἰς μεγαλοπρέπειαν ἔθαψαν αὐτὸν ἀξίως τῆς ἀρετῆς.
And they, having contracted for the provisions at a very great cost, adorned his body with most costly ornaments, and having supplied all other things for magnificence, buried him in a manner worthy of his virtue.
§6.96.4ἀντιφιλοτιμούμενος δʼ ὁ δῆμος πρὸς τὴν βουλὴν οὐδʼ αὐτὸς ἠξίωσε τὸ συνεισενεχθὲν διάφορον ἀποδιδόντων τῶν ταμιῶν ἀπολαβεῖν, ἀλλʼ ἐχαρίσατο τοῖς παισὶ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς οἰκτείρων τὴν ἀπορίαν, ἵνα μηδὲν ἀνάξιον ἐπιτηδεύσωσι τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς ἀρετῆς.
The plebs, rivaling the senate in generosity, did not think fit to receive back the money they had contributed, though the quaestors offered to return it, but gave it to the man's children, pitying their poverty, so that they might not engage in any pursuit unworthy of their father's virtue.
ἐγένετο δὲ καὶ τίμησις ἐν τῷ χρόνῳ τούτῳ διὰ τῶν ὑπάτων· ἐξ ἧς εὑρέθησαν ὑπὲρ ἕνδεκα πάντων μυριάδες αἱ τιμησάμεναι.
There was also a census held at this time by the consuls, in which the number of those who registered was found to be more than eleven myriads in all.
καὶ τὰ μὲν ἐπὶ τῆς τούτων ὑπατείας πραχθέντα Ῥωμαίοις ταῦτʼ ἦν
And these were the things done by the Romans during the consulship of these men.