§7.14.1ἐγένετο δʼ οὐδὲν τῶν ἐκ λογισμοῦ τοῖς πατρικίοις κατὰ γοῦν τὴν ἐλπίδα λωφήσειν τὴν στάσιν, ἀλλʼ οἱ περιλειφθέντες ἔτι χείρους ταῖς ὀργαῖς ἦσαν καὶ πολλῇ τῇ καταβοῇ τῶν βουλευτῶν ἐχρῶντο κατά τε συστροφὰς καὶ ἑταιρίας, ὀλίγοι μὲν συνιόντες τὸ πρῶτον, ἔπειτʼ ἀθρόοι συντονωτέρας ἤδη γινομένης τῆς ἀπορίας καὶ συνδραμόντες εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν τοὺς δημάρχους ἐβόων.
However, nothing turned out for the patricians according to their calculations, at least in regard to their hope that the civil strife would abate. On the contrary, those who were left behind were even more violent in their anger and made great outcries against the senators in their gatherings and clubs, coming together in small numbers at first, and then in a body when their distress had already become more intense, and running together into the forum, they cried out for the tribunes.
§7.14.2συναχθείσης δʼ ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ἐκκλησίας παρελθὼν Σπόριος Σικίνιος, ὃς ἦν τοῦ ἀρχείου τότε ἡγεμών, αὐτός τε πολὺς ἔρρει κατὰ τῆς βουλῆς αὔξων ὡς μάλιστʼ ἐνῆν τὸν κατʼ αὐτῆς φθόνον, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἠξίου λέγειν ἃ φρονοῦσιν εἰς τὸ κοινόν, μάλιστα δὲ τὸν Σικίνιον καὶ τὸν Βροῦτον ἀγορανόμους τότʼ ὄντας ἀνακαλῶν ἑκάτερον ἐξ ὀνόματος, οἳ καὶ τῆς πρώτης ἀποστάσεως τῷ δήμῳ ἦρξαν, καὶ τὴν δημαρχικὴν ἐξουσίαν εἰσηγησάμενοι πρῶτοι αὐτῆς ἔτυχον.
When an assembly had been called by them, Spurius Sicinius, who was then the head of the college, came forward and poured forth a torrent of abuse against the senate, increasing as much as possible the hatred felt toward it, and demanded that the others should state their views in public, calling out especially by name each of the two, Sicinius and Brutus, who were then aediles; for these men had also led the people in their first secession and, having been the first to propose the tribunician power, had been the first to obtain it.
§7.14.3παρελθόντες δʼ οὗτοι τοὺς κακοηθεστάτους τῶν λόγων ἐκ πολλοῦ παρεσκευασμένοι διεξῄεσαν, ἃ τοῖς πολλοῖς ἀκούειν ἦν βουλομένοις, ὡς ἐκ προνοίας τε καὶ ἐπιβουλῆς ὑπὸ τῶν πλουσίων γένοιθʼ ἡ περὶ τὸν σῖτον ἀπορία, ἐπειδὴ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀκόντων ἐκείνων ὁ δῆμος ἐκ τῆς ἀποστάσεως εὕρετο.
And these men, coming forward, delivered the most malicious arguments which they had prepared long before, things which the multitude wished to hear: namely, that it was by the design and plot of the wealthy that the scarcity of grain had occurred, because the people had obtained their freedom through the secession against the will of those men.
§7.14.4ἰσομοιρεῖν τʼ οὐδὲ κατὰ μικρὸν ἀπέφαινον τῆς συμφορᾶς τοῖς πένησι τοὺς εὐπόρους· ἐκείνοις μὲν γὰρ εἶναι καὶ τροφὰς ἐν ἀφανεῖ ἀποκειμένας καὶ χρήματα, οἷς ὠνούμενοι τὰς ἐπεισάκτους ἀγορὰς ἐν πολλῇ ὑπεροψίᾳ ἦσαν τοῦ κακοῦ, τοῖς δὲ δημόταις ἀμφότερα ταῦτʼ ἀπόρως ἔχειν·
They declared that the rich did not share the disaster in the least with the poor; for the former had provisions laid up in secret and money with which they purchased the imported supplies, holding the calamity in great contempt, whereas both of these resources were lacking to the plebeians.
τήν τʼ ἀποστολὴν τῶν κληρούχων, ἣν ἐποιήσαντο εἰς νοσερὰ χωρία, ἐκβολὴν ἀποφαίνοντες εἰς προφανῆ καὶ μακρῷ χείρονα ὄλεθρον, αὔξοντες ὡς μάλιστα δυνατοὶ ἦσαν τῷ λόγῳ τὰ δεινά, καὶ τί πέρας ἔσται τῶν κακῶν ἀξιοῦντες μαθεῖν, ὑπομιμνήσκοντές τε τῶν παλαιῶν αὐτοὺς αἰκισμῶν, οἷς ὑπὸ τῶν πλουσίων ἔτυχον αἰκισθέντες, καὶ §7.14.5τἆλλα τὰ ὅμοια τούτοις κατὰ πολλὴν ἄδειαν διεξιόντες.
They represented the sending out of the colonists, which they had made to unhealthy places, as a banishment to manifest and far worse destruction, exaggerating the horrors as much as they possibly could in their speech, and demanding to know what end there would be to their evils, and reminding them of their former ill-treatment which they had suffered at the hands of the rich, and relating all other such things with great impunity.
τελευτῶν δʼ ὁ Βροῦτος εἰς ἀπειλήν τινα τοιάνδε κατέκλεισε τὸν λόγον, ὡς εἰ βουληθεῖεν αὐτῷ πείθεσθαι διὰ ταχέων προσαναγκάσων τοὺς ἐκκαύσαντας τὸ δεινὸν καὶ κατασβέσαι.
Finally, Brutus closed his speech with a threat to this effect: that if they would follow his advice, he would quickly compel those who had fanned the flame of this calamity to extinguish it also.
ἡ μὲν δὴ ἐκκλησία διελύετο.
And indeed the assembly was dismissed.