§10.6.1M. Valerio et Q. Apuleio consulibus satis pacatae foris res fuere: Etruscum adversae belli res et indutiae quietum tenebant; §10.6.2Samnitem multorum annorum cladibus domitum hauddum foederis novi paenitebat.
In the consulship of Marcus Valerius and Quintus Apuleius, affairs abroad were sufficiently peaceful; the adverse results of the war and the truce kept the Etruscans quiet; the Samnites, subdued by the disasters of many years, did not yet regret their new treaty.
§10.6.3Romae quoque plebem quietam, ut exoneratam, deducta in colonias multitudo praestabat.
At Rome also, the sending of a multitude into colonies kept the plebeians quiet, as though they were relieved of a burden.
tamen, ne undique tranquillae res essent, certamen iniectum inter primores civitatis, patricios plebeiosque, ab tribunis plebis Q. et Cn. Ogulniis, §10.6.4qui undique criminandorum patrum apud plebem occasionibus quaesitis, postquam alia frustra temptata erant, eam actionem susceperunt, qua non infimam plebem accenderent, sed ipsa capita plebis, §10.6.5consulares triumphalesque plebeios, quorum honoribus nihil praeter sacerdotia, quae nondum promiscua erant, deesset.
However, lest affairs should be tranquil on all sides, a dispute was introduced among the leading men of the state, both patricians and plebeians, by the tribunes of the plebs, Quintus and Gnaeus Ogulnius, who, having sought on all sides opportunities for accusing the patricians before the plebeians, after other attempts had been tried in vain, undertook an action by which they might inflame not the lowest of the plebeians, but the very heads of the plebeians, those plebeians who were of consular and triumphal rank, to whose honors nothing was wanting except the priesthoods, which were not yet common to both orders.
§10.6.6rogationem ergo promulgarunt, ut, cum quattuor augures, quattuor pontifices ea tempestate essent placeretque augeri sacerdotum numerum, quattuor pontifices, quinque augures de plebe omnes adlegerentur.
They therefore proposed a law that, since at that time there were four augurs and four pontiffs, and it was resolved that the number of priests should be increased, four pontiffs and five augurs should all be co-opted from the plebs.
§10.6.7quem ad modum ad quattuor augurum numerum, nisi morte duorum, id redigi collegium potuerit, non invenio, cum inter augures constet inparem numerum debere esse, ut tres antiquae tribus, Ramnes, Titienses, §10.6.8Luceres, suum quaeque augurem habeant aut, si pluribus sit opus, pari inter se numero sacerdotes multiplicent, sicut multiplicati sunt, cum ad quattuor quinque adiecti novem numerum, ut terni in singulas essent, expleverunt.
How that college could have been reduced to the number of four augurs, except by the death of two, I cannot find, since it is agreed among the augurs that there ought to be an odd number, so that the three ancient tribes, the Ramnes, the Titienses, and the Luceres, might each have their own augur, or, if there should be need of more, they should multiply the priests by an equal number among themselves, just as they were multiplied when five being added to four completed the number of nine, so that there were three for each tribe.
§10.6.9ceterum, quia de plebe adlegebantur, iuxta eam rem aegre passi patres, quam cum consulatum vulgari viderent.
However, because they were to be co-opted from the plebs, the patricians felt this as much of a grievance as when they saw the consulship laid open.
§10.6.10simulabant ad deos id magis quam ad se pertinere: ipsos visuros, ne sacra sua polluantur; id se optare tantum, ne qua in rem publicam clades veniat.
They pretended that this matter concerned the gods more than themselves: that the gods themselves would see to it that their own sacred rites were not polluted; that they themselves only wished that no disaster might come upon the commonwealth.
§10.6.11minus autem tetendere, adsueti iam tali genere certaminum vinci; et cernebant adversarios non id, quod olim vix speraverint, adfectantes, magnos honores, sed omnia iam, in quorum spem dubiam erat certatum, adeptos, multiplices consulatus censurasque et triumphos.
But they resisted less, being now accustomed to be defeated in this kind of contest; and they saw that their adversaries were not aiming at what they had once scarcely hoped for—great honors—but had already obtained all those things for the doubtful hope of which they had contended: repeated consulships, censorships, and triumphs.