§2.27.1fusis Auruncis victor tot intra paucos dies bellis Romanus promissa consulis fidemque senatus expectabat, cum Appius et insita superbia animo et ut collegae vanam faceret fidem, quam asperrime poterat, ius de creditis pecuniis dicere.
The Auruncans having been routed, the Roman people, victorious in so many wars within a few days, were expecting the promises of the consul and the pledge of the senate, when Appius, both from his innate pride of mind and in order to make his colleague's pledge void, began to administer justice concerning the loaned money with the utmost severity he could.
deinceps et, qui ante nexi fuerant, creditoribus tradebantur et nectebantur alii.
Subsequently, those who had previously been bound as debt-slaves were delivered to their creditors, and others were bound.
§2.27.2quod ubi cui militi inciderat, collegam appellabat.
Whenever this befell any soldier, he would appeal to the colleague.
concursus ad Servilium fiebat; illius promissa iactabant; illi exprobrabant sua quisque belli merita cicatricesque acceptas.
A rush was made to Servilius; they cast his promises in his teeth; they each reproached him with their own services in war and the scars they had received.
postulabant, ut aut referret ad senatum, aut auxilio esset consul civibus suis, imperator militibus.
They demanded that he either refer the matter to the senate, or as consul assist his own citizens, and as commander his soldiers.
movebant consulem haec, sed tergiversari res cogebat; §2.27.3adeo in alteram causam non collega solum praeceps erat, sed omnis factio nobilium.
These things moved the consul, but the situation forced him to temporize; for not only was his colleague headlong in the opposite cause, but also the whole faction of the nobles.
ita medium se gerendo nec plebis vitavit odium nec apud patres gratiam iniit.
Thus, by steering a middle course, he neither escaped the hatred of the plebeians nor gained the favor of the patricians.
§2.27.4patres mollem consulem et ambitiosum rati, plebes fallacem; brevique apparuit aequasse eum Appii odium.
The patricians thought him a weak and ambitious consul, the plebeians a deceitful one; and it soon appeared that he had equaled the unpopularity of Appius.
certamen consulibus inciderat, §2.27.5uter dedicaret Mercuri aedem.
A dispute had arisen between the consuls as to which of them should dedicate the temple of Mercury.
senatus a se rem ad populum reiecit: utri eorum dedicatio iussu populi data esset, eum praeesse annonae, mercatorum collegium instituere, sollemnia pro pontifice iussit suscipere.
The senate referred the matter from themselves to the people: they decreed that to whichever of them the dedication should be given by the order of the people, he should oversee the grain supply, establish a guild of merchants, and perform the solemn rites on behalf of the pontiff.
§2.27.6populus dedicationem aedis dat M. Laetorio, primi pili centurioni, quod facile appareret non tam ad honorem eius, cui curatio altior fastigio suo data esset, factum quam ad consulum ignominiam.
The people gave the dedication of the temple to Marcus Laetorius, a centurion of the first rank; which, as was easily apparent, was done not so much to honor him, upon whom a charge higher than his station had been conferred, as to humiliate the consuls.
§2.27.7saevire inde utique consulum alter patresque; sed plebi creverant animi, et longe alia quam primo instituerant via grassabantur.
Thereupon, one of the consuls and the patricians were indeed furious; but the spirits of the plebeians had risen, and they proceeded by a far different way than they had at first attempted.
§2.27.8desperato enim consulum senatusque auxilio, cum in ius duci debitorem vidissent, undique convolabant.
For, despairing of the help of the consuls and the senate, when they saw a debtor being led to court, they flew together from all sides.
neque decretum exaudiri consulis prae strepitu et clamore poterat, neque, cum decresset, quisquam obtemperabat.
Neither could the decree of the consul be heard because of the noise and shouting, nor, when he had decreed, did anyone obey.
§2.27.9vi agebatur, metusque omnis et periculum, cum in conspectu consulis singuli a pluribus violarentur, in creditores a debitoribus verterant.
Force was used, and all fear and danger—since in the sight of the consul individuals were being assaulted by the many—had shifted from the debtors to the creditors.
super haec timor incessit Sabini belli; §2.27.10dilectuque decreto nemo nomen dedit, furente Appio et insectante ambitionem collegae, qui populari silentio rem publicam proderet et ad id, quod de credita pecunia ius non dixisset, adiceret, ut ne dilectum quidem ex senatus consulto haberet: §2.27.11non esse tamen desertam omnino rem publicam neque proiectum consulare imperium; se unum et suae et patrum maiestatis vindicem fore.
In addition to this, fear of a Sabine war came upon them; and when a levy was decreed, no one gave his name, while Appius raged and attacked the popularity-seeking of his colleague, who by popular silence was betraying the state, and adding to the fact that he had not administered justice concerning the loaned money, the failure even to hold a levy according to the decree of the senate: yet the state was not entirely deserted, nor was the consular power cast aside; he alone would be the champion of both his own and the patricians' majesty.
cum circumstaret cotidiana multitudo licentia accensa, §2.27.12arripi unum insignem ducem seditionum iussit.
While the daily multitude, inflamed by lawlessness, stood around him, he ordered one prominent leader of the seditions to be seized.
ille cum a lictoribus iam traheretur, provocavit; nec cessisset provocationi consul, quia non dubium erat populi iudicilm, nisi aegre victa pertinacia foret consilio magis et auctoritate principum quam populi clamore; adeo supererant animi ad sustinendam invidiam.
When he was already being dragged away by the lictors, he appealed to the people; nor would the consul have yielded to the appeal, since there was no doubt about the judgment of the people, had not his obstinacy been with difficulty overcome, rather by the advice and authority of the leading men than by the clamor of the people; so much spirit did he have left to withstand unpopularity.
§2.27.13crescere inde malum in dies non clamoribus modo apertis, sed, quod multo perniciosius erat, secessione occultisque conloquiis.
Thereafter, the evil grew daily, not only by open clamor, but, what was much more destructive, by secession and secret meetings.
tandem invisi plebi consules magistrate abeunt, Servilius neutris, Appius patribus mire gratus.
At length, the consuls, hated by the plebeians, retired from office, Servilius pleasing neither side, Appius wonderfully pleasing to the patricians.