§2.32.1timor inde patres incessit, ne, si dimissus exercitus foret, rursus coetus occulti coniurationesque fierent.
Fear then seized the patricians, lest, if the army should be disbanded, secret meetings and conspiracies should occur again.
itaque, quamquam per dictatorem dilectus habitus esset, tamen, quoniam in consulum verba iurassent, sacramento teneri militem rati, per causam renovati ab Aequis belli educi ex urbe legiones iussere.
Therefore, although the levy had been held through the dictator, yet, because they had sworn allegiance to the words of the consuls, thinking that the soldiers were bound by their oath, under the pretext of a renewed war by the Aequi, they ordered the legions to be led out of the city.
quo facto maturata est seditio.
By this action, the sedition was hastened.
§2.32.2et primo agitatum dicitur de consulum caede, ut solverentur sacramento; doctos deinde nullam scelere religionem exsolvi, Sicinio quodam auctore iniussu consulum in Sacrum montem secessisse — trans Anienem amnem est, tria ab urbe milia passuum; §2.32.3ea frequentior fama est quam, cuius Piso auctor est, in Aventinum secessionem factam esse —; §2.32.4ibi sine ullo duce vallo fossaque communitis castris quieti, rem nullam nisi necessariam ad victum sumendo, per aliquot dies neque lacessiti neque lacessentes sese tenuere.
And at first, it is said that they debated about murdering the consuls, in order to be released from their oath; but then, having been taught that no religious obligation is dissolved by a crime, under the leadership of a certain Sicinius, without the orders of the consuls, they withdrew to the Sacred Mount—this is across the river Anio, three miles from the city; —this story is more common than that of which Piso is the author, that the secession was made to the Aventine—; there, without any leader, having fortified their camp with a rampart and a trench, remaining quiet, taking nothing except what was necessary for sustenance, for several days they held themselves, neither attacked nor attacking.
§2.32.5Pavor ingens in urbe, metuque mutuo suspensa erant omnia.
There was great panic in the city, and everything was suspended in mutual fear.
timere relicta ab suis plebes violentiam patrum; timere patres residem in urbe plebem, incerti, manere eam an abire mallent.
The plebs, left behind by their own, feared the violence of the patricians; the patricians feared the plebs remaining in the city, uncertain whether they preferred them to stay or to depart.
§2.32.6quamdiu autem tranquillam, quae secesserit, multitudinem fore?
"But how long would the multitude which had seceded remain quiet?
§2.32.7quid futurum deinde, si quod externum interim bellum existat? nullam profecto nisi in concordia civium spem reliquam ducere;
What would happen next if some foreign war should arise in the meantime?
§2.32.8eam per aequa, per iniqua reconciliandam civitati esse. placuit igitur oratorem ad plebem mitti Menenium Agrippam, facundum virum et, quod inde oriundus erat, plebi carum.
Surely they must think that no hope remained except in the harmony of the citizens; this harmony must be restored to the state by fair means or foul." It was decided, therefore, to send as an envoy to the plebs Menenius Agrippa, an eloquent man and, because he was sprung from them, dear to the plebs.
is intromissus in castra prisco illo dicendi et horrido modo nihil aliud quam hoc narrasse fertur: §2.32.9tempore, quo in homine non, ut nunc, omnia in unum consentientia, sed singulis membris suum cuique consilium, suus sermo fuerit, indignatas reliquas partes sua cura, suo labore ac ministerio ventri omnia quaeri, ventrem in medio quietum nihil aliud quam datis voluptatibus frui; §2.32.10conspirasse inde, ne manus ad os cibum ferrent, nec os acciperet datum, nec dentes conficerent.
He, having been admitted into the camp, is said to have told them nothing else than this, in that ancient and rugged style of speaking: "At the time when in man, not as now, all parts agreed as one, but each member had its own counsel and its own speech, the remaining parts were indignant that by their own care, labor, and service, everything was sought for the belly, while the belly, quiet in their midst, did nothing else than enjoy the pleasures given to it; they conspired, therefore, that the hands should not carry food to the mouth, nor the mouth receive what was given, nor the teeth chew it.
hac ira dum ventrem fame domare vellent, ipsa una membra totumque corpus ad extremam tabem venisse.
While in this anger they wished to subdue the belly by hunger, the members themselves and the whole body came to extreme consumption.
§2.32.11inde apparuisse ventris quoque haud segne ministerium esse, nec magis aliquam alere eum, reddentem in omnis corporis partes hunc, quo vivimus vigemusque, divisum pariter in venas, maturum confecto cibo sanguinem. conparando hinc, §2.32.12quam intestina corporis seditio similis esset irae plebis in patres, flexisse mentes hominum.
From this it appeared that the service of the belly was also not lazy, and that it did not nourish itself more than it nourished others, returning to all parts of the body this blood by which we live and thrive, divided equally into the veins, matured from the digested food." By comparing from this how similar the internal sedition of the body was to the anger of the plebs against the patricians, he turned the minds of the men.