§2.43.1Q. Fabius inde et C. Iulius consules facti.
After that, Quintus Fabius and Gaius Iulius became consuls.
eo anno non segnior discordia domi et bellum foris atrocius fuit.
In this year, discord at home was no less active, and war abroad was more severe.
ab Aequis arma sumpta; Veientes agrum quoque Romanorum populantes inierunt.
Arms were taken up by the Aequians; the Veientes also entered Roman territory, plundering as they went.
quorum bellorum crescente cura K. Fabius et Sp. Furius consules fiunt.
While the anxiety about these wars was growing, Kaeso Fabius and Spurius Furius became consuls.
Ortonam, Latinam urbem, Aequi oppugnabant; §2.43.2Veientes pleni iam populationum Romam ipsam se oppugnaturos minabantur.
The Aequians were besieging Ortona, a Latin city; the Veientes, now sated with plunder, were threatening to besiege Rome itself.
qui terrores cum compescere deberent, §2.43.3auxere insuper animos plebis; redibatque non sua sponte plebi mos detractandi militiam, sed Sp. Licinius tribunus plebis, venisse tempus ratus per ultimam necessitatem legis agrariae patribus iniungendae, susceperat rem militarem impediendam.
Although these terrors ought to have restrained them, they increased moreover the spirits of the plebs; and the custom of refusing military service was returning to the plebs, not of its own accord, but because Spurius Licinius, a tribune of the plebs, thinking that the time had come to force the agrarian law upon the patricians through extreme necessity, had undertaken to obstruct the military operations.
§2.43.4ceterum tota invidia tribuniciae potestatis versa in auctorem est, nec in eum consules acrius quam ipsius collegae coorti sunt, auxilioque eorum dilectum consules habent.
However, all the odium directed at the tribunician power was turned against its author, and the consuls did not rise up against him more fiercely than did his own colleagues, by whose aid the consuls held the levy.
§2.43.5ad duo simul bella exercitus scribitur; ducendus Fabio in Veientes, in Aequos Furio datur.
An army was enrolled for two wars at the same time; one to be led by Fabius against the Veientes, the other was given to Furius against the Aequians.
et in Aequis quidem nihil dignum memoria gestum est; §2.43.6Fabio aliquanto plus negotii cum civibus quam cum hostibus fuit.
And indeed, against the Aequians, nothing worthy of memory was achieved; Fabius had considerably more trouble with his citizens than with the enemy.
unus ille vir, ipse consul, rem publicam sustinuit, quam exercitus odio consulis, quantum in se fuit, prodebat.
That single man, the consul himself, sustained the republic, which the army, out of hatred for the consul, was betraying as far as lay in its power.
nam cum consul praeter ceteras imperatorias artes, §2.43.7quas parando gerendoque bello edidit plurimas, ita instruxisset aciem, ut solo equitatu emisso exercitum hostium funderet, insequi fusos pedes noluit; §2.43.8nec illos, etsi non adhortatio invisi ducis, suum saltem flagitium et publicum in praesentia dedecus, postmodo periculum, si animus hosti redisset, cogere potuit gradum accelerare aut, si aliud nihil, stare instructos.
For when the consul, besides other generalic skills, which he displayed in great abundance in preparing and waging war, had so drawn up his line of battle that, by sending out the cavalry alone, he routed the enemy's army, the infantry refused to pursue those who were routed; and not even their own shame and present public disgrace, and later the danger if courage should return to the enemy, could compel them to quicken their pace, even if the exhortation of the hated leader could not, or, if nothing else, to stand drawn up in order.
§2.43.9iniussu signa referunt maestique — crederes victos —, exsecrantes nunc imperatorem nunc navatam ab equite operam, redeunt in castra.
Without orders, they turned back the standards, and sorrowful—you would have believed them defeated—cursing now the commander, now the service rendered by the cavalry, they returned to the camp.
§2.43.10nec huic tam pestilenti exemplo remedia ulla ab imperatore quaesita sunt; adeo excellentibus ingeniis citius defuerit ars, qua civem regant, quam qua hostem superent.
Nor were any remedies for so pestilential an example sought by the commander; to such an extent, for men of excellent talent, the art of ruling a citizen would sooner be lacking than that of overcoming an enemy.
§2.43.11consul Romam rediit non tam belli gloria aucta quam inritato exacerbatoque in se militum odio.
The consul returned to Rome, with the glory of the war not so much increased as with the hatred of the soldiers against him stirred up and exacerbated.
obtinuere tamen patres, ut in Fabia gente consulatus maneret; M. Fabium consulem creant, Fabio collega Cn. Manlius datur.
Nevertheless, the patricians succeeded in keeping the consulship in the Fabian family; they elected Marcus Fabius consul, and Gnaeus Manlius was given to Fabius as a colleague.