§2.56.1Voleronem amplexa favore plebs proximis comitiis tribunum plebi creat in eum annum, qui L. Pinarium P. Furium consules habuit.
The plebs, embracing Volero with favor, elected him tribune of the plebs at the next elections for that year which had Lucius Pinarius and Publius Furius as consuls.
§2.56.2contraque omnium opinionem, qui eum vexandis prioris anni consulibus permissurum tribunatum credebant, post publicam causam privato dolore habito, ne verbo quidem violatis consulibus, rogationem tulit ad populum, ut plebei magistratus tributis comitiis fierent.
And contrary to the expectation of all, who believed that he would devote his tribuneship to harassing the consuls of the previous year, having held his private grievance after the public cause, without violating the consuls even by a word, he proposed a bill to the people that plebeian magistrates should be created at the tribal assembly.
§2.56.3haud parva res sub titulo prima specie minime atroci ferebatur, sed quae patriciis omnem potestatem per clientium suffragia creandi, quos vellent, tribunos auferret.
A matter of no small importance was being proposed under a title that at first sight was not at all threatening, but one which would strip the patricians of all power of electing, through the votes of their clients, such tribunes as they wished.
§2.56.4huic actioni gratissimae plebi cum summa vi resisterent patres, nec, quae una vis ad resistendum erat, ut intercederet aliquis ex collegio auctoritate aut consulum aut principum adduci posset, res tamen suo ipsa molimine gravis certaminibus in annum extrahitur.
While the patricians resisted this measure, which was most pleasing to the plebs, with the greatest force, and no one from the college could be induced by the authority of either the consuls or the leading men to interpose a veto—which was the only power for resisting—nevertheless, the matter, heavy by its own difficulty, was dragged out into the next year by conflicts.
§2.56.5plebs Voleronem tribunum reficit; patres, ad ultimum dimicationis rati rem venturam, Ap. Claudium, Appi filium, iam inde a paternis certaminibus invisum infestumque plebi, consulem faciunt.
The plebs re-elected Volero as tribune; the patricians, thinking that the matter would come to an ultimate struggle, made Appius Claudius, the son of Appius, who had been hated and hostile to the plebs ever since his father's conflicts, consul.
collega ei T. Quinctius datur.
Titus Quinctius was given to him as colleague.
§2.56.6principio statim anni nihil prius quam de lege agebatur.
At the very beginning of the year, nothing was dealt with before the law.
sed ut inventor legis Volero, sic Laetorius, collega eius, auctor cum recentior, tum acrior erat.
But as Volero was the proposer of the law, so Laetorius, his colleague, was an advocate both more recent and more fierce.
ferocem faciebat belli gloria ingens, §2.56.7quod aetatis eius haud quisquam manu promptior erat.
Huge glory in war made him bold, because in that generation there was hardly anyone more prompt in action.
is, cum Volero nihil praeterquam de lege loqueretur, insectatione abstinens consulum, ipse accusationem Appi familiaeque superbissimae ac crudelissimae in plebem Romanam exorsus, §2.56.8cum a patribus non consulem, sed carnificem ad vexandam et lacerandam plebem creatum esse contenderet, rudis in militari homine lingua non suppetebat libertati animoque.
While Volero spoke of nothing except the law, abstaining from the persecution of the consuls, Laetorius himself, having begun an accusation of Appius and his most arrogant and cruel family against the Roman plebs, when he contended that not a consul but an executioner had been created by the patricians to harass and tear the plebs, his unpolished tongue, natural to a military man, did not suffice for his liberty of speech and spirit.
§2.56.9itaque deficiente oratione “quando quidem non tam facile loquor” inquit, “Quirites, quam, quod locutus sum, praesto, crastino die adeste.
And so, as his speech failed him, he said, "Since indeed, Quirites, I do not speak as easily as I perform what I have spoken, attend tomorrow.
ego hic aut in conspectu vestro moriar aut perferam legem. ” occupant tribuni templum postero die; §2.56.10consules nobilitasque ad inpediendam legem in contione consistunt.
I will either die here in your sight or carry the law." On the next day, the tribunes occupied the temple; the consuls and the nobility stood in the assembly to impede the law.
submoveri Laetorius iubet, praeterquam qui suffragium ineant.
Laetorius ordered everyone to be removed except those who were to cast their votes.
§2.56.11adulescentes nobiles stabant nihil cedentes viatori.
The young nobles stood, yielding nothing to the officer.
tum ex his prendi quosdam Laetorius iubet.
Then Laetorius ordered some of them to be seized.
consul Appius negare ius esse tribuno in quemquam nisi in plebeium; §2.56.12non enim populi, sed plebis eum magistratum esse; nec illum ipsum submovere pro imperio posse more maiorum, quia ita dicatur “si vobis videtur, discedite, Quirites. ” facile contemptim de iure disserendo perturbare Laetorium poterat.
The consul Appius denied that the tribune had any right over anyone except a plebeian; for he was a magistrate not of the people, but of the plebs; nor could he himself remove anyone by virtue of command according to the custom of the ancestors, because it was said thus: "If it seems good to you, depart, Quirites." He was easily able to perturb Laetorius by discussing the law contemptuously.
§2.56.13ardens igitur ira tribunus viatorem mittit ad consulem, consul lictorem ad tribunum, privatum esse clamitans, sine imperio, sine magistratu; §2.56.14violatusque esset tribunus, ni et contio omnis atrox coorta pro tribuno in consulem esset, et concursus hominum in forum, ex tota urbe concitatae multitudinis, fieret.
The tribune, therefore, burning with anger, sent his officer to the consul; the consul sent his lictor to the tribune, crying out that he was a private citizen, without command, without magistracy; and the tribune would have been violated, had not both the whole assembly rose up fiercely for the tribune against the consul, and a concourse of people into the forum, of a multitude excited from the whole city, taken place.
sustinebat tamen Appius pertinacia tantam tempestatem; §2.56.15certatumque haud incruento proelio foret, ni Quinctius, consul alter, consularibus negotio dato, ut collegam vi, si aliter non possent, de foro abducerent, ipse nunc plebem saevientem precibus lenisset, nunc orasset tribunos, ut concilium dimitterent; §2.56.16darent irae spatium: non vim suam illis tempus adempturum, sed consilium viribus additurum, et patres in populi et consulem in patrum fore potestate.
Nevertheless, Appius sustained such a tempest with freighted obstinacy; and they would have fought in a far from bloodless battle, had not Quinctius, the other consul, having given the business to the consulars to lead his colleague from the forum by force if they could not do otherwise, himself now soothed the raging plebs with entreaties, now begged the tribunes to dismiss the assembly; they should give space to anger: time would not take away their strength, but would add counsel to their strength, and the patricians would be in the power of the people, and the consul in the power of the patricians.