§2.7.1ita cum pugnatum esset, tantus terror Tarquinium atque Etruscos incessit, ut omissa inrita re nocte ambo exercitus, Veiens Tarquiniensisque, suas quisque abirent domos.
When the battle had been fought in this way, such a great terror seized Tarquinius and the Etruscans that, abandoning their undertaking in vain, both armies, the Veientine and the Tarquinian, departed in the night, each to their own homes.
§2.7.2adiciunt miracula huic pugnae: silentio proximae noctis ex silva Arsia ingentem editam vocem; Silvani vocem eam creditam; haec dicta: uno plus Tuscorum cecidisse in acie; vincere bello Romanum.
They add marvels to this battle: that in the silence of the following night a huge voice was sent forth from the Arsian forest; that it was believed to be the voice of Silvanus; and that these words were spoken: that one more of the Etruscans had fallen in the battle-line; that the Roman was victorious in the war.
ita certe inde abiere Romani ut victores, §2.7.3Etrusci pro victis.
Thus indeed the Romans departed thence as victors, the Etruscans as the vanquished.
nam postquam inluxit, nec quisquam hostium in conspectu erat, P. Valerius consul spolia legit triumphansque inde Romam rediit.
For after it became light and none of the enemy was in sight, the consul Publius Valerius gathered the spoils and returned thence to Rome in triumph.
§2.7.4collegae funus quanto tum potuit apparatu fecit; sed multo maius morti decus publica fuit maestitia, eo ante omnia insignis, quia matronae annum ut parentem eum luxerunt, quod tam acer ultor violatae pudicitiae fuisset.
He celebrated the funeral of his colleague with as much preparation as was then possible; but a much greater honor to his death was the public mourning, remarkable above all because the matrons mourned him for a year as a parent, because he had been so fierce an avenger of violated chastity.
§2.7.5consuli deinde, qui superfuerat, ut sunt mutabiles volgi animi, ex favore non invidia modo sed suspicio etiam cum atroci crimine orta.
Then for the consul who had survived, as the minds of the populace are changeable, from favor arose not only envy but even suspicion along with a dreadful accusation.
§2.7.6regnum eum adfectare fama ferebat, quia nec collegam subrogaverat in locum Bruti et aedificabat in summa Velia: alto atque munito loco arcem inexpugnabilem fore.
Rumor had it that he was aiming at kingship, because he had neither substituted a colleague in place of Brutus and was building on the summit of the Velia: that on a high and fortified place there would be an impregnable citadel.
§2.7.7haec dicta vulgo creditaque cum indignitate angerent consulis animum, vocato ad concilium populo summissis fascibus in contionem escendit.
Since these sayings, commonly believed, vexed the mind of the consul with indignity, having summoned the people to an assembly, he ascended the platform with lowered fasces.
gratum id multitudini spectaculum fuit, submissa sibi esse imperii insignia confessionemque factam populi quam consulis maiestatem vimque maiorem esse.
That was a pleasing spectacle to the multitude, that the insignia of power had been lowered before them, and that an acknowledgment had been made that the majesty and power of the people were greater than those of the consul.
§2.7.8ibi audire iussis consul laudare fortunam collegae, quod liberata patria, in summo honore, pro re publica dimicans, matura gloria necdum se vertente in invidiam mortem occubuisset; se superstitem gloriae suae ad crimen atque invidiam superesse, ex liberatore patriae ad Aquilios se Vitelliosque recidisse.
There, to those who had been ordered to listen, the consul began to praise the fortune of his colleague, because, his fatherland having been liberated, in the highest honor, fighting for the commonwealth, he had met death with ripe glory and before it turned into envy; that he himself, surviving his own glory, remained for accusation and envy, and had fallen from the liberator of his fatherland to the level of the Aquilii and Vitellii.
“numquamne ergo” inquit §2.7.9“ulla adeo vobis spectata virtus erit, ut suspicione violari nequeat? ego me, illum acerrimum regum hostem, ipsum cupiditatis regni crimen subiturum timerem?
"Will there never then," he said, "be any virtue so tried among you that it cannot be violated by suspicion? Should I have feared that I myself, that fiercest enemy of kings, would undergo the charge of desiring kingship?
§2.7.10ego si in ipsa arce Capitolioque habitarem, metui me crederem posse a civibus meis? tam levi momento mea apud vos fama pendet? adeone est fundata leviter fides, ut, ubi sim, quam qui sim, magis referat?
If I were living in the citadel itself and on the Capitoline, should I believe that I could be feared by my fellow citizens? Does my reputation among you hang on so light a weight? Is our trust so lightly established that where I am matters more than who I am?
§2.7.11non obstabunt P. Valeri aedes libertati vestrae, Quirites; tuta erit vobis Velia.
The house of Publius Valerius shall not stand in the way of your liberty, Quirites; the Velia shall be safe for you.
deferam non in planum modo aedes, sed colli etiam subiciam, ut vos supra suspectum me civem habitetis;
I will carry down my house not only to the flat ground, but I will even place it under the hill, so that you may dwell above me, a suspected citizen.
in Velia aedificent, quibus melius quam P. Valerio creditur libertas. ” delata confestim materia omnis infra Veliam, §2.7.12et, ubi nunc Vicae Potae aedes est, domus in infimo clivo aedificata.
Let those build on the Velia to whom liberty is better entrusted than to Publius Valerius." Immediately all the material was carried down below the Velia, and, where the temple of Vica Pota now is, a house was built at the bottom of the slope.