§22.34.1consulibus prorogatum in annum imperium.
The military command of the consuls was prolonged for a year.
interreges proditi a patribus C. Claudius Appi filius Cento, inde P. Cornelius Asina.
The interreges appointed by the patricians were Gaius Claudius Cento, son of Appius, and then Publius Cornelius Asina.
in eius interregno comitia habita magno certamine patrum ac plebis.
During his interregnum, the elections were held amidst a great struggle between the patricians and the plebeians.
§22.34.2C. Terentio Varroni, quem sui generis hominem, plebi insectatione principum popularibusque artibus conciliatum, ab Q. Fabi opibus et dictatorio imperio concusso aliena invidia splendentem, volgus extrahere ad consulatum nitebatur, patres summa ope obstabant, ne se insectando sibi aequari adsuescerent homines.
The patricians opposed Gaius Terentius Varro with all their might, lest men should become accustomed to being equalled with them by attacking them; Varro was a man of the people's own kind, who had won over the plebeians by his attacks on the leading men and by popular arts, and who was now shining with the unpopularity of others after the power and dictatorial authority of Quintus Fabius had been shaken, and whom the rabble was striving to raise to the consulship.
§22.34.3Q. Baebius Herennius tribunus plebis, cognatus C. Terenti, criminando non senatum modo sed etiam augures, quod dictatorem prohibuissent comitia perficere, per invidiam eorum favorem candidate suo conciliabat: §22.34.4ab hominibus nobilibus per multos annos bellum quaerentibus Hannibalem in Italiam adductum; ab isdem, cum debellari possit, fraude bellum trahi.
Quintus Baebius Herennius, a tribune of the plebs and relative of Gaius Terentius, by accusing not only the senate but also the augurs for having prevented the dictator from completing the elections, was winning favor for his candidate through the unpopularity of those bodies: that Hannibal had been brought into Italy by noblemen who had been seeking war for many years; and that by the very same men, although the war could be finished, it was being dragged out by fraud.
§22.34.5cum quattuor legionibus universe pugnari posse apparuisset eo, §22.34.6quod M. Minucius absente Fabio prospere pugnasset duas legiones hosti ad caedem obiectas, deinde ex ipsa caede ereptas, ut pater patronusque appellaretur, qui prius vincere prohibuisset Romanos quam vinci.
Since it had appeared that a general engagement could be fought with four legions, from the fact that Marcus Minucius, in the absence of Fabius, had fought successfully, and that two legions, exposed to the enemy for slaughter and then snatched from that very slaughter, resulted in him being called "father" and "patron" who had previously prevented the Romans from conquering rather than from being conquered.
§22.34.7consules deinde Fabianis artibus, cum debellare possent, bellum traxisse.
Next, the consuls, using Fabian arts, had dragged out the war when they might have finished it.
id foedus inter omnes nobilis ictum, nec finem ante belli habituros, quam consulem vere plebeium, id est hominem novum, fecissent; §22.34.8nam plebeios nobiles iam eisdem initiatos esse sacris et contemnere plebem, ex quo contemni a patribus desierint, coepisse.
This was a treaty struck among all the nobles, and they would not have an end to the war before they made a truly plebeian consul, that is, a "new man"; for the plebeian nobles had already been initiated into the same rites and had begun to despise the plebs from the moment they ceased to be despised by the patricians.
§22.34.9cui non apparere id actum et quaesitum esse, ut interregnum iniretur, ut in patrum potestate comitia essent?
To whom was it not apparent that this had been done and sought after, namely that an interregnum should be entered, so that the elections might be in the power of the patricians?
§22.34.10id consules ambos ad exercitum morando quaesisse; id postea, quia invitis iis dictator esset dictus comitiorum causa, expugnatum esse, cum vitiosus dictator per augures fieret. habere igitur interregnum eos;
Both consuls had sought this by lingering with the army; and afterwards, because a dictator had been named for the purpose of the elections against their will, this had been forced through when the dictator was made out to be flawed by the augurs.
§22.34.11consulatum unum certe plebis Romanae esse, populum eum liberum habiturum ac daturum ei, qui mature vincere quam diu imperare malit.
Therefore they now had their interregnum; at least one consulship certainly belonged to the Roman plebs, and a free people would hold and give it to one who preferred to conquer quickly rather than to command for a long time.