§23.2.1inde Capuam flectit iter luxuriantem longa felicitate atque indulgentia fortunae, maxime tamen inter corrupta omnia licentia plebis sine modo libertatem exercentis. §23.2.2senatum et sibi et plebi obnoxium Pacuvius Calavius fecerat, nobilis idem ac popularis homo, ceterum malis artibus nanctus opes. §23.2.3is cum eo forte anno, quo res male gesta ad Trasumennum est, in summo magistratu esset, iam diu infestam senatui plebem ratus per occasionem novandi res magnum ausuram facinus, ut, si in ea loca Hannibal cum victore exercitu venisset, trucidato senatu traderet Capuam Poenis, §23.2.4inprobus homo, sed non ad extremum perditus, cum mallet incolumi quam eversa re publica dominari, nullam autem incolumem esse orbatam publico consilio crederet, rationem iniit, qua et senatum servaret et obnoxium sibi ac plebi faceret. §23.2.5vocato senatu cum sibi defectionis ab Romanis consilium placiturum nullo modo, §23.2.6nisi necessarium fuisset, praefatus esset, quippe qui liberos ex Appii Claudii filia haberet filiamque Romam nuptum M. Livio dedisset; §23.2.7ceterum maiorem multo rem magisque timendam instare: non enim per defectionem ad tollendum ex civitate senatum plebem spectare, sed per caedem senatus vacuam rem publicam tradere Hannibali ac Poenis velle; §23.2.8eo se periculo posse liberare eos, si permittant sibi et certaminum in re publica obliti credant, §23.2.9— cum omnes victi metu permitterent, “Claudam” inquit “in curia vos et tamquam et ipse cogitati facinoris particeps adprobando consilia, quibus nequiquam adversarer, viam saluti vestrae inveniam. §23.2.10in hoc fidem, quam voltis ipsi, accipite. ” fide data egressus claudi curiam iubet, praesidiumque in vestibulo relinquit, ne quis adire curiam iniussu suo neve inde egredi possit.
From there he turned his march toward Capua, a city luxurious from long prosperity and the indulgence of fortune, but especially, amid the general corruption, because of the license of the populace, who exercised their liberty without restraint. Pacuvius Calavius had made the senate subservient both to himself and to the commons; he was a man of noble birth and at the same time a popular leader, but one who had acquired wealth by evil arts. Since he happened to be in the highest magistracy in that year in which the disaster occurred at Trasumennus, and thinking that the commons, long hostile to the senate, would dare some great outrage if an opportunity for revolution should arise, so that, if Hannibal should come to those parts with his victorious army, they would massacre the senate and deliver Capua to the Carthaginians; being an unprincipled man, but not completely lost to virtue, since he preferred to rule over an unharmed rather than a ruined state, and believed that no state could be safe when deprived of its public council, he entered upon a plan by which he might both save the senate and make it subservient to himself and the commons. Having called the senate together, when he had prefaced his remarks by saying that a plan of revolting from the Romans would by no means please him, unless it had been necessary, inasmuch as he had children by the daughter of Appius Claudius and had given his own daughter in marriage to Marcus Livius at Rome; but that a far greater and more dreadful matter was impending; for the commons were not looking toward removing the senate from the state by a revolt, but wished, by a massacre of the senate, to deliver the state, left vacant, to Hannibal and the Carthaginians; that he could free them from that danger, if they would yield to him, and, forgetting their political struggles, trust him, — when they all, overcome by fear, yielded to him, "I will shut you up," he said, "in the senate-house, and as though I myself were a sharer in the contemplated crime, by approving plans which I should oppose in vain, I will find a way for your safety. For this, receive the pledge which you yourselves wish." The pledge having been given, he went out and ordered the senate-house to be closed, and left a guard in the vestibule, so that no one might approach the senate-house without his order, nor go out from there.