§23.3.1tum vocato ad contionem populo “quod saepe” inquit “optastis, Campani, ut supplicii sumendi vobis ex improbo ac detestabili senatu potestas esset, §23.3.2eam non per tumultum expugnantes domos singulorum, quas praesidiis clientium servorumque tuentur, cum summo vestro periculo, sed tutam habetis ac liberam.
Then, having called the people to an assembly, he said, "Campanians, that power of inflicting punishment upon the wicked and detestable senate, which you have often wished for, you now hold, not by storming their individual houses in a riot, which they protect with guards of clients and slaves, at your own greatest risk, but safe and free.
§23.3.3clausos omnis in curiam accipite, solos, inermis.
Receive them all shut up in the senate-house, alone, unarmed.
nec quicquam raptim aut forte temere egeritis; de singulorum capite vobis ius sententiae dicendae faciam, ut quas quisque meritus est poenas pendat.
Do not do anything hastily or by blind chance; I will give you the right of passing sentence on the life of each individual, so that each may pay the penalty he has deserved.
§23.3.4sed ante omnia ita vos irae indulgere oportet, ut potiorem ira salutem atque utilitatem vestram habeatis.
But before all things, you must indulge your anger in such a way that you hold your own safety and advantage more important than your anger.
etenim hos, ut opinor, odistis senatores, non senatum omnino habere non voltis;
For indeed, you hate these senators, as I suppose; you do not wish to have no senate at all.
§23.3.5quippe aut rex, quod abominandum, aut, quod unum liberae civitatis consilium est, senatus habendus est.
For indeed, either a king— which is detestable—or a senate, which is the sole council of a free state, must be had.
itaque duae res simul agendae vobis sunt, ut et veterem senatum tollatis et novum cooptetis.
Therefore, two things must be done by you at the same time: that you both destroy the old senate and elect a new one.
§23.3.6citari singulos senatores iubebo deque eorum capite vos consulam; quod de quoque censueritis, fiet.
I will order individual senators to be summoned, and I will consult you concerning their lives; whatever you decide concerning each shall be done.
sed prius in eius locum virum fortem ac strenuum novum senatorem cooptabitis, quam de noxio supplicium sumatur. ” §23.3.7inde consedit, et nominibus in urnam coniectis citari quod primum sorte nomen excidit ipsumque e curia produci iussit.
But you shall elect a brave and energetic man as a new senator in his place, before punishment is inflicted on the guilty one." Then he sat down, and, the names having been thrown into an urn, he ordered the name which first fell out by lot to be called, and the man himself to be brought out of the senate-house.
§23.3.8ubi auditum est nomen, malum et inprobum pro se quisque clamare et supplicio dignum.
When the name was heard, everyone for his part cried out that he was wicked and unprincipled, and worthy of punishment.
§23.3.9tum Pacuvius “Video, quae de hoc sententia sit; date igitur pro malo atque inprobo bonum senatorem et iustum. ” §23.3.10primo silentium erat inopia potioris subiciundi; deinde, cum aliquis omissa verecundia quempiam nominasset, multo maior extemplo clamor oriebatur, §23.3.11cum alii negarent nosse, alii nunc probra nunc humilitatem sordidamque inopiam et pudendae artis aut quaestus genus obicerent.
Then Pacuvius said, "I see what the opinion is concerning this man; give, therefore, in place of a wicked and unprincipled one, a good and just senator." At first there was silence from the lack of a better candidate to substitute; then, when someone, casting aside modesty, had named some person, immediately a much greater outcry arose, while some denied they knew him, others objected now to his shameful deeds, now to his low birth and sordid poverty, and to the nature of his shameful trade or occupation.
§23.3.12hoc multo magis in secundo ac tertio citato senatore est factum, ut ipsius paenitere homines appareret, quem autem in eius substituerent locum, §23.3.13deesse, quia nec eosdem nominari attinebat, nihil aliud quam ad audienda probra nominatos, et multo humiliores obscurioresque ceteri erant eis, qui primi memoriae occurrerant.
This happened much more in the case of the second and third summoned senator, so that it became apparent that the people regretted the man himself, but as to whom they should substitute in his place, a candidate was lacking, because it was of no use for the same ones to be nominated, who had been nominated for no other purpose than to hear abuses, and all the rest were much more lowborn and obscure than those who had first occurred to their memory.
§23.3.14ita dilabi homines, notissimum quodque malum maxume tolerabile dicentes esse iubentesque senatum ex custodia dimitti.
Thus the people began to slip away, saying that every best-known evil is the most tolerable, and ordering the senate to be dismissed from custody.