§27.21.1actum de imperio Marcelli in circo Flaminio est ingenti concursu plebisque et omnium ordinum; §27.21.2accusavitque tribunus plebis non Marcellum modo sed omnem nobilitatem: fraude eorum et cunctatione fieri, ut Hannibal decimum iam annum Italiam provinciam habeat, diutius ibi quam Carthagine vixerit. §27.21.3habere fructum imperii prorogati Marcello populum Romanum: bis caesum exercitum eius aestiva Venusiae sub tectis agere. §27.21.4hanc tribuni orationem ita obruit Marcellus commemoratione rerum suarum, ut non rogatio solum de imperio eius abrogando antiquaretur, sed postero die consulem eum ingenti consensu centuriae omnes crearent. §27.21.5additur conlega T. Quinctius Crispinus, qui tum praetor erat.
The question of Marcellus's command was discussed in the Flaminian Circus before a vast concourse of the plebs and of all classes. And the tribune of the plebs accused not only Marcellus but the entire nobility, saying that it was by their treachery and delay that Hannibal now for the tenth year held Italy as his province, having lived there longer than in Carthage; that the Roman people were enjoying the fruit of Marcellus's prolonged command, namely, that his twice-beaten army was spending the summer under cover at Venusia. Marcellus so overwhelmed this speech of the tribune by the recital of his own achievements that not only was the proposal to abrogate his command rejected, but on the following day all the centuries with immense consensus elected him consul. As his colleague was added Titus Quinctius Crispinus, who was then praetor.
postero die praetores creati P. Licinius Crassus Dives pontifex maximus, P. Licinius Varus, Sex. Iulius Caesar, Q. Claudius Flamen. §27.21.6comitiorum ipsorum diebus sollicita civitas de Etruriae defectione fuit. §27.21.7principium eius rei ab Arretinis fieri C. Calpurnius scripserat, qui eam provinciam pro praetore obtinebat.
On the next day the praetors were elected: Publius Licinius Crassus Dives, the pontifex maximus, Publius Licinius Varus, Sextus Iulius Caesar, and Quintus Claudius Flamen. During the very days of the elections, the state was anxious about the defection of Etruria. Gaius Calpurnius, who held that province as propraetor, had written that the beginning of this movement was being made by the Arretines.
itaque confestim eo missus Marcellus consul designatus, qui rem inspiceret ac, si digna videretur, exercitu accito bellum ex Apulia in Etruriam transferret.
Therefore, Marcellus, the consul-elect, was immediately sent there to investigate the matter and, if it seemed serious enough, to summon his army and transfer the war from Apulia to Etruria.
eo metu conpressi Etrusci quieverunt. §27.21.8Tarentinorum legatis pacem petentibus cum libertate ac legibus suis responsum ab senatu est, ut redirent, cum Fabius consul Romam venisset. ludi §27.21.9et Romani et plebei eo anno in singulos dies instaurati.
Restrained by this fear, the Etruscans remained quiet. To the envoys of the Tarentines who were asking for peace along with their liberty and laws, the senate replied that they should return when the consul Fabius had come to Rome. Both the Roman and the plebeian games were renewed for one day each in that year.
aediles curules fuere L. Cornelius Caudinus et Ser. Sulpicius Galba, plebei C. Servilius et Q. Caecilius Metellus. §27.21.10Servilium negabant iure aut tribunum plebis fuisse aut aedilem esse, quod patrem eius, quem triumuirum agrarium occisum a Bois circa Mutinam esse opinio per decem annos fuerat, vivere atque in hostium potestate esse satis constabat.
The curule aediles were Lucius Cornelius Caudinus and Servius Sulpicius Galba; the plebeian aediles were Gaius Servilius and Quintus Caecilius Metellus. People denied that Servilius had legally been either a tribune of the plebs or was now an aedile, because it was sufficiently established that his father, who for ten years had been believed to have been killed as an agrarian triumvir by the Boii near Mutina, was alive and in the power of the enemy.