§27.24.1de Arretinis et fama in dies gravior et cura crescere patribus.
Reports about the Arretines became graver day by day, and the anxiety of the senators grew.
itaque C. Hostilio scriptum est, ne differret obsides ab Arretinis accipere, et, cui traderet Romam deducendos, C. Terentius Varro cur, imperio missus. §27.24.2qui ut venit, extemplo Hostilius legionem unam, quae ante urbem castra habebat, signa in urbem ferre iussit praesidiaque locis idoneis disposuit; tum in forum citatis senatoribus obsides imperavit. §27.24.3cum senatus biduum ad considerandum peteret, aut ipsos extemplo dare aut se postero die senatorum omnes liberos sumpturum edixit.
Therefore, a letter was written to Gaius Hostilius not to delay receiving hostages from the Arretines, and Gaius Terentius Varro was sent with military command as the person to whom he should hand them over to be led to Rome. When he arrived, Hostilius immediately ordered one legion, which had its camp before the city, to march into the city, and stationed guards in suitable places; then, having summoned the senators into the forum, he demanded hostages from them. Although the senate requested two days for consideration, he declared that either they must give them up themselves immediately, or he would take all the children of the senators on the following day.
inde portas custodire iussit tribunos militum praefectosque socium 4 et centuriones, ne quis nocte urbe exiret. §27.24.4id segnius neglegentiusque factum: septem principes senatus, priusquam custodiae in portis locarentur, ante noctem cum liberis evaserunt. §27.24.5postero die luce prima, cum senatus in forum citari coeptus esset, desiderati, bonaque eorum venierunt.
Then he ordered the military tribunes, the prefects of the allies, and the centurions to guard the gates, so that no one should leave the city by night. This was executed too slowly and carelessly: seven leading members of the senate, before guards were stationed at the gates, escaped with their children before nightfall. At dawn on the following day, when the senate began to be summoned to the forum, they were missed, and their goods were sold.
a ceteris senatoribus centum viginti obsides, liberi ipsorum, accepti traditique C. Terentio Romam deducendi. §27.24.6is omnia suspectiora, quam ante fuerant, in senatu fecit.
From the remaining senators, one hundred and twenty hostages, their own children, were received and handed over to Gaius Terentius to be led to Rome. He made everything appear more suspicious than it had been before, in his report to the senate.
itaque tamquam imminente Etrusco tumultu legionem unam, alteram ex urbanis, Arretium ducere iussus ipse C. Terentius, eamque habere in praesidio urbis; §27.24.7C. Hostilium cum cetero exercitu placuit totam provinciam peragrare et cavere, ne qua occasio novare cupientibus res daretur. §27.24.8C. Terentius ut Arretium cum legione venit, claves portarum cum magistratus poposcisset, negantibus iis comparere, fraude amotas magis ratus quam neglegentia intercidisse, ipse alias claves omnibus portis imposuit, cavitque cum cura, ut omnia in potestate sua essent; §27.24.9Hostilium intentius monuit, ut in eo spem non moturos quicquam Etruscos poneret, si, ne quid movere possent, praecavisset.
Therefore, as if an Etruscan rebellion were imminent, Gaius Terentius himself was ordered to lead one legion, the second of the urban ones, to Arretium, and to keep it for the defense of the city; and it was decided that Gaius Hostilius with the rest of the army should patrol the whole province and take care that no opportunity should be given to those who desired a revolution. When Gaius Terentius arrived at Arretium with his legion, and had demanded the keys of the gates from the magistrates, upon their denying that they were to be found, believing that they had been removed by treachery rather than lost through negligence, he himself fitted other keys to all the gates, and took careful precautions that everything should be under his own control; and he earnestly warned Hostilius that he should place his hope that the Etruscans would make no movement on this: if he had taken precautions so that they should not be able to make any.