§27.34.1cum circumspicerent patres, quosnam consules facerent, longe ante alios eminebat C. Claudius Nero; ei conlega quaerebatur.
When the senators were looking around to see whom they should make consuls, C. Claudius Nero stood out far before others; a colleague was being sought for him.
§27.34.2et virum quidem eum egregium ducebant, sed promptiorem acrioremque, quam tempora belli postularent aut hostis Hannibal; §27.34.3temperandum acre ingenium eius moderato et prudenti viro adiuncto conlega censebant.
And indeed they considered him an excellent man, but more impetuous and fierce than the times of war or the enemy Hannibal required; they thought that his fierce temper ought to be tempered by joining to him as a colleague a moderate and prudent man.
M. Livius erat, multis ante annis ex consulatu populi iudicio damnatus, §27.34.4quam ignominiam adeo aegre tulerat, ut rus migraret et per multos annos et urbe et omni coetu caruerit hominum.
There was M. Livius, who many years before, after his consulship, had been condemned by the judgment of the people, which disgrace he had borne so heavily that he moved to the country and for many years was without both the city and any gathering of men.
§27.34.5octavo ferme post damnationem anno M. Claudius Marcellus et M. Valerius Laevinus consules redduxerant eum in urbem; sed erat veste obsoleta capilloque et barba promissa, prae se ferens in vultu habituque insignem memoriam ignominiae acceptae.
In about the eighth year after his condemnation, the consuls M. Claudius Marcellus and M. Valerius Laevinus had brought him back to the city; but he wore worn-out clothing, with his hair and beard long, displaying in his face and appearance a marked remembrance of the disgrace he had received.
§27.34.6L. Veturius et P. Licinius censores eum tonderi et squalorem deponere et in senatum venire fungique aliis publicis muneribus coegerunt.
L. Veturius and P. Licinius, the censors, compelled him to be shorn, to lay aside his filth, to come into the senate, and to perform other public duties.
§27.34.7sed tum quoque aut verbo adsentiebatur aut pedibus in sententiam ibat, donec cognati hominis eum causa M. Livii Macati, cum fama eius ageretur, stantem coegit in senatu sententiam dicere.
But even then he would either assent in a word or walk over to an opinion, until the case of his kinsman, M. Livius Macatus, when his reputation was at stake, forced him to stand up and deliver his opinion in the senate.
§27.34.8tunc ex tanto intervallo auditus convertit ora hominum in se, causamque sermonibus praebuit, indigno iniuriam a populo factam, magnoque id damno fuisse, quod tam gravi bello nec opera nec consilio talis viri usa res publica esset:
Then, heard after so long an interval, he turned the faces of men toward himself, and provided a subject for conversations: that an injury had been done by the people to an undeserving man, and that it had been a great loss that in so serious a war the republic had used neither the service nor the counsel of such a man; that neither Q.
§27.34.9C. Neroni neque Q. Fabium neque M. Valerium Laevinum dari conlegam posse, quia duos patricios creari non liceret;
Fabius nor M. Valerius Laevinus could be given as a colleague to C.
§27.34.10eandem causam in T. Manlio esse, praeterquam quod recusasset delatum consulatum recusaturusque esset.
Nero, because it was not lawful for two patricians to be elected; that the same cause existed in T.
egregium par consulum fore, si M. Livium C. Claudio conlegam adiunxissent.
Manlius, besides the fact that he had refused the consulship when offered and would refuse it again; that it would be an excellent pair of consuls if they should join M. Livius as a colleague to C. Claudio.
§27.34.11nec populus mentionem eius rei ortam a patribus est aspernatus.
Nor did the people reject the mention of this matter which had arisen from the patricians.
unus eam rem in civitate is, §27.34.12cui deferebatur honos, abnuebat, levitatem civitatis accusans: sordidati rei non miseritos candidam togam invito offerre; eodem honores poenasque congeri.
The only one in the state who refused this matter was he to whom the honor was offered, who kept refusing, accusing the levity of the state: that those who had not pitied him when he was a defendant in mourning garments now offered the white toga to him against his will; that honors and punishments were heaped upon the same man.
§27.34.13si virum bonum ducerent, quid ita pro malo ac noxio damnassent? si noxium comperissent, quid ita male credito priore consulatu alterum crederent?
If they considered him a good man, why had they condemned him as bad and guilty? If they had found him guilty, why, when the former consulship had been badly entrusted, did they entrust another?
§27.34.14haec taliaque arguentem et querentem castigabant patres, et M. Furium memorantes revocatum de exilio patriam pulsam sede sua restituisse; ut parentium saevitiam, sic patriae patiendo ac ferendo leniendam esse.
As he argued and complained of these and similar things, the patricians reproved him, reminding him that M. Furius, recalled from exile, had restored his country which had been driven from its seat; that just as the cruelty of parents, so that of one's country must be softened by suffering and enduring it.
§27.34.15adnisi omnes cum C. Claudio M. Livium consulem fecerunt.
All exerting themselves made M. Livius consul along with C. Claudius.