§27.8.1inter maiorum rerum curas comitia maximi curionis, cum in locum M. Aemili sacerdos crearetur, vetus excitaverunt certamen, patriciis negantibus C. §27.8.2Mamili Atelli qui unus ex plebe petebat, habendam rationem esse, quia nemo ante eum nisi ex patribus id sacerdotium habuisset.
Amidst the concerns of more important matters, the election of the chief curio, when a priest was being chosen in place of Marcus Aemilius, excited an ancient conflict, because the patricians denied that Gaius Mamilius Atellus, who alone of the plebeians was seeking it, should be taken into account, on the ground that no one before him had held that priesthood except from the patricians.
§27.8.3tribuni appellati ad senatum rem reiecerunt;
The tribunes, being appealed to, referred the matter to the senate; the senate gave the power of decision to the people.
senatus populi potestatem fecit: ita primus ex plebe creatus maximus curio C. Mamilius Atellus.
Thus Gaius Mamilius Atellus was the first from the plebeians to be elected chief curio.
§27.8.4et flaminem Dialem invitum inaugurari coegit P. Licinius pontifex maximus C. Valerium Flaccum; decemvirum sacris faciundis creatus in locum Q. Muci Scaevolae demortui C. Laetorius.
Also, Publius Licinius, the chief pontiff, compelled Gaius Valerius Flaccus, against his will, to be inaugurated as priest of Jupiter; Gaius Laetorius was elected one of the ten commissioners for performing sacred rites in place of the deceased Quintus Mucius Scaevola.
§27.8.5causam inaugurari coacti flaminis libens reticuissem, ni ex mala fama in bonam vertisset.
I would gladly have kept silent about the cause of the priest being compelled to be inaugurated, had his reputation not turned from bad to good.
ob adulescentiam neglegentem luxuriosamque C. Flaccus flamen captus a P. Licinio pontifice maximo erat, P. Flacco fratri germano cognatisque aliis ob eadem vitia invisus.
On account of a negligent and luxurious youth, Gaius Flaccus had been chosen as priest by Publius Licinius, the chief pontiff, being hated for the same vices by his own brother Publius Flaccus and his other relatives.
§27.8.6is, ut animum eius cura sacrorum et caerimoniarum cepit, ita repente exuit antiquos mores, ut nemo tota iuventute haberetur prior nec probatior primoribus patrum, suis pariter alienisque, esset.
As soon as the care of sacred things and ceremonies took possession of his mind, he so suddenly cast off his former habits that no one of all the youth was held superior to him, nor was anyone more highly approved of by the leading patricians, both his own relatives and strangers alike.
§27.8.7huius famae consensu elatus ad iustam fiduciam sui rem intermissam per multos annos ob indignitatem flaminum priorum repetivit, ut in senatum introiret.
Elated by the consensus of this reputation to a just confidence in himself, he demanded a privilege that had been interrupted for many years on account of the unworthiness of previous priests, namely, that he should enter the senate.
§27.8.8ingressum eum curiam cum P. Licinius praetor inde eduxisset, tribunos plebis appellavit.
When he entered the senate house and Publius Licinius the praetor led him out from there, he appealed to the tribunes of the plebs.
flamen vetustum ius sacerdotii repetebat: datum id cum toga praetexta et sella curuli ei flamonio esse.
The priest demanded the ancient right of his priesthood, claiming that it had been given to that office along with the toga praetexta and the sella curuli.
§27.8.9praetor non exoletis vetustate annalium exemplis stare ius, sed recentissimae cuiusque consuetudinis usu volebat: nec patrum nec avorum memoria Dialem quemquam id ius usurpasse.
The praetor wished the right to stand not on examples made obsolete by the antiquity of the annals, but on the practice of the most recent custom; he argued that in the memory of neither their fathers nor grandfathers had any priest of Jupiter exercised that right.
§27.8.10tribuni rem inertia flaminum oblitteratam ipsis, non sacerdotio damno fuisse cum aequom censuissent, ne ipso quidem contra tendente praetore magno adsensu patrum plebisque flaminem in senatum introduxerunt, omnibus ita existimantibus, magis sanctitate vitae quam sacerdotii iure eam rem flaminem obtinuisse.
The tribunes, having judged it fair that the right, though forgotten through the neglect of the priests, should be a loss to themselves and not to the priesthood, introduced the priest into the senate with the great approval of the patricians and plebeians alike, even without the praetor himself making any further opposition; for everyone thought that the priest had obtained this privilege more through the sanctity of his life than by the right of his priesthood.
§27.8.11consules priusquam in provincias irent duas urbanas legiones, in supplementum quantum opus erat ceteris exercitibus militum scripserunt.
Before the consuls went to their provinces, they enrolled two city legions and as many soldiers as were needed to reinforce the other armies.
§27.8.12urbanum veterem exercitum Fulvius consul C. Fulvio Flacco legato — frater hic consulis erat — in Etruriam dedit ducendum et legiones, quae in Etruria erant, Romam deducendas.
The consul Fulvius gave the old city army to his lieutenant Gaius Fulvius Flaccus—who was the brother of the consul—to be led into Etruria, and ordered the legions which were in Etruria to be brought back to Rome.
§27.8.13et Fabius consul reliquias exercitus Fulviani conquisitas — fuere autem ad quattuor milia trecenti quadraginta quattuor — Q. Maximum filium ducere in Siciliam ad M. Valerium proconsulem iussit atque ab eo duas legiones et triginta quinqueremes accipere.
And the consul Fabius ordered his son Quintus Maximus to lead the remnants of the Fulvian army which had been searched out—there were, moreover, about four thousand three hundred and forty-four men—into Sicily to the proconsul Marcus Valerius, and to receive from him two legions and thirty quinqueremes.
§27.8.14nihil eae deductae ex insula legiones minuerunt nec viribus nec specie eius provinciae praesidium.
The withdrawal of those legions from the island did not diminish the defense of that province either in strength or in appearance.
§27.8.15nam cum praeter egregie suppletas duas veteres legiones transfugarum etiam Numidarum equitum peditumque magnam vim haberet, Siculos quoque, qui in exercitu Epicydis aut Poenorum fuerant, belli peritos viros, milites scripsit.
For although, besides the two old legions which were excellently reinforced, he had a large force of Numidian deserters, both horse and foot, he also enrolled as soldiers the Sicilians who had been in the army of Epicydes or of the Carthaginians, men experienced in war.
§27.8.16ea externa auxilia cum singulis Romanis legionibus adiunxisset, duorum speciem exercituum servavit: altero P. Cincium partem insulae, qua regnum Hieronis fuerat, tueri iussit; §27.8.17altero ipse ceteram insulam tuebatur, divisam quondam Romani Punicique imperii finibus, classe quoque septuaginta navium partita, ut omni ambitu litorum praesidio orae maritumae essent.
When he had added these foreign auxiliaries to each of the Roman legions, he maintained the appearance of two armies: with one, he ordered Publius Cincius to protect that part of the island which had been the kingdom of Hiero; with the other, he himself defended the rest of the island, which had once been divided by the boundaries of the Roman and Punic empires, and he also partitioned a fleet of seventy ships so that they might guard the maritime coast along the entire circuit of the shores.
§27.8.18ipse cum Muttinis equitatu provinciam peragrabat, ut viseret agros cultaque ab incultis notaret et perinde dominos laudaret castigaretque.
He himself, with the cavalry of Muttines, traversed the province in order to inspect the fields and mark the cultivated from the uncultivated, and accordingly to praise or punish the owners.
§27.8.19ita tantum ea cura frumenti provenit ut et Romam mitteret et Catinam conveheret, unde exercitui, qui ad Tarentum aestiva acturus esset, posset praeberi.
Thus, through this care, so great an abundance of grain was produced that he both sent some to Rome and collected some at Catina, whence it could be supplied to the army which was to spend the summer at Tarentum.