§3.14.1hoc iudicium et promulgata lex exercuit civitatem; ab externis armis otium fuit.
This trial and the proposed law kept the state in a state of agitation; there was peace from foreign wars.
§3.14.2cum velut victores tribuni perculsis patribus Caesonis exilio prope perlatam esse crederent legem et, quod ad seniores patrum pertineret, cessissent possessione rei publicae, iuniores, id maxime quod Caesonis sodalicium fruit, §3.14.3auxere iras in plebem, non minuerunt animos; sed ibi plurimum profectum est, quod modo quodam temperavere impetus suos.
While the tribunes, like victors, believing that because of the blow dealt to the patricians by Caeso's exile the law was as good as passed, and, as far as the older patricians were concerned, had retired from the possession of public affairs, the younger men, and especially those who had been Caeso's companions, increased their wrath against the plebs, but did not lose their spirit; yet in this they made the greatest progress, that they tempered their impulses in a certain measure.
§3.14.4cum primo post Caesonis exilium lex coepta ferri est, instructi paratique cum ingenti clientium exercitu sic tribunos, ubi primum submoventes praebuere causam, adorti sunt, ut nemo unus inde praecipuum quicquam gloriae domum invidiaeve ferret, mille pro uno Caesones extitisse plebes quereretur.
When for the first time after Caeso's exile the law began to be proposed, drawn up and prepared with a huge force of clients, they attacked the tribunes, as soon as their clearing of the crowd gave cause for conflict, in such a way that no single individual carried home from there any special share of glory or hatred, while the plebeians complained that a thousand Caesos had arisen in place of one.
mediis diebus, §3.14.5quibus tribuni de lege non agerent, nihil eisdem illis placidius aut quietius erat: benigne salutare, adloqui plebis homines, domum invitare, adesse in foro, tribunos ipsos cetera pati sine interpellatione concilia habere, numquam ulli neque publice neque privatim truces esse, nisi cum de lege agi coeptum esset; §3.14.6alibi popularis iuventus erat.
On the intermediate days, on which the tribunes did not bring up the law, nothing was more peaceful or quiet than those very men: they would greet people cordially, converse with the common folk, invite them to their homes, attend them in the forum, allow the tribunes themselves to hold their assemblies without any interruption in other matters, and were never harsh to anyone either publicly or privately, except when the discussion about the law had begun; elsewhere they were a youth friendly to the people.
nec cetera modo tribuni tranquillo peregere, sed refecti quoque in insequentem annum.
And not only did the tribunes conduct their other affairs in tranquility, but they were also re-elected for the following year.
ne voce quidem incommodi, nedum ut ulla vis fieret, paulatim permulcendo tractandoque mansuefecerant plebem.
Without even a word of offense, much less any violence, they had gradually, by soothing and handling them gently, tamed the plebeians.
his per totum annum artibus lex elusa est.
By these arts throughout the whole year the law was eluded.