§3.19.1pace parta instare tum tribuni patribus, ut, P. Valeri fidem exsolverent, instare C. Claudio, ut collegae manes fraude liberaret, agi de lege sineret.
Once peace was secured, the tribunes then pressed the patricians to fulfill the promise of Publius Valerius, and they pressed Gaius Claudius to free his colleague's departed soul from betrayal and allow the law to be brought forward.
consul, antequam collegam sibi subrogasset, negare passurum agi de lege.
The consul refused to allow the law to be discussed before he had chosen a colleague to replace him.
§3.19.2hae tenuere contentiones usque ad comitia consulis subrogandi.
These contentions lasted until the assembly for electing a substitute consul.
Decembri mense summo patrum studio L. Quinctius Cincinnatus, pater Caesonis, consul creatur, qui magistratum statim occiperet.
In the month of December, with the greatest zeal of the patricians, Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, the father of Caeso, was elected consul to enter upon his office immediately.
§3.19.3perculsa erat plebes consulem habitura iratum, potentem favore patrum, virtute sua, tribus liberis, quorum nemo Caesoni cedebat magnitudine animi, consilium et modum adhibendo, ubi res posceret, priores erant.
The plebeians were dismayed at the prospect of having a consul who was angry, powerful through the favor of the patricians, his own merit, and his three children, none of whom yielded to Caeso in greatness of mind, while they were superior in employing wisdom and moderation when the situation required.
§3.19.4is ut magistratum iniit, adsiduis contionibus pro tribunali non in plebe coercenda quam senatu castigando vehementior fruit, cuius ordinis languore perpetui iam tribuni plebis, non ut in re publica populi Romani, sed ut in perdita domo, lingua criminibusque regnarent.
As soon as he entered office, in continuous speeches from the tribunal, he was not more vehement in restraining the plebs than in castigating the senate, through the languor of which order the perpetual tribunes of the plebs now ruled by their tongues and accusations, not as in a republic of the Roman people, but as in a ruined house.
§3.19.5cum Caesone filio suo virtutem, constantiam, omnia iuventutis belli domique decora pulsa ex urbe Romana et fugata esse; loquaces, seditiosos, semina discordiarum, iterum ac tertium tribunos pessimis artibus regia licentia vivere. “Aulus” inquit “ille Verginius,
He asserted that along with his son Caeso, courage, constancy, and all the honors of youth in war and peace had been driven and banished from the Roman city; while talkative, seditious men, the seeds of discord, were living as tribunes for a second and third time with regal license by the worst arts. “Did that Aulus Virginius,” he said, “deserve less punishment than Appius Herdonius because he was not on the Capitol?
§3.19.6quia in Capitolio non fuit, minus supplicii quam Ap. Herdonius meruit? plus hercule aliquanto, qui vere rem aestimare velit.
More, by Hercules, by far, to anyone who wishes to estimate the matter truly.
Herdonius, si nihil aliud, hostem se fatendo prope denuntiavit, ut arma caperetis; hic negando bellum esse arma vobis ademit nudosque servis vestris et exulibus obiecit.
Herdonius, if nothing else, by declaring himself an enemy, virtually warned you to take up arms; this man, by denying that there was a war, took away your weapons and exposed you unprotected to your slaves and exiles.
§3.19.7et vos — C. Claudi pace et P. Valeri mortui loquar — prius in clivum Capitolinum signa intulistis, quam hos hostis de foro tolleretis? pudet deorum hominumque.
And did you — with the leave of Gaius Claudius and the deceased Publius Valerius let me speak — carry your standards up the Capitoline slope before you cleared these enemies from the forum? It is a shame before gods and men.
cum hostes in arce, in Capitolio essent, exulum et servorum dux profanatis omnibus in cella Iovis optimi maximi habitaret, Tusculi ante quam Romae sumpta sunt arma; §3.19.8in dubio fuit, utrum L. Mamilius, Tusculanus dux, an P. Valerius et C. Claudius consules Romanam arcem liberarent; et qui ante Latinos ne pro se quidem ipsis, cum in finibus hostem haberent, attingere arma passi sumus, nunc, nisi Latini sua sponte arma sumpsissent, capti et deleti eramus.
When the enemy was in the citadel, on the Capitol, and the leader of exiles and slaves, having defiled all things, was dwelling in the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, arms were taken up at Tusculum before they were at Rome; it was in doubt whether Lucius Mamilius, the Tusculan leader, or Publius Valerius and Gaius Claudius, the consuls, would liberate the Roman citadel; and we, who formerly did not allow the Latins even to touch arms for their own defense when they had the enemy on their borders, now, unless the Latins had taken up arms of their own accord, would have been captured and destroyed.
§3.19.9hoc est, tribuni, auxilium plebi ferre, inermem eam hosti trucidandam obicere? scilicet, si quis vobis humillimus homo de vestra plebe, quam partem velut abruptam a cetero populo vestram patriam peculiaremque rem publicam fecistis, si quis ex his domum suam obsessam a familia armata nuntiaret, ferendum auxilium putaretis: §3.19.10Iuppiter optimus maximus exulum atque servorum saeptus armis nulla humana ope dignus erat?
Is this, tribunes, bringing aid to the plebs, to expose them unarmed to be slaughtered by the enemy? To be sure, if any humblest man of your plebs, which part you have made your country and peculiar republic as if severed from the rest of the people, if anyone of these should report his house besieged by an armed household of slaves, you would think aid should be brought; was Jupiter Optimus Maximus, hemmed in by the arms of exiles and slaves, worthy of no human help?
§3.19.11et hi postulant, ut sacrosancti habeantur, quibus ipsi dii neque sacri neque sancti sunt? at enim divinis humanisque obruti sceleribus legem vos hoc anno perlaturos dictitatis.
And do these men demand that they be held sacrosanct, to whom the gods themselves are neither sacred nor holy? But indeed, covered as you are with crimes against gods and men, you declare repeatedly that you will pass the law this year.
tum hercule illo die, quo ego consul sum creatus, male gesta res publica est, peius multo, quam cum P. Valerius consul periit, si tuleritis.
Then, by Hercules, on that day when I was elected consul, the republic was badly managed, and much worse than when consul Publius Valerius perished, if you should pass it.
§3.19.12iam primum omnium” inquit, “Quirites, in Volscos et Aequos mihi atque collegae legiones ducere in animo est.
Now, first of all,” he said, “Quirites, it is the intention of myself and my colleague to lead the legions against the Volscians and Aequi.
nescio quo fato magis bellantes quam pacati propitios habemus deos.
By some fate, we find the gods more propitious when we are at war than when we are at peace.
quantum periculum ab illis populis fuerit, si Capitolium ab exulibus obsessum scissent, suspicari de praeterito quam re ipsa experiri est melius. ”
How great the danger from those nations would have been if they had known the Capitol was besieged by exiles, is better to suspect from the past than to experience by actual trial.”