§3.52.1per M. Duillium, qui tribunus plebis fuerat, certior facta plebs contentionibus adsiduis nihil transigi, in Sacrum montem ex Aventino transit adfirmante Duillio non prius, §3.52.2quam deseri urbem videant, curam in animos patrum descensuram; admoniturum Sacrum montem constantiae plebis, sciturosque sine restituta potestate tribunicia redigi in concordiam resne queant.
Having been informed through Marcus Duillius, who had been a tribune of the plebs, that nothing was being settled because of the constant contentions, the plebeians moved from the Aventine to the Sacred Mount, Duillius asserting that not before they should see the city deserted would anxiety descend into the minds of the patricians; that the Sacred Mount would remind them of the constancy of the plebs, and they would know whether affairs could be restored to harmony without the restoration of the tribunician power.
via Nomentana, §3.52.3cui tum Ficulensi nomen fuit, profecti castra in monte Sacro locavere modestiam patrum suorum nihil violando imitati.
Setting out by the Nomentan Way, which was then called the Ficulensian Way, they pitched their camp on the Sacred Mount, imitating the moderation of their ancestors by doing no violence.
secuta exercitum plebs nullo, qui per aetatem ire posset, retractante. §3.52.4prosecuntur coniuges liberique, cuinam se relinquerent in ea urbe, in qua nec pudicitia nec libertas sancta esset, miserabiliter rogitantes.
The plebeians followed the army, with no one refusing who was able to go by reason of age. Wives and children followed, pitifully asking to whom they were leaving them in that city in which neither chastity nor liberty was sacred.
cum vasta Romae omnia insueta solitudo fecisset, §3.52.5in foro praeter paucos seniorum nemo esset, vocatis utique in senatum patribus desertum apparuisset forum, plures iam quam Horatius ac Valerius vociferabantur: “quid exspectabitis, patres conscripti?
When the unusual solitude had made everything desolate in Rome, and when there was no one in the forum except a few of the elders, and the forum appeared deserted when the patricians were summoned to the senate-house, more now than Horatius and Valerius began to cry out: "What will you wait for, conscript fathers? If the decemvirs make no end to their obstinacy, will you allow everything to fall into ruin and be consumed by fire?
§3.52.6si decemviri finem pertinaciae non faciunt, ruere ac deflagrare omnia passuri estis? quod autem istud imperium est, decemviri, quod amplexi tenetis? §3.52.7tectis ac parietibus iura dicturi estis? non pudet lictorum vestrorum maiorem prope numerum in foro conspici quam togatorum aliorum? quid, si hostes ad urbem veniant, facturi estis? quid, si plebs mox, ubi parum secessione moveamur, armata veniat? §3.52.8occasune urbis vultis finire imperium? atqui aut plebs non est habenda, aut habendi sunt tribuni plebis.
What, moreover, is that power of yours, decemvirs, which you cling to and hold fast? Are you going to administer justice to roofs and walls? Are you not ashamed that a larger number of your lictors is seen in the forum than of other citizens in togas? What will you do if the enemy should come to the city? What if the plebs should soon come armed, when we are little moved by their secession? Do you wish to end your power with the fall of the city? And yet, either we must do without the plebs, or we must have the tribunes of the plebs.
nos citius caruerimus patriciis magistratibus quam illi plebeis. §3.52.9novam inexpertamque eam potestatem eripuere patribus nostris; nedum hac dulcedine semel capti ferant desiderium, cum praesertim nec nos temperemus imperiis, quo minus illi auxilii egeant?” §3.52.10cum haec ex omni parte iactarentur, victi consensu decemviri futuros se, quando ita videatur, in potestate patrum adfirmant. §3.52.11id modo simul orant ac monent, ut ipsis ab invidia caveatur nec suo sanguine ad supplicia patrum plebem adsuefaciant.
We shall sooner do without our patrician magistrates than they without theirs of the plebs. They snatched away that power, then new and untried, from our fathers; much less, once captivated by its sweetness, will they bear the loss of it, especially since we do not moderate our rule, so as to make them stand less in need of help." When these complaints were being thrown out from all sides, the decemvirs, overcome by the consensus, declared that, since it seemed best, they would be subject to the authority of the patricians. They only begged and warned at the same time that they themselves should be protected from unpopularity, and that they should not accustom the plebs to shedding the blood of the patricians in punishment.