§3.57.1Contra ea Verginius unum Ap. Claudium et legum expertem et civilis et humani foederis esse aiebat.
response to this, Verginius declared that Appius Claudius alone was exempt from the laws and from any civil or human covenant.
respicerent tribunal homines, §3.57.2castellum omnium scelerum, ubi decemvir ille perpetuus bonis, tergo, sanguini civium infestus, virgas securesque omnibus minitans, deorum hominumque contemptor, §3.57.3carnificibus, non lictoribus stipatus, iam ab rapinis et caedibus animo ad libidinem verso virginem ingenuam in oculis populi Romani velut bello captam ab complexu patris abreptam ministro cubiculi sui clienti dono dederit; §3.57.4ubi crudeli decreto nefandisque vindiciis dextram patris in filiam armaverit; ubi tollentis corpus semianime virginis sponsum avumque in carcerem duci iusserit, stupro interpellato magis quam caede motus.
Let men look back, he said, at the tribunal, fortress of all crimes, where that perpetual decemvir, hostile to the property, the backs, and the blood of the citizens, threatening everyone with rods and axes, a despiser of both gods and men, by executioners rather than lictors, having already turned his mind from robbery and slaughter to lust, snatched a freeborn maiden from her father's embrace in the sight of the Roman people, like a captive in war, and gave her as a gift to his client, the attendant of his bedchamber; by a cruel decree and impious interim possession he armed the right hand of a father against his daughter; where he ordered the betrothed and the grandfather, as they lifted the half-dead body of the maiden, to be led to prison, moved more by his interrupted lust than by the slaughter.
et illi carcerem aedificatum esse, quod domicilium plebis Romanae vocare sit solitus. §3.57.5proinde ut ille iterum ac saepius provocet, sic se iterum ac saepius iudicem illi ferre, ni vindicias ab libertate in servitutem dederit; si ad iudicem non eat, pro damnato in vincla duci iubere. §3.57.6ut haud quoquam inprobante sic magno motu animorum, cum tanti viri supplicio suamet plebi iam nimia libertas videretur, in carcerem est coniectus.
And for that man, he said, the prison had been built, which he was accustomed to call the dwelling of the Roman plebs., just as that man might appeal again and again, so he again and again offered him a judge, unless he had granted interim possession from liberty to slavery; if he would not go before a judge, he ordered him to be led to prison as one already condemned. no one indeed disapproved, yet with a great commotion of minds, since by the punishment of so great a man their own liberty already seemed even to the plebs to be excessive, he was cast into prison.
tribunus ei diem prodixit.
The tribune adjourned his day of trial.
inter haec ab Latinis §3.57.7et Hernicis legati gratulatum de concordia patrum ac plebis Romam venerunt donumque ob eam Iovi optumo maximo coronam auream in Capitolium tulere parvi ponderis, prout res haud opulentae erant colebanturque religiones pie magis quam magnifice. §3.57.8iisdem auctoribus cognitum est Aequos Volscosque summa vi bellum apparare. §3.57.9itaque partiri provincias consules iussi.
Meanwhile, from the Latins the Hernici, envoys came to Rome to congratulate on the harmony of the patricians and the plebs, and brought as a gift for this reason a golden crown of small weight to Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitol, in proportion as their circumstances were not wealthy, and their religious duties were observed with piety rather than magnificence. these same informants it was learned that the Aequi and Volsci were preparing war with the greatest force., the consuls were ordered to divide the provinces.
Horatio Sabini, Valerio Aequi evenere.
The Sabines fell to Horatius, the Aequi to Valerius.
cum ad ea bella dilectum edixissent, favore plebis non iuniores modo, sed emeritis etiam stipendiis pars magna voluntariorum ad nomina danda praesto fuere, eoque non copia modo, sed genere etiam militum, veteranis admixtis, firmior exercitus fuit.
When they had proclaimed a levy for those wars, through the favor of the plebs, not only the younger men but also a large part of volunteers who had served their time were at hand to give their names; and for this reason the army was stronger, not only in numbers but also in the quality of the soldiers, with veterans being mixed in.
priusquam urbe egrederentur, §3.57.10leges decemvirales, quibus tabulis duodecim est nomen, in aes incisas in publico proposuerunt.
Before they departed from the city, set up in public the decemviral laws, which are named the Twelve Tables, engraved on bronze.
sunt, qui iussu tribunorum aediles functos eo ministerio scribant.
There are those who write that the aediles performed this service by order of the tribunes.