§33.46.1iudicum ordo Carthagine ea tempestate dominabatur, eo maxime, quod iidem perpetui iudices erant.
The order of judges ruled at Carthage at that time, chiefly because the same men were judges for life.
§33.46.2res, fama vitaque omnium in illorum potestate erat.
The property, reputation, and life of everyone were in their power.
qui unum eius ordinis offendisset, omnis adversos habebat, nec accusator apud infensos iudices deerat.
Whoever had offended one member of that order had them all as enemies, nor was an accuser ever lacking before hostile judges.
§33.46.3horum in tam inpotenti regno — neque enim civiliter nimiis opibus utebantur — praetor factus Hannibal vocari ad se quaestorem iussit.
Under their so absolute power—for they did not use their excessive wealth in a manner becoming citizens—Hannibal, having been made praetor, ordered the quaestor to be summoned before him.
§33.46.4quaestor id pro nihilo habuit; nam et adversae factionis erat et, quia ex quaestura in iudices, potentissimum ordinem, referebatur, iam pro futuris mox opibus animos gerebat.
The quaestor treated this with contempt; for he was of the opposite faction, and because he was to be promoted from the quaestorship to the judges, the most powerful order, he was already assuming an arrogant attitude in view of his soon-to-be future power.
§33.46.5enimvero indignum id ratus Hannibal viatorem ad prendendum quaestorem misit subductumque in contionem non ipsum magis quam ordinem iudicum, prae quorum superbia atque opibus nec leges quicquam essent nec magistratus, §33.46.6accusavit.
But Hannibal, regarding this as an indignity, sent a messenger to arrest the quaestor, and having brought him into the assembly, accused not so much him as the order of judges, in comparison with whose pride and power neither laws nor magistrates were of any account.
et ut secundis auribus accipi orationem animadvertit et infimorum quoque libertati gravem esse superbiam eorum, legem extemplo promulgavit pertulitque, §33.46.7ut in singulos annos iudices legerentur, neu quis biennium continuum iudex esset.
And when he observed that his speech was received with favorable ears, and that their pride was heavy also to the liberty of the lowest classes, he immediately proposed and carried a law, that the judges should be chosen for single years, and that no one should be a judge for two consecutive years.
ceterum quantam eo facto ad plebem inierat gratiam, tantum magnae partis principum offenderat animos.
However, by as much favor as he had won with the common people by that act, by so much did he offend the minds of a large part of the leading men.
§33.46.8adiecit et aliud, quo bono publico sibi proprias simultates irritavit.
He added also another measure, by which, to the public benefit, he stirred up personal animosities against himself.
§33.46.9vectigalia publica partim neglegentia dilabebantur, partim praedae ac divisui et principum quibusdam et magistratibus erant, et pecunia, quae in stipendium Romanis suo quoque anno penderetur, deerat, tributumque grave privatis inminere videbatur.
The public revenues were partly slipping away through neglect, partly became the prey and division of certain leading men and magistrates, and the money which was to be paid to the Romans for their tribute in each successive year was lacking, and a heavy tax seemed to hang over private citizens.