§4.12.1pax domi forisque fuit et hoc et insequente anno C. Furio Pacilo et M. Papirio Crasso consulibus.
There was peace at home and abroad both in this year and in the following year, when Gaius Furius Pacilus and Marcus Papirius Crassus were consuls.
§4.12.2ludi ab decemviris per secessionem plebis a patribus ex senatus consulto voti eo anno facti sunt.
The games, which had been vowed by a decree of the senate during the secession of the plebeians from the patricians, were celebrated in that year by the decemvirs.
§4.12.3causa seditionum nequiquam a Poetelio quaesita, qui tribunus plebis iterum ea ipsa denuntiando factus neque, §4.12.4ut de agris dividendis plebi referrent consules ad senatum, pervincere potuit, et, cum magno certamine obtinuisset, ut consulerentur patres, consulum an tribunorum placeret comitia haberi, consules creari iussi sunt; §4.12.5ludibrioque erant minae tribuni denuntiantis se dilectum inpediturum, cum quietis finitumis neque bello neque belli apparatu opus esset.
A cause for seditions was sought in vain by Poetelius, who, having been made tribune of the plebeians for a second time by threatening this very thing, was neither able to prevail upon the consuls to refer the matter of dividing lands to the plebeians to the senate, nor, although he had obtained after a great struggle that the fathers should be consulted as to whether it pleased them that the elections for consuls or for tribunes should be held, could prevent consuls from being ordered to be elected; and the threats of the tribune, warning that he would obstruct the enlistment, were an object of derision, since, with the neighbors quiet, there was need of neither war nor preparation for war.
§4.12.6sequitur hanc tranquillitatem rerum annus Proculo Geganio Macerino, L. Menenio Lanato consulibus multiplici clade ac periculo insignis, seditionibus, fame, regno prope per largitionis dulcedinem in cervices accepto; §4.12.7unum afuit bellum externum; quo si adgravatae res essent, vix ope deorum omnium sisti potuisset.
This tranquility of affairs was followed by the year of the consulship of Proculus Geganius Macerinus and Lucius Menenius Lanatus, a year distinguished by manifold disaster and danger, by seditions, by famine, and by a kingship almost accepted upon their necks through the sweetness of largess; only a foreign war was lacking; if affairs had been aggravated by this, they could scarcely have been stayed even by the help of all the gods.
coepere a fame mala, seu adversus annus frugibus fuit, seu dulcedine contionum et urbis deserto agrorum cultu; §4.12.8nam utrumque traditur.
The evils began with a famine, whether the year was unfavorable to the crops, or the cultivation of the fields was abandoned because of the sweetness of harangues and of the city; for both versions are handed down.
et patres plebem desidem et tribuni plebis nunc fraudem nunc neglegentiam consulum accusabant.
Both the fathers accused the idle plebeians, and the tribunes of the plebeians accused now the treachery, now the negligence of the consuls.
postremo perpulere plebem haud adversante senatu, ut L. Minucius praefectus annonae crearetur felicior in eo magistratu ad custodiam libertatis futurus quam ad curationem ministerii sui, quamquam postremo annonae quoque levatae haud immeritam et gratiam et gloriam tulit.
Finally, they persuaded the plebeians, with the senate not opposing, that Lucius Minucius should be appointed prefect of the grain supply, who was destined to be more fortunate in that magistracy for the custody of liberty than for the administration of his own duty, although in the end, by the relief of the grain supply, he also bore away a well-deserved gratitude and glory.
§4.12.9qui cum multis circa finitimos populos legationibus terra marique nequiquam missis, nisi quod ex Etruria haud ita multum frumenti advectum est, nullum momentum annonae fecisset et revolutus ad dispensationem inopiae, §4.12.10profiteri cogendo frumentum et vendere, quod usui menstruo superesset, fraudandoque parte diurni cibi servitia, criminando inde et obiciendo irae populi frumentarios, acerba inquisitione aperiret magis quam levaret inopiam, §4.12.11multi ex plebe spe amissa, potius quam ut cruciarentur trahendo animam, capitibus obvolutis se in Tiberim praecipitaverunt.
Who, when he had in vain sent many embassies around the neighboring peoples by land and sea, except that a not very large amount of grain was imported from Etruria, had made no impact on the grain market, and having returned to the distribution of the scarcity, by forcing people to declare their grain and to sell what exceeded a monthly supply, and by defrauding the slaves of a portion of their daily food, and then by accusing the grain dealers and exposing them to the anger of the people, rather disclosed than alleviated the scarcity by his bitter inquisition, many of the plebeians, having lost hope, rather than be tortured by dragging out their lives, covered their heads and cast themselves into the Tiber.