§4.2.1eodem tempore et consules senatum in tribunum et tribunus populum in consules incitabat.
At the same time, the consuls were inciting the senate against the tribune, and the tribune was inciting the people against the consuls.
negabant consules iam ultra ferri posse furores tribunicios; ventum iam ad finem esse; domi plus belli concitari quam foris.
The consuls asserted that the tribunician madnesses could no longer be endured; that they had now reached the limit; that more war was being stirred up at home than abroad.
id adeo non plebis quam patrum neque tribunorum magis quam consulum culpa accidere.
And this was happening not so much through the fault of the plebs as of the patricians, nor more through that of the tribunes than of the consuls.
cuius rei praemium sit in civitate, §4.2.2eam maxumis semper auctibus crescere; sic pace bonos, sic bello fieri.
For whatever activity there is a reward in the state, that activity always grows with the greatest increases; that is how men become good in peace, and how they become so in war.
§4.2.3maximum Romae praemium seditionum esse; ideo singulis universisque semper honori fuisse.
In Rome, the greatest reward is for seditions; therefore, they have always been an honor to individuals and to all collectively.
§4.2.4reminiscerentur, quam maiestatem senatus ipsi a patribus accepissent, quam liberis tradituri essent, et quem ad modum plebs gloriari posset auctiorem amplioremque se esse.
They should remember what majesty of the senate they themselves had received from their fathers, what majesty they were about to hand down to their children, and how the plebs could boast that they were stronger and greater.
finem ergo non fieri nec futuram, donec, quam felices seditiones, tam honorati seditionum auctores essent.
Therefore, there was no end being made, nor would there be, as long as the instigators of seditions were as honored as the seditions were successful.
§4.2.5quas quantasque res C. Canuleium adgressum.
What great and numerous things Gaius Canuleius had attempted!
conluuionem gentium, perturbationem auspiciorum publicorum privatorumque adferre, ne quid sinceri, ne quid incontaminati sit, ut discrimine omni sublato nec se quisquam nec suos noverit.
He was bringing about a mixture of the gentes, a disturbance of the public and private auspices, so that nothing pure, nothing uncontaminated would remain, and that, with all distinction removed, no one would know himself or his own kin.
§4.2.6quam enim aliam vim conubia promiscua habere, nisi ut ferarum prope ritu vulgentur concubitus plebis patrumque? ut qui natus sit ignoret, cuius sanguinis, quorum sacrorum sit;
For what other force did promiscuous marriages have, except that the couplings of the plebs and the patricians should be made common almost after the fashion of wild beasts?
dimidius patrum sit, dimidius plebis, ne secum quidem ipse concors.
So that one who was born would not know of whose blood or of whose sacred rites he was; he would be half-patrician, half-plebeian, not even at peace with himself.
§4.2.7parum id videri, quod omnia divina humanaque turbentur; iam ad consulatum vulgi turbatores accingi.
It seemed too little to them that all things divine and human were being thrown into confusion; now the disturbers of the common people were girding themselves for the consulship.
et primo, ut alter consul ex plebe fieret, id modo sermonibus temptasse; nunc rogari, ut, seu ex patribus seu ex plebe velit, populus consules creet.
At first, they had only sounded this out in conversations, that one consul should be made from the plebs; now a bill was proposed that the people should elect consuls whether they wished from the patricians or from the plebs.
et creaturos haud dubie ex plebe seditiosissimum quemque: Canuleios igitur Iciliosque consules fore.
And they would undoubtedly elect the most seditious from the plebs: therefore, the Canuleii and the Icilii would be consuls.
§4.2.8ne id Iuppiter optimus maximus sineret, regiae maiestatis imperium eo recidere; et se miliens morituros potius, quam ut tantum dedecoris admitti patiantur.
May Jupiter Optimus Maximus prevent this, that the power of royal majesty should fall so low; and they themselves would die a thousand times rather than suffer such a disgrace to be admitted.
§4.2.9certum habere, maiores quoque, si divinassent concedendo omnia non mitiorem in se plebem, sed asperiorem alia aliis iniquiora postulando, cum prima impetrasset, futuram, primo quamlibet dimicationem subituros fuisse potius, quam eas leges sibi inponi paterentur.
They held it certain that their ancestors also, if they had foreseen that by conceding everything the plebs would not become milder toward them but more harsh, by demanding other more unjust things when they had obtained the first, would have undergone any conflict at the beginning rather than allow such laws to be imposed upon them.
§4.2.10quia tum concessum sit de tribunis, iterum concessum esse; finem non fieri.
Because it was conceded then concerning the tribunes, it was conceded a second time; there was no end.
non posse in eadem civitate tribunos plebis §4.2.11et patres esse; aut hunc ordinem aut illum magistratum tollendum esse, potiusque sero quam numquam obviam eundum audaciae temeritatique.
It was impossible for the tribunes of the plebs and the patricians to exist in the same state; either this order or that magistracy must be abolished, and it was better to face their audacity and rashness late than never.
§4.2.12illine ut impune primo discordias serentes concitent finitima bella, deinde adversus ea, quae concitaverint, armari civitatem defendique prohibeant, et cium hostes tantum non arcessierint, exercitus conscribi adversus hostes non patiantur, §4.2.13sed audeat Canuleius in senatu proloqui se, nisi suas leges tamquam victoris patres accipi sinant, dilectum haberi prohibiturum? quid esse aliud quam minari se proditurum patriam, oppugnari atque capi passurum? quid eam vocem animorum non plebi Romanae, sed Volscis et Aequis et Veientibus allaturam?
Should those men, with impunity, first stir up neighboring wars by sowing discords, then forbid the state to be armed and defended against those wars which they themselves had stirred up, and, when they had all but summoned the enemy, not suffer an army to be enrolled against the enemy, but should Canuleius dare to declare in the senate that, unless the patricians allowed his laws to be accepted as if from a victor, he would forbid a levy to be held? What else was this but to threaten that he would betray his country, and suffer it to be attacked and captured? What courage would that voice bring, not to the Roman plebs, but to the Volscians, the Aequians, and the Veientes?
§4.2.14nonne Canuleio duce se speraturos Capitolium atque arcem scandere posse? nisi patribus tribuni cum iure ac maiestate adempta animos etiam eripuerint, consules paratos esse duces prius adversus scelus civium quam adversus hostium arma.
Would they not hope, with Canuleius as their leader, to be able to climb the Capitol and the citadel? Unless the tribunes, along with the right and majesty they had snatched away, had also robbed the patricians of their courage, the consuls were ready to be leaders against the crime of the citizens before they were against the weapons of the enemy.