§4.24.1ea res aliquanto expectatione omnium tranquillior fuit.
This matter turned out to be somewhat more peaceful than everyone had expected.
§4.24.2itaque cum renuntiatum a mercatoribus esset negata Veientibus auxilia iussosque suo consilio bellum initum suis viribus exequi nec adversarum rerum quaerere socios, cum quibus spem integram communicare noluerint, §4.24.3sint dictator, ne nequiquam creatus esset, materia quaerendae bello gloriae adempta in pace aliquid operis edere, quod monumentum esset dictaturae, cupiens censuram minuere parat seu nimiam potestatem ratus seu non tam magnitudine honoris quam diuturnitate offensus.
Therefore, when it was reported by merchants that aid had been denied to the Veientes and that they had been ordered to carry through with their own resources the war begun by their own counsel, and not to seek allies in adversity with whom they had been unwilling to share their prospects when intact, at that time, the dictator, lest he should have been appointed in vain, since the opportunity of seeking glory in war had been taken away, wishing to produce some work in peace which might be a monument to his dictatorship, prepared to limit the censorship, whether he thought its power excessive or was offended not so much by the greatness of the honor as by its long duration.
§4.24.4contione itaque advocata rem publicam foris gerendam ait tutaque omnia praestanda deos inmortales suscepisse; se, quod intra muros agendum esset, libertati populi Romani consulturum.
Therefore, having called an assembly, he declared that the immortal gods had undertaken the conduct of public affairs abroad and the guaranteeing of general safety; as for what was to be done within the walls, he himself would consult the liberty of the Roman people.
maximam autem eius custodiam esse, si magna imperia diuturna non essent et temporis. modus inponeretur, quibus iuris inponi non posset.
Moreover, the greatest safeguard of this liberty was that great powers should not be long-lasting, and that a limit of time should be imposed on those on whom a limit of law could not be imposed.
alios magistratus annuos esse, quinquennalem censuram.
Other magistracies were annual, but the censorship was quinquennial.
§4.24.5grave esse iisdem per tot annos, magnam partem vitae, obnoxios vivere.
It was a heavy thing to live in subjection to the same men for so many years, a great part of one's life.
se legem laturum, ne plus quam annua ac semenstris censura esset.
He declared that he would propose a law that the censorship should not last for more than a year and six months.
§4.24.6consensu ingenti populi legem postero die pertulit et “ut re ipsa” inquit “sciatis, Quirites, quam mihi diuturna non placeant imperia, dictatura me abdico. ” deposito suo magistratu, §4.24.7inposito fine alteri cum gratulatione ac favore ingenti populi domum est reductus.
With the immense consensus of the people, he passed the law the following day, and said: "So that you may know by the fact itself, Quirites, how little long-lasting powers please me, I abdicate my dictatorship." Having laid down his office, having imposed a limit on the other office, he was escorted home with the immense congratulation and favor of the people.
censores aegre passi Mamercum, quod magistratum populi Romani minuisset, tribu moverunt octiplicatoque censu aerarium fecerunt.
But the censors, taking it ill that Mamercus had diminished an office of the Roman people, removed him from his tribe and made him a treasury-taxpayer by multiplying his assessment eightfold.
§4.24.8quam rem ipsum ingenti animo tulisse ferunt causam potius ignominiae intuentem quam ignominiam; primores patrum, quamquam deminutum censurae ius noluissent, exemplo acerbitatis censoriae offensos, quippe cum se quisque diutius ac saepius subiectum censoribus fore cerneret quam censuram gesturum;
They say that he himself bore this matter with a great mind, looking at the cause of the ignominy rather than at the ignominy itself; while the leading patricians, although they had not wished the power of the censorship to be diminished, were offended by the example of censorial severity, since each saw that he would be subject to the censors longer and more often than he would hold the censorship.
§4.24.9populi certe tanta indignatio coorta dicitur, ut via a censoribus nullius auctoritate praeterquam ipsius Mamerci deterreri quiverit.
Indeed, so great an indignation is said to have arisen among the people that they could be deterred from violence against the censors by the authority of no one except Mamercus himself.