§4.35.1insequens annus tribunos militares consulari potestate habuit A. Sempronium Atratinum, L. Quinctium Cincinnatum, L. Furium Medullinum, L. Horatium Barbatum.
The following year had military tribunes with consular power: Aulus Sempronius Atratinus, Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, Lucius Furius Medullinus, and Lucius Horatius Barbatus.
§4.35.2Veientibus annorum viginti indutiae datae et Aequis triennii, cum plurium annorum petissent; et ab seditionibus urbanis otium fuit.
A truce of twenty years was granted to the Veientes, and one of three years to the Aequi, although they had requested more years; and there was peace from urban seditions.
§4.35.3annum insequentem neque bello foris neque domi seditione insignem ludi bello voti celebrem et tribunorum militum apparatu et finitimorum concursu fecere.
The following year, distinguished neither by war abroad nor by sedition at home, was made famous by the games vowed during the war, thanks to both the preparation of the military tribunes and the gathering of the neighboring peoples.
§4.35.4tribuni consulari potestate erant Ap. Claudius Crassus, Sp. Nautius Rutilus, L. Sergius Fidenas, Sex. Iulius Iulus.
The military tribunes with consular power were Appius Claudius Crassus, Spurius Nautius Rutilus, Lucius Sergius Fidenas, and Sextus Iulius Iulus.
spectaculum comitate etiam hospitum, ad quam publice consenserant, advenis gratius fuit.
The spectacle was more pleasing to the visitors due to the hospitality of the hosts, on which they had publicly agreed.
§4.35.5post ludos contiones seditiosae tribunorum plebi fuerunt obiurgantium multitudinem, quod admiratione eorum, quos odisset, stupens in aeterno se ipsa teneret servitio §4.35.6et non modo ad spem consulatus in partem revocandi aspirare non auderet, sed ne in tribunis quidem militum creandis, quae communia essent comitia patrum ac plebis, aut sui aut suorum meminisset.
After the games, there were seditious assemblies of the tribunes of the plebs, who upbraided the multitude because, stunned with admiration for those whom they hated, they kept themselves in eternal servitude, and not only did they not dare to aspire to the hope of recalling the consulship to their share, but even in electing military tribunes, which was an assembly common to the patricians and the plebs, they remembered neither themselves nor their own.
desineret ergo mirari, §4.35.7cur nemo de commodis plebis ageret; eo inpendi laborem ac periculum, unde emolumentum atque honos speretur; nihil non adgressuros homines, si magna conatis magna praemia proponantur; §4.35.8ut quidem aliquis tribunus plebis ruat caecus in certamina periculo ingenti, fructu nullo, ex quibus pro certo habeat patres, adversus quos tetenderit, bello inexpiabili se persecuturos, apud plebem, pro qua dimicaverit, nihilo se honoratiorem fore, neque sperandum neque postulandum esse.
Let them therefore cease to wonder why no one acted for the interests of the plebs; labor and danger were expended there from where reward and honor were hoped for; there was nothing men would not attempt if great rewards were offered to those who undertook great things; that indeed any tribune of the plebs should rush blindly into struggles with immense danger and no fruit, from which he should hold for certain that the patricians, against whom he had contended, would pursue him with inexpiable war, while among the plebs, for whom he had fought, he would be not a whit more honored, was neither to be hoped for nor demanded.
§4.35.9magnos animos magnis honoribus fieri.
Great minds were made by great honors.
neminem se plebeium contempturum, ubi contemni desissent.
No one would despise them as plebeians when they ceased to be despised.
experiundam rem denique in uno aut altero esse, sitne aliqui plebeius ferendo magno honori, an portento simile miraculoque sit fortem ac strenuum virum aliquem existere ortum ex plebe. summa vi expugnatum esse,
Finally, the matter ought to be tried in one or two, whether there was any plebeian capable of bearing great honor, or whether it was like a portent and a miracle that any brave and energetic man existed who was born of the plebs.
§4.35.10ut tribuni militum consulari potestate et ex plebe crearentur.
It had been won with the greatest force that military tribunes with consular power might be elected even from the plebs.
petisse viros domi militiaeque spectatos; primis annis suggillatos, repulsos, risui patribus fuisse; desisse postremo praebere ad contumeliam os.
Men esteemed at home and in war had sought the office; in the first years they had been insulted, rejected, and became a laughing-stock to the patricians; at last they ceased to offer their faces to insult.
§4.35.11nec se videre, cur non lex quoque abrogetur, qua id liceat, quod numquam futurum sit; minorem quippe ruborem fore in iuris iniquitate, quam si per indignitatem ipsorum praetereantur.
Nor did they see why the law should not also be repealed by which that was permitted which would never happen; for there would indeed be less shame in the injustice of the law than if they were passed over through their own unworthiness.