§4.46.1dilectum haberi non ex toto passim populo placuit; decem tribus sorte ductae sunt.
It was decided that a levy should not be held from the whole people everywhere; ten tribes were drawn by lot.
ex iis scriptos iuniores duo tribuni ad bellum duxere.
From these, the two tribunes led the younger men who had been enlisted to the war.
§4.46.2coepta inter eos in urbe certamina cupiditate eadem imperii multo inpensius in castris accendi; nihil sentire idem, pro sententia pugnare; sua consilia velle, sua imperia sola rata esse;
The disputes which had begun between them in the city were kindled much more fiercely in the camp by the same desire for power; they agreed on nothing, but each fought for his own opinion; they wanted only their own plans and wished only their own commands to be valid.
§4.46.3contemnere in vicem et contemni, donec castigantibus legatis tandem ita comparatum est, ut alternis diebus summam imperii haberent.
They mutually despised and were despised, until at last, under the censures of the lieutenants, it was so arranged that they should hold the supreme command on alternate days.
§4.46.4quae cum adlata Romam essent, dicitur Q. Servilius aetate et usu doctus precatus ab diis inmortalibus, ne discordia tribunorum damnosior rei publicae esset, quam ad Veios fuisset, et velut haud dubia clade inminente institisse filio, ut milites scriberet et arma pararet.
When these tidings were brought to Rome, Quintus Servilius, instructed by age and experience, is said to have prayed to the immortal gods that the discord of the tribunes might not be more damaging to the commonwealth than it had been at Veii, and, as if a certain disaster were imminent, to have urged his son to enlist soldiers and prepare arms.
nec falsus vates fuit.
Nor did he prove a false prophet.
§4.46.5nam ductu L. Sergi, cuius dies imperii erat, loco iniquo sub hostium castris, cum, quia simulato metu receperat se hostis ad vallum, spes vana expugnandi castra eo traxisset, repentino impetu Aequorum per supinam vallem fusi sunt multique in ruina maiore quam fuga oppressi obtruncatique.
For under the leadership of Lucius Sergius, whose day of command it was, in an unfavorable position beneath the enemy's camp, when—because the enemy had retreated to their rampart with feigned fear—a vain hope of storming the camp had drawn them there, they were routed through a sloping valley by a sudden charge of the Aequi, and many were overtaken and slain in a general ruin greater than their flight.
§4.46.6castraque eo die aegre retenta postero die circumfusis iam magna ex parte hostibus per aversam portam fuga turpi deseruntur.
And the camp, which had been held with difficulty on that day, was abandoned on the next day by a shameful flight through the rear gate, since the enemy had already surrounded it for the most part.
duces legatique et quod circa signa roboris de exercitu fuit Tusculum petiere; §4.46.7palati alii per agros passim multis itineribus maioris, quam accepta erat, cladis nuntii Romam contenderunt.
The generals, the lieutenants, and what strength of the army remained around the standards made for Tusculum; others, scattered through the fields by many different routes, hastened to Rome as messengers of a disaster greater than had actually been sustained.
§4.46.8minus trepidationis fuit, quod eventus timori hominum congruens fuerat et quod subsidia, quae respicerent in re trepida, praeparata erant ab tribuno militum.
There was less panic because the event had agreed with the fears of the people, and because reserves, to which they might look in a state of alarm, had been prepared by the military tribune.
§4.46.9iussuque eiusdem per minores magistratus sedato in urbe tumultu speculatores propere missi nuntiavere Tusculi duces exercitumque esse, hostem castra loco non movisse.
And when the tumult in the city had been quieted through the minor magistrates by the order of the same tribune, scouts who had been hastily sent out reported that the generals and the army were at Tusculum, and that the enemy had not moved their camp from its position.
§4.46.10et, quod plurimum animorum fecit, dictator ex senatus consulto dictus Q. Servilius Priscus, vir, cuius providentiam in republica cum multis aliis tempestatibus ante experta civitas erat tum eventu eius belli, quod uni certamen tribunorum suspectum ante rem male gestam fuerat.
And, what gave the greatest encouragement, Quintus Servilius Priscus was named dictator by a decree of the senate, a man whose foresight in the state had been experienced by the citizens on many other stormy occasions before, and was now experienced by the outcome of this war; for he alone had suspected the dispute of the tribunes before the defeat occurred.
§4.46.11magistro equitum creato, a quo ipse tribuno militum dictator erat dictus, filio suo — ut tradidere quidam; nam alii Ahalam Servilium magistrum equitum eo anno fuisse scribunt — §4.46.12novo exercitu profectus ad bellum accitis, qui Tusculi erant, duo milia passuum ab hoste locum castris cepit.
He appointed as master of the horse his own son, the military tribune by whom he himself had been named dictator—as some have recorded; for others write that Servilius Ahala was master of the horse in that year— Having set out for the war with a new army and having summoned those who were at Tusculum, he took up a position for his camp two miles from the enemy.