§4.54.1creati consules sunt Cn. Cornelius Cossus, L. Furius Medullinus iterum.
Gnaeus Cornelius Cossus and Lucius Furius Medullinus, for the second time, were elected consuls.
§4.54.2non alias aegrius plebs tulit tribunicia comitia sibi non commissa.
At no other time did the plebs bear it more bitterly that the comitia for military tribunes had not been held for them.
eum dolorem quaestoriis comitiis simul ostendit et ulta est tunc primum plebeis quaestoribus creatis, §4.54.3ita ut in quattuor creandis uni patricio K. Fabio Ambusto relinqueretur locus, tres plebei Q. Silius, P. Aelius, P. Pupius clarissimarum familiarum iuvenibus praeferrentur.
They displayed this resentment at the quaestorian elections and at the same time avenged it, then for the first time by plebeians being elected as quaestors, so that in electing four, a place was left for only one patrician, Kaeso Fabius Ambustus, while three plebeians, Quintus Silius, Publius Aelius, and Publius Pupius, were preferred to young men of the most illustrious families.
§4.54.4auctores fuisse tam liberi populo suffragii Icilios accipio, ex familia infestissima patribus tres in eum annum tribunos plebis creatos, multarum magnarumque rerum molem avidissimo ad ea populo ostentantes, cum adfirmassent nihil se moturos, §4.54.5si ne quaestoriis quidem comitiis, quae sola promiscua plebei patribusque reliquisset senatus, satis animi populo esset ad id, quod tam diu vellent et per leges liceret.
I understand that the Icilii were the promoters of so free a vote for the people—three of them, from a family most hostile to the patricians, having been elected tribunes of the plebs for that year, who, while holding out a mass of many great proposals to a populace most eager for them, had declared that they would move nothing, if not even in the quaestorian elections, which alone the senate had left open to both plebeians and patricians, the people had enough courage for that which they had so long desired and which was permitted by the laws.
§4.54.6pro ingenti itaque victoria id fuit plebi, quaesturamque eam non honoris ipsius fine aestimabant, sed patefactus ad consulatum ac triumphos locus novis hominibus videbatur.
Therefore, this was regarded as a huge victory by the plebs, and they did not measure that quaestorship by the limit of the office itself, but the path to the consulship and triumphs seemed now to be opened to new men.
§4.54.7patres contra non pro communicatis, sed pro amissis honoribus fremere; negare, si ea ita sint, liberos tollendos esse, qui pulsi maiorum loco cernentesque alios in possessione dignitatis suae salii flaminesque nusquam alio quam ad sacrificandum pro populo sine imperiis ac potestatibus relinquantur.
The patricians, on the other hand, raged as if offices were not shared but utterly lost; they declared that, if things were so, children should not be reared, since, driven from the position of their ancestors and seeing others in possession of their own dignity, they would be left as Salii and Flamens, for no other purpose than to offer sacrifices on behalf of the people, without military commands or powers.
§4.54.8inritatis utriusque partis animis cum et spiritus plebs sumpsisset et tres ad popularem causam celeberrimi nominis haberet duces, patres omnia quaestoriis comitiis, ubi utrumque plebi liceret, similia fore cernentes tendere ad consulum comitia, quae nondum promiscua essent; §4.54.9Icilii contra tribunos militum creandos dicere et tandem aliquando inpertiendos plebi honores.
The minds of both parties being irritated, while the plebs had taken courage and had three leaders of the most celebrated name for the popular cause, the patricians, seeing that everything would be similar to the quaestorian elections—where both options were open to the plebs—strove for the election of consuls, which was not yet open to both; the Icilii, on the contrary, declared that military tribunes ought to be elected, and that at long last offices should be shared with the plebs.