§4.58.1eo anno, quia tempus indutiarum cum Veienti populo exierat, per legatos fetialesque res repeti coeptae.
In that year, because the term of the truce with the Veientine people had expired, demands for redress began to be made through envoys and fetials.
quibus venientibus ad finem legatio Veientium obvia fuit.
As they were approaching the border, an embassy of the Veientines met them.
§4.58.2petiere, ne, priusquam ipsi senatum Romanum adissent, Veios iretur.
They requested that no march should be made to Veii before they themselves had approached the Roman senate.
ab senatu impetratum, quia discordia intestina laborarent Veientes, ne res ab iis repeterentur; tantum afuit, ut ex incommodo alieno sua occasio peteretur.
It was obtained from the senate, because the Veientines were suffering from internal discord, that redress should not be demanded from them; so far was it from their seeking their own opportunity from another's misfortune.
§4.58.3at in Volscis accepta clades amisso Verrugine praesidio; ubi tantum in tempore fuit momenti, ut, cum precantibus opem militibus, qui ibi a Volscis obsidebantur, succurri, si maturatum esset, potuisset, ad id venerit exercitus subsidio missus, ut ab recenti caede palati ad praedandum hostes opprimerentur.
But among the Volscians, a disaster was sustained in the loss of the garrison at Verrugo; where there was so much importance in time that, although, if haste had been made, help could have been brought to the soldiers who were besieged there by the Volscians and praying for aid, the army sent for assistance arrived only in time for the enemy, who were dispersed for plunder after the recent slaughter, to be crushed.
§4.58.4tarditatis causa non in senatu magis fuit quam tribunis, qui, quia summa vi restari nuntiabatur, parum cogitaverunt nulla virtute superari humanarum virium modum.
The cause of the delay was not more in the senate than in the tribunes, who, because it was reported that resistance was being made with the utmost force, thought too little of the fact that by no courage can the limit of human strength be surpassed.
§4.58.5fortissimi milites non tamen nec vivi nec post mortem inulti fuere.
The most gallant soldiers were not, however, unavenged, either in life or after death.
insequenti anno P. et Cn. Corneliis Cossis, Num. §4.58.6Fabio Ambusto, L. Valerio Potito tribunis militum consulari potestate Veiens bellum motum ob superbum responsum Veientis senatus, qui legatis repetentibus res, §4.58.7ni facesserent propere ex urbe finibusque, daturos, quod Lars Tolumnius dedisset, responderi iussit.
In the following year, when Publius and Gnaeus Cornelius Cossus, Numerius Fabius Ambustus, and Lucius Valerius Potitus were military tribunes with consular power, the Veientine war was stirred up on account of the haughty reply of the Veientine senate, which, to the envoys demanding redress, ordered it to be answered that, unless they departed quickly from the city and their territory, they would give them what Lars Tolumnius had given.
§4.58.8id patres aegre passi decrevere, ut tribuni militum de bello indicendo Veientibus primo quoque die ad populum ferrent.
The patricians, taking this ill, decreed that the military tribunes should propose to the people concerning the declaration of war against the Veientines at the earliest opportunity.
§4.58.9quod ubi primo promulgatum est, fremere iuventus nondum debellatum cum Volscis esse; modo duo praesidia occidione occisa, et cum periculo retineri unum castellum; §4.58.10nullum annum esse, quo non acie dimicetur; et tamquam paeniteat laboris, novum bellum cum finitimo populo et potentissimo parari, qui omnem Etruriam sit concitaturus.
When this was first promulgated, the youth murmured that the war with the Volscians was not yet finished; that recently two garrisons had been utterly destroyed, and one fort was being retained with danger; and that there was no year in which they did not fight in battle array; and as if they repented of their labor, a new war was being prepared with a neighboring and most powerful people, who was about to stir up all Etruria.
These grievances were discussed spontaneously; moreover, the tribunes of the plebs inflamed them.
maximum bellum patribus cum plebe esse dictitant; eam de industria vexandam militia trucidandamque hostibus obici; eam procul urbe haberi atque ablegari, ne domi per otium memor libertatis coloniarumque aut agri publici aut suffragii libere ferendi consilia agitet.
They kept saying that the greatest war the patricians had was with the plebs; that they were purposely harassed with military service and exposed to the enemy to be slaughtered; that they were kept far from the city and sent away, lest at home, in leisure, mindful of liberty and colonies, or of public land, or of freely casting their vote, they should devise plans.
§4.58.13prensantesque veteranos stipendia cuiusque et vulnera ac cicatrices numerabant, quid iam integri esset in corpore loci ad nova vulnera accipienda, quid super sanguinis, quod dari pro re publica posset, rogitantes.
and grasping the veterans, they counted each one's campaigns and wounds and scars, asking repeatedly what spot was now untouched on their bodies to receive new wounds, and what blood was left that could be shed for the republic.
§4.58.14haec cum in sermonibus contionibusque interdum agitantes avertissent plebem ab suscipiendo bello, profertur tempus ferundae legis, quam, si subiecta invidiae esset, antiquari apparebat.
When, by discussing these things sometimes in conversations and assemblies, they had turned the plebs away from undertaking the war, the time for proposing the law was postponed, since it was clear that, if it were subjected to unpopularity, it would be rejected.