§40.37.1praetor Ti. Minucius et haud ita multo post consul C. Calpurnius moritur, multique alii omnium ordinum illustres viri postremo prodigii loco ea clades haberi coepta est.
The praetor Tiberius Minucius, and not long after him the consul Gaius Calpurnius died, as did many other illustrious men of all classes; at last, this disaster began to be regarded as a prodigy.
§40.37.2C. Servilius pontifex maximus piacula irae deum conquirere iussus, decemviri libros inspicere, consul Apollini Aesculapio Saluti dona vovere et dare signa inaurata:
Gaius Servilius, the pontifex maximus, was ordered to seek out expiations for the anger of the gods, the decemviri to inspect the books, and the consul to vow gifts and present gilded statues to Apollo, Aesculapius, and Salus.
§40.37.3quae vovit deditque.
These things he vowed and presented.
decemviri supplicationem in biduum valetudinis causa in urbe et per omnia fora conciliabulaque edixerunt: maiores duodecim annis omnes coronati et lauream in manu tenentes supplicaverunt.
The decemviri proclaimed a thanksgiving of two days for the sake of public health, in the city and through all the market-places and meeting-places; all over twelve years of age, wearing garlands and holding laurel in their hands, joined in the prayers.
§40.37.4fraudis quoque humanae insinuaverat suspicio animis; et veneficii quaestio ex senatus consulto, quod in urbe propiusve urbem decem milibus passuum esset commissum, C. Claudio praetori, qui in locum Ti. Minucii erat suffectus, ultra decimum lapidem per fora conciliabulaque C. Maenio, priusquam in Sardiniam provinciam traiceret, decreta.
A suspicion of human guilt had also crept into men's minds; and an inquiry into poisoning was decreed by a decree of the senate: to Gaius Claudius the praetor, who had been chosen in place of Tiberius Minucius, for what had been committed in the city or within ten miles of the city; and to Gaius Maenius, before he should cross over into his province of Sardinia, for what was beyond the tenth milestone through the market-places and meeting-places.
suspecta consulis erat mors maxime.
The death of the consul was especially suspected.
§40.37.5necatus a Quarta Hostilia uxore dicebatur.
He was said to have been killed by his wife, Quarta Hostilia.
§40.37.6ut quidem filius eius Q. Fulvius Flaccus in locum vitrici consul est declaratus, aliquanto magis infamis mors Pisonis coepit esse; et testes exsistebant, qui post declaratos consules Albinum et Pisonem, quibus comitiis Flaccus tulerat repulsam, et exprobratum ei a matre dicerent, quod iam ei tertium negatus consulatus petenti esset, et adiecisse, pararet se ad petendum: intra duos menses effecturam, ut consul fieret.
Indeed, when her son Quintus Fulvius Flaccus was declared consul in place of his stepfather, the death of Piso began to be much more infamous; and witnesses came forward who said that, after Albinus and Piso had been declared consuls (in which election Flaccus had suffered defeat), he was reproached by his mother because the consulship had now for the third time been denied to him as he sought it, and that she had added that he should prepare himself to run again, for within two months she would bring it about that he should become consul.
§40.37.7inter multa alia testimonia ad causam pertinentia haec quoque vox, nimis vero eventu comprobata, valuit, cur Hostilia damnaretur.
Among many other testimonies pertaining to the case, this saying also, only too well confirmed by the event, had weight in causing Hostilia to be condemned.
Veris principio huius, §40.37.8dum consules novos dilectus Romae tenet, mors deinde alterius et creandi comitia consulis in locum eius omnia tardiora fecerunt,
At the beginning of this spring, while the enrollment of troops detained the new consuls in Rome, the death of one of them and the assembly to elect a consul in his place made everything slower.
§40.37.9interim P. Cornelius et M. Baebius, qui in consulatu nihil memorabile gesserant, in Apuanos Ligures exercitum induxerunt.
Meanwhile, Publius Cornelius and Marcus Baebius, who had done nothing memorable during their consulship, led their army against the Apuan Ligurians.