§5.11.1fors ita tulit, ut eo anno tribunus plebis Cn. Trebonius esset, qui nomini ac familiae debitum praestare videretur Treboniae legis patrocinium.
Chance so brought it about that Gnaeus Trebonius was a tribune of the plebs in that year, a man who seemed destined, as a duty owed to his name and family, to undertake the patronage of the Trebonian law.
§5.11.2is, quod petissent patres quondam primo incepto repulsi, iam tribunos militum expugnasse vociferans, legem Treboniam sublatam et cooptatos tribunos plebis non suffragiis populi, sed imperio patriciorum; eo revolvi rem, ut aut patricii aut patriciorum adseculae habendi tribuni plebis sint; §5.11.3eripi sacratas leges, extorqueri tribuniciam potestatem; id fraude patriciorum, scelere ac proditione collegarum factum arguere.
He, crying out that the military tribunes had now forced the position which the patricians had once sought but were repulsed in their first attempt, declared that the Trebonian law was abolished and that the tribunes of the plebs had been co-opted not by the votes of the people, but by the command of the patricians; that the matter had reverted to this point, that either patricians or the lackeys of patricians must be held as tribunes of the plebs; that the sacred laws were being snatched away, and the tribunician power extorted; and he charged that this had been done by the deceit of the patricians and the wickedness and treachery of his colleagues.
§5.11.4cum arderent invidia non patres modo, sed etiam tribuni plebis, cooptati pariter et qui cooptaverant, tum ex collegio tres, P. Curatius, M. Metilius, M. Minucius, trepidi rerum suarum, in Sergium Verginiumque, prioris anni tribunos militares, incurrunt; in eos ab se iram plebis invidiamque die dicta avertunt.
When not only the patricians but also the tribunes of the plebs, both those co-opted and those who had co-opted them, were burning with unpopularity, then three of the college, Publius Curatius, Marcus Metilius, and Marcus Minucius, fearful for their own affairs, made an onslaught upon Sergius and Virginius, the military tribunes of the previous year; by appointing a day of trial, they turned the anger and resentment of the plebs away from themselves onto them.
§5.11.5quibus dilectus, quibus tributum, quibus diutina militia longinquitasque belli sit gravis, qui clade accepta ad Veios doleant, qui amissis liberis fratribus, propinquis adfinibus lugubres domos habeant, iis publici privatique doloris exsequendi ius potestatemque ex duobus noxiis capitibus datam ab se memorant: §5.11.6omnium namque malorum in Sergio Verginioque causas esse; nec id accusatores magis arguere quam fateri reos, qui noxii ambo alter in alterum causam conferant, fugam Sergi Verginius, Sergius proditionem increpans Vergini.
To those for whom the levy, the tribute, the long military service, and the duration of the war were a heavy burden, who grieved for the defeat suffered at Veii, and who had mournful homes due to the loss of children, brothers, relatives, and kinsmen, they declared that the right and power to avenge public and private grief was given by themselves from the persons of the two guilty leaders: for the causes of all evils lay in Sergius and Virginius; nor did the accusers charge this more than the defendants confessed it, who, both being guilty, cast the blame upon each other, Virginius upbraiding the flight of Sergius, and Sergius the treachery of Virginius.
§5.11.7quorum adeo incredibilem amentiam fuisse, ut multo veri similius sit conpecto eam rem et communi fraude patriciorum actam.
Their madness had been so incredible that it was much more likely that this matter had been done by agreement and by the common fraud of the patricians.
§5.11.8ab his et prius datum locum Veientibus ad incendenda opera belli trahendi causa et nunc proditum exercitum, tradita Faliscis Romana castra.
By them, both previously had an opportunity been given to the Veientes to burn the siege works for the sake of dragging out the war, and now the army had been betrayed and the Roman camp delivered to the Faliscans.
§5.11.9omnia fieri, ut consenescat ad Veios iuventus nec de agris nec de aliis commodis plebis ferre ad populum tribuni frequentiaque urbana celebrare actiones et resistere conspirationi patriciorum possint.
Everything was being done so that the youth might grow old at Veii, and that the tribunes might not be able to bring proposals before the people concerning the lands or other advantages of the plebs, nor to celebrate their actions in crowded urban assemblies, and resist the conspiracy of the patricians.
§5.11.10praeiudicium iam de reis et ab senatu et ab populo Romano et ab ipsorum collegis factum esse; §5.11.11nam et senatus consulto eos ab re publica remotos esse et recusantes abdicare se magistratu dictatoris metu ab collegis coercitos esse, et populum Romanum tribunos creasse, qui non idibus Decembribus, die sollemni, sed extemplo kal. Octobribus magistratum occiperent, quia stare diutius res publica his manentibus in magistratu non posset; §5.11.12et tamen eos tot iudiciis confossos praedamnatosque venire ad populi iudicium et existimare defunctos se esse satisque poenarum dedisse, quod duobus mensibus citius privati facti sint, §5.11.13neque intellegere nocendi sibi diutius tum potestatem ereptam esse, non poenam inrogatam; quippe et collegis abrogatum imperium, qui certe nihil deliquissent.
A prejudgment had already been made concerning the defendants both by the senate, by the Roman people, and by their own colleagues; for both by a decree of the senate they had been removed from the public service, and when they refused to abdicate their office they had been coerced by their colleagues through fear of a dictator, and the Roman people had elected tribunes who should enter upon their office not on the ides of December, the customary day, but immediately on the kalends of October, because the state could no longer stand while these men remained in office; and yet, though pierced and pre-condemned by so many judgments, they came to the judgment of the people and thought they had escaped and paid enough of a penalty because they had become private citizens two months earlier, not understanding that the power of doing harm had then been taken from them for a longer time, not that a penalty had been imposed; since indeed power had been abrogated also for their colleagues, who certainly had committed no fault.
§5.11.14illos repeterent animos Quirites, quos recenti clade accepta habuissent cum fuga ac pavore trepidum, plenum volnerum incidentem portis exercitum viderint non fortunam aut quemquam deorum, sed hos duces accusantem.
Let the citizens recall those feelings which they had held upon receiving the recent defeat, when they saw the army entering the gates, trembling with flight and panic, full of wounds, accusing not fortune nor any of the gods, but these leaders.
§5.11.15pro certo se habere neminem in contione stare, qui illo die non caput, domum fortunasque L. Vergini ac M. Sergi sit exsecratus detestatusque.
They held it for certain that no one stood in the assembly who on that day did not curse and execrate the head, the home, and the fortunes of Lucius Virginius and Marcus Sergius.
§5.11.16minime convenire, quibus iratos quisque deos precatus sit, in iis sua potestate, cum liceat et oporteat, non uti. numquam deos ipsos admovere nocentibus manus;
It was by no means fitting, when they could and ought to do so, not to use their own power against those upon whom each had prayed the gods to vent their anger.
satis esse, si occasione ulciscendi laesos arment.
The gods themselves never laid hands upon the guilty; it was enough if they armed the injured with an opportunity for revenge.