§5.2.1cum spes maior imperatoribus Romanis in obsidione quam in oppugnatione esset, hibernacula etiam, res nova militi Romano, aedificari coepta, consiliumque erat hiemando continuare bellum.
Since the Roman commanders had greater hope in a blockade than in an assault, winter quarters—a novelty for the Roman soldier—also began to be constructed, and the plan was to prolong the war by wintering in the field.
§5.2.2quod postquam tribunis plebis iam diu nullam novandi res causam invenientibus Romam est adlatum, §5.2.3in contionem prosiliunt, sollicitant plebis animos hoc illud esse dictitantes, quod aera militibus sint constituta; nec se fefellisse id donum inimicorum veneno inlitum fore. venisse libertatem plebis; §5.2.4remotam in perpetuum et ablegatam ab urbe et ab re publica iuventutem iam ne hiemi quidem aut tempori anni cedere ac domos ac res invisere suas.
When this news was brought to Rome to the tribunes of the plebs, who for a long time now had been unable to find any pretext for introducing political change, they rushed into the assembly and agitated the minds of the plebs, repeatedly declaring that this was the real meaning of pay having been established for the soldiers; and that they had not been mistaken that that gift of their enemies would be smeared with poison: that the liberty of the plebs had been sold; that the youth, removed forever and banished from the city and from public affairs, now did not yield even to winter or the season of the year, nor did they visit their homes and properties.
§5.2.5quam putarent continuatae militiae causam esse? nullam profecto aliam inventuros, quam ne quid per frequentiam iuvenum eorum, in quibus vires omnes plebis essent, agi de commodis eorum posset.
What did they think was the cause of this continuous military service? They would indeed find no other than to prevent any action being taken concerning their interests through the presence of those young men in whom lay all the strength of the plebs.
§5.2.6vexari praeterea et subigi multo acrius quam Veientes; quippe illos hiemem sub tectis suis agere egregiis muris situque naturali urbem tutantes, §5.2.7militem Romanum in opere ac labore nivibus pruinisque obrutum sub pellibus durare ne hiemis quidem spatio, quae omnium bellorum terra marique sit quies, arma deponentem.
Furthermore, they were harassed and subdued much more harshly than the Veientes; for those spent the winter under their own roofs, defending their city with excellent walls and its natural situation, while the Roman soldier, overwhelmed by snow and frost, endured under tents in toil and labor, not even in the winter season, which is the rest from all wars on land and sea, laying down his arms.
§5.2.8hoc neque reges neque ante tribuniciam potestatem creatam superbos illos consules neque triste dictatoris imperium neque inportunos decemviros iniunxisse servitutis, ut perennem militiam facerent, quod tribuni militum in plebe Romana regnum exercerent.
Neither the kings, nor those proud consuls before the creation of the tribunician power, nor the grim authority of the dictator, nor the relentless decemvirs had imposed this degree of servitude—to make military service continuous—because the military tribunes exercised kingly power over the Roman plebs.
quidnam illi consules dictatoresve facturi essent, §5.2.9qui proconsularem imaginem tam saevam ac trucem fecerint? sed id accidere haud inmerito.
What on earth would those men do as consuls or dictators, who made the proxy-consular image so savage and fierce? But this happened not undeservedly.
non fuisse ne in octo quidem tribunis militum locum ulli plebeio.
There had not been a place for any plebeian even among the eight military tribunes.
§5.2.10antea trina loca cum contentione summa patricios explere solitos, nunc iam octoiuges ad imperia obtinenda ire, §5.2.11et ne in turba quidem haerere plebeium quemquam, qui, si nihil aliud, admoneat collegas liberos et civis eorum, non servos militare, §5.2.12quos hieme saltem in domos ac tecta reduci oporteat et aliquo tempore anni parentis liberosque ac coniuges invisere et usurpare libertatem et creare magistratus.
Previously the patricians were accustomed to fill three places only with the greatest struggle, but now they went in a team of eight to obtain the supreme power, and not even in that crowd was any plebeian to be found who, if nothing else, might remind his colleagues that those who were serving as soldiers were free men and their fellow citizens, not slaves, whom it was proper to be brought back at least in winter to their homes and roofs, and at some time of the year to visit parents, children, and wives, and to exercise their liberty and elect magistrates.
§5.2.13haec taliaque vociferantes adversarium haud inparem nacti sunt Ap. Claudium relictum a collegis ad tribunicias seditiones conprimendas, virum inbutum iam ab iuventa certaminibus plebeis, §5.2.14quem auctorem aliquot annis ante fuisse memoratum est per collegarum intercessionem tribuniciae potestatis dissolvendae.
Shouting these and similar things, they encountered a by no means unequal opponent in Appius Claudius, who had been left behind by his colleagues to suppress the tribunician seditions, a man steeped even from his youth in conflicts with the plebs, who, it was recorded, had been the advisor some years before of breaking down the tribunician power through the veto of colleagues.