§5.55.1Movisse Camillus cum alia oratione tum ea, quae ad religiones pertinebat, maxime dicitur; sed rem dubiam decrevit vox opportune emissa, quod, cum senatus post paulo de his rebus in curia Hostilia haberetur cohortesque ex praesidiis revertentes forte agmine forum transirent, centurio in comitio exclamavit: “signifer, statue signum; §5.55.2hic manebimus optime. ” qua voce audita et senatus accipere se omen ex curia egressus conclamavit et plebs circumfusa adprobavit.
Camillus is said to have moved the people deeply, not only by his other speeches but especially by the one concerning religious matters; but a voice opportunely uttered decided the doubtful issue. For, when a short time later the senate was being held on these matters in the Curia Hostilia, and the cohorts returning from garrison duty happened to pass through the Forum in marching order, a centurion cried out in the Comitium: "Standard-bearer, pitch the standard; here we shall remain most excellently." Upon hearing this voice, the senate, having come out of the Curia, shouted together that they accepted the omen, and the surrounding plebeians approved.
antiquata deinde lege promiscue urbs aedificari coepta.
Then, the proposed law having been rejected, the city began to be built indiscriminately.
tegula publice praebita est; §5.55.3saxi materiaeque caedendae, unde quisque vellet, ius factum praedibus acceptis eo anno aedificia perfecturos.
Roof-tiles were provided at public expense; the right to quarry stone and cut timber wherever each person wished was granted, security being accepted that they would finish the buildings within that year.
§5.55.4festinatio curam exemit vicos derigendi, dum omisso sui alienique discrimine in vacuo aedificant.
Haste took away the care for aligning the streets, while, neglecting the distinction between what was one's own and what was another's, they built on empty ground.
§5.55.5ea est causa, ut veteres cloacae primo per publicum ductae nunc privata passim subeant tecta formaque urbis sit occupatae magis quam divisae similis.
This is the reason why the old sewers, which had originally been directed through public ground, now run everywhere under private dwellings, and the form of the city is more like that of a squatted land than a regularly divided one.