§6.15.1ita suspensis rebus dictator accitus ab exercitu in urbem venit.
While matters were thus in suspense, the dictator, having been summoned, came from the army into the city.
postero die senatu habito cum satis periclitatus voluntates hominum discedere senatum ab se vetuisset, stipatus ea multitudine, sella in comitio posita viatorem ad M. Manlium misit;
On the following day, having held the senate, when he had sufficiently tested the inclinations of the people and had forbidden the senate to depart from him, surrounded by that multitude, having placed his curule chair in the comitium, he sent a summoner to M.
§6.15.2qui dictatoris iussu vocatus, cum signum suis dedisset adesse certamen, agmine ingenti ad tribunal venit.
Manlius; who, being summoned by the dictator's order, after he had given a sign to his followers that the contest was at hand, came to the tribunal with a huge train.
§6.15.3hinc senatus, hinc plebs, suum quisque intuentes ducem, velut in acie constiterant.
On one side the senate, on the other the plebs, each looking at their own leader, had taken their stand as if in battle array.
§6.15.4tum dictator silentio facto: “utinam” inquit “mihi patribusque Romanis ita de ceteris rebus cum plebe conveniat, quem ad modum quod ad te attinet eamque rem, quam de te sum quaesiturus, conventurum satis confido.
Then the dictator, silence having been made, said: "Would that I and the Roman patricians might agree with the plebs on all other matters in the same way as I am fully confident we shall agree on what concerns you and that matter which I am about to ask of you.
§6.15.5spem factam a te civitati video, fide incolumi ex thensauris Gallicis, quos primores patrum occultent, creditum solvi posse.
I see that a hope has been held out by you to the state, that without destroying public credit, debts can be discharged from the Gallic treasures which the foremost of the patricians are hiding.
cui ego rei tantum abest ut inpedimento sim, ut contra te, M. Manli, adhorter, liberes faenore plebem Romanam et istos incubantes publicis thensauris ex praeda clandestina evolvas.
So far am I from being an obstacle to this matter, that on the contrary, M. Manlius, I exhort you to set the Roman plebs free from debt, and to dislodge those who are brooding over the public treasures from their secret plunder.
§6.15.6quod nisi facis, sive ut et ipse in parte praedae sis, sive quia vanum indicium est, in vincla te duci iubebo nec diutius patiar a te multitudinem fallaci spe concitari. ” §6.15.7ad ea Manlius nec se fefellisse ait, non adversus Volscos, totiens hostis, quotiens patribus expediat, nec adversus Latinos Hernicosque, quos falsis criminibus in arma agant, sed adversus se ac plebem Romanam dictatorem creatum esse; §6.15.8iam omisso bello, quod simulatum sit, in se impetum fieri, iam dictatorem profiteri patrocinium faeneratorum adversus plebem, iam sibi ex favore multitudinis crimen et perniciem quaeri.
But if you do not do this, whether because you yourself also want to share in the plunder, or because the disclosure is groundless, I will order you to be led into chains, and will no longer suffer the multitude to be excited by you with a false hope." To this Manlius replied that he was not deceived: it was not against the Volscians, who were enemies as often as it suited the patricians, nor against the Latins and Hernicians, whom they were driving to arms by false accusations, but against himself and the Roman plebs that a dictator had been appointed; now, the war, which had been feigned, being abandoned, an attack was being made upon him; now the dictator was openly professing the patronage of the usurers against the plebs; now, from the favor of the multitude, a charge and destruction were being sought against him.
§6.15.9“offendit” inquit “te, A. Corneli, vosque, patres conscripti, circumfusa turba lateri meo? quin eam diducitis a me singuli vestris beneficiis, intercedendo, eximendo de nervo cives vestros, prohibendo iudicatos addictosque duci, ex eo, quod afluit opibus vestris, sustinendo necessitates aliorum? sed quid ego vos, de vestro inpendatis, hortor?
"Does the crowd," he said, "poured around my side, offend you, A. Cornelius, and you, conscript fathers? Why do you not draw it away from me, each of you by your own benefits, by interceding, by releasing your fellow-citizens from the stocks, by preventing those judged and assigned for debt from being led away, by sustaining the needs of others from that which overflows from your wealth? But why do I exhort you to spend from your own?
§6.15.10sortem reliquam ferte; de capite deducite, quod usuris pernumeratum est; iam nihilo mea turba quam ullius conspectior erit.
Take only the remaining principal; deduct from the capital what has been paid in interest; then my crowd will immediately be in no way more conspicuous than anyone else's.
§6.15.11at enim quid ita solus ego civium curam ago? nihilo magis, quod respondeam, habeo, quam si quaeras, quid ita solus Capitolium arcemque servaverim.
But, you will say, why do I alone thus take care of the citizens? I have no more to answer than if you were to ask why I alone saved the Capitol and the citadel.
et tum universis, quam potui, opem tuli et nunc singulis feram.
Both then I brought aid to all of you together, as far as I could, and now I will bring it to individuals.
§6.15.12nam quod ad thensauros Gallicos attinet, rem suapte natura facilem difficilem interrogatio facit.
For as to the Gallic treasures, the inquiry makes a matter, easy in its own nature, difficult.
cur enim quaeritis, quod scitis? cur, quod in sinu vestro est, excuti iubetis potius, quam ponatis, nisi aliqua fraus subest?
For why do you ask what you know? Why do you order that which is in your own bosom to be shaken out, rather than lay it down, unless some fraud lies beneath?
§6.15.13quo magis argui praestigias iubetis vestras, eo plus vereor, ne abstuleritis observantibus etiam oculos.
The more you order your tricks to be refuted, the more I fear lest you have taken away even their eyes from those who are watching.
itaque non ego, vobis ut indicem praedas vestras, sed vos id cogendi estis, ut in medium proferatis. ”
Therefore, it is not I who must be forced to disclose your plunder to you, but you who must be compelled to bring it forward into the midst."