§6.31.1insequentis anni principia statim seditione ingenti arsere tribunis militum consulari potestate Sp. Furio, Q. Servilio iterum, L. Menenio tertium, P. Cloelio, M. Horatio, L. Geganio.
The beginning of the following year immediately blazed with a huge sedition under the military tribunes with consular power, Spurius Furius, Quintus Servilius for the second time, Lucius Menenius for the third time, Publius Cloelius, Marcus Horatius, and Lucius Geganius.
erat autem et materia et causa seditionis aes alienum.
Now, both the material and the cause of the sedition was debt.
§6.31.2cuius noscendi gratia Sp. Servilius Priscus Q. Cloelius Siculus censores facti, ne rem agerent, bello impediti sunt; §6.31.3namque trepidi nuntii primo, fuga deinde ex agris legiones Volscorum ingressas fines popularique passim Romanum agrum attulere.
For the purpose of ascertaining this, Spurius Servilius Priscus and Quintus Cloelius Siculus were made censors, but they were prevented by war from carrying out their business; for first alarming messages, and then flight from the fields brought word that the legions of the Volscians had entered the borders and were plundering the Roman territory far and wide.
§6.31.4in qua trepidatione tantum afuit, ut civilia certamina terror externus cohiberet, ut contra eo violentior potestas tribunicia inpediendo dilectu esset, donec condiciones inpositae patribus, ne quis, quoad debellatum esset, tributum daret aut ius de pecunia credita diceret.
In which panic, so far was it from the case that external terror restrained civil strifes, that on the contrary the tribunician power was all the more violent in obstructing the levy, until conditions were imposed on the patricians, that no one, as long as the war lasted, should pay tribute or administer justice concerning loaned money.
§6.31.5eo laxamento plebi sumpto mora dilectui non est facta.
This relief having been obtained for the plebs, no delay was made for the levy.
legionibus novis scriptis placuit duos exercitus in agrum Volscum legionibus divisis duci; Sp. Furius M. Horatius dextrorsus in maritimam oram atque Antium, Q. Servilius et L. Geganius laeva ad montes Ecetram pergunt.
New legions having been enrolled, it was decided that, the legions being divided, two armies should be led into the Volscian territory; Spurius Furius and Marcus Horatius proceeded to the right towards the maritime coast and Antium, Quintus Servilius and Lucius Geganius to the left towards the mountains to Ecetra.
§6.31.6neutra parte hostis obvius fuit; populatio itaque non illi vagae similis, quam Volscus latrocinii more, discordiae hostium fretus et virtutem metuens, per trepidationem raptim fecerat, sed ab iusto exercitu iusta ira facta, spatio quoque temporis gravior.
In neither quarter did the enemy present themselves; the plundering, therefore, was not like that rambling one which the Volscian, in the manner of brigandage, relying on the discord of his enemies and fearing their courage, had hastily made in alarm, but was carried out by a regular army with a just resentment, and was also heavier by reason of the length of time.
quippe a Volscis timentibus, §6.31.7ne interim exercitus ab Roma exiret, incursiones in extrema finium factae erant; Romano contra etiam in hostico morandi causa erat, ut hostem ad certamen eliceret.
Indeed, by the Volscians, fearing lest in the meantime an army should go out from Rome, incursions into the furthest borders had been made; to the Roman, on the contrary, there was a reason for delaying even in the enemy's territory, in order to draw the enemy to a battle.
§6.31.8itaque omnibus passim tectis agrorum vicisque etiam quibusdam exustis, non arbore frugifera, non satis in spem frugum relictis, omni, quae extra moenia fuit, hominum pecudumque praeda abacta, Romam utrimque exercitus reducti.
And so, all the houses of the fields far and wide and even some villages having been burned, neither fruitful trees nor crops being left in hope of harvest, and all the booty of men and cattle which was outside the walls having been driven off, the armies on both sides were led back to Rome.