§7.2.1et hoc et insequenti anno C. Sulpicio Petico C. Licinio Stolone consulibus pestilentia fuit.
Both in this and in the following year, in the consulship of Gaius Sulpicius Peticus and Gaius Licinius Stolo, there was a pestilence.
§7.2.2eo nihil dignum memoria actum, nisi quod pacis deum exposcendae causa tertio tum post conditam urbem lectisternium fuit.
In that time nothing worthy of memory was transacted, except that for the sake of imploring the peace of the gods, there was a lectisternium, then for the third time since the founding of the City.
§7.2.3et cum vis morbi nec humanis consiliis nec ope divina levaretur, victis superstitione animis ludi quoque scaenici, nova res bellicoso populo — nam circi modo spectaculum fuerat —, inter alia caelestis irae placamina instituti dicuntur.
And when the force of the disease was alleviated neither by human counsels nor by divine aid, their minds being conquered by superstition, scenic plays also — a new thing for a warlike people, for there had been only the spectacle of the circus — are said to have been instituted among other means of appeasing the wrath of heaven.
§7.2.4ceterum parva haec quoque, ut ferme principia omnia, et ea ipsa peregrina res fuit.
Moreover, this also was small, as are nearly all beginnings, and it was itself a foreign thing.
sine carmine ullo, sine imitandorum carminum actu ludiones, ex Etruria acciti, ad tibicinis modos saltantes haud indecoros motus more Tusco dabant.
Without any song, without any action of imitating songs, players summoned from Etruria, dancing to the measures of the flute-player, exhibited not ungraceful movements in the Tuscan fashion.
§7.2.5imitari deinde eos iuventus simul inconditis inter se iocularia fundentes versibus coepere, nec absoni a voce motus erant.
Thereupon the youth began to imitate them, at the same time pouring out jests among themselves in rude verses, and their movements were not discordant with their voice.
§7.2.6accepta itaque res saepiusque usurpando excitata.
Thus the thing was accepted and, by frequent practice, was encouraged.
vernaculis artificibus, quia ister Tusco verbo ludio vocabatur, nomen histrionibus inditum; §7.2.7qui non, sicut ante, Fescennino versu similem inconpositum temere ac rudem alternis iaciebant, sed impletas modis saturas descripto iam ad tibicinem cantu motuque congruenti peragebant.
To the native performers, because a player was called 'ister' in the Tuscan language, the name 'histriones' was given; who did not, as before, cast at one another in turns rude and irregular verses similar to the Fescennine verse, but performed medleys (saturae) filled with measures, with the singing now written out to the flute-player and with matching movement.
§7.2.8Livius post aliquot annis, qui ab saturis ausus est primus argumento fabulam serere, idem scilicet, id quod omnes tum erant, suorum carminum actor, §7.2.9dicitur, cum saepius revocatus vocem obtudisset, venia petita puerum ad canendum ante tibicinem cum statuisset, canticum egisse aliquanto magis vigente motu, quia nihil vocis usus inpediebat.
Livius, some years later, who was the first to venture to weave a play with a plot instead of medleys, was himself, of course, the actor of his own songs, as all were at that time, and is said, when having been recalled too often he had worn out his voice, to have begged indulgence and placed a boy to sing before the flute-player, and to have acted the song with considerably more vigorous movement because the use of his voice did not hinder him at all.
§7.2.10inde ad manum cantari histrionibus coeptum, diverbiaque tantum ipsorum voci relicta.
From that time, singing to the hand of the actors began, and only the dialogue was left to their own voice.
§7.2.11postquam lege hac fabularum ab risu ac soluto ioco res avocabatur et ludus in artem paulatim verterat, iuventus histrionibus fabellarum actu relicto ipsa inter se more antiquo ridicula intexta versibus iactitare coepit; quae exodia postea appellata consertaque fabellis potissimum Atellanis sunt.
After by this law of plays the performance was drawn away from laughter and unrestrained jest, and the play had gradually turned into an art, the youth left the acting of plays to the actors and themselves began to bandy ridiculous sayings woven into verses among themselves in the ancient fashion; which were afterwards called exodia and were combined especially with the Atellan plays.
§7.2.12quod genus ludorum ab Oscis acceptum tenuit iuventus nec ab histrionibus pollui passa est: eo institutum manet, ut actores Atellanarum nec tribu moveantur et stipendia, tamquam expertes artis ludicrae, faciant.
This kind of amusement, received from the Oscans, the youth retained and did not suffer to be polluted by the actors; hence the custom remains that the actors of the Atellan plays are neither removed from their tribe and perform military service as if they had no part in the stage-player's art.
§7.2.13inter aliarum parva principia rerum ludorum quoque prima origo ponenda visa est, ut appareret, quam ab sano initio res in hanc vix opulentis regnis tolerabilem insaniam venerit.
Among the small beginnings of other things, the first origin of the plays also seemed worthy to be placed, so that it might appear from how wholesome a beginning the matter has come to this madness, which is scarcely tolerable even for wealthy kingdoms.