§7.21.1extremo anno comitia consularia certamen patrum ac plebis diremit, tribunis negantibus passuros comitia haberi, ni secundum Liciniam legem haberentur, dictatore obstinato tollere potius totum e re publica consulatum quam promiscuum patribus ac plebi facere.
At the end of the year, the consular elections disrupted the struggle between the patricians and the plebs, with the tribunes declaring that they would not allow the elections to be held unless they were conducted according to the Licinian law, while the dictator was obstinately resolved to abolish the consulship entirely from the state rather than make it shared between the patricians and the plebs.
§7.21.2prolatandis igitur comitiis cum dictator magistratu abisset, res ad interregnum rediit.
Therefore, because the elections were postponed, when the dictator left office, the government returned to an interregnum.
infestam inde patribus plebem interreges cum accepissent, ad undecimum interregem seditionibus certatum est.
When the interreges received the plebs hostile to the patricians, they contended with seditions until the eleventh interrex.
§7.21.3legis Liciniae patrocinium tribuni iactabant; propior dolor plebi faenoris ingravescentis erat, curaeque privatae in certaminibus publicis erumpebant.
The tribunes boasted of their patronage of the Licinian law; but more immediate to the plebs was the pain of their worsening debt, and private anxieties broke out in public struggles.
§7.21.4quorum taedio patres L. Cornelium Scipionem interregem concordiae causa observare legem Liciniam comitiis consularibus iussere.
Out of weariness of these things, the patricians, for the sake of concord, ordered the interrex Lucius Cornelius Scipio to observe the Licinian law at the consular elections.
P. Valerio Publicolae datus e plebe collega C. Marcius Rutilus.
To Publius Valerius Publicola was given a colleague from the plebs, Gaius Marcius Rutilus.
§7.21.5inclinatis semel in concordiam animis novi consules faenebrem quoque rem, quae distinere una animos videbatur, levare adgressi solutionem alieni aeris in publicam curam verterunt quinqueviris creatis, quos mensarios ab dispensatione pecuniae appellarunt.
Once minds were inclined toward concord, the new consuls, attempting to alleviate also the debt situation, which alone seemed to keep minds divided, turned the payment of foreign money into a public care by electing a commission of five, whom they called "bankers" from their dispensation of money.
§7.21.6meriti aequitate curaque sunt, ut per omnium annalium monumenta celebres nominibus essent; fuere autem C. Duillius, P. Decius Mus, M. Papirius, Q. Publilius et T. Aemilius.
They deserved, by their equity and care, to be famous by name through the monuments of all the annals; they were Gaius Duillius, Publius Decius Mus, Marcus Papirius, Quintus Publilius, and Titus Aemilius.
§7.21.7qui rem difficillimam tractatu et plerumque parti utrique, semper certe alteri gravem cum alia moderatione tum inpendio magis publico quam iactura sustinuerunt.
They sustained this matter, which was extremely difficult to handle and usually heavy for both sides, and certainly always for one, with other moderation and especially with public expenditure rather than loss.
§7.21.8tarda enim nomina et inpeditiora inertia debitorum quam facultatibus aut aerarium mensis cum aere in foro positis dissolvit, ut populo prius caveretur, aut aestimatio aequis rerum pretiis liberavit, ut non modo sine iniuria sed etiam sine querimoniis partis utriusque exhausta vis ingens aeris alieni sit.
For the treasury either discharged the debts which were slow and delayed more by the inertia of the debtors than by their means, with tables set up in the forum with money, so that security was first given to the state, or an appraisal of property at fair prices released them, so that not only without injury but even without complaints of either party, a vast amount of debt was cleared.
terror inde vanus belli Etrusci, §7.21.9cum coniurasse duodecim populos fama esset, dictatorem dici coegit; dictus in castris — eo enim ad consules missum senatus consultum est — C. Iulius, cui magister equitum adiectus L. Aemilius.
After that, a groundless terror of an Etruscan war, when there was a rumor that twelve peoples had conspired, forced the naming of a dictator; Gaius Julius was named in the camp—for the decree of the senate was sent there to the consuls—to whom Lucius Aemilius was added as master of the horse.
ceterum foris tranquilla omnia fuere.
However, everything remained peaceful abroad.