§7.25.1priusquam inirent novi consules magistraturn, triumphus a Popilio de Gallis actus magno favore plebis; mussantesque inter se rogitabant, num quem plebei consulis paeniteret;
Before the new consuls entered upon their office, a triumph over the Gauls was celebrated by Popilius with great favor of the plebeians; and whispering among themselves, they asked whether anyone regretted having a plebeian consul.
§7.25.2simul dictatorem increpabant, qui legis Liciniae spretae mercedem, privata cupiditate quam publica iniuria foediorem, cepisset, ut se ipse consulem dictator crearet.
At the same time they reproached the dictator, because he had accepted the reward of flouting the Licinian law—more shameful through private greed than through public injury—in order that he, as dictator, might create himself consul.
annus multis variisque motibus fuit insignis.
The year was distinguished by many and various disturbances.
§7.25.3Galli ex Albanis montibus, quia hiemis vim pati nequiverant, per campos maritumaque loca vagi populabantur; §7.25.4mare infestum classibus Graecorum erat oraque litoris Antiatis Laurensque tractus et Tiberis ostia, ut praedones maritimi cum terrestribus congressi ancipiti semel proelio decertarint dubiique discesserint in castra Galli, Graeci retro ad naves, uictos se an victores putarent.
The Gauls from the Alban mountains, because they had been unable to endure the severity of the winter, were plundering, wandering through the plains and maritime districts; the sea was infested by the fleets of the Greeks, as well as the coast of the Antiate territory, the Laurens district, and the mouths of the Tiber, so that the pirates of the sea, having clashed with those of the land, fought on one occasion a doubtful battle and parted uncertain whether they should consider themselves vanquished or victors, the Gauls returning to their camp and the Greeks back to their ships.
§7.25.5inter hos longe maximus extitit terror concilia populorum Latinorum ad lucum Ferentinae habita responsumque haud ambiguum imperantibus milites Romanis datum, absisterent imperare iis, quorum auxilio egerent; §7.25.6Latinos pro sua libertate potius quam pro alieno imperio laturos arma.
Among these, by far the greatest terror arose from the councils of the Latin peoples held at the grove of Ferentina, and from the reply, by no means ambiguous, given to the Romans when they demanded soldiers, that they should cease to command those whose assistance they needed; that the Latins would bear arms for their own liberty rather than for the dominion of others.
§7.25.7inter duo simul bella externa defectione etiam sociorum senatus anxius cum cerneret metu tenendos, quos fides non tenuisset, contendere omnes imperii vires consules dilectu habendo iussit; civili quippe standum exercitu esse, quando socialis desereret.
Worried at once by two foreign wars and also by the defection of their allies, when the senate saw that those whom loyalty had not held must be kept in check by fear, they ordered the consuls to exert all the power of the empire by holding a levy; for they had to rely on a citizen army, since the allied force was deserting them.
§7.25.8undique, non urbana tantum sed etiam agresti iuventute, decem legiones scriptae dicuntur quaternum milium et ducenorum peditum equitumque trecenorum, quem nunc novum exercitum, §7.25.9si qua externa vis ingruat, hae vires populi Romani, quas vix terrarum capit orbis, contractae in unum haud facile efficiant; adeo in quae laboramus sola crevimus, divitias luxuriamque.
From all sides, not only from the urban but also from the rural youth, ten legions are said to have been enrolled, each consisting of four thousand two hundred infantry and three hundred cavalry, a novel army which now, if any foreign force should threaten, these resources of the Roman people, which the world can scarcely contain, even if contracted into one, could not easily manage to raise; so much have we grown only in those things for which we suffer, riches and luxury.
§7.25.10inter cetera tristia eius anni consul alter Ap. Claudius in ipso belli apparatu moritur, redieratque res ad Camillum,
Among the other misfortunes of that year, the other consul, Appius Claudius, died in the very midst of the preparations for war, and the control of affairs returned to Camillus.
§7.25.11cui unico consuli vel ob aliam dignationem haud subiciendam dictaturae vel ob omen faustum ad Gallicum tumultum cognominis dictatorem adrogari haud satis decorum visum est patribus.
To him, as sole consul, the patricians did not think it sufficiently seemly that a dictator should be added, either because his extraordinary dignity should not be subjected to a dictatorship, or on account of the auspicious omen of his cognomen for a Gallic uprising.
§7.25.12consul duabus legionibus urbi praepositis, octo cum L. Pinario praetore divisis, memor paternae virtutis Gallicum sibi bellum extra sortem sumit, praetorem maritimam oram tutari Graecosque arcere litoribus iussit.
The consul, having assigned two legions to protect the city and divided eight with the praetor Lucius Pinarius, mindful of his father's valor, took upon himself the Gallic war without casting lots, and ordered the praetor to guard the maritime coast and keep the Greeks away from the shores.
§7.25.13et cum in agrum Pomptinum descendisset, quia neque in campis congredi nulla cogente re volebat, et prohibendo populationibus, quos rapto vivere necessitas cogeret, satis domari credebat hostem, locum idoneum stativis delegit.
And when he had descended into the Pomptine territory, because he neither wished to engage in the plains unless some necessity compelled him, and believed that the enemy, whom necessity forced to live by plunder, could be sufficiently subdued by preventing their depredations, he chose a suitable site for a permanent camp.