§7.6.1eodem anno, seu motu terrae seu qua vi alia, forum medium ferme specu vasto conlapsum in inmensam altitudinem dicitur; §7.6.2neque eam voraginem coniectu terrae, cum pro se quisque gereret, expleri potuisse, priusquam deum monitu quaeri coeptum, quo plurimum populus Romanus posset: §7.6.3id enim illi loco dicandum vates canebant, si rem publicam Romanam perpetuam esse vellent.
In the same year, whether by an earthquake or by some other force, the middle of the Forum is said to have collapsed into an immense depth, forming a vast chasm; and that abyss could not be filled by throwing in earth, though everyone brought it for his part, until, by the warning of the gods, they began to inquire wherein the Roman people was most powerful; for the prophets sang that this must be dedicated to that place, if they wished the Roman commonwealth to be perpetual.
tum M. Curtium, iuvenem bello egregium, castigasse ferunt dubitantes, an ullum magis Romanum bonum quam arma virtusque esset, et silentio facto templa deorum inmortalium, §7.6.4quae foro inminent, Capitoliumque intuentem et manus nunc in caelum, nunc in patentes terrae hiatus ad deos manes porrigentem se devovisse; §7.6.5equoque deinde quam poterat maxime exornato insidentem armatum se in specum inmisisse, donaque ac fruges super eum a multitudine virorum ac mulierum congestas, lacumque Curtium non ab antiquo illo T. Tati milite Curtio Mettio, sed ab hoc appellatum.
Then they say that Marcus Curtius, a youth distinguished in war, chided those who doubted whether there was any Roman good greater than arms and valor; and, silence being made, looking towards the temples of the immortal gods, which overlook the Forum, and the Capitoline, and stretching out his hands now towards heaven, now towards the gaping fissures of the earth to the gods of the underworld, he devoted himself; and then, mounting his horse adorned as splendidly as possible, he threw himself armed into the chasm, and gifts and crops were heaped upon him by the multitude of men and women, and the Curtian Lake was named not after that ancient soldier of Titus Tatius, Mettius Curtius, but after this man.
§7.6.6cura non deesset, si qua ad verum via inquirentem ferret; nunc fama rerum standum est, ubi certam derogat vetustas fidem; et lacus nomen ab hac recentiore insignitius fabula est.
Care would not be lacking if any path could lead the inquirer to the truth; now we must stand by the rumor of things, where antiquity detracts from certain credibility; and the name of the lake is more famous from this more recent story.
§7.6.7post tanti prodigii procurationem eodem anno de Hernicis consultus senatus cum fetiales ad res repetendas nequiquam misisset, primo quoque die ferendum ad populum de bello indicendo Hernicis censuit, populusque id bellum frequens iussit.
After the expiation of so great a prodigy, in the same year, the senate, consulted concerning the Hernici, having sent the fetials in vain to demand redress, decreed that a proposal for declaring war on the Hernici should be brought before the people on the very first day possible, and the people in a crowded assembly ordered that war.
§7.6.8L. Genucio consuli ea provincia sorte evenit.
This province fell by lot to Lucius Genucius the consul.
in expectatione civitas erat, quod primus ille de plebe consul bellum suis auspiciis gesturus esset, perinde ut evenisset res, ita communicatos honores pro bene aut secus consulto habitura.
The state was in expectation, because he, the first consul from the plebs, was about to wage war under his own auspices, being ready to regard the shared honors as well or ill advised, according as the matter should turn out.
forte ita tulit casus, §7.6.9ut Genucius ad hostes magno conatu profectus in insidias praecipitaret etlegionibus necopinato pavore fusis consul circumventus ab insciis, quem intercepissent, occideretur.
By chance it so happened that Genucius, having set out against the enemy with great effort, fell headlong into an ambush, and the legions being routed in sudden panic, the consul was surrounded and slain by those who did not even know whom they had cut off.
quod ubi est Romam nuntiatum, §7.6.10nequaquam tantum publica calamitate maesti patres, quantum feroces infelici consulis plebei ductu, fremunt omnibus locis: irent, crearent consules ex plebe, transferrent auspicia, quo nefas esset.
When this was announced to Rome, the patricians, by no means so much grieved by the public calamity as they were insolent because of the unsuccessful leadership of the plebeian consul, murmured in all places: let them go, let them create consuls from the plebs, let them transfer the auspices to where it was a sacrilege!
§7.6.11potuisse patres plebi scito pelli honoribus suis;
The patricians could indeed be driven from their honors by a plebiscite; but had an un-auspiced law prevailed even against the immortal gods?
num etiam in deos immortales inauspicatam legem valuisse? vindicasse ipsos suum numen, sua auspicia, quae ut primum contacta sint ab eo, a quo nec ius nec fas fuerit, deletum cum duce exercitum documento fuisse, ne deinde turbato gentium iure comitia haberentur.
They themselves had vindicated their own divinity, their own auspices, which as soon as they were touched by him who had neither legal nor divine right, the destruction of the army with its leader was a proof that henceforth comitia should not be held with the rights of the gentes disturbed.
§7.6.12his vocibus cura et forum personat.
With these voices anxiety and the Forum resounded.
Ap. Claudium, quia dissuaserat legem, maiore nunc auctoritate eventum reprehensi ab se consilii incusantem, dictatorem consensu patriciorum Servilius consul dicit, dilectusque et iustitium indictum.
Appius Claudius, because he had opposed the law, now accusing with greater authority the outcome of the counsel which he had censured, was declared dictator by the consul Servilius with the consensus of the patricians, and a levy was held and a suspension of public business was proclaimed.