§8.34.1stabat cum eo senatus maiestas, favor populi, tribunicium auxilium, memoria absentis exercitus; §8.34.2ex parte altera imperium invictum populi Romani et disciplina rei militaris et dictatoris edictum pro numine semper observatum et Manliana imperia et posthabita filii caritas publicae utilitati iactabantur. hoc etiam L. Brutum,
With him stood the majesty of the senate, the favor of the people, the assistance of the tribunes, and the memory of the absent army; on the other side, the unconquered command of the Roman people, the discipline of military affairs, the edict of the dictator always observed as a divine power, the Manlian orders, and the love for a son postponed to the public utility were being boasted. [They asserted] that even L.
§8.34.3conditorem Romanae libertatis, antea in duobus liberis fecisse; nunc patres comes et senes faciles de alieno imperio spreto, tamquam rei parvae, disciplinae militaris eversae iuventuti gratiam facere.
Brutus, the founder of Roman liberty, had previously done this in the case of his two children; now, the kind fathers and easy-going old men, concerning another's command despised as if it were a small matter, were granting a pardon for the overthrown military discipline to the young man.
§8.34.4se tamen perstaturum in incepto nec ei, qui adversus dictum suum turbatis religionibus ac dubiis auspiciis pugnasset, quicquam ex iusta poena remissurum.
He, however, would persist in his undertaking, nor would he remit anything of the just punishment to him who, against his dictum, had fought, having disturbed the religious rites and under doubtful auspices.
§8.34.5maiestas imperii perpetuane esset, non esse in sua potestate;
Whether the majesty of command would be perpetual was not in his power; L.
§8.34.6L. Papirium nihil eius deminuturum; optare, ne potestas tribunicia, inviolata ipsa, violet intercessione sua Romanum imperium, neu populus in se potissimum dictatore ius dictaturae extinguat.
Papirius would diminish nothing of it; he wished that the tribunician power, itself inviolate, might not violate the Roman command by its intercession, nor that the people, especially in his dictatorship, should extinguish the right of the dictatorship.
§8.34.7quod si fecisset, non L. Papirium, sed tribunos, sed pravum populi iudicium nequiquam posteros accusaturos, cum polluta semel militari disciplina non miles centurionis, non centurio tribuni, non tribunus legati, non legatus consulis, non magister equitum dictatoris pareat imperio,
But if they should do this, posterity would accuse in vain not L.
§8.34.8nemo hominum, nemo deorum verecundiam habeat, non edicta imperatorum, non auspicia observentur, sine commeatu vagi milites in pacato, §8.34.9in hostico errent, inmemores sacramenti licentia sola se, ubi velint, exauctorent, §8.34.10infrequentia deserantur signa neque conveniatur ad edictum nec discernatur, interdiu nocte, aequo iniquo loco, iussu iniussu imperatoris pugnent, et non signa, non ordines servent, latrocinii modo caeca et fortuita pro sollemni et sacrata militia sit; —
Papirius, but the tribunes, and the perverse judgment of the people, since, military discipline once polluted, no soldier would obey the command of a centurion, no centurion of a tribune, no tribune of a legate, no legate of a consul, no master of the horse of a dictator, no one of men, no one of gods would have reverence, neither the edicts of commanders nor the auspices would be observed, soldiers wandering without leave in a peaceful country, and in a hostile country would roam, unmindful of their oath, by their own license alone discharging themselves where they wished, the standards would be deserted in thin numbers, nor would they assemble at the edict, nor would it be distinguished whether they fought by day or by night, in a favorable or unfavorable place, by order or without order of the commander, and they would keep neither standards nor ranks, and in the manner of robbery, a blind and fortuitous affair would exist instead of a solemn and sacred warfare; — "Offer yourselves, tribunes of the plebs, as defendants for these crimes into all ages; expose your own obnoxious heads for the license of Q.
§8.34.11“horum criminum vos reos in omnia saecula offerte, tribuni plebi, vestra obnoxia capita pro licentia Q. Fabi obicite. ”
Fabius."