§9.29.1profligato fere Samnitium bello, priusquam ea cura decederet patribus Romanis, Etrusci belli fama exorta est.
When the war with the Samnites was nearly brought to an end, before that anxiety could depart from the Roman senators, a rumor of an Etruscan war arose.
§9.29.2nec erat ea tempestate gens alia, cuius secundum Gallicos tumultus arma terribiliora essent cum propinquitate agri tum multitudine hominum.
Nor was there at that time any other nation whose arms, after the Gallic tumults, were more terrifying, both because of the proximity of their territory and the multitude of their men.
§9.29.3itaque altero consule in Samnio reliquias belli persequenti P. Decius, qui graviter aeger Romae restiterat, auctore senatu dictatorem C. Sulpicium Longum, ismagistrum equitum C. Iunium Bubulcum dixit.
And so, while the other consul was prosecuting the remnants of the war in Samnium, Publius Decius, who had remained at Rome seriously ill, on the authority of the senate, named Gaius Sulpicius Longus dictator, and he named Gaius Iunius Bubulcus master of the horse.
§9.29.4is, prout rei magnitudo postulabat, omnes iuniores sacramento adigit, arma quaeque alia res poscit summa industria parat; nec tantis apparatibus elatus de inferendo bello agitat, quieturus haud dubie, nisi ultro arma Etrusci inferrent.
He, as the magnitude of the matter demanded, bound all the younger men by oath, and prepared weapons and whatever else the situation required with the greatest industry; nor, puffed up by such great preparations, did he think of initiating war, being undoubtedly about to remain quiet unless the Etruscans should bring war of their own accord.
§9.29.5eadem in conparando cohibendoque bello consilia et apud Etruscos fuere: neutri finibus egressi.
The same counsels in preparing for and restraining war were present also among the Etruscans; neither side marched out of their borders.
et censura clara eo anno Ap. Claudi et C. Plauti fuit, memoriae tamen felicioris ad posteros nomen Appi est, §9.29.6quod viam munivit et aquam in urbem duxit eaque unus perfecit, §9.29.7quia ob infamem atque invidiosam senatus lectionem verecundia victus collega magistratu se abdicaverat; §9.29.8Appius iam inde antiquitus insitam pertinaciam familiae gerendo solus censuram obtinuit.
And the censorship of Appius Claudius and Gaius Plautius in that year was famous, yet the name of Appius is of happier memory to posterity, because he paved the road and brought water into the city, and completed these works alone, since his colleague, overcome by shame on account of a disgraceful and offensive selection of the senate, had abdicated his office; Appius, exercising the stubbornness engrafted in his family from of old, held the censorship alone.
§9.29.9eodem Appio auctore Potitii, gens, cuius ad aram maximam Herculis familiare sacerdotium fuerat, servos publicos ministerii delegandi causa sollemnia eius sacri docuerant.
On the suggestion of this same Appius, the Potitii, a family which had possessed the hereditary priesthood at the Great Altar of Hercules, taught public slaves the solemn rites of that sacrifice for the purpose of delegating the service.
§9.29.10traditur inde, dictu mirabile et quod demovendis statu suo sacris religionem facere possit, cum duodecim familiae ea tempestate Potitiorum essent, puberes ad triginta, omnis intra annum cum stirpe exstinctos; §9.29.11nec nomen tantum Potitiorum interisse sed censorem etiam Appium memori deum ira post aliquot annos luminibus captum.
It is handed down from this—a thing wonderful to tell, and one which might cause religious dread against moving sacred rites from their proper state—that although there were at that time twelve families of the Potitii, and about thirty adults, all were extinct within a year, together with their stock; and not only did the name of the Potitii perish, but even the censor Appius, by the mindful wrath of the gods, was deprived of his sight a few years later.