Liv. 2.1.1Līberī iam hinc populī Rōmānī rēs pāce bellōque gestās, annuōs magistrātūs imperiaque lēgum potentiōra quam hominum peragam.From here on I shall set out the deeds of the Roman people, now free, in peace and in war, their annual magistrates, and the authority of laws more powerful than that of men. Liv. 2.1.2Quae lībertās ut laetior esset, proxumī rēgis superbia fēcerat.That this liberty was all the more welcome had been the work of the last king's arrogance. Liv. 2.1.2Nam priōrēs ita regnārunt, ut haud inmeritō omnēs deinceps conditōrēs partium certē urbis, quās novās ipsī sēdēs ab sē auctae multitūdinis addidērunt, numerentur.For the earlier kings reigned in such a way that all of them in turn may deservedly be counted as founders at least of parts of the city, which they added themselves as new homes for the population they had increased. Liv. 2.1.3Neque ambigitur, quīn Brūtus īdem, quī tantum glōriae Superbō exāctō rēge meruit, pessimō pūblicō id factūrus fuerit, sī lībertātis inmātūrae cupīdine priōrum rēgum alicui regnum extorsisset.Nor is there any doubt that the same Brutus who earned so much glory by driving out the proud king would have done so to the greatest harm of the state if, through desire for a liberty that was not yet ripe, he had wrested the kingdom from any of the earlier kings.
Liv. 2.1.4Quid enim futūrum fuit, sī illa pāstōrum convenārumque plēbs, trānsfuga ex suīs populīs, sub tūtēlā inviolātī templī aut lībertātem aut certē inpūnitātem adepta, solūta rēgiō metū, agitārī coepta esset tribūniciīs procellīs et in aliēnā urbe cum patribus serere certāmina, priusquam pignera coniugum ac līberōrum cāritāsque ipsīus sōlī, cui longō tempore adsuēscitur, animōs eōrum cōnsociāsset?For what would have happened if that rabble of shepherds and immigrants, deserters from their own peoples, having gained under the protection of an inviolable sanctuary either liberty or at least impunity, had been freed from fear of a king and had begun to be stirred up by the storms of the tribunes and to sow quarrels with the senators in a city not their own, before pledges of wives and children and love of the very soil, to which one grows accustomed only over a long time, had united their hearts? Liv. 2.1.6Dissipātae rēs nōndum adultae discordiā forent, quās fōvit tranquilla moderātiō imperiī eōque nūtriendō perdūxit, ut bonam frūgem lībertātis mātūrīs iam vīribus ferre possent.The state, not yet grown to maturity, would have been torn apart by discord; but the calm moderation of the government cherished it, and by that nurture brought it to the point where, its strength now ripe, it could bear the good fruit of liberty.
Liv. 2.1.7Lībertātis autem orīginem inde magis, quia annuum imperium cōnsulāre factum est, quam quod dēminūtum quicquam sit ex rēgiā potestāte, numerēs.And you would reckon the origin of liberty to lie rather in the fact that the consuls' power was made annual than in any lessening of the royal authority. Liv. 2.1.7Omnia iūra, omnia īnsignia prīmī cōnsulēs tenuēre;The first consuls kept all the rights and all the insignia; Liv. 2.1.8id modo cautum est, nē, sī ambō fascēs habērent, duplicātus terror vidērētur.only this precaution was taken, that both should not have the fasces at once, lest the terror should seem doubled. Liv. 2.1.8Brūtus prior concēdente collēgā fascēs habuit;Brutus, with his colleague's consent, had the fasces first; Liv. 2.1.8quī nōn ācrior vindex lībertātis fuerat, quam deinde custōs fuit.and he had been no keener as champion of liberty than he afterwards was as its guardian. Liv. 2.1.9Omnium prīmum avidum novae lībertātis populum, nē postmodum flectī precibus aut dōnīs rēgiīs posset, iūre iūrandō adēgit nēminem Rōmae passūrōs regnāre.First of all, so that the people, eager for their new liberty, could not later be swayed by the pleas or gifts of the kings, he bound them by an oath that they would allow no one to be king at Rome.
Liv. 2.1.10Deinde, quō plūs vīrium in senātū frequentia etiam ōrdinis faceret, caedibus rēgis dēminūtum patrum numerum prīmōribus equestris gradūs lēctīs ad trecentōrum summam explēvit;Next, so that the full numbers of the order might also lend more strength to the senate, he made up the number of senators, which had been reduced by the king's killings, to a total of three hundred, choosing the leading men of equestrian rank; Liv. 2.1.11trāditumque inde fertur, ut in senātum vocārentur, quī patrēs quīque cōnscrīptī essent: cōnscrīptōs, vidēlicet novum senātum, appellābant lēctōs.and from this, it is said, came the custom that those summoned to the senate were the Fathers and those who were Enrolled: those chosen, that is, the new senate, they called the Enrolled. Liv. 2.1.11Id mīrum quantum prōfuit ad concordiam cīvitātis iungendōsque patribus plēbis animōs.It is remarkable how much this helped towards the harmony of the state and towards binding the hearts of the commons to the senators.