Liv. 2.23.1Sed et bellum Volscum imminēbat, et cīvitās sēcum ipsa discors intestīnō inter patrēs plēbemque flagrābat odiō, maximē propter nexōs ob aes aliēnum.But a Volscian war was threatening, and the state, at odds with itself, was ablaze with internal hatred between senators and plebs, chiefly on account of those bound over for debt. Liv. 2.23.1Fremēbant sē forīs prō lībertāte et imperiō dīmicantēs domī ā cīvibus captōs et oppressōs esse, tūtiōremque in bellō quam in pāce et inter hostīs quam inter cīvīs lībertātem plēbis esse;They complained loudly that while they fought abroad for liberty and empire, at home they were captured and oppressed by their fellow citizens, and that the liberty of the plebs was safer in war than in peace, and among enemies than among citizens; Liv. 2.23.2invidiamque eam suā sponte glīscentem īnsignis ūnīus calamitās accendit.and this resentment, growing of its own accord, was inflamed by the striking misfortune of one man. Liv. 2.23.3Magnō nātū quīdam cum omnium malōrum suōrum īnsignibus sē in forum prōiēcit.A man of great age, bearing the marks of all his sufferings, flung himself into the forum. Liv. 2.23.4Obsita erat squālōre vestis, foedior corporis habitus pallōre ac maciē perēmptī;His clothing was covered in filth, and the state of his body was still more hideous, wasted with pallor and leanness; Liv. 2.23.4ad hoc prōmissa barba et capillī efferāverant speciem ōris.besides this, his long beard and hair had given his face a savage look.
Liv. 2.23.4Nōscitābātur tamen in tantā dēfōrmitāte, et ōrdinēs dūxisse Aiēbant aliaque mīlitiae decora vulgō miserantēs eum iactābant;Yet he was recognised in spite of such great disfigurement, and people said that he had commanded a company, and in their pity openly recounted his other military distinctions; Liv. 2.23.4ipse testēs honestārum aliquot locīs pugnārum cicātrīcēs adversō pectore ostentābat.he himself displayed scars on the front of his chest, witnesses to honourable fighting in several places. Liv. 2.23.5Scīscitantibus, unde ille habitus, unde dēfōrmitās, cum circumfūsa turba esset prope in contiōnis modum, Sabīnō bellō ait sē mīlitantem, quia propter populātiōnēs agrī nōn frūctū modo caruerit, sed vīlla incēnsa fuerit, dīrepta omnia, pecora abācta, tribūtum inīquō suō tempore imperātum, aes aliēnum fēcisse.When they asked why he was in that condition and why so disfigured, while the crowd had gathered round him almost like an assembly, he said that while he was serving in the Sabine war, since he had not only lost his crops through the plundering of his land but his farmhouse had been burned, everything looted, his cattle driven off, and a tax imposed at a time unfair to him, he had run into debt.
Liv. 2.23.6Id cumulātum ūsūrīs prīmō sē agrō paternō avītōque exuisse, deinde fortūnīs aliīs, postrēmō velut tābem pervēnisse ad corpus;This debt, swollen by interest, had first stripped him of his father's and grandfather's land, then of his other possessions, and finally, like a wasting disease, had reached his person; Liv. 2.23.6ductum sē ab crēditōre nōn in servitium, sed in ergastulum et carnificīnam esse.he had been taken off by his creditor not into slavery but into a prison-workhouse and a torture-chamber. Liv. 2.23.7Inde ostentāre tergum foedum recentibus vestīgiīs verberum.Then he displayed his back, disfigured by fresh marks of the lash. Liv. 2.23.7Ad haec vīsa audītaque clamor ingēns orītur.At this sight and story a great outcry arises. Liv. 2.23.7Nōn iam forō sē tumultus continet, sed passim tōtam urbem pervādit.The uproar no longer keeps within the forum, but spreads everywhere through the whole city. Liv. 2.23.8Nexī, vinctī solūtīque, sē undique in pūblicum prōripiunt, inplōrant Quirītium fidem.The debt-bondsmen, in chains and out of them, rush into the streets from every side and implore the protection of the Quirites. Liv. 2.23.8Nūllō locō dēest sēditiōnis voluntārius comes;Nowhere is a willing companion for sedition lacking; Liv. 2.23.8multīs passim agminibus per omnēs viās cum clamōre in forum curritur.in many crowds everywhere, through all the streets, people run shouting into the forum.
Liv. 2.23.9Magnō cum perīculō suō, quī forte patrum in forō erant, in eam turbam incidērunt;Those of the senators who happened to be in the forum fell in with this mob at great danger to themselves; Liv. 2.23.10nec temperātum manibus foret, nī properē cōnsulēs, P. Servīlius et Ap. Claudius, ad conprimendam sēditiōnem intervēnissent.and they would not have kept their hands off them, had not the consuls, Publius Servilius and Appius Claudius, quickly intervened to put down the sedition. Liv. 2.23.10At in eōs multitūdō versa ostentāre vincula sua dēfōrmitātemque aliam.But the crowd turned on them and displayed their chains and their other disfigurements. Liv. 2.23.11Haec sē meritōs dīcere exprobrantēs suam quisque alius alibī mīlitiam;This, they said, was what they had earned, each reproachfully recalling his own service, one in one place, another in another; Liv. 2.23.11postulāre multō mināciter magis quam suppliciter, ut senātum vocārent, cūriamque ipsī futūrī arbitrī moderātōrēsque pūblicī cōnsiliī circumsistunt.they demanded, much more threateningly than suppliantly, that the consuls summon the senate, and they surround the senate-house themselves, meaning to be the arbiters and directors of public policy.
Liv. 2.23.12Paucī admodum patrum, quōs cāsus obtulerat, contrāctī ab cōnsulibus;Only a very few of the senators, whom chance had brought there, were gathered by the consuls; Liv. 2.23.12cēterōs metus nōn cūriā modo sed etiam forō arcēbat, nec agī quicquam per īnfrequentiam poterat senātus.the rest were kept away by fear not only from the senate-house but even from the forum, and nothing could be done because the senate was so thinly attended. Liv. 2.23.13Tum vērō ēlūdī atque extrahī sē multitūdō putāre, et patrum quī abessent, nōn cāsū, nōn metū, sed inpediendae reī causā abesse, et cōnsulēs ipsōs tergiversārī, nec dubiē lūdibriō esse miseriās suās.Then indeed the crowd thought that they were being mocked and put off, that those of the senators who were absent were absent not by chance, not from fear, but to obstruct the business, that the consuls themselves were evading the issue, and that their sufferings were plainly being made a mockery. Liv. 2.23.14Iam prope erat, ut nē cōnsulum quidem maiestās coercēret īrās hominum, cum incertī, morandō an veniendō plūs perīculī contraherent, tandem in senātum veniunt;It had almost come to the point where not even the majesty of the consuls would restrain men's anger, when the absent senators, uncertain whether they would incur more danger by delaying or by coming, at last come into the senate; Liv. 2.23.14frequentīque cūriā nōn modo inter patrēs sed nē inter cōnsulēs quidem ipsōs satis conveniēbat.and though the house was full, there was no real agreement, not only among the senators but not even between the consuls themselves.
Liv. 2.23.15Appius, vehementis ingeniī vir, imperiō cōnsulārī rem agendam cēnsēbat: ūnō aut alterō adreptō quiētūrōs aliōs;Appius, a man of violent temperament, thought the matter should be handled by consular authority: once one or two were arrested, the rest would be quiet; Liv. 2.23.15Servīlius, lēnibus remediīs aptior, concitātōs animōs flectī quam frangī putābat cum tūtius tum facilius esse.Servilius, more inclined to gentle remedies, thought that it was both safer and easier for inflamed spirits to be bent than broken.