Liv. 2.27.1Fūsīs Auruncīs victor tot intrā paucōs diēs bellīs Rōmānus prōmissa cōnsulis fidemque senātūs expectābat, cum Appius et īnsitā superbiā animō et ut collēgae vānam faceret fidem, quam asperrimē poterat, iūs dē crēditīs pecūniīs dīcere.With the Aurunci routed, the Roman people, victorious in so many wars within a few days, was waiting for the consul's promises and the senate's pledge to be kept, when Appius, both from the arrogance inborn in his character and to make his colleague's pledge worthless, began to give judgment on debts as harshly as he could. Liv. 2.27.1Deinceps et, quī ante nexī fuerant, crēditōribus trādēbantur et nectēbantur aliī.From then on those who had been bondsmen before were handed over to their creditors, and others were made bondsmen. Liv. 2.27.2Quod ubi cui mīlitī inciderat, collēgam appellābat.Whenever this befell a soldier, he appealed to the other consul. Liv. 2.27.2Concursus ad Servīlium fīēbat;There was a rush to Servilius; Liv. 2.27.2illīus prōmissa iactābant;they kept throwing his promises in his face; Liv. 2.27.2illī exprobrābant sua quisque bellī merita cicātrīcēsque acceptās.they reproached him, each with his own services in war and the scars he had received.
Liv. 2.27.2Postulābant, ut aut referret ad senātum, aut auxiliō esset cōnsul cīvibus suīs, imperātor mīlitibus.They demanded that he either refer the matter to the senate or come to the help of his fellow citizens as consul and of his soldiers as commander. Liv. 2.27.2Movēbant cōnsulem haec, sed tergiversārī rēs cōgēbat;These things moved the consul, but the situation forced him to evade the issue; Liv. 2.27.3adeō in alteram causam nōn collēga sōlum praeceps erat, sed omnis factiō nōbilium.so headlong for the other side were not only his colleague but the whole faction of the nobles. Liv. 2.27.3Ita medium sē gerendō nec plēbis vītāvit odium nec apud patrēs grātiam iniit.So by taking a middle course he neither escaped the hatred of the plebs nor won favour with the senators. Liv. 2.27.4Patrēs mollem cōnsulem et ambitiōsum ratī, plēbēs fallācem;The senators thought the consul weak and a courter of popularity, the plebs thought him false; Liv. 2.27.4brevīque appāruit aequāsse eum Appiī odium.and it soon became clear that he had come to be as hated as Appius.
Liv. 2.27.4Certāmen cōnsulibus inciderat, uter dēdicāret Mercurī aedem.A dispute had arisen between the consuls as to which of them should dedicate the temple of Mercury. Liv. 2.27.5Senātus ā sē rem ad populum rēiēcit: utrī eōrum dēdicātiō iussū populī data esset, eum praeesse annōnae, mercātōrum collēgium īnstituere, sollemnia prō pontifice iussit suscipere.The senate passed the matter from itself to the people: whichever of them was given the dedication by order of the people, him it ordered to preside over the grain supply, establish a guild of merchants, and perform the rites in place of the pontiff. Liv. 2.27.6Populus dēdicātiōnem aedis dat M. Laetōriō, prīmī pīlī centuriōnī, quod facile appārēret nōn tam ad honōrem eius, cui cūrātiō altior fastīgiō suō data esset, factum quam ad cōnsulum ignōminiam.The people give the dedication of the temple to Marcus Laetorius, a chief centurion, so that it was easy to see that this was done not so much to honour him, to whom a charge above his rank had been given, as to disgrace the consuls. Liv. 2.27.7Saevīre inde utique cōnsulum alter patrēsque;From then on one of the consuls in particular, and the senators, raged; Liv. 2.27.7sed plēbī crēverant animī, et longē aliā quam prīmō īnstituerant viā grassābantur.but the plebs' spirits had risen, and they were going about it in a very different way from the one they had first adopted.
Liv. 2.27.8Dēspērātō enim cōnsulum senātūsque auxiliō, cum in iūs dūcī dēbitōrem vīdissent, undique convolābant.For, despairing of help from the consuls and the senate, whenever they saw a debtor being led into court they would come flying together from every side. Liv. 2.27.8Neque dēcrētum exaudīrī cōnsulis prae strepitū et clamōre poterat, neque, cum dēcrēsset, quisquam obtemperābat.Neither could the consul's decision be heard for the din and shouting, nor, when he had given it, did anyone obey. Liv. 2.27.9Vī agēbātur, metusque omnis et perīculum, cum in cōnspectū cōnsulis singulī ā plūribus violārentur, in crēditōrēs ā dēbitōribus verterant.Force prevailed, and all the fear and danger, since in the consul's sight individuals were being roughly handled by numbers, had passed from the debtors to the creditors. Liv. 2.27.9Super haec timor incessit Sabīnī bellī;On top of this came the fear of a Sabine war; Liv. 2.27.10dīlēctūque dēcrētō nēmō nōmen dedit, furente Appiō et īnsectante ambitiōnem collēgae, quī populārī silentiō rem pūblicam prōderet et ad id, quod dē crēditā pecūniā iūs nōn dīxisset, adiceret, ut nē dīlēctum quidem ex senātūs cōnsultō habēret: nōn esse tamen dēsertam omnīnō rem pūblicam neque prōiectum cōnsulāre imperium;and when a levy was decreed no one gave in his name, while Appius raged and attacked his colleague's courting of popularity, saying that he was betraying the state by a demagogue's silence and, on top of not giving judgment on debts, was not even holding a levy as the senate had decreed: yet the state was not wholly deserted, nor the consular authority thrown away; Liv. 2.27.11sē ūnum et suae et patrum maiestātis vindicem fore.he alone would be the champion of both his own majesty and the senators'.
Liv. 2.27.11Cum circumstāret cōtīdiāna multitūdō licentiā accēnsa, arripī ūnum īnsignem ducem sēditiōnum iussit.When the daily crowd, inflamed by licence, stood around him, he ordered one conspicuous ringleader of the disturbances to be seized. Liv. 2.27.12Ille cum ā līctōribus iam traherētur, prōvocāvit;When the man was already being dragged off by the lictors, he appealed; Liv. 2.27.12nec cessisset prōvocātiōnī cōnsul, quia nōn dubium erat populī iūdicium, nisi aegrē victa pertinācia foret cōnsiliō magis et auctōritāte prīncipum quam populī clamōre;and the consul would not have yielded to the appeal, since the people's verdict was not in doubt, had his obstinacy not been overcome with difficulty, by the advice and influence of the leading men rather than by the clamour of the people; Liv. 2.27.12adeō supererant animī ad sustinendam invidiam.so much spirit did he have to spare for withstanding hatred. Liv. 2.27.13Crēscere inde malum in diēs nōn clamōribus modo apertīs, sed, quod multō perniciōsius erat, sēcessiōne occultīsque conloquiīs.From then on the evil grew day by day, not only through open outcries but, what was far more dangerous, through withdrawal and secret meetings.
Liv. 2.27.13Tandem invīsī plēbī cōnsulēs magistrātū abeunt, Servīlius neutrīs, Appius patribus mīrē grātus.At last the consuls, hated by the plebs, leave office, Servilius liked by neither side, Appius remarkably popular with the senators.