Liv. 2.35.1Et senātuī nimis atrōx vīsa sententia est, et plēbem īra prope armāvit: fame sē iam sīcut hostēs petī, cibō vīctūque fraudārī;The proposal both seemed too harsh to the senate and nearly drove the plebs to arms in anger: they were now being attacked with hunger as if they were enemies, and cheated of food and sustenance; Liv. 2.35.1peregrīnum frūmentum, quae sōla alimenta ex īnspērātō fortūna dederit, ab ōre rapī, nisi Cn. Mārciō vinctī dēdantur tribūnī, nisi dē tergō plēbis Rōmānae satisfīat.the foreign grain, the only nourishment which fortune had unexpectedly given them, was being snatched from their mouths unless the tribunes were handed over in chains to Gnaeus Marcius, unless he took satisfaction on the backs of the Roman plebs. Liv. 2.35.1Eum sibi carnificem novum exortum, quī aut morī aut servīre iubeat.He had risen up as a new executioner for them, to order them either to die or to be slaves. Liv. 2.35.2In exeuntem ē cūriā impetus factus esset, nī peropportūnē tribūnī diem dīxissent.He would have been attacked as he came out of the senate house, had not the tribunes very opportunely named a day for his trial.
Liv. 2.35.2Ibi īra est suppressa: sē iūdicem quisque, sē dominum vītae necisque inimīcī factum vidēbat.At that their anger was checked: each saw himself made judge, made master of life and death over his enemy. Liv. 2.35.3Contemptim prīmō Mārcius audiēbat minās tribūniciās: auxiliī, nōn poenae iūs datum illī potestātī, plēbisque nōn patrum tribūnōs esse.At first Marcius heard the tribunes' threats with contempt: the right given to that office was to help, not to punish, and they were tribunes of the plebs, not of the senators. Liv. 2.35.3Sed adeō īnfēnsa erat coorta plēbs, ut ūnīus poenā dēfungendum esset patribus.But the plebs had risen in such hostility that the senators had to settle the matter by the punishment of one man. Liv. 2.35.4Restitērunt tamen adversae invidiae ūsīque sunt quā suīs quisque, quā tōtīus ōrdinis vīribus.They resisted the ill will against them, nevertheless, and used both each man's own strength and that of the whole order. Liv. 2.35.4Ac prīmō temptāta rēs est, sī dispositīs clientibus absterrendō singulōs ā coitiōnibus conciliīsque disicere rem possent.And first they tried whether, by posting their clients here and there and scaring individuals away from meetings and assemblies, they could break the business up.
Liv. 2.35.5Ūniversī deinde prōcessēre — quidquid erat patrum, reōs dīcerēs — precibus plēbem exposcentēs, ūnum sibi cīvem, ūnum senātōrem, sī innocentem absolvere nōllent, prō nocente dōnārent.Then they came forward all together — you would have said that the whole body of senators were on trial — begging the plebs with prayers that, if they would not acquit one citizen, one senator, as innocent, they would make them a gift of him as one guilty. Liv. 2.35.6Ipse cum diē dictā nōn adesset, persevērātum in īrā est.When he himself did not appear on the appointed day, they persisted in their anger. Liv. 2.35.6Damnātus absēns in Volscōs exulātum abiit minitāns patriae hostīlēsque iam tum spīritūs gerēns.Condemned in his absence, he went into exile among the Volsci, threatening his country and already then bearing an enemy's spirit. Liv. 2.35.6Venientem Volscī benignē excēpēre benigniusque in diēs colēbant, quō maior īra in suōs ēminēbat, crēbraeque nunc querellae, nunc minae percipiēbantur.The Volsci received him kindly when he came, and courted him more kindly every day, the more his anger against his own people stood out, and now complaints, now threats were frequently heard.
Liv. 2.35.6Hospitiō ūtēbātur Attī Tullī.He enjoyed the hospitality of Attius Tullius. Liv. 2.35.7Longē is tum prīnceps Volscī nōminis erat Rōmānīsque semper īnfestus.He was at that time by far the leading man of the Volscian name, and always hostile to the Romans. Liv. 2.35.7Ita cum alterum vetus odium, alterum īra recēns stimulāret, cōnsilia cōnferunt dē Rōmānō bellō.So, since old hatred spurred the one and fresh anger the other, they put their heads together about a war with Rome. Liv. 2.35.8Haud facile crēdēbant plēbem suam inpellī posse, ut totiēns īnfēlīciter temptāta arma caperent: multīs saepe bellīs, pestilentiā postrēmō āmissā iuventūte frāctōs spīritūs esse;They did not easily believe that their people could be driven to take up arms so often tried without success: their spirits had been broken by many wars, often fought, and lastly by the loss of their young men to plague; Liv. 2.35.8arte agendum in exolētō iam vetustāte odiō, ut recentī aliquā īrā exacerbārentur animī.they must act with cunning, since the hatred was now worn out by age, so that their minds might be embittered by some fresh anger.