Liv. 2.41.1Sp. Cassius deinde et Proculus Verginius cōnsulēs factī.Then Spurius Cassius and Proculus Verginius were made consuls. Liv. 2.41.1Cum Hernicīs foedus ictum;A treaty was struck with the Hernici; Liv. 2.41.1agrī partēs duae adēmptae.two-thirds of their land were taken from them. Liv. 2.41.1Inde dīmidium Latīnīs, dīmidium plēbī dīvīsūrus cōnsul Cassius erat.The consul Cassius intended to divide this, half to the Latins, half to the plebs. Liv. 2.41.2Adiciēbat huic mūnerī agrī aliquantum, quem pūblicum possidērī ā prīvātīs crīminābātur.To this gift he was adding a good deal of land which, he charged, was public but held by private persons. Liv. 2.41.2Id multōs quidem patrum, ipsōs possessōrēs, perīculō rērum suārum terrēbat;This alarmed many of the senators, the holders themselves, with danger to their property; Liv. 2.41.2sed et pūblica patribus sollicitūdō īnerat, largītiōne cōnsulem perīculōsās lībertātī opēs struere.but the senators also felt a public anxiety, that the consul was building up through his largess a power dangerous to liberty. Liv. 2.41.3Tum prīmum lēx agrāria prōmulgāta est, numquam deinde ūsque ad hanc memoriam sine maximīs mōtibus rērum agitāta.Then for the first time an agrarian law was proposed, which has never since, down to our own memory, been debated without the greatest upheavals.
Liv. 2.41.4Cōnsul alter largītiōnī resistēbat auctōribus patribus nec omnī plēbe adversante, quae prīmō coeperat fastīdīre mūnus vulgātum: ā cīvibus abīsse in sociōs;The other consul resisted the largess, with the backing of the senators and with not all the plebs against him, which had at first begun to disdain a gift made common: it had passed from citizens to allies; Liv. 2.41.5saepe deinde et Verginium cōnsulem in contiōnibus velut vāticinantem audiēbat, pestilēns collēgae mūnus esse, agrōs illōs servitūtem iīs, quī accēperint, lātūrōs, regnō viam fierī.then too it often heard the consul Verginius in assemblies, prophesying as it were, saying that his colleague's gift was pestilent, that those lands would bring slavery to those who received them, that the way was being paved to kingship. Liv. 2.41.5Quid ita enim adsūmī sociōs et nōmen Latīnum?For why else were the allies and the Latin name being brought in? Liv. 2.41.6Quid attinuisse Hernicīs, paulō ante hostibus, captī agrī partem tertiam reddī, nisi ut eae gentēs prō Coriolānō ducem Cassium habeant?What was the point of giving back a third of the captured land to the Hernici, enemies a little while ago, unless it was so that those nations might have Cassius as their leader in place of Coriolanus?
Liv. 2.41.6Populāris iam esse dissuāsor et intercessor lēgis agrāriae coeperat.The man who spoke against the agrarian law and vetoed it had now begun to be popular. Liv. 2.41.7Uterque deinde cōnsul certātim plēbī indulgēre.Then both consuls vied with each other in indulging the plebs. Liv. 2.41.7Verginius dīcere passūrum sē adsignārī agrōs, dum nē cui nisi cīvī Rōmānō adsignentur;Verginius said he would allow lands to be assigned, provided they were assigned to no one but a Roman citizen; Liv. 2.41.8Cassius, quia in agrāriā largītiōne ambitiōsus in sociōs eōque cīvibus vīlior erat, ut aliō mūnere sibi reconciliāret cīvium animōs, iubēre prō Siculō frūmentō pecūniam acceptam retribuī populō.Cassius, because in the agrarian largess he had courted the allies and so stood lower with the citizens, in order to win back the citizens' hearts by another gift, ordered that the money received for the Sicilian grain should be paid back to the people. Liv. 2.41.9Id vērō haud secus quam praesentem mercēdem regnī aspernāta plēbēs;This in truth the plebs spurned, just as if it were a down-payment for kingship; Liv. 2.41.9adeō propter suspīciōnem īnsitam animīs hominum regnī, velut abundārent omnia, mūnera eius respuēbantur.so deeply, through the suspicion of kingship rooted in men's minds, were his gifts rejected, as though they had more than enough of everything.
Liv. 2.41.10Quem, ubi prīmum magistrātū abiit, damnātum necātumque cōnstat.It is agreed that as soon as he left office he was condemned and put to death. Liv. 2.41.10Sunt, quī patrem auctōrem eius suppliciī ferant: eum cognitā domī causā verberāsse ac necāsse pecūliumque fīliī Cererī cōnsecrāvisse;There are those who say that his father was responsible for that punishment: that having tried the case at home, he scourged him and put him to death, and dedicated his son's private property to Ceres; Liv. 2.41.10signum inde factum esse et īnscrīptum "ex Cassiā familiā datum."that a statue was made from it and inscribed, 'Given from the Cassian family.' Liv. 2.41.11Inveniō apud quōsdam, idque propius fidem est, ā quaestōribus Caesōne Fabiō et L. Valeriō diem dictam perduelliōnis, damnātumque populī iūdiciō, dīrutās pūblicē aedēs.I find in some writers, and this is closer to belief, that a day was named for him by the quaestors Caeso Fabius and Lucius Valerius on a charge of treason, and that, after he was condemned by the judgement of the people, his house was pulled down by public order.
Liv. 2.41.11Ea est ārea ante Tellūris aedem.That is the open space in front of the temple of Tellus. Liv. 2.41.11Cēterum, sīve illud domesticum sīve pūblicum fuit iūdicium, damnātur Ser. Cornēliō Q. Fabiō cōnsulibus.However, whether that trial was domestic or public, he is condemned in the consulship of Servius Cornelius and Quintus Fabius.