Liv. 2.43.1Q. Fabius inde et C. Iūlius cōnsulēs factī.Next Quintus Fabius and Gaius Julius were made consuls. Liv. 2.43.1Eō annō nōn segnior discordia domī et bellum forīs atrōcius fuit.That year the discord at home was no less intense, and the war abroad was fiercer. Liv. 2.43.1Ab Aequīs arma sūmpta;The Aequi took up arms; Liv. 2.43.1Veientēs agrum quoque Rōmānōrum populantēs iniērunt.the Veientes also entered Roman territory, laying it waste. Liv. 2.43.1Quōrum bellōrum crēscente cūrā K. Fabius et Sp. Fūrius cōnsulēs fīunt.As anxiety over these wars grew, Kaeso Fabius and Spurius Furius became consuls. Liv. 2.43.1Ortōnam, Latīnam urbem, Aequī oppugnābant;The Aequi were besieging Ortona, a Latin city; Liv. 2.43.2Veientēs plēnī iam populātiōnum Rōmam ipsam sē oppugnātūrōs minābantur.the Veientes, now glutted with plunder, were threatening that they would besiege Rome itself. Liv. 2.43.2Quī terrōrēs cum compescere dēbērent, auxēre īnsuper animōs plēbis;Though these terrors ought to have checked the spirits of the plebs, they actually raised them higher; Liv. 2.43.3redībatque nōn suā sponte plēbī mōs dētractandī mīlitiam, sed Sp. Licinius tribūnus plēbis, vēnisse tempus ratus per ultimam necessitātem lēgis agrāriae patribus iniungendae, suscēperat rem mīlitārem impediendam.and the plebs were returning to their habit of refusing military service, not of their own accord: Spurius Licinius, tribune of the plebs, believing that the time had come to force an agrarian law on the senators through the utmost necessity, had undertaken to obstruct the military levy.
Liv. 2.43.4Cēterum tōta invidia tribūniciae potestātis versa in auctōrem est, nec in eum cōnsulēs ācrius quam ipsīus collēgae coortī sunt, auxiliōque eōrum dīlēctum cōnsulēs habent.But all the odium of the tribunician power turned against its author, and the consuls attacked him no more fiercely than his own colleagues did, and with their help the consuls held the levy. Liv. 2.43.5Ad duo simul bella exercitus scrībitur;An army is enrolled for two wars at once; Liv. 2.43.5dūcendus Fabiō in Veientēs, in Aequōs Fūriō datur.Fabius is given one to lead against the Veientes, Furius one against the Aequi. Liv. 2.43.5Et in Aequīs quidem nihil dignum memoriā gestum est;Among the Aequi, indeed, nothing worth remembering was done; Liv. 2.43.6Fabiō aliquantō plūs negōtiī cum cīvibus quam cum hostibus fuit.Fabius had rather more trouble with his fellow citizens than with the enemy. Liv. 2.43.6Ūnus ille vir, ipse cōnsul, rem pūblicam sustinuit, quam exercitus odiō cōnsulis, quantum in sē fuit, prōdēbat.That one man, the consul himself, upheld the state, which the army, out of hatred for the consul, was betraying as far as lay in its power. Liv. 2.43.6Nam cum cōnsul praeter cēterās imperātōriās artēs, quās parandō gerendōque bellō ēdidit plūrimās, ita īnstrūxisset aciem, ut sōlō equitātū ēmissō exercitum hostium funderet, īnsequī fūsōs pedēs nōluit;For when the consul, besides the other skills of a general, which he displayed in abundance in preparing and conducting the war, had drawn up his line in such a way that by sending out the cavalry alone he routed the enemy army, the infantry refused to pursue the routed foe; Liv. 2.43.8nec illōs, etsī nōn adhortātiō invīsī ducis, suum saltem flāgitium et pūblicum in praesentiā dēdecus, postmodo perīculum, sī animus hostī redīsset, cōgere potuit gradum accelerāre aut, sī aliud nihil, stāre īnstrūctōs.nor could they be compelled, if not by the exhortation of a hated leader, then at least by their own disgrace and the public shame at that moment, and the danger afterwards if the enemy regained his courage, to quicken their pace or, if nothing else, to stand in formation.
Liv. 2.43.9Iniussū signa referunt maestīque — crēderēs victōs — , exsecrantēs nunc imperātōrem nunc nāvātam ab equite operam, redeunt in castra.Without orders they carry back the standards, and gloomily — you would have thought them beaten — cursing now their general, now the effort the cavalry had put forth, they return to camp. Liv. 2.43.10Nec huic tam pestilentī exemplō remedia ūlla ab imperātōre quaesīta sunt;Nor did the general seek any remedies for so pernicious an example; Liv. 2.43.10adeō excellentibus ingeniīs citius dēfuerit ars, quā cīvem regant, quam quā hostem superent.so true is it that men of outstanding gifts will sooner lack the art of ruling a citizen than that of conquering an enemy. Liv. 2.43.11Cōnsul Rōmam rediit nōn tam bellī glōriā auctā quam inrītātō exacerbātōque in sē mīlitum odiō.The consul returned to Rome not so much with his glory in war increased as with the soldiers' hatred of him provoked and embittered. Liv. 2.43.11Obtinuēre tamen patrēs, ut in Fabiā gente cōnsulātus manēret;The senators nevertheless managed to keep the consulship in the Fabian clan; Liv. 2.43.11M. Fabium cōnsulem creant, Fabiō collēga Cn. Mānlius datur.they elect Marcus Fabius consul, and Gnaeus Manlius is given to Fabius as colleague.