Liv. 2.54.1L. Fūrius inde et C. Mānlius cōnsulēs.Next Lucius Furius and Gaius Manlius were consuls. Liv. 2.54.1Mānliō Veientēs prōvincia ēvēnit.Manlius drew the Veientes as his province. Liv. 2.54.1Nōn tamen bellātum;Yet there was no war; Liv. 2.54.1indūtiae in annōs quadrāgintā petentibus datae frūmentō stīpendiōque imperātō.at their request a truce for forty years was granted, with grain and pay for the troops demanded of them. Liv. 2.54.2Pācī externae cōnfestim continuātur discordia domī.Peace abroad is at once followed by discord at home. Liv. 2.54.2Agrāriae lēgis tribūniciīs stimulīs plēbs furēbat.The plebs were raging under the tribunes' goading over the agrarian law. Liv. 2.54.2Cōnsulēs, nihil Menēnī damnātiōne, nihil perīculō dēterritī Servīliī, summā vī resistunt.The consuls, deterred not at all by the condemnation of Menenius, not at all by the danger of Servilius, resist with all their might. Liv. 2.54.2Abeuntēs magistrātū Cn. Genucius tribūnus plēbis arripuit.As they left office, Gnaeus Genucius, tribune of the plebs, seized upon them. Liv. 2.54.2L. Aemilius et Opiter Verginius cōnsulātum ineunt;Lucius Aemilius and Opiter Verginius enter upon the consulship; Liv. 2.54.3Vopiscum Iūlium prō Verginiō in quibusdam annālibus cōnsulem inveniō.in some annals I find Vopiscus Julius as consul instead of Verginius.
Liv. 2.54.3Hōc annō — quōscumque cōnsulēs habuit — reī ad populum Fūrius et Mānlius circumeunt sordidātī nōn plēbem magis quam iūniōrēs patrum.This year — whatever consuls it had — Furius and Manlius, as defendants before the people, go about in mourning dress, appealing not so much to the plebs as to the younger patricians. Liv. 2.54.3Suādent, monent, honōribus et administrātiōne reī pūblicae abstineant;They urge and warn them to keep away from offices and the administration of the state; Liv. 2.54.4cōnsulārēs vērō fascēs, praetextam curūlemque sellam nihil aliud quam pompam fūneris putent;they should regard the consular fasces, the purple-bordered toga and the curule chair as nothing else than the pomp of a funeral; Liv. 2.54.5clārīs īnsignibus velut īnfulīs vēlātōs ad mortem dēstinārī.decked with these brilliant insignia as with the fillets of sacrificial victims, men were marked out for death. Liv. 2.54.5Quod sī cōnsulātūs tanta dulcēdō sit, iam nunc ita in animum indūcant, cōnsulātum captum et oppressum ab tribūniciā potestāte esse;But if the consulship held such charm, let them now make up their minds that the consulship had been captured and crushed by the tribunician power; Liv. 2.54.6cōnsulī, velut appāritōrī tribūniciō, omnia ad nūtum imperiumque tribūnī agenda esse;the consul, like a tribune's attendant, had to do everything at the tribune's nod and command; Liv. 2.54.6sī sē commōverit, sī respexerit patrēs, sī aliud quam plēbem esse in rē pūblicā crēdiderit, exilium Cn. Mārcī, Menēnī damnātiōnem et mortem sibi prōpōnat ante oculōs.if he stirred, if he paid regard to the senators, if he believed there was anything in the state besides the plebs, let him set before his eyes the exile of Gnaeus Marcius and the condemnation and death of Menenius.
Liv. 2.54.7Hīs accēnsī vōcibus patrēs cōnsilia inde nōn pūblica, sed in prīvātō sēductaque ā plūrium cōnscientiā habuēre.Fired by these words, the senators thereafter held their deliberations not in public but in private, withdrawn from the knowledge of the many. Liv. 2.54.7Ubi cum id modo cōnstāret, iūre an iniūriā ēripiendōs esse reōs, atrōcissima quaeque maximē placēbat sententia, nec auctor quamvīs audācī facinorī deerat erat.There, since only this was agreed, that the defendants must be rescued, by right or by wrong, the most savage proposal was the one most approved, and there was no lack of a sponsor for a deed however audacious. Liv. 2.54.8Igitur iūdiciī diē, cum plēbs in forō ērēctā expectātiōne stāret, mīrārī prīmō, quod nōn dēscenderet tribūnus;So on the day of the trial, when the plebs stood in the Forum in eager expectation, they at first wondered why the tribune did not come down; Liv. 2.54.8Dein, cum iam mora suspectior fieret, dēterritum ā prīmōribus crēdere et dēsertam ac prōditam causam pūblicam querī;then, as the delay was now becoming more suspicious, they believed he had been frightened off by the leading men and complained that the public cause had been deserted and betrayed; Liv. 2.54.9tandem, quī obversātī vestibulō tribūnī fuerant, nūntiant domī mortuum esse inventum.at last, those who had been waiting at the tribune's vestibule report that he has been found dead at home.
Liv. 2.54.9Quod ubi in tōtam contiōnem pertulit rūmor, sīcut aciēs funditur duce occīsō, ita dīlāpsī passim aliī aliō.When rumour carried this to the whole assembly, just as a battle line is routed when its leader is slain, so they slipped away in every direction, one here, one there. Liv. 2.54.9Praecipuus pavor tribūnōs invāserat, quam nihil auxiliī sacrātae lēgēs habērent, morte collēgae monitōs.Especial panic had seized the tribunes, warned by their colleague's death how little help the sacred laws gave. Liv. 2.54.9Nec patrēs satis moderātē ferre laetitiam;Nor did the senators bear their joy with enough restraint; Liv. 2.54.10adeōque nēminem noxiae paenitēbat, ut etiam īnsontēs fēcisse vidērī vellent, palamque ferrētur malō domandam tribūniciam potestātem.and so far was anyone from repenting of the crime, that even the innocent wished to be thought to have done it, and it was openly said that the tribunician power must be tamed by violence.