Liv. 2.56.1Volerōnem amplexa favōre plēbs proximīs comitiīs tribūnum plēbī creat in eum annum, quī L. Pīnārium P. Fūrium cōnsulēs habuit.The plebs, embracing Volero with their favour, at the next elections make him tribune of the plebs for the year which had Lucius Pinarius and Publius Furius as consuls. Liv. 2.56.2Contrāque omnium opīniōnem, quī eum vexandīs priōris annī cōnsulibus permissūrum tribūnātum crēdēbant, post pūblicam causam prīvātō dolōre habitō, nē verbō quidem violātīs cōnsulibus, rogātiōnem tulit ad populum, ut plēbēī magistrātūs tribūtīs comitiīs fierent.And contrary to the expectation of everyone, who believed that he would give his tribunate over to harassing the consuls of the previous year, he put the public cause before his private grievance and, without assailing the consuls by so much as a word, brought a bill before the people that plebeian magistrates should be elected in the assembly of the tribes. Liv. 2.56.3Haud parva rēs sub titulō prīmā speciē minimē atrōcī ferēbātur, sed quae patriciīs omnem potestātem per clientium suffrāgia creandī, quōs vellent, tribūnōs auferret.It was no small matter that was being proposed under a title that at first sight was not at all alarming, but one that would take from the patricians all power of electing the tribunes they wanted through the votes of their clients.
Liv. 2.56.4Huic āctiōnī grātissimae plēbī cum summā vī resisterent patrēs, nec, quae ūna vīs ad resistendum erat, ut intercēderet aliquis ex collēgiō auctōritāte aut cōnsulum aut prīncipum addūcī posset, rēs tamen suō ipsa mōlīmine gravis certāminibus in annum extrahitur.Though the senators resisted with the utmost force this measure, which was most welcome to the plebs, and though none of the college could be induced by the influence either of the consuls or of the leading men to interpose his veto, which was the one means of resistance, the matter, weighty in its own momentum, is nevertheless dragged out by contests into the following year. Liv. 2.56.5Plēbs Volerōnem tribūnum reficit;The plebs re-elect Volero tribune; Liv. 2.56.5patrēs, ad ultimum dīmicātiōnis ratī rem ventūram, Ap. Claudium, Appī fīlium, iam inde ā paternīs certāminibus invīsum īnfestumque plēbī, cōnsulem faciunt.the senators, thinking that the matter would come to a fight to the finish, make Appius Claudius, son of Appius, consul, a man hated by the plebs and hostile to them ever since his father's struggles. Liv. 2.56.5Collēga eī T. Quīnctius datur.Titus Quinctius is given to him as colleague.
Liv. 2.56.6Prīncipiō statim annī nihil prius quam dē lēge agēbātur.At the very beginning of the year nothing was taken up before the law. Liv. 2.56.6Sed ut inventor lēgis Volerō, sīc Laetōrius, collēga eius, auctor cum recentior, tum ācrior erat.But while Volero was the originator of the law, Laetorius, his colleague, was its champion, both newer to it and more ardent. Liv. 2.56.6Ferōcem faciēbat bellī glōria ingēns, quod aetātis eius haud quisquam manū promptior erat.He was made bold by his great glory in war, because no one of his age was readier with his hand. Liv. 2.56.7Is, cum Volerō nihil praeterquam dē lēge loquerētur, īnsectātiōne abstinēns cōnsulum, ipse accūsātiōnem Appī familiaeque superbissimae ac crūdēlissimae in plēbem Rōmānam exōrsus, cum ā patribus nōn cōnsulem, sed carnificem ad vexandam et lacerandam plēbem creātum esse contenderet, rudis in mīlitārī homine lingua nōn suppetēbat lībertātī animōque.While Volero spoke of nothing but the law, refraining from attacking the consuls, Laetorius himself launched into an indictment of Appius and of his family, the most arrogant and cruel towards the Roman plebs, and when he maintained that the senators had created not a consul but an executioner to harass and mangle the plebs, the untrained tongue of the soldier could not keep up with his outspokenness and passion.
Liv. 2.56.9Itaque dēficiente ōrātiōne "quandō quidem nōn tam facile loquor" inquit, "Quirītēs, quam, quod locūtus sum, praestō, crāstinō diē adeste.And so, as words failed him, he said: 'Since, Quirites, I do not speak as easily as I make good what I have spoken, be present tomorrow. Liv. 2.56.9Ego hīc aut in cōnspectū vestrō moriar aut perferam lēgem."I will either die here in your sight or carry the law.' Liv. 2.56.9Occupant tribūnī templum posterō diē;The next day the tribunes take possession of the sacred precinct; Liv. 2.56.10cōnsulēs nōbilitāsque ad inpediendam lēgem in contiōne cōnsistunt.the consuls and the nobility take their stand in the assembly to obstruct the law. Liv. 2.56.10Submovērī Laetōrius iubet, praeterquam quī suffrāgium ineant.Laetorius orders everyone to be removed except those going to vote. Liv. 2.56.11Adulēscentēs nōbilēs stābant nihil cēdentēs viātōrī.Young nobles stood there, giving no ground to the officer. Liv. 2.56.11Tum ex hīs prēndī quōsdam Laetōrius iubet.Then Laetorius orders some of them to be seized. Liv. 2.56.11Cōnsul Appius negāre iūs esse tribūnō in quemquam nisi in plēbēium;The consul Appius declared that the tribune had no rights over anyone except a plebeian; Liv. 2.56.12nōn enim populī, sed plēbis eum magistrātum esse;for his was a magistracy not of the people but of the plebs; Liv. 2.56.12nec illum ipsum submovēre prō imperiō posse mōre maiōrum, quia ita dīcātur "sī vōbīs vidētur, discēdite, Quirītēs."nor could he himself, by the custom of their ancestors, remove anyone by virtue of his authority, since the formula ran: 'If it seems good to you, withdraw, Quirites.' Liv. 2.56.12Facile contemptim dē iūre disserendō perturbāre Laetōrium poterat.By arguing contemptuously about the law he could easily throw Laetorius into confusion.
Liv. 2.56.13Ārdēns igitur īrā tribūnus viātōrem mittit ad cōnsulem, cōnsul līctōrem ad tribūnum, prīvātum esse clāmitāns, sine imperiō, sine magistrātū;So, burning with anger, the tribune sends his officer to the consul, the consul his lictor to the tribune, shouting that he was a private citizen, without authority, without office; Liv. 2.56.14violātusque esset tribūnus, nī et cōntiō omnis atrōx coorta prō tribūnō in cōnsulem esset, et concursus hominum in forum, ex tōtā urbe concitātae multitūdinis, fieret.and the tribune would have been violated, had not the whole assembly risen up fiercely on the tribune's behalf against the consul, and a crowd of people, a multitude roused from the whole city, rushed into the Forum. Liv. 2.56.14Sustinēbat tamen Appius pertināciā tantam tempestātem;Nevertheless Appius withstood so great a storm with obstinacy; Liv. 2.56.15certātumque haud incruentō proeliō foret, nī Quīnctius, cōnsul alter, cōnsulāribus negōtiō datō, ut collēgam vī, sī aliter nōn possent, dē forō abdūcerent, ipse nunc plēbem saevientem precibus lēnīsset, nunc ōrāsset tribūnōs, ut concilium dīmitterent;and there would have been a fight, and not a bloodless one, had not Quinctius, the other consul, having given the former consuls the task of leading his colleague out of the Forum, by force if they could not otherwise, himself calmed the raging plebs now with entreaties, now begged the tribunes to dismiss the assembly; Liv. 2.56.16darent īrae spatium: nōn vim suam illīs tempus adēmptūrum, sed cōnsilium vīribus additūrum, et patrēs in populī et cōnsulem in patrum fore potestāte.let them give their anger time: time would not take away their power, but would add judgement to their strength, and the senators would be in the power of the people, and the consul in the power of the senators.