Liv. 22.34.1Cōnsulibus prōrogātum in annum imperium.The consuls' command was extended for a year. Liv. 22.34.1Interrēgēs prōditī ā patribus C. Claudius Appī fīlius Centō, inde P. Cornēlius Asina.The interreges named by the senators were Gaius Claudius Cento, son of Appius, then Publius Cornelius Asina. Liv. 22.34.1In eius interregnō comitia habita magnō certāmine patrum ac plēbis.In his interregnum the election was held amid a great struggle between the senators and the plebs. Liv. 22.34.2C. Terentiō Varrōnī, quem suī generis hominem, plēbī īnsectātiōne prīncipum populāribusque artibus conciliātum, ab Q. Fabī opibus et dictātōriō imperiō concussō aliēnā invidiā splendentem, volgus extrahere ad cōnsulātum nītēbātur, patrēs summā ope obstābant, nē sē īnsectandō sibi aequārī adsuēscerent hominēs.Gaius Terentius Varro, a man of their own kind, who had won over the plebs by attacking the leading men and by popular arts, and who shone with glory from another's unpopularity after shaking Quintus Fabius' power and dictatorial command, the common people were striving to drag into the consulship; the senators opposed him with all their might, lest men should grow used to making themselves their equals by attacking them.
Liv. 22.34.3Q. Baebius Herennius tribūnus plēbis, cognātus C. Terentī, crīminandō nōn senātum modo sed etiam augurēs, quod dictātōrem prohibuissent comitia perficere, per invidiam eōrum favōrem candidātō suō conciliābat: ab hominibus nōbilibus per multōs annōs bellum quaerentibus Hannibalem in Ītaliam adductum;Quintus Baebius Herennius, a tribune of the plebs and a kinsman of Gaius Terentius, by accusing not only the senate but also the augurs of having prevented the dictator from completing the election, was winning favour for his candidate through the odium he stirred against them: Hannibal, he said, had been brought into Italy by men of noble birth who had been seeking war for many years; Liv. 22.34.4ab īsdem, cum dēbellārī possit, fraude bellum trahī.by these same men the war was being dragged out by deceit, when it could be brought to an end. Liv. 22.34.5Cum quattuor legiōnibus ūniversē pugnārī posse appāruisset eō, quod M. Minucius absente Fabiō prosperē pugnāsset duās legiōnēs hostī ad caedem obiectās, deinde ex ipsā caede ēreptās, ut pater patrōnusque appellārētur, quī prius vincere prohibuisset Rōmānōs quam vincī.It had become clear that the war could be fought out with four legions together, from the fact that Marcus Minucius had fought successfully in Fabius' absence; two legions had been thrown to the enemy for slaughter and then snatched from the very slaughter, so that the man was called father and patron who had prevented the Romans from conquering before he prevented them from being conquered.
Liv. 22.34.7Cōnsulēs deinde Fabiānīs artibus, cum dēbellāre possent, bellum trāxisse.Then the consuls, by Fabius' methods, had dragged out the war when they could have finished it. Liv. 22.34.7Id foedus inter omnēs nōbilīs ictum, nec fīnem ante bellī habitūrōs, quam cōnsulem vērē plēbēium, id est hominem novum, fēcissent;This was a pact struck among all the nobles, and they would not have an end of the war before they had made a truly plebeian consul, that is, a new man; Liv. 22.34.8nam plēbēiōs nōbilēs iam eīsdem initiātōs esse sacrīs et contemnere plēbem, ex quō contemnī ā patribus dēsierint, coepisse.for the plebeian nobles had now been initiated into the same rites, and had begun to despise the plebs from the moment they ceased to be despised by the patricians. Liv. 22.34.9Cui nōn appārēre id āctum et quaesītum esse, ut interregnum inīrētur, ut in patrum potestāte comitia essent?To whom was it not plain that the aim and object had been to bring about an interregnum, so that the election would be in the power of the patricians? Liv. 22.34.10Id cōnsulēs ambōs ad exercitum morandō quaesīsse;This was what both consuls had sought by lingering with the army; Liv. 22.34.10id posteā, quia invītīs iīs dictātor esset dictus comitiōrum causā, expugnātum esse, cum vitiōsus dictātor per augurēs fieret.this was what afterwards, because a dictator had been named against their will to hold the election, had been carried by force, when the dictator was made out to be flawed by the augurs.
Liv. 22.34.10Habēre igitur interregnum eōs;Well then, let them have their interregnum; Liv. 22.34.11cōnsulātum ūnum certē plēbis Rōmānae esse, populum eum līberum habitūrum ac datūrum eī, quī mātūrē vincere quam diū imperāre mālit.but one consulship at least belonged to the Roman plebs; the people would keep it free and give it to a man who preferred to win quickly rather than to command for long.