Liv. 3.31.1Deinde M. Valerius, Sp. Verginius cōnsulēs factī.Then Marcus Valerius and Spurius Verginius were made consuls. Liv. 3.31.1Domī forīsque ōtium fuit;There was peace at home and abroad; Liv. 3.31.1annōnā propter aquārum intemperiem labōrātum est.the corn supply suffered because of unseasonable rains. Liv. 3.31.1Dē Aventīnō pūblicandō lāta lēx est.A law was passed for making the Aventine public land. Liv. 3.31.1Tribūnī plēbis iīdem refectī.The same tribunes of the plebs were re-elected. Liv. 3.31.2Hī sequente annō T. Rōmiliō, C. Veturiō cōnsulibus lēgem omnibus contiōnibus suīs celebrābant: pudēre sē numerī suī nēquīquam auctī, sī ea rēs aequē suō bienniō iacēret, ac tōtō superiōre lūstrō iacuisset.In the following year, when Titus Romilius and Gaius Veturius were consuls, they kept urging the law at all their meetings: they were ashamed, they said, of their number, increased to no purpose, if the matter lay idle through their two years just as it had lain through the whole previous five-year period. Liv. 3.31.2Cum maximē haec agerent, trepidī nūntiī ab Tusculō veniunt Aequōs in agrō Tusculānō esse.Just when they were busiest with this, frightened messengers come from Tusculum saying that the Aequi were in Tusculan territory.
Liv. 3.31.3Fēcit pudōrem recēns eius populī meritum morandī auxiliī.That people's recent service made them ashamed to delay help. Liv. 3.31.3Ambō cōnsulēs cum exercitū missī hostem in suā sēde, in Algidō inveniunt.Both consuls were sent with an army and find the enemy in his usual position, on Algidus. Liv. 3.31.4Ibi pugnātum.There a battle was fought. Liv. 3.31.4Suprā septem mīlia hostium caesa, aliī fugātī, praeda parta ingēns.Over seven thousand of the enemy were slain, the rest put to flight, and enormous plunder was won. Liv. 3.31.4Eam propter inopiam aerāriī cōnsulēs vēndidērunt.The consuls sold it because the treasury was empty. Liv. 3.31.4Invidiae tamen rēs ad exercitum fuit eademque tribūnīs māteriam crīminandī ad plēbem cōnsulēs praebuit.Yet the affair caused resentment in the army, and it also gave the tribunes material for accusing the consuls before the plebs. Liv. 3.31.5Itaque ergō, ut magistrātū abiēre, Sp. Tarpeiō, A. Aterniō cōnsulibus diēs dicta est, Rōmiliō ab C. Calviō Cicerōne tribūnō plēbis, Veturiō ab L. Aliēnō aedīle plēbis.And so, as soon as they left office, in the consulship of Spurius Tarpeius and Aulus Aternius, a day was named for their trial, for Romilius by Gaius Calvius Cicero, tribune of the plebs, for Veturius by Lucius Alienus, aedile of the plebs.
Liv. 3.31.6Uterque magnā patrum indignātiōne damnātus, Rōmilius decem mīlibus aeris, Veturius quīndecim.Both were condemned, to the great indignation of the senators, Romilius to a fine of ten thousand asses, Veturius to one of fifteen thousand. Liv. 3.31.6Nec haec priōrum calamitās cōnsulum segniōrēs novōs fēcerat cōnsulēs;Nor had this misfortune of the former consuls made the new consuls any more sluggish; Liv. 3.31.6et sē damnārī posse Aiēbant, et plēbem et tribūnōs lēgem ferre nōn posse.they said that they too could be condemned, but that the plebs and the tribunes could not carry the law. Liv. 3.31.7Tum abiectā lēge, quae prōmulgāta cōnsenuerat, tribūnī lēnius agere cum patribus: fīnem tandem certāminum facerent.Then the tribunes, abandoning the law, which had grown old since it was first proposed, dealt more gently with the senators: let them at last put an end to the struggles. Liv. 3.31.7Sī plēbēiae lēgēs displicērent, at illī commūniter lēgum lātōrēs et ex plēbe et ex patribus, quī utrīsque ūtilia ferrent quaeque aequandae lībertātis essent, sinerent creārī.If laws from the plebs displeased them, let them at least allow lawgivers to be appointed in common, both from the plebs and from the senators, who would propose what was useful to both and what would serve to make liberty equal.
Liv. 3.31.8Rem nōn aspernābantur patrēs;The senators did not reject the idea; Liv. 3.31.8lātūrum lēgēs nēminem nisi ex patribus Aiēbant.but they said that no one should propose laws unless he was one of the senators. Liv. 3.31.8Cum dē lēgibus convenīret, dē lātōre tantum discrepāret, missī lēgātī Athēnās Sp. Postumius Albus, A. Mānlius, P. Sulpicius Camerīnus iussīque inclitās lēgēs Solōnis dēscrībere et aliārum Graeciae cīvitātium īnstitūta, mōrēs iūraque nōscere.Since they agreed about the laws and differed only about who should propose them, envoys were sent to Athens, Spurius Postumius Albus, Aulus Manlius and Publius Sulpicius Camerinus, with orders to copy out the famous laws of Solon and to learn the institutions, customs and laws of the other states of Greece.