Liv. 3.35.1Postquam vērō comitia decemvirīs creandīs in trīnum nūndinum indicta sunt, tanta exārsit ambitiō, ut prīmōrēs quoque cīvitātis — metū, crēdō, nē tantī possessiō imperiī vacuō ab sē relictō locō haud satis dignīs patēret — prēnsārent hominēs, honōrem summā ope ā sē impugnātum ab eā plēbe, cum quā contenderant, suppliciter petentēs.But after the elections for appointing decemvirs had been proclaimed for the third market day ahead, such canvassing blazed up that even the leading men of the state — from fear, I suppose, that possession of such great power might lie open to men hardly worthy of it if they left the place empty — were buttonholing people, humbly seeking, from the very plebs with whom they had contended, an office which they had fought against with all their might. Liv. 3.35.3Dēmissa iam in discrīmen dignitās eā aetāte iīsque honōribus āctīs stimulābat Ap. Claudium.His dignity, now put at risk at his time of life and after the offices he had held, spurred on Appius Claudius. Liv. 3.35.3Nescīrēs, utrum inter decemvirōs an inter candidātōs numerārēs.You could not have told whether to count him among the decemvirs or among the candidates.
Liv. 3.35.4Propior interdum petendō quam gerendō magistrātuī erat: crīminārī optimātēs, extollere candidātōrum levissimum quemque humillimumque, ipse medius inter tribūniciōs, Duilliōs Iciliōsque, in forō volitāre, per illōs sē plēbī venditāre, dōnec collēgae quoque, quī ūnicē illī dēditī fuerant ad id tempus, coniēcēre in eum oculōs, mīrantēs, quid sibi vellet.At times he was closer to seeking office than to holding it: he would attack the nobles, extol all the most frivolous and lowly of the candidates, flit about the forum himself in the midst of former tribunes, the Duillii and the Icilii, and through them advertise himself to the plebs, until even his colleagues, who until then had been wholly devoted to him, turned their eyes on him, wondering what he meant by it. Liv. 3.35.6Appārēre nihil sincērī esse;It was plain, they thought, that there was nothing sincere in it; Liv. 3.35.6profectō haud grātuītam in tantā superbiā cōmitātem fore;surely such affability in so proud a man would not come without its price; Liv. 3.35.6nimium in ōrdinem sē ipsum cōgere et vulgārī cum prīvātīs nōn tam properantis abīre magistrātū quam viam ad continuandum magistrātum quaerentis esse.to lower himself so far to the ranks and to mix with private citizens was the conduct not so much of a man hurrying to leave office as of one seeking a way to prolong it.
Liv. 3.35.7Prōpalam obviam īre cupiditātī parum ausī obsecundandō mollīre impetum adgrediuntur.Not daring to oppose his ambition openly, they set about softening its drive by humouring it. Liv. 3.35.7Comitiōrum illī habendōrum, quandō minimus nātū sit, mūnus cōnsēnsū iniungunt.By common consent they lay on him, as the youngest, the duty of holding the elections. Liv. 3.35.7Ars haec erat, nē sēmet ipse creāre posset, quod praeter tribūnōs plēbī, et id ipsum pessimō exemplō, nēmō umquam fēcisset.The trick was this: that he should not be able to elect himself, a thing no one had ever done except the tribunes of the plebs, and that itself with the worst of precedents. Liv. 3.35.8Ille enimvērō, quod bene vertat, habitūrum sē comitia professus, impedīmentum prō occāsiōne arripuit dēiectīsque honōre per coitiōnem duōbus Quīnctiīs, Capitōlīnō et Cincinnātō, et patruō suō C. Claudiō, cōnstantissimō virō in optimātium causā, et aliīs eiusdem fastīgiī cīvibus, nēquāquam splendōre vītae parēs decemvirōs creat, sē in prīmīs, quod haud secus factum inprobābant bonī, quam nēmō facere ausūrum crēdiderat.He, however, declaring that he would hold the elections, and may it turn out well, seized on the obstacle as an opportunity; and, having had the two Quinctii, Capitolinus and Cincinnatus, kept from office by a coalition, along with his own uncle Gaius Claudius, a most steadfast man in the cause of the nobles, and other citizens of the same eminence, he gets decemvirs elected who were in no way their equals in distinction of life, and himself first of all — a deed which good men disapproved of no less than nobody had believed he would dare to do it.
Liv. 3.35.11Creātī cum eō M. Cornēlius Maluginēnsis, M. Sergius, L. Minucius, Q. Fabius Vibulānus, Q. Poetilius, T. Antōnius Merenda, K. Duillius, Sp. Oppius Cornicen, M'. Rabuleius.Elected with him were Marcus Cornelius Maluginensis, Marcus Sergius, Lucius Minucius, Quintus Fabius Vibulanus, Quintus Poetelius, Titus Antonius Merenda, Kaeso Duillius, Spurius Oppius Cornicen and Manius Rabuleius.