Liv. 3.39.1Sed magis oboedienter ventum in cūriam esse quam obnoxie dictās sententiās accēpimus.But we are told that they came to the senate house more obediently than they gave their opinions submissively. Liv. 3.39.2L. Valerium Potītum prōditum memoriae est post relātiōnem Ap. Claudiī, priusquam ōrdine sententiae rogārentur, postulandō, ut dē rē pūblicā licēret dīcere, prohibentibus mināciter decemvirīs prōditūrum sē ad plēbem dēnūntiantem tumultum excīvisse.It is recorded that Lucius Valerius Potitus, after Appius Claudius had put the question and before opinions were asked in order, stirred up an uproar by demanding leave to speak on the state of the nation and, when the decemvirs threateningly forbade it, by declaring that he would go out to the plebs. Liv. 3.39.3Nec minus ferōciter M. Horātium Barbātum īsse in certāmen decem Tarquiniōs appellantem admonentemque Valeriīs et Horātiīs ducibus pulsōs rēgēs.Nor less fiercely, it is said, did Marcus Horatius Barbatus enter the fray, calling them ten Tarquins and reminding them that it was under the leadership of the Valerii and the Horatii that the kings had been driven out.
Liv. 3.39.4Nec nōminis hominēs tum pertaesum esse, quippe quō Iovem appellārī fās sit, quō Rōmulum, conditōrem urbis, deincepsque rēgēs, quod sacrīs etiam ut sollemne retentum sit;Nor had men then grown sick of the name, seeing that it was right for Jupiter to be called by it, and Romulus, founder of the city, and the kings after him, and that it had even been retained in religious rites as a solemn title; Liv. 3.39.5superbiam violentiamque tum perōsōs rēgis.it was the pride and violence of the king that they had loathed then. Liv. 3.39.5Quae sī in rēge tum * eōdem aut in fīliō rēgis ferenda nōn fuerint, quem lātūrum in tot prīvātīs?And if these were not to be endured then in that same king or a king's son, who would endure them in so many private citizens? Liv. 3.39.6Vidērent, nē vetandō in cūriā līberē hominēs loquī extrā cūriam etiam movērent vōcem.Let them take care that by forbidding men to speak freely in the senate house they did not make them raise their voices outside it as well.
Liv. 3.39.6Neque sē vidēre, quī sibi minus prīvātō ad contiōnem populum vocāre quam illīs senātum cōgere liceat.Nor could he see why he, a private citizen, should have less right to call the people to an assembly than they had to convene the senate. Liv. 3.39.7Ubi vellent, experīrentur, quantō fortior dolor in lībertāte suā vindicandā quam cupiditās in iniūstā dominātiōne esset.Let them try, whenever they liked, how much stronger resentment was in claiming its own liberty than greed in an unjust domination. Liv. 3.39.8Dē bellō Sabīnō eōs referre, tamquam maius ūllum populō Rōmānō bellum sit quam cum iīs, quī lēgum ferendārum causā creātī nihil iūris in cīvitāte relīquerint, quī comitia, quī annuōs magistrātūs, quī vicissitūdinem imperitandī, quod ūnum exaequandae sit lībertātis, sustulerint, quī prīvātī fascēs et rēgium imperium habeant.They were raising the matter of the Sabine war, as if the Roman people had any greater war than with those who, elected to make laws, had left no law in the state; who had abolished elections, annual magistracies and the rotation of command, the one thing that made liberty equal; who, though private citizens, held the fasces and kingly power.
Liv. 3.39.9Fuisse rēgibus exāctīs patriciōs magistrātūs, creātōs posteā post sēcessiōnem plēbis plēbēiōs: cuius illī partis essent, rogitāre.After the kings were expelled there had been patrician magistrates, and later, after the secession of the plebs, plebeian ones had been created: to which party, he kept asking, did they belong? Liv. 3.39.9Populārēs?The people's? Liv. 3.39.9Quid enim eōs per populum ēgisse?Why, what had they ever done through the people? Liv. 3.39.9Optimātēs?The nobles'? Liv. 3.39.9Quī annō iam prope senātum nōn habuerint, nunc ita habeant, at dē rē pūblicā loquī prohibeant?Men who for almost a year now had not held a senate, and now held one in such a way as to forbid speaking about the state? Liv. 3.39.10Nē nimium in metū aliēnō speī pōnerent;Let them not place too much hope in the fear of others; Liv. 3.39.10graviōra quae patiantur vidērī iam hominibus, quam quae metuant.what men were suffering now seemed to them worse than what they feared.