Liv. 3.55.1Per interrēgem deinde cōnsulēs creātī L. Valerius, M. Horātius, quī extemplō magistrātum occēpērunt.Then, through an interrex, Lucius Valerius and Marcus Horatius were elected consuls, and they entered office at once. Liv. 3.55.1Quōrum cōnsulātus populāris sine ūllā patrum iniūriā nec sine offēnsiōne fuit;Their consulship was popular, without any injury to the fathers, yet not without offending them; Liv. 3.55.2quidquid enim lībertātī plēbis cavērētur, id suīs dēcēdere opibus crēdēbant.for whatever safeguard was provided for the liberty of the plebs, they believed was taken away from their own power. Liv. 3.55.3Omnium prīmum, cum velut in contrōversō iūre esset, tenērenturne patrēs plēbī scītīs, lēgem centuriātīs comitiīs tulēre, ut, quod tribūtim plēbēs iussisset, populum tenēret;First of all, since it was a disputed point of law, as it were, whether the fathers were bound by plebiscites, they carried a law in the centuriate assembly that what the plebs had ordered by tribes should bind the people; Liv. 3.55.3quā lēge tribūniciīs rogātiōnibus tēlum ācerrimum datum est.by this law a very sharp weapon was given to tribunician proposals. Liv. 3.55.4Aliam deinde cōnsulārem lēgem dē prōvocātiōne, ūnicum praesidium lībertātis, decemvirālī potestāte ēversam, nōn restituunt modo, sed etiam in posterum mūniunt sanciendō novam lēgem, nē quis ūllum magistrātum sine prōvocātiōne creāret;Then another consular law, on appeal, the sole protection of liberty, which had been overthrown by the decemviral power, they not only restore but also fortify for the future by sanctioning a new law, that no one should create any magistrate without appeal; Liv. 3.55.5quī creāsset, eum iūs fāsque esset occīdī, nēve ea caedēs capitālis noxae habērētur.whoever did so might be killed rightly and lawfully, and such a killing should not be held a capital offence.
Liv. 3.55.6Et cum plēbem hinc prōvocātiōne, hinc tribūniciō auxiliō satis firmāssent, ipsīs quoque tribūnīs, ut sacrōsānctī vidērentur, cuius reī prope iam memoria abolēverat, relātīs quibusdam ex magnō intervallō caerimōniīs renovārunt, et cum religiōne inviolātōs eōs tum lēge etiam fēcērunt sanciendō, ut, quī tribūnīs plēbis, aedīlibus, iūdicibus decemvirīs nocuisset, eius caput Iovī sacrum esset, familia ad aedem Cereris, Līberī Līberaeque vēnum īret.And when they had sufficiently strengthened the plebs on one side by appeal and on the other by the tribunes' help, for the tribunes themselves too, so that they might be regarded as sacrosanct — a matter whose memory had by now almost faded — they renewed that status by reviving certain ceremonies after a long interval, and they made them inviolable not only by religion but also by law, enacting that whoever harmed the tribunes of the plebs, the aediles, or the ten judges, his life should be forfeit to Jupiter and his household property should be sold at the temple of Ceres, Liber and Libera. Liv. 3.55.8Hāc lēge iūris interpretēs negant quemquam sacrōsānctum esse, sed eum, quī eōrum cuiquam nocuerit, Iovī sacrum sancīrī;Legal experts say that by this law no one is sacrosanct, but that the man who harms any of them is declared forfeit to Jupiter; Liv. 3.55.9itaque aedīlem prēndī dūcīque ā maiōribus magistrātibus, quod etsī nōn iūre fīat — nocērī enim eī, cui hāc lēge nōn liceat — , tamen argūmentum esse nōn habērī prō sacrōsānctō aedīlem;and so an aedile may be arrested and taken off by higher magistrates, which, though it is not done lawfully — for harm is being done to one whom this law forbids to be harmed — is nevertheless proof that an aedile is not regarded as sacrosanct; Liv. 3.55.10tribūnōs vetere iūre iūrandō plēbis, cum prīmum eam potestātem creāvit, sacrōsānctōs esse.the tribunes are sacrosanct by the ancient oath of the plebs, sworn when it first created that office.
Liv. 3.55.11Fuēre, quī interpretārentur eādem hāc Horātiā lēge cōnsulibus quoque et praetōribus, quia eīsdem auspiciīs quibus cōnsulēs creārentur, cautum esse;There were some who interpreted that by this same Horatian law provision was made for the consuls too and the praetors, because they were elected under the same auspices as the consuls; Liv. 3.55.11iūdicem enim cōnsulem appellārī.for a consul was called 'judge'. Liv. 3.55.12Quae refellitur interpretātiō, quod iīs temporibus nōndum cōnsulem iūdicem, sed praetōrem appellārī mōs fuerit.This interpretation is refuted because in those times it was not yet the custom for the consul to be called 'judge', but 'praetor'. Liv. 3.55.13Hae cōnsulārēs lēgēs fuēre.These were the consular laws. Liv. 3.55.13Īnstitūtum etiam ab iīsdem cōnsulibus, ut senātūs cōnsulta in aedem Cereris ad aedīlēs plēbis dēferrentur, quae anteā arbitriō cōnsulum supprimēbantur vitiābanturque.It was also established by the same consuls that decrees of the senate should be delivered to the aediles of the plebs at the temple of Ceres; previously they used to be suppressed and falsified at the consuls' whim. Liv. 3.55.14M. Duillius deinde tribūnus plēbis plēbem rogāvit plēbēsque scīvit, quī plēbem sine tribūnīs relīquisset quīque magistrātum sine prōvocātiōne creāsset, tergō ac capite pūnīrētur.Then Marcus Duillius, tribune of the plebs, proposed to the plebs, and the plebs resolved, that whoever left the plebs without tribunes, and whoever created a magistrate without appeal, should be punished by scourging and beheading.
Liv. 3.55.15Haec omnia ut invītīs, ita nōn adversantibus patriciīs trānsācta, quia nōndum in quemquam ūnum saeviēbātur.All this was carried through against the will of the patricians but without their opposition, because no single man was yet being savagely attacked.