Liv. 3.64.1Haec victōria tribūnōrum plēbisque prope in haud salūbrem luxuriam vertit cōnspīrātiōne inter tribūnōs factā, ut iīdem tribūnī reficerentur et, quō sua minus cupiditās ēminēret, cōnsulēs quoque continuārent magistrātum.This victory of the tribunes and plebs almost turned into an unwholesome excess, a conspiracy being formed among the tribunes to have the same tribunes re-elected and, so that their own ambition might be less conspicuous, to have the consuls too continue in office. Liv. 3.64.2Cōnsēnsum patrum causābantur, quō per contumēliam cōnsulum iūra tribūnōrum plēbis labefactāta essent.They alleged as a pretext the united front of the senators, by which, through insult to the consuls, the rights of the tribunes of the plebs had been undermined. Liv. 3.64.3Quid futūrum nōndum firmātīs lēgibus, sī novōs tribūnōs per factiōnis suae cōnsulēs adortī essent?What would happen, with the laws not yet firmly established, if the senators attacked the new tribunes through consuls of their own faction? Liv. 3.64.3Nōn enim semper Valeriōs Horātiōsque cōnsulēs fore, quī lībertātī plēbis suās opēs postferrent.For they would not always have Valerii and Horatii as consuls, men who would put their own interests after the liberty of the plebs.
Liv. 3.64.4Forte quādam ūtilī ad tempus, ut comitiīs praeesset, potissimum M. Duilliō sorte ēvēnit, virō prūdentī et ex continuātiōne magistrātūs invidiam inminentem cernentī.By a chance useful for the occasion, it fell by lot to Marcus Duillius, of all men, to preside over the elections, a prudent man who saw the odium that threatened from continuing in office. Liv. 3.64.5Quī cum ex veteribus tribūnīs negāret sē ūllīus ratiōnem habitūrum pugnārentque collēgae, ut līberās tribūs in suffrāgium mitteret aut concēderet sortem comitiōrum collēgīs habitūrīs ē lēge potius comitia quam ex voluntāte patrum, iniectā contentiōne Duillius cōnsulēs ad subsellia accītōs cum interrogāsset, quid dē comitiīs cōnsulāribus in animō habērent, respondissentque sē novōs cōnsulēs creātūrōs, auctōrēs populārēs sententiae haud populāris nactus in contiōnem cum iīs prōcessit.When he declared that he would accept no candidacy from among the old tribunes, and his colleagues insisted that he either let the tribes vote freely or yield the presidency of the elections to his colleagues, who would hold the elections according to law rather than at the senators' pleasure, a dispute arose; Duillius summoned the consuls to the tribunes' benches and asked them what they had in mind about the consular elections, and when they replied that they would elect new consuls, having found popular backers for an unpopular view, he went with them before an assembly.
Liv. 3.64.7Ubi cum cōnsulēs prōductī ad populum interrogātīque, sī eōs populus Rōmānus, memor lībertātis per illōs receptae domī, memor mīlitiae rērum gestārum, cōnsulēs iterum faceret, quidnam factūrī essent, nihil sententiae suae mūtāssent, conlaudātīs cōnsulibus, quod persevērārent ad ultimum dissimilēs Decemvirōrum esse, comitia habuit;When there the consuls, brought before the people and asked what they would do if the Roman people, remembering the liberty recovered at home through them and remembering their achievements in war, made them consuls again, had changed nothing of their opinion, he praised the consuls for persevering to the last in being unlike the decemvirs, and held the elections; Liv. 3.64.8et quīnque tribūnīs plēbī creātīs cum prae studiīs apertē petentium novem tribūnōrum aliī candidātī tribūs nōn explērent, concilium dīmīsit nec deinde comitiōrum causā habuit.and when five tribunes of the plebs had been elected and, because of the partisanship shown for the nine tribunes openly canvassing, the other candidates did not obtain the required number of tribes, he dismissed the assembly and did not hold it again for the elections. Liv. 3.64.9Satisfactum lēgī aiēbat, quae numerō nūsquam praefīnītō, tribūnī modo ut relinquerentur, sancīret et ab iīs, quī creātī essent, cooptārī collēgās iubēret;He said that the law had been satisfied, which, fixing no number anywhere, provided only that tribunes should be left, and ordered that colleagues should be co-opted by those who had been elected; Liv. 3.64.10recitābatque rogātiōnis carmen, in quō est: "tribūnōs plēbeī decem rogābō;and he read out the formula of the bill, which runs: 'I shall put to you ten tribunes of the plebs; Liv. 3.64.10sī quī vōs minus hodiē decem tribūnōs plēbeī fēceritis, tum ut iī, quōs hī sibi collēgās cooptāssint, lēgitimī eādem lēge tribūnī plēbeī sint, ut illī, quōs hodiē tribūnōs plēbeī fēceritis."if today you elect fewer than ten tribunes of the plebs, then those whom these co-opt as their colleagues shall be lawful tribunes of the plebs under the same law as those whom you have made tribunes of the plebs today.' Liv. 3.64.11Duillius cum ad ultimum persevērāsset negandō quīndecim tribūnōs plēbeī rem pūblicam habēre posse, victā collēgārum cupiditāte pariter patribus plēbēīque acceptus magistrātū abiit.Duillius, having persisted to the end in denying that the commonwealth could have fifteen tribunes of the plebs, defeated the ambition of his colleagues and left office equally popular with senators and plebs.