Liv. 3.68.1Agitedum, ubi hīc cūriam circumsēderitis et forum īnfestum fēceritis et carcerem implēveritis prīncipibus, iīsdem istīs ferōcibus animīs ēgrediminī extrā portam Esquilīnam aut, sī nē hoc quidem audētis, ex mūrīs vīsite agrōs vestrōs ferrō ignīque vāstātōs, praedam abigī, fūmāre incēnsa passim tēcta.Come now: when you have besieged the senate house here, made the Forum dangerous and filled the prison with leading men, go out beyond the Esquiline gate with those same fierce spirits, or, if you do not dare even that, look from the walls at your fields laid waste with fire and sword, plunder being driven off, houses set on fire smoking everywhere. Liv. 3.68.3At enim commūnis rēs per haec locō est peiōre: ager ūritur, urbs obsidētur, bellī glōria penes hostēs est.But, you say, it is the common interest that is in a worse position through this: the land is burnt, the city besieged, the glory of the war lies with the enemy. Liv. 3.68.3Quid tandem?What then? Liv. 3.68.3Prīvātae rēs vestrae quō statū sunt?In what state are your private affairs? Liv. 3.68.3Iam ūnīcuique ex agrīs sua damna nūntiābuntur.Soon each of you will be told of his own losses from the fields.
Liv. 3.68.3Quid est tandem domī, unde ea expleātis?What, pray, is there at home from which you can make them good? Liv. 3.68.4Tribūnī vōbīs āmissa reddent ac restituent?Will the tribunes give back and restore to you what you have lost? Liv. 3.68.4Vōcis verbōrumque quantum volētis ingerent et crīminum in prīncipēs et lēgum aliārum super aliās et contiōnum;Of voice and words they will heap on you as much as you like, and of accusations against the leading men, and of laws one on top of another, and of assemblies; Liv. 3.68.4sed ex illīs contiōnibus numquam vestrum quisquam rē, fortūnā domum auctior rediit.but from those assemblies not one of you has ever gone home richer in substance or fortune. Liv. 3.68.5Ecquis rettulit aliquid ad coniugem ac līberōs praeter odia, offēnsiōnēs, simultātēs pūblicās prīvātāsque?Has anyone brought back anything to his wife and children except hatreds, grudges and quarrels, public and private? Liv. 3.68.5Ā quibus semper nōn vestrā virtūte innocentiāque, sed auxiliō aliēnō tūtī sītis.From which you are always kept safe not by your own courage and blamelessness, but by the help of others.
Liv. 3.68.6At hercules cum stīpendia nōbīs cōnsulibus, nōn tribūnīs ducibus, et in castrīs, nōn in forō faciēbātis, et in aciē vestrum clamōrem hostēs, nōn in contiōne patrēs Rōmānī horrēbant, praedā partā, agrō ex hoste captō, plēnī fortūnārum glōriaeque simul pūblicae, simul prīvātae triumphantēs domum ad penātēs redībātis;But by Hercules, when you served your campaigns under us consuls, not under tribunes as leaders, and in the camp, not in the Forum, and when the enemy shuddered at your shout in the battle line, not the Roman senators in the assembly, you used to win plunder, capture land from the enemy, and return home in triumph to your household gods, full of wealth and glory, both public and private; Liv. 3.68.6nunc onerātum vestrīs fortūnīs hostem abīre sinitis.now you allow the enemy to depart laden with your possessions. Liv. 3.68.7Haerēte adfīxī contiōnibus et in forō vīvite;Stick fast to your assemblies and live in the Forum; Liv. 3.68.7sequētur vōs necessitās mīlitandī, quam fugitis.the necessity of military service, which you shun, will follow you. Liv. 3.68.7Grave erat in Aequōs et Volscōs proficīscī;It was burdensome to march against the Aequi and Volsci; Liv. 3.68.7ante portās est bellum;the war is at your gates; Liv. 3.68.7sī inde nōn pellitur, iam intrā moenia erit et arcem et Capitōlium scandet et in domōs vestrās vōs persequētur.if it is not driven from there, it will soon be within the walls and will climb the citadel and the Capitol and pursue you into your homes.
Liv. 3.68.8Bienniō ante senātus dīlēctum habērī et ēdūcī exercitum in Algidum iussit;Two years ago the senate ordered a levy to be held and an army to be led out to Algidus; Liv. 3.68.8sedēmus dēsidēs domī mulierum rītū inter nōs altercantēs, praesentī pāce laetī nec cernentēs ex ōtiō illō brevī multiplex bellum reditūrum.we sit idle at home, squabbling among ourselves like women, glad of the present peace and not seeing that out of that brief respite war will return many times over. Liv. 3.68.9Hīs ego grātiōra dictū alia esse sciō;I know that other things are more pleasant to say than these; Liv. 3.68.9sed mē vēra prō grātīs loquī, etsī meum ingenium nōn monēret, necessitās cōgit.but even if my nature did not prompt me, necessity compels me to speak what is true rather than what is pleasing. Liv. 3.68.9Vellem equidem vōbīs placēre, Quirītēs;I should like indeed to please you, Quirites; Liv. 3.68.9sed multō mālō vōs salvōs esse, Quālicumque ergā mē animō futūrī estis.but I much prefer that you be safe, whatever feelings you are going to have towards me. Liv. 3.68.10Nātūrā ita comparātum est, ut, quī apud multitūdinem suā causā loquitur, grātior eō sit, cuius mēns nihil praeter pūblicum commodum videt;Nature has so arranged it that he who speaks before the multitude for his own sake is more welcome than he whose mind sees nothing but the public good; Liv. 3.68.10nisi forte adsentātōrēs pūblicōs, plēbicolās istōs, quī vōs nec in armīs nec in ōtiō esse sinunt, vestrā vōs causā incitāre et stimulāre putātis.unless perhaps you think that those public flatterers, those courtiers of the plebs, who allow you to be neither under arms nor at peace, incite and goad you for your own sake.
Liv. 3.68.11Concitātī aut honōrī aut quaestuī illīs estis, et, quia in concordiā ōrdinum nūllōs sē usquam esse vident, malae reī sē quam nūllīus turbārum ac sēditiōnum ducēs esse volunt.Stirred up, you serve them either for honour or for profit, and, because they see that in harmony between the orders they are nobodies anywhere, they would rather be leaders of a bad cause than of none, of riots and seditions. Liv. 3.68.11Quārum rērum sī vōs taedium tandem capere potest et patrum vestrōsque antīquōs mōrēs vultis prō hīs novīs sūmere, nūlla supplicia recūsō, nisi paucīs diēbus hōs populātōrēs agrōrum nostrōrum fūsōs fugātōsque castrīs exuerō et ā portīs nostrīs moenibusque ad illōrum urbēs hunc bellī terrōrem, quō nunc vōs attonitī estis, trānstulerō."If weariness of these things can at last take hold of you, and you are willing to take up your fathers' and your own old ways instead of these new ones, I refuse no punishment if within a few days I have not routed and put to flight these ravagers of our fields, stripped them of their camp, and carried this terror of war, at which you are now dumbfounded, from our gates and walls to their cities.'