Liv. 3.69.1Rārō aliās tribūnī populāris ōrātiō acceptior plēbī quam tunc sevērissimī cōnsulis fuit.Rarely at other times was the speech of a popular tribune more welcome to the plebs than was then that of a most severe consul. Liv. 3.69.2Iuventūs quoque, quae inter tālēs metūs dētractātiōnem mīlitiae tēlum ācerrimum adversus patrēs habēre solita erat, arma et bellum spectābat.The young men too, who amid such fears had been accustomed to use refusal of military service as their sharpest weapon against the senators, were now looking towards arms and war. Liv. 3.69.2Et agrestium fugā spoliātīque in agrīs et vulnerātī foediōra iīs, quae subiciēbantur oculīs, nūntiantēs tōtam urbem īrā inplēvēre.And the flight of the country people, and those robbed and wounded in the fields, reporting things more shocking than what was before their eyes, filled the whole city with anger. Liv. 3.69.3In senātum ubi ventum est, ibi vērō in Quīnctium omnēs versī, ut ūnum vindicem maiestātis Rōmānae intuērī, et prīmōrēs patrum dignam dīcere contiōnem imperiō cōnsulārī, dignam tot cōnsulātibus ante āctīs, dignam vītā omnī, plēnā honōrum saepe gestōrum, saepius meritōrum.When the senate met, there indeed all turned towards Quinctius, gazing on him as the one champion of Roman majesty, and the leading senators said that his speech was worthy of the consular command, worthy of his many former consulships, worthy of his whole life, full of honours often held and still more often deserved.
Liv. 3.69.4Aliōs cōnsulēs aut per prōditiōnem dignitātis patrum plēbī adūlātōs aut acerbē tuendō iūra ōrdinis asperiōrem domandō multitūdinem fēcisse;Other consuls, they said, had either fawned on the plebs by betraying the senators' dignity or, by defending the rights of their order harshly, had made the multitude more unruly in trying to tame it; Liv. 3.69.4T. Quīnctium ōrātiōnem memorem maiestātis patrum concordiaeque ōrdinum et temporum in prīmīs habuisse.Titus Quinctius had made a speech mindful of the majesty of the senators, of the harmony of the orders, and above all of the times. Liv. 3.69.5Ōrāre eum collēgamque, ut capesserent rem pūblicam;They begged him and his colleague to take the commonwealth in hand; Liv. 3.69.5ōrāre tribūnōs, ut ūnō animō cum cōnsulibus bellum ab urbe ac moenibus prōpulsārī vellent plēbemque oboedientem in rē tam trepidā patribus praebērent: appellāre tribūnōs commūnem patriam auxiliumque eōrum inplōrāre vāstātīs agrīs, urbe prope oppugnātā.they begged the tribunes to be of one mind with the consuls in wishing to drive the war back from the city and its walls, and to make the plebs obedient to the senators at so critical a moment: the common fatherland, they said, appealed to the tribunes and implored their help, its fields laid waste and the city all but stormed.
Liv. 3.69.6Cōnsēnsū omnium dīlēctus dēcernitur habēturque.By universal consent a levy was decreed and held. Liv. 3.69.6Cum cōnsulēs in contiōne prōnūntiāssent tempus nōn esse causās cognōscendī;When the consuls had announced in the assembly that there was no time for examining excuses; Liv. 3.69.6omnēs iūniōrēs posterō diē prīmā lūce in campō Mārtiō adessent;that all the younger men should present themselves at first light the next day on the Campus Martius; Liv. 3.69.7cognōscendīs causīs eōrum, quī nōmina nōn dedissent, bellō perfectō sē datūrōs tempus;that when the war was over they would give time for examining the excuses of those who had not given in their names; Liv. 3.69.7prō dēsertōre futūrum, cuius nōn probāssent causam: omnis iuventūs adfuit posterō diē.that anyone whose excuse they did not accept would be treated as a deserter: all the young men were present the next day. Liv. 3.69.8Cohortēs sibi quaeque centuriōnēs lēgērunt, bīnī senātōrēs singulīs cohortibus praepositī.Each cohort chose its own centurions, and two senators were put in command of each cohort. Liv. 3.69.8Haec omnia adeō mātūrē perfecta accēpimus, ut signa eō ipsō diē ā quaestōribus ex aerāriō prōmpta dēlātaque in campum quartā diēī hōrā mōta ex campō sint exercitusque novus paucīs cohortibus veterum mīlitum voluntāte sequentibus mānserit ad decimum lapidem.We are told that all this was completed so speedily that the standards, brought out from the treasury by the quaestors that very day and carried to the Campus, moved off from the Campus at the fourth hour of the day, and the new army, with a few cohorts of veterans following voluntarily, halted at the tenth milestone.
Liv. 3.69.9Īnsequēns diēs hostem in cōnspectum dedit, castraque ad Corbiōnem castrīs sunt coniūncta.The following day brought the enemy into sight, and camp was joined to camp near Corbio. Liv. 3.69.10Tertiō diē, cum īra Rōmānōs, illōs, cum totiēns rebellāssent, cōnscientia culpae ac dēspērātiō inrītāret, mora dīmicandī nūlla est facta.On the third day, since anger spurred on the Romans, and the enemy, after so many rebellions, were spurred by consciousness of guilt and by despair, there was no delay in fighting.