1The consuls, when they noticed that Scaptius was heard not only in silence but even with approval, calling gods and men to witness that a monstrous outrage was being committed, sent for the leading senators. 2With them they went round the tribes, begging them not to commit a most wicked act setting a still worse precedent, by turning a lawsuit to their own advantage as judges, especially since, even if it were right for a judge to care for his own profit, by no means as much would be gained by intercepting the land as would be lost by alienating the allies' hearts through injustice. 3For the damage to their reputation and good faith was greater than could be estimated: was this what the envoys would report home, this what would be spread abroad, this what allies would hear, this what enemies would hear — with what grief the former, with what joy the latter?
4Did they think the neighbouring peoples would attribute this to Scaptius, an old haunter of assemblies? 4Scaptius would be made famous by this portrait; 5but the Roman people would bear the character of a pettifogging informer and a snatcher of other people's lawsuits. 5For what judge in a private case had ever done this, awarding the disputed property to himself? 6Even Scaptius himself, though his sense of shame was already dead, would not do that. 6So the consuls, so the senators cried out; 6but greed, and Scaptius, the prompter of greed, prevailed. 6The tribes, when called, judged that the land was the public property of the Roman people. 7Nor is it denied that this would have been so if they had gone before other judges; 7as it was, the disgrace of the judgment was in no way lightened by the merits of the case.
7And this seemed no more foul and bitter to the people of Aricia and Ardea than to the Roman senators. 7The rest of the year remained quiet, free from disturbances in the city and abroad.