Liv. 3.9.1Sīc rēs Rōmāna in antīquum statum rediit, secundaeque bellī rēs extemplō urbānōs mōtūs excitāvērunt.Thus the Roman state returned to its former condition, and success in war at once stirred up disturbances in the city. Liv. 3.9.1C. Terentilius Harsa tribūnus plēbis eō annō fuit.Gaius Terentilius Harsa was tribune of the plebs that year. Liv. 3.9.2Is cōnsulibus absentibus ratus locum tribūniciīs āctiōnibus datum, per aliquot diēs patrum superbiam ad plēbem crīminātus, maximē in cōnsulāre imperium tamquam nimium nec tolerābile līberae cīvitātī invehēbātur.Thinking that with the consuls absent an opportunity had been given for tribunician agitation, he spent several days denouncing the arrogance of the patricians before the plebs, and above all inveighed against the consular power as excessive and intolerable for a free state. Liv. 3.9.2Nōmine enim tantum minus invidiōsum, rē ipsā prope atrōcius quam rēgium esse;In name, he said, it was merely less odious, but in reality almost harsher than that of the kings; Liv. 3.9.4quippe duōs prō ūnō dominōs acceptōs immoderātā, īnfīnītā potestāte, quī, solūtī atque effrēnātī ipsī, omnīs metūs lēgum omniaque supplicia verterent in plēbem.for they had taken two masters instead of one, with unrestrained, unlimited power, who, being themselves free and unbridled, turned all the terrors of the laws and all punishments against the plebs.
Liv. 3.9.5Quae nē aeterna illīs licentia sit, lēgem sē prōmulgātūrum, ut quīnque virī creentur lēgibus dē imperiō cōnsulārī scrībendīs: quod populus in sē iūs dederit, eō cōnsulem ūsūrum;So that this licence should not be theirs for ever, he would propose a law that five men should be appointed to draw up laws on the consular power: whatever right the people had granted the consul over them, that the consul should use; Liv. 3.9.5nōn ipsōs libīdinem ac licentiam suam prō lēge habitūrōs.they should not treat their own caprice and licence as law. Liv. 3.9.6Quā prōmulgātā lēge cum timērent patrēs, nē absentibus cōnsulibus iugum acciperent, senātus ā praefectō urbis Q. Fabiō vocātur, quī adeō atrōciter in rogātiōnem lātōremque ipsum est invectus, ut nihil, sī ambō cōnsulēs īnfestī circumstārent tribūnum, relictum minārum atque terrōris sit: īnsidiātum eum et tempore captō adortum rem pūblicam.When this law had been proposed, since the senators feared that they would accept the yoke while the consuls were away, the senate was summoned by the prefect of the city, Quintus Fabius, who inveighed so fiercely against the bill and its proposer himself that, even if both consuls had stood round the tribune in hostility, nothing in the way of threats and intimidation would have been left out: he had lain in wait, he said, and, seizing his moment, attacked the state.
Liv. 3.9.8Sī quem similem eius priōre annō inter morbum bellumque īrātī Diī tribūnum dedissent, nōn potuisse sistī.If the angry gods had given them any tribune like him the year before, amid the disease and the war, he could not have been stopped. Liv. 3.9.8Mortuīs duōbus cōnsulibus, iacente aegrā cīvitāte, in conluuiōne omnium rērum ad tollendum reī pūblicae cōnsulāre imperium lātūrum lēgēs fuisse, ducem Volscīs Aequīsque ad oppugnandam urbem futūrum.With both consuls dead and the state lying sick, in the confusion of everything he would have proposed laws to abolish the consular power from the state, and would have become the leader of the Volscians and Aequi in attacking the city. Liv. 3.9.9Quid tandem?What then? Liv. 3.9.9Illī nōn licēre, sī quid cōnsulēs superbē in aliquem cīvium aut crūdēliter fēcerint, diem dīcere, accūsāre iīs ipsīs iūdicibus, quōrum in aliquem saevītum sit?Was he not permitted, if the consuls had done anything arrogantly or cruelly against any citizen, to bring them to trial, to accuse them before those very judges against one of whom the cruelty had been committed? Liv. 3.9.10Nōn illum cōnsulāre imperium, sed tribūniciam potestātem invīsam intolerandamque facere, quam plācātam reconciliātamque patribus dē integrō in antīqua redigī mala.It was not the consular power, but the tribunician power that he was making hateful and intolerable, which, after being appeased and reconciled with the patricians, was now being brought back afresh to its old evils.
Liv. 3.9.10Neque illum sē dēprecārī, quō minus pergat, ut coeperit;Nor would he beg him to refrain from going on as he had begun; Liv. 3.9.10"vōs" inquit Fabius, "cēterī tribūnī, ōrāmus, ut prīmum omnium cōgitētis potestātem istam ad singulōrum auxilium, nōn ad perniciem ūniversōrum comparātam esse: tribūnōs plēbis vōs creātōs, nōn hostēs patribus.'You,' said Fabius, 'the other tribunes, we beg first of all to reflect that this power of yours was established for the help of individuals, not for the ruin of all: you were created tribunes of the plebs, not enemies of the patricians. Liv. 3.9.12Nōbīs miserum, invidiōsum vōbīs est dēsertam rem pūblicam invādī.For us it is wretched, for you it brings odium, that the state should be attacked when it is defenceless. Liv. 3.9.12Nōn iūs vestrum, sed invidiam minueritis.You will lessen not your rights but the odium against you. Liv. 3.9.12Agite cum collēgā, ut rem integram in adventum cōnsulum differat.Prevail on your colleague to postpone the matter, untouched, until the consuls arrive. Liv. 3.9.12Nē Aequī quidem ac Volscī morbō absūmptīs priōre annō cōnsulibus crūdēlī superbōque nōbīs bellō īnstitēre."Not even the Aequi and Volscians, when our consuls had been carried off by disease the year before, pressed upon us with cruel and arrogant war.' Liv. 3.9.13Agunt cum Terentiliō tribūnī, dīlātāque in speciem āctiōne, rē ipsā sublātā cōnsulēs extemplō arcessītī.The tribunes prevailed on Terentilius, and with the proceedings postponed in appearance but in reality dropped, the consuls were at once summoned.