[9,43] Τελεσθέντων δὲ τῶν ἀρχαιρεσίων κατὰ πολλὴν εὐπέτειαν - οἱ γὰρ πένητες ἐξέλιπον τὸ πεδίον, ἐπειδὴ τὸν ἄνδρα τόνδε ὀνομασθέντα ἤκουσαν - παραλαμβάνουσι τὴν ὑπατείαν Τῖτος Κοίντιος Καπιτωλῖνος καὶ Ἄππιος Κλαύδιος Σαβῖνος, οὔτε τὰς φύσεις οὔτε τὰς προαιρέσεις ἔχοντες ὁμοίας. Ἀππίου μὲν γὰρ ἦν γνώμη περισπᾶν περὶ τὰς ἔξω στρατείας τὸν ἀργὸν καὶ πένητα δῆμον, ἵνα τῶν τε καθ´ ἡμέραν ἀναγκαίων ἐκ τῆς πολεμίας εὐπορῶν τοῖς αὑτοῦ πόνοις, ὧν ἐν χρείᾳ μάλιστα ὑπῆρχε, καὶ τὰ συμφέροντα τῇ πόλει διαπραττόμενος, ἥκιστα τοῖς ἐκ τοῦ συνεδρίου διοικοῦσι τὰ κοινὰ δυσμενής τε καὶ χαλεπὸς ᾖ· πολέμου δὲ πᾶσαν ἔσεσθαι πρόφασιν εὔλογον ἀπέφαινεν ἡγεμονίας ἀντιποιουμένῃ πόλει καὶ ὑπὸ πάντων ἐπιφθονουμένῃ, κατά τε τὸ εἰκὸς τοῖς γεγονόσιν ἤδη τὰ μέλλοντα εἰκάζειν ἠξίου, ἐπιλεγόμενος, ὅσαι ἤδη κινήσεις ἐγένοντο ἐν τῇ πόλει, ὅτι πᾶσαι κατὰ τὰς ἀναπαύλας ἐγένοντο τῶν πολέμων. Κοιντίῳ δ´ οὐκ ἐδόκει πόλεμον ἐκφέρειν οὐδένα, ἀγαπητὸν ἀποφαίνοντι, εἰ πρὸς τοὺς ἀναγκαίους τε καὶ ἔξωθεν ἐπαγομένους κινδύνους καλούμενος ὁ δῆμος εὐπειθὴς γένοιτο, καὶ διδάσκοντι, ὡς εἰ βίαν προσάξουσι τοῖς μὴ πειθομένοις εἰς ἀπόνοιαν ἀναγκάσουσιν ἐλθεῖν τὸ δημοτικόν, ὥσπερ καὶ οἱ πρὸ αὐτῶν ἐποίησαν ὕπατοι· ἐξ ὧν κινδυνεύσειν αὐτοὺς δυεῖν θάτερον, ἢ δι´ αἵματος καὶ φόνων καταπαῦσαι τὴν στάσιν, ἢ θεραπεύειν αἰσχρῶς ὑπομεῖναι τὸ δημοτικόν. ἦν δ´ ἡ τοῦ μηνὸς ἐκείνου ἡγεμονία τῷ Κοιντίῳ προσήκουσα, ὥστ´ ἀναγκαῖον ἦν τὸν ἕτερον τῶν ὑπάτων μηδὲν ἄκοντος ἐκείνου ποιεῖν. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Πόπλιον δήμαρχοι οὐθὲν ἔτι διαμελλήσαντες τὸν ἐν τῷ πρόσθεν ἐνιαυτῷ οὐ δυνηθέντα νόμον ἐπικυρωθῆναι πάλιν εἰσέφερον, προσγράψαντες αὐτῷ καὶ τὸ τῶν ἀγορανόμων ἀρχεῖον ἐν ταῖς αὐταῖς ψηφοφορεῖσθαι ἐκκλησίαις, καὶ πάντα τἆλλα, ὅσα ἐν τῷ δήμῳ πράττεσθαί τε καὶ ἐπικυροῦσθαι δεήσει, ὑπὸ τῶν φυλετῶν ἐπιψηφίζεσθαι κατὰ ταὐτόν· ὅπερ ἦν ἄρα τῆς μὲν βουλῆς κατάλυσις φανερά, τοῦ δὲ δήμου δυναστεία.

[9,43] After the election had been carried through quite easily — for the poorer people left the field as soon as they heard Appius named — Titus Quintius Capitolinus and Appius Claudius Sabinus succeeded to the consulship, men alike neither in their dispositions nor in their principles.For it was the opinion of Appius that the idle and needy populace should be kept employed in military expeditions abroad, in order that, while supplying themselves from the enemy's country by their own toils with an abundance of the daily necessaries of which they were in the greatest need and at the same time accomplishing results advantageous to the commonwealth, (p65) they might be least likely to be hostile and troublesome to the senators who were administering public affairs. He declared that any excuse for making war would be justifiable for a state that laid claim to supremacy and was envied by all; and he asked them, applying the principle of probability, to judge what was to happen in the future by what had already taken place in the past, adding that all the commotions which had occurred in the commonwealth in the past had happened during the respites from war. Quintius, on the other hand, thought they ought not to wage any war. He declared they ought to be satisfied if the populace, when called upon to face the inevitable dangers brought upon them from outside, yielded ready obedience; and he showed that if they attempted to use force with the disobedient they would drive the plebeians to desperation, as the consuls before them had done. As a result, they would run the risk either of putting down the sedition with bloodshed and slaughter or of submitting to a shameful courting of the plebeians.In that month the command belonged to Quintius, so that the other consul was bound to do nothing without his consent. In the meantime Publius and the other two tribunes without further delay were again proposing the law which they had been unable to get ratified the year before, with this additional provision that the college of aediles61 should also be chosen in the same assemblies, and that everything else that was to be done and ratified by the populace should be voted on in like manner by the members of the (p67) tribes. This, now, clearly meant the overthrow of the senate and the dominance of the populace.