Texte grec :
| [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.
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Traduction française :
| [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.
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