[5,75] Ὃν δὲ τρόπον ὁ Λάρκιος ἐχρήσατο τοῖς πράγμασι δικτάτωρ πρῶτος ἀποδειχθεὶς καὶ κόσμον, οἷον περιέθηκε τῇ ἀρχῇ, συντόμως πειράσομαι διεξελθεῖν, ταῦτα ἡγούμενος εἶναι χρησιμώτατα τοῖς ἀναγνωσομένοις, ἃ πολλὴν εὐπορίαν παρέξει καλῶν καὶ συμφερόντων παραδειγμάτων νομοθέταις τε καὶ δημαγωγοῖς καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασι τοῖς πολιτεύεσθαί τε καὶ τὰ κοινὰ πράττειν βουλομένοις. οὐ γὰρ ἀζήλου καὶ ταπεινῆς πόλεως πολιτεύματα καὶ βίους οὐδὲ ἀνωνύμων καὶ ἀπερριμμένων ἀνθρώπων βουλεύματα καὶ πράξεις μέλλω διηγεῖσθαι, ὥστε ὄχλον ἄν τινι καὶ φλυαρίαν φανῆναι τὴν περὶ τὰ μικρὰ καὶ φαῦλα ἡμῶν σπουδήν· ἀλλ´ ὑπὲρ τῆς ἅπασι τὰ καλὰ καὶ δίκαια ὁριζούσης πόλεως καὶ περὶ τῶν εἰς τοῦτο καταστησαμένων αὐτὴν τὸ ἀξίωμα ἡγεμόνων, ἅ τις ἂν σπουδάσειε μὴ ἀγνοεῖν φιλόσοφος καὶ πολιτικὸς ἀνήρ, συγγράφω. εὐθὺς μὲν οὖν ἅμα τῷ παραλαβεῖν τὴν ἐξουσίαν, ἱππάρχην ἀποδείκνυσι Σπόριον Κάσσιον, τὸν ὑπατεύσαντα κατὰ τὴν ἑβδομηκοστὴν ὀλυμπιάδα. τοῦτο τὸ ἔθος ἕως τῆς κατ´ ἐμὲ γενεᾶς ἐφυλάττετο ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων, καὶ οὐθεὶς εἰς τόδε χρόνου δικτάτωρ αἱρεθεὶς χωρὶς ἱππάρχου τὴν ἀρχὴν διετέλεσεν. ἔπειτα τῆς ἐξουσίας τὸ κράτος ἐπιδεῖξαι βουληθεὶς ὅσον ἐστί, καταπλήξεως μᾶλλον ἢ χρήσεως ἕνεκα τοῖς ῥαβδούχοις ἐκέλευσεν ἅμα ταῖς δεσμαῖς τῶν ῥάβδων τοὺς πελέκεις διὰ τῆς πόλεως φέρειν· ἔθος ἐπιχώριον μὲν τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν, ἐκλειφθὲν δ´ ὑπὸ τῶν ὑπάτων, ἐξ οὗ Οὐαλέριος Ποπλικόλας ὁ πρῶτος ὑπατεύσας ἐμείωσε τὸν φθόνον τῆς ἀρχῆς, αὐτὸς ἀνανεωσάμενος. καταπληξάμενος δὲ τούτῳ τε καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις συμβόλοις τῆς βασιλικῆς ἡγεμονίας τοὺς ταρακτικοὺς καὶ νεωτεριστάς, τὸ κράτιστον τῶν ὑπὸ Σερουΐου Τυλλίου τοῦ δημοτικωτάτου βασιλέως κατασταθέντων νομίμων, πρῶτον ἐπέταξε ποιῆσαι Ῥωμαίοις ἅπασι, τιμήσεις κατὰ φυλὰς τῶν βίων ἐνεγκεῖν, προσγράφοντας γυναικῶν τε καὶ παίδων ὀνόματα καὶ ἡλικίας ἑαυτῶν τε καὶ τέκνων. ἐν ὀλίγῳ δὲ χρόνῳ πάντων τιμησαμένων διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς τιμωρίας· τήν τε γὰρ οὐσίαν ἀπολέσαι τοὺς ἀπειθήσαντας ἔδει καὶ τὴν πολιτείαν· ἑπτακοσίοις πλείους εὑρέθησαν οἱ ἐν ἥβῃ Ῥωμαῖοι πεντεκαίδεκα μυριάδων. μετὰ τοῦτο διακρίνας τοὺς ἔχοντας τὴν στρατεύσιμον ἡλικίαν ἀπὸ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων καὶ καταχωρίσας εἰς λόχους, διένειμε πεζούς τε καὶ ἱππεῖς εἰς τέτταρας μοίρας· ὧν μίαν μὲν τὴν κρατίστην περὶ αὑτὸν εἶχεν, ἐκ δὲ τῶν ὑπολειπομένων Κλοίλιον ἐκέλευσε τὸν συνύπατον ἣν αὐτὸς ἐβούλετο λαβεῖν, τὴν δὲ τρίτην Σπόριον Κάσσιον τὸν ἱππάρχην, τὴν δὲ καταλειπομένην τὸν ἀδελφὸν Σπόριον Λάρκιον· αὕτη φρουρεῖν τὴν πόλιν ἐτάχθη σὺν τοῖς πρεσβυτέροις ἐντὸς τείχους μένουσα.

[5,75] I shall now endeavour to relate in a summary manner how Larcius handled matters when he had been appointed the first dictator, and show with what dignity he invested the magistracy, for I look upon these matters as being most useful to my readers, since they will afford a great abundance of noble and profitable examples, not only to lawgivers and leaders of the people, but also to all others who aspire to take part in public life and to govern the state. For it is no mean and humble state of which I am going to relate the institutions and manners, nor were the men nameless outcasts whose counsels and actions I shall record, so that my zeal for small and trivial details might to some appear tedious and trifling; but I am writing the history of the state which prescribes rules of right and justice for all mankind, and of the leaders who raised her to that dignity, matters concerning which any philosopher or statesman would earnestly strive not to be ignorant. As soon, therefore, as Larcius had assumed this power, he appointed as his Master of the Horse Spurius Cassius, who had been consul about the seventieth Olympiad. This custom has been observed by the Romans down to my generation and no one appointed dictator has thus far gone through his magistracy without a Master of the Horse. After that, desiring to show how great was the extent of his power, he ordered the lictors, more to inspire terror than for any actual use, to carry the axes with the (p229) bundles of rods through the city, thereby reviving once more a custom that had been observed by the kings but abandoned by the consuls after Valerius Publicola in his first consulship had lessened the hatred felt for that magistracy. Having by this and the other symbols of royal power terrified the turbulent and the seditious, he first ordered all the Romans, pursuant to the best of all the practices established by Servius Tullius, the most democratic of the kings, to return valuations of their property, each in their respective tribes, adding the names of their wives and children as well as the ages of themselves and their children. And all of them having registered in a short time by reason of the severity of the penalty (for the disobedient were to lose both their property and their citizenship), the Romans who had arrived at the age of manhood were found to number 150,700. After that he separated those who were of military age from the older men, and distributing the former into centuries, he formed four bodies of foot and horse, of which he kept one, the best, about his person, while of the remaining three bodies, he ordered Cloelius, who had been his colleague in the consulship, to choose the one he wished, Spurius Cassius, the Master of the Horse, to take the third, and Spurius Larcius, his brother, the remaining one; this last body together with the older men was ordered to guard the city, remaining inside the walls.