Texte grec :
| [6,22] Ῥωμαίοις δὲ καταλυσαμένοις τοὺς ὑπαίθρους
πολέμους ἡ πολιτικὴ στάσις αὖθις ἐπανίστατο τῆς μὲν
βουλῆς ψηφισαμένης καθίζειν τὰ δικαστήρια καὶ τὰς
ἀμφισβητήσεις, ἃς διὰ τὸν πόλεμον ἀνεβάλλοντο, κρίνεσθαι
κατὰ τοὺς νόμους· τῶν δὲ περὶ τὰς συναλλαγὰς
ἀμφισβητημάτων εἰς μεγάλους κλύδωνας καὶ δεινὰς
προβεβηκότων ἀτοπίας τε καὶ ἀναισχυντίας, τῶν
μὲν δημοτικῶν ἀδυνάτως ἔχειν σκηπτομένων διαλύειν
τὰ χρέα, χώρας τ´ αὐτοῖς κεκομμένης ἐν τῷ πολυετεῖ
πολέμῳ καὶ βοσκημάτων διεφθαρμένων καὶ ἀνδραπόδων
αὐτομολίαις καὶ καταδρομαῖς σπανισθέντων τῆς
τε κατὰ πόλιν κτήσεως ἐξανηλωμένης ταῖς εἰς τὴν
στρατείαν δαπάναις· τῶν δὲ δανειστῶν ταύτας μὲν
τὰς συμφορὰς ὁμοίας ἅπασι γεγονέναι λεγόντων καὶ
οὐ μόνοις τοῖς χρεωφειλέταις, οὐκ ἀνεκτὸν δ´ ἡγουμένων
σφίσι μὴ μόνον, ἃ διὰ τὸν πόλεμον ἀφῃρέθησαν ὑπὸ τῶν
ἐχθρῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἃ δεομένοις τισὶ τῶν
πολιτῶν ἐν εἰρήνῃ συνήλλαξαν, ἀπολωλέναι. ἀξιούντων
δ´ οὔτε τῶν δανειστῶν οὐδὲν μέτριον ὑπομένειν οὔτε
τῶν χρεωφειλετῶν ποιεῖν οὐδὲν δίκαιον, ἀλλὰ τῶν μὲν
οὐδὲ τοὺς τόκους ἀφιέναι, τῶν δὲ μηδὲ αὐτὰ τὰ
συναλλάγματα διαλύειν· ἐξ ὧν σύνοδοι μὲν ἤδη κατὰ
συστροφὰς τῶν ἐν ταῖς ὁμοίαις ὄντων τύχαις ἐγένοντο
καὶ ἀντιπαρατάξεις κατὰ τὴν ἀγοράν, ἔστι δ´ ὅτε καὶ
χειρῶν ἁψιμαχίαι, καὶ συνετετάρακτο πᾶς ὁ πολιτικὸς
κόσμος· ταῦθ´ ὁρῶν ὁ Ποστόμιος, ἕως ἔτι τὸ τιμώμενον εἶχε
παρὰ πάντων ὅμοιον πολέμῳ βαρεῖ καλὸν
ὑπεκδῦναι τοὺς πολιτικοὺς χειμῶνας ἔγνω· καὶ πρὶν
ἐκπληρῶσαι τὸν ἔσχατον τῆς αὐτοκράτορος ἀρχῆς χρόνον,
τήν τε δικτατορίαν ἐξωμόσατο καὶ προθεὶς ἀρχαιρεσιῶν
ἡμέραν μετὰ τοῦ συνυπάτου τὰς πατρίους κατέστησεν ἀρχάς.
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Traduction française :
| [6,22] After the Romans had put an end to the foreign wars, the civil strife sprang up
again. For the senate ordered the courts of justice to sit and that all suits which they
had postponed on account of the war should be decided according to the laws. The
controversies arising over contracts resulted in great storms and terrible instances of
outrageous and shameless behaviour, the plebeians, on the one hand, pretending they
were unable to pay their debts, since their land had been laid waste during the long
war, their cattle destroyed, the number of their slaves (p307) reduced by desertion and
raids, and their fortunes in the city exhausted by their expenditures for the campaign,
and the money-lenders, on the other hand, alleging that these misfortunes had been
common to all and not confined to the debtors only, and regarding it as intolerable
that they should lose, not only what they had been stripped of by the enemy in the
war, but also what they had lent in time of peace to some of the citizens who asked for
their assistance. And as neither the money-lenders were willing to accept anything
that was reasonable nor the debtors to do anything that was just, but the former
refused to abate even the interest, and the latter to pay even the principal itself, those
who were in the same plight were already gathering in knots and opposing parties
faced one another in the Forum and sometimes actually came to blows, and the whole
established order of the state was thrown into confusion. Postumius, observing this,
while he still retained the respect of all alike for having brought a severe war to an
honourable conclusion, resolved to avoid the civil storms, and before he had
completed the whole term of his sovereign magistracy he abdicated the dictatorship,
and having fixed a day for the election, he, together with his fellow-consul, restored
the traditional magistrates.
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