[11,49] Ταῦτα διαπραξάμενος ἀπῆγεν εἰς Ῥώμην τὰς δυνάμεις, καὶ κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον Οὐαλέριος ἧκεν, ἦν τ´ ἀμφοτέροις μέγα φρονοῦσιν ἐπὶ ταῖς νίκαις ἐλπὶς ἐπιφανεῖς κατάξειν θριάμβους. οὐ μὴν ἐχώρησέ γε αὐτοῖς κατ´ ἐλπίδα τὸ ἔργον. συναχθεῖσα γὰρ κατ´ αὐτῶν ἡ βουλὴ κατεστρατοπεδευκότων ἔξω τῆς πόλεως εἰς τὸ καλούμενον Ἄρειον πεδίον, καὶ τὰ πραχθέντα ὑπ´ ἀμφοτέρων μαθοῦσα τὴν ἐπινίκιον οὐκ ἐπέτρεψε ποιήσασθαι θυσίαν πολλῶν μὲν καὶ ἄλλων ἐναντιωθέντων αὐτοῖς ἐκ τοῦ φανεροῦ, μάλιστα δὲ Κλαυδίου Γαΐου· θεῖος δ´ ἦν οὗτος, ὥσπερ ἔφην, Ἀππίῳ τῷ καταστησαμένῳ τὴν ὀλιγαρχίαν καὶ νεωστὶ ὑπὸ τῶν δημάρχων ἀναιρεθέντι· τούς τε κυρωθέντας ὑπ´ αὐτῶν νόμους προβαλλομένου, δι´ ὧν ἠλάττωσαν τὸ τῆς βουλῆς κράτος, καὶ τἆλλα πολιτεύματα, ὅσα οὗτοι πολιτευόμενοι διετέλεσαν· τελευταίαν δὲ τὴν τῶν δέκα ἀνδρῶν, οὓς προὔδωκαν τοῖς δημάρχοις, τῶν μὲν ἀπώλειαν, τῶν δὲ δήμευσιν, ὡς παρὰ τοὺς ὅρκους καὶ τὰς συνθήκας, διεξιόντος. τὰ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν ἱερῶν συνομολογηθέντα τοῖς πατρικίοις πρὸς τοὺς δημοτικοὺς ἐπ´ ἀδείᾳ τε πάντων γενέσθαι καὶ ἀμνηστίᾳ τῶν προτέρων· τόν τ´ Ἀππίου θάνατον οὐκ αὐτοχειρίᾳ γενέσθαι λέγοντος, ἀλλ´ ἐπιβούλως ὑπὸ τῶν δημάρχων πρὸ δίκης, ἵνα μήτε λόγου τύχῃ κρινόμενος μήτ´ ἐλέου, ὡς, εἰ κατέστη γοῦν εἰς κρίσιν ἁνὴρ, ἀπέφυγεν ἂν γένους ἀξίωμα παρεχόμενος καὶ πολλὰ τὸ κοινὸν εὖ πεποιηκὼς ὅρκους τε καὶ πίστεις ἐπιβοώμενος, αἷς ἅνθρωποι πιστεύοντες εἰς διαλλαγὰς συνέρχονται, τέκνα τε καὶ συγγένειαν καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ ταπεινὸν σχῆμα καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ {φέρων} εἰς οἶκτον ἐφελκόμενα τὸ πλῆθος. ταῦτα δὴ πάντα κατηγορήματα τῶν ὑπάτων {κατ´ αὐτῶν ἐκχέαντος Κλαυδίου Γαΐου, καὶ πάντων} τῶν παρόντων, ἔδοξεν ἀγαπᾶν αὐτοὺς εἰ μὴ δώσουσι δίκας· θριάμβων δὲ καταγωγῆς ἤ τινων τοιούτων συγχωρήσεων οὐδὲ κατὰ μικρὸν ἀξίους εἶναι τυγχάνειν.

[11,49] After accomplishing these things he led his forces back to Rome, and Valerius arrived at about the same time. Both of them, being greatly elated by their victories, expected to celebrate brilliant triumphs; however, the matter did not turn out according to their expectation.For the senate, having been convened in their case while they lay encamped outside the city in the Field of Mars, as it was called, and being informed of the exploits of both, would not permit them to perform the triumphal sacrifice, since many of the senators opposed their demand openly,and particularly Gaius Claudius, uncles, as I have stated, to Appius who had established the oligarchy and had been put to death recently by the tribunes. Claudius reproached them for the laws they had got enacted by which they had weakened the power of the senate and for the other policies they had constantly pursued; and, last of all, he told of the killing of some of the decemvirs, whom they had betrayed to the tribunes, and the confiscation of the estates of the others, in violation, as he claimed, of their oaths and covenants;for he maintained that the compact entered into by the patricians with the plebeians had been made on the basis of a general amnesty and impunity for what was past. He added that Appius had not perished by his own hand, but by the treachery of the tribunes before his trial, in order that he might not by standing trial either (p163) get a chance to speak or obtain mercy, — as might well have been the case if the man had come into court citing in his defence his illustrious lineage and the many good services he had rendered to the commonwealth, appealing too to the oaths and pledges of good faith, on which men rely when accommodating their differences, bringing forward his children and relations, displaying even the humble garb of the suppliant, and doing many other things that move the multitude to compassion. When Claudius had poured out all these accusations against the consuls a all who were present had expressed their approval, it was decided that the consuls ought to be content if they were not punished; but that they were not in the least worthy of celebrating triumphs or of gaining any concessions of that sort.