[11,52] Μηδὲν δ´ αὐτῶν ἀποκρινομένων, ἀλλ´ ἀγανακτούντων παρελθὼν αὖθις Σκάπτιος ἐπὶ τὸ βῆμα· Ἔχετ´, ἔφη, παρακεχωρημένον, ἄνδρες πολῖται, παρ´ αὐτῶν τῶν διαφερομένων, ὅτι τῆς ἡμετέρας χώρας ἑαυτοῖς μηδὲν προσηκούσης ἀντιποιοῦνται· πρὸς ταῦτα ὁρῶντες τὰ δίκαια καὶ τὰ εὔορκα ψηφίσασθε. Ταῦτα τοῦ Σκαπτίου λέγοντος αἰδὼς εἰσῄει τοὺς ὑπάτους ἐνθυμουμένους, ὡς οὔτε δίκαιον οὔτ´ εὐπρεπὲς ἡ δίκη λήψεται τέλος, ἄν τινα ἀμφισβητουμένην ὑφ´ ἑτέρων χώραν δικαστὴς αἱρεθεὶς ὁ Ῥωμαίων δῆμος μηδέποτ´ αὐτῆς ἀντιποιησάμενος ἑαυτῷ προσδικάσῃ τοὺς ἀμφισβητοῦντας ἀφελόμενος· καὶ πολλοὶ σφόδρα ἐλέχθησαν εἰς ἀποτροπὴν τοῦ πράγματος ὑπὸ τῶν ὑπάτων καὶ τῶν ἡγουμένων τῆς βουλῆς λόγοι διακενῆς. οἱ γὰρ ἀνειληφότες τὰς ψήφους πολλὴν μωρίαν εἶναι λέγοντες ἑτέρους περιορᾶν τὰ σφέτερα κατέχοντας, καὶ οὐκ εὐσεβὲς ἐξοίσειν τέλος ὑπολαμβάνοντες, ἐὰν Ἀρικηνοὺς ἢ Ἀρδεάτας κυρίους ἀποδείξωσι τῆς ἀμφισβητησίμου γῆς ὀμωμοκότες ὧν ἂν εὕρωσιν αὐτὴν οὖσαν τούτων ἐπικρινεῖν· τοῖς τε δικαζομένοις ὀργὴν ἔχοντες, ὅτι τοὺς ἀποστερουμένους αὐτῆς δικαστὰς ἠξίωσαν λαβεῖν, ἵνα μηδ´ ὕστερον ἔτι σφίσιν ἐγγένηται τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀνακομίσασθαι κτῆσιν, ἣν αὐτοὶ μεθ´ ὅρκου δικάσαντες ἑτέρων ἐπέγνωσαν εἶναι. ταῦτα δὴ λογιζόμενοι καὶ ἀγανακτοῦντες τρίτον ἐκέλευσαν τεθῆναι καδίσκον ὑπὲρ τῆς πόλεως Ῥωμαίων καθ´ ἑκάστην φυλήν, εἰς ὃν ἀποθήσονται τὰς ψήφους· καὶ γίνεται πάσαις ταῖς ψήφοις ὁ Ῥωμαίων δῆμος τῆς ἀμφιλόγου χώρας κύριος. ταῦτα μὲν ἐπὶ τούτων τῶν ὑπάτων ἐπράχθη.

[11,52] When they made no answer but continued to feel aggrieved, Scaptius again came forward to the tribunal and said: "There you have the admission, citizens, from our adversaries themselves that they are laying claim to territory of ours which in no wise belongs to them. Bearing this in mind, vote for what is just and in conformity with your oaths."While Scaptius was thus speaking, a sense of shame came over the consuls as they considered that the outcome of this trial would be neither just nor seemly if the Roman people, when chosen as arbiters, should take away any disputed territory claimed by others and (p167) award it to themselves, after having never before put in a counter-claim to it; and a great many speeches were made by the consuls and by the leaders of the senate to avert this result, but in vain. For the people, when called to give their votes, declared it would be great folly to permit what was theirs to remain in the possession of others, and they thought they would not be rendering a righteous verdict if they declared the Aricians or the Ardeates to be the owners of the disputed land after having sworn to award it to those to whom they should find that it belonged. And they were angry with the contending parties for having asked to have as arbiters those who were being deprived of this land, with this end in view, that they might not even afterwards have it in their power to recover their own property which they themselves as sworn judges had decreed to belong to others.The people, then, reasoning thus and feeling aggrieved, ordered a third urn, for the Roman commonwealth, to be placed before each tribe, into which they might put their voting tablets; and the Roman people were declared by all the votes to be the owners of the disputed land. These were the events of that consulship.