§17_18.2.1οἱ δὲ Σαυνῖται τῶν πρέσβεων ἀκούσαντες ἠγανάκτουν τε καὶ ἀπελογοῦντο πρῶτον μὲν οὐκ ἐπὶ τούτῳ πεποιῆσθαι λέγοντες τὰς περὶ τῆς εἰρήνης ὁμολογίας, ἐπὶ τῷ μηδένα μήτε φίλον ἴδιον ἡγήσασθαι μήτʼ ἐχθρόν, ἐὰν μὴ Ῥωμαῖοι κελεύωσιν· ἔπειθʼ ὅτι Λευκανοὺς οὐ πρότερον ἐποιήσαντο Ῥωμαῖοι φίλους, ἀλλʼ ἔναγχος πολεμίους ἤδη σφῶν ὄντας, πρόφασιν οὔτε δικαίαν οὔτʼ εὐσχήμονα κατασκευαζόμενοι §17_18.2.2τοῦ καταλῦσαι τὰς σπονδάς.
But the Samnites, having heard the ambassadors, were both indignant and defended themselves, saying, first, that the agreement concerning peace had not been made on this condition, namely, on the condition of holding no one as their own friend or enemy unless the Romans should command it; and secondly, that the Romans had not previously made the Lucanians their friends, but only recently when they were already their enemies, fabricating a pretext neither just nor honorable for dissolving the treaty.
ἀποκρινομένων δὲ τῶν Ῥωμαίων, ὅτι τοὺς ὑπηκόους ὁμολογήσαντας ἕπεσθαι καὶ ἐπὶ τούτῳ τῷ δικαίῳ καταλυσαμένους τὸν πόλεμον ἅπαντα πείθεσθαι δεῖ τοῖς παρειληφόσι τὴν ἀρχήν, καί, εἰ μὴ ποιήσουσι τὰ κελευόμενα ἑκόντες, πολεμήσειν αὐτοῖς ἀπειλούντων, §17_18.2.3ἀφόρητον ἡγησάμενοι τὴν αὐθάδειαν τῆς πόλεως οἱ Σαυνῖται τοὺς μὲν πρέσβεις ἐκέλευσαν ἀπαλλάττεσθαι παραχρῆμα, αὐτοὶ δὲ τὰ πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον ἐψηφίσαντο κοινῇ τε καὶ κατὰ πόλεις εὐτρεπίζεσθαι.
And when the Romans replied that subjects who had agreed to follow and had ended the entire war on this legal condition ought to obey those who had taken over the sovereignty in all things, and threatened that they would make war on them if they did not do what was commanded voluntarily, the Samnites, considering the insolence of the city unbearable, ordered the ambassadors to depart immediately, and voted that they themselves should prepare what was necessary for the war, both in common and by individual cities.