§8.47.1ἔτι δʼ αὐτῆς λεγούσης ὑπολαβὼν ὁ Μάρκιος εἶπεν· ἀδυνάτων δεομένη, μῆτερ, ἐλήλυθας ἀξιοῦσα προδοῦναί με τοῖς ἐκβαλοῦσι τοὺς ὑποδεξαμένους, καὶ τοῖς ἅπαντά με ἀφελομένοις τὰ ἐμαυτοῦ τοὺς χαρισαμένους τὰ μέγιστα τῶν ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἀγαθῶν·
While she was still speaking, Marcius interrupted and said: “Mother, you have come asking for impossible things, demanding that I betray those who welcomed me to those who cast me out, and those who bestowed upon me the greatest of human benefits to those who deprived me of all my possessions.
οἷς ἐγὼ τὴν ἀρχὴν τήνδε παραλαμβάνων θεούς τε καὶ δαίμονας ἐγγυητὰς ἔδωκα, μήτε προδώσειν τὸ κοινὸν αὐτῶν μήτε προκαταλύσεσθαι τὸν πόλεμον, ἐὰν μὴ Οὐολούσκοις ἅπασι δοκῇ.
To them, when I took over this command, I gave the gods and spirits as guarantors that I would neither betray their community nor make a premature end to the war, unless it should seem fit to all the Volscians.
§8.47.2θεούς τε δὴ σεβόμενος, οὓς ὤμοσα, καὶ ἀνθρώπους αἰδούμενος, οἷς τὰς πίστεις ἔδωκα, πολεμήσω Ῥωμαίοις ἄχρι τέλους.
Therefore, both revering the gods by whom I swore, and respecting the men to whom I gave my pledges, I will war against the Romans to the end.
ἐὰν δʼ ἀποδιδῶσι τὴν χώραν Οὐολούσκοις, ἣν κατέχουσιν αὐτῶν βίᾳ, καὶ φίλους αὐτοὺς ποιήσωνται πάντων αὐτοῖς μεταδιδόντες τῶν ἴσων ὥσπερ Λατίνοις, διαλύσομαι τὸν πρὸς αὐτοὺς πόλεμον· ἄλλως δʼ οὔ.
But if they restore to the Volscians the land of theirs which they hold by force, and make them friends, sharing with them all equal rights just as with the Latins, I will put an end to the war against them; otherwise, not.
§8.47.3ὑμεῖς μὲν οὖν, ὦ γυναῖκες, ἄπιτε καὶ λέγετε τοῖς ἀνδράσι ταῦτα καὶ πείθετε αὐτοὺς μὴ φιλοχωρεῖν τοῖς ἀλλοτρίοις ἀδίκως, ἀλλʼ ἀγαπᾶν, ἐὰν τὰ ἑαυτῶν ἔχειν τις αὐτοὺς ἐᾷ, μηδʼ ὅτι πολέμῳ λαβόντες ἔχουσι τὰ Οὐολούσκων, περιμένειν, ἕως πολέμῳ πάλιν αὐτὰ ὑπὸ τούτων ἀφαιρεθῶσιν.
You, therefore, O women, go and tell these things to your husbands and persuade them not to cling unjustly to what belongs to others, but to be content if someone permits them to keep their own, and not to wait—just because they hold by war what belongs to the Volscians—until they are deprived of it again by them in war.
οὐ γὰρ ἀποχρήσει τοῖς κρατοῦσι τὰ ἑαυτῶν μόνον ἀπολαβεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ τῶν κρατηθέντων ἴδια ἀξιώσουσιν ἔχειν.
For it will not satisfy the victors merely to recover their own, but they will also demand to have the private property of the conquered.
ἐὰν δὲ περιεχόμενοι τῶν μηθὲν ὐτοῖς προσηκόντων πᾶν ὁτιοῦν πάσχειν ὑπομένωσι φυλάττοντες τὸ αὔθαδες, ἐκείνους αἰτιάσεσθε τῶν καταληψομένων κακῶν, οὐ Μάρκιον οὐδὲ Οὐολούσκους οὐδὲ τῶν ἄλλων ἀνθρώπων οὐδένα.
But if, clinging to what in no way belongs to them, they submit to suffer anything whatever to preserve their arrogance, you must blame them for the evils that will overtake them, not Marcius, nor the Volscians, nor anyone else among men.
§8.47.4σοῦ δέ, ὦ μῆτερ, ἐν μέρει πάλιν υἱὸς ὢν ἐγὼ δέομαι μή με παρακαλεῖν εἰς ἀνοσίους πράξεις καὶ ἀδίκους, μηδὲ μετὰ τῶν ἐχθίστων ἐμοί τε καὶ σεαυτῇ τεταγμένην πολεμίους ἡγεῖσθαι τοὺς ἀναγκαιοτάτους· ἀλλὰ παρʼ ἐμοὶ γενομένην ὥσπερ ἐστὶ δίκαιον πατρίδα τε νέμειν, ἣν ἐγὼ νέμω, καὶ οἶκον, ὃν ἐγὼ κέκτημαι, τιμάς τε καρποῦσθαι τὰς ἐμάς, καὶ δόξης ἀπολαύειν τῆς ἐμῆς, τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἡγουμένην φίλους τε καὶ πολεμίους οὕσπερ ἐγώ· ἀποθέσθαι τʼ ἤδη τὸ πένθος, ὃ διὰ τὰς ἐμὰς ὑπέμεινας, ὦ ταλαίπωρε, φυγάς, καὶ παύσασθαι τιμωρουμένην με τῷ σχήματι τούτῳ.
But of you, O mother, I in my turn, being your son, entreat you not to summon me to unholy and unjust deeds, nor, taking your stand with those who are most hateful both to me and to yourself, to regard your closest kin as enemies; but, coming to my side, as is just, to inhabit the country which I inhabit, and the house which I possess, and to enjoy my honors, and to share in my glory, holding the same friends and enemies as I do; and to put away now the mourning which you have endured, O unhappy woman, because of my banishment, and to cease punishing me with this attire.
§8.47.5ἐμοὶ γὰρ τὰ μὲν ἄλλα, ὦ μῆτερ, ἀγαθὰ κρείττονα ἐλπίδων καὶ μείζονα εὐχῆς παρὰ θεῶν τε καὶ ἀνθρώπων ἀπήντηται, ἡ δὲ περὶ σοῦ φροντίς, ᾗ τὰς γηροβοσκοὺς οὐκ ἀπέδωκα χάριτας, ἐντετηκυῖα τοῖς σπλάγχνοις πικρὸν ἐποίει καὶ ἀνόνητον ἁπάντων τῶν ἀγαθῶν τὸν βίον.
For to me, O mother, other blessings have been met from gods and men beyond my hopes and greater than my prayers; but my anxiety about you, to whom I have not repaid the gratitude due for nurturing my youth, melting into my very heart, made my life bitter and all my blessings of no benefit.
εἰ σὲ σὺν ἐμοὶ τάξεις σεαυτὴν καὶ τῶν ἐμῶν κοινωνεῖν ἐθελήσεις ἁπάντων, οὐθενὸς ἔτι μοι δεήσει τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ἀγαθῶν.
If you will place yourself on my side and be willing to share in all my possessions, I shall no longer have need of any human blessing.”