§15.17.1τὰ γὰρ ὑπεραίροντα τὴν κοινὴν συνήθειαν τῶν παρʼ ἐνίοις ἐθισμῶν, ὅταν μὲν αὐτοπαθῶς δόξῃ γίνεσθαι διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν συμπτωμάτων, ἔλεον ἐκκαλεῖται παρὰ τοῖς ὁρῶσι καὶ τοῖς ἀκούουσι, καὶ συγκινεῖ πως ἕκαστον ἡμῶν ὁ ξενισμός·
For actions that exceed the common custom among certain peoples' practices, when they are deemed to arise from genuine feelings owing to the magnitude of the disasters, evoke pity in those who see and hear them, and their strangeness somehow moves each of us.
§15.17.2ἐπὰν δὲ φαίνηται γοητείας χάριν καὶ καθʼ ὑπόκρισιν γίνεσθαι τὸ τοιοῦτον, οὐκ ἔλεον, ἀλλʼ ὀργὴν ἐξεργάζεται καὶ μῖσος.
But when such a thing appears to occur for the sake of deceit and through hypocrisy, it produces not pity but anger and hatred.
ὃ καὶ τότε συνέβη γενέσθαι περὶ τοὺς πρεσβευτὰς τῶν Καρχηδονίων. — §15.17.3ὁ δὲ Πόπλιος διὰ βραχέων ἤρξατο λέγειν πρὸς αὐτούς, ὡς ἐκείνων μὲν χάριν οὐδὲν ὀφείλουσι ποιεῖν φιλάνθρωπον, ὁμολογούντων αὐτῶν διότι καὶ τὸν πόλεμον ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐπενέγκαιεν Ῥωμαίοις, παρὰ τὰς συνθήκας ἐξανδραποδισάμενοι τὴν Ζακανθαίων πόλιν, καὶ πρῴην παρασπονδήσαιεν, ἀθετήσαντες τοὺς ὅρκους καὶ τὰς ἐγγράπτους ὁμολογίας· §15.17.4αὑτῶν δὲ χάριν ἔφησε καὶ τῆς τύχης καὶ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων κεκρίσθαι σφίσι πρᾴως χρῆσθαι καὶ μεγαλοψύχως τοῖς πράγμασι.
Which is indeed what happened on that occasion regarding the Carthaginian ambassadors. — Publius began to speak to them briefly, saying that for their sake they owed no act of clemency, since they themselves admitted that from the very beginning, contrary to the treaties, they had enslaved the city of the Saguntines and brought war upon the Romans, and recently had violated the truce, setting aside their oaths and written agreements; But for their own sake, he said, and out of regard for fortune and human affairs, they had decided to deal with the situation mildly and magnanimously.
§15.17.5φανήσεσθαι δὲ τοῦτο κἀκείνοις ἔφησεν, ἐὰν ὀρθῶς διαλαμβάνωσι περὶ τῶν ἐνεστώτων· οὐ γὰρ εἴ τι πάσχειν ἢ ποιεῖν ἢ διδόναι σφίσιν ἐπιταχθήσεται, τοῦτο δεῖν νομίζειν δεινόν, ἀλλʼ εἴ τι συγχωρηθήσεται φιλάνθρωπον, τοῦτο μᾶλλον ἡγεῖσθαι παράδοξον, §15.17.6ἐπείπερ ἡ τύχη παρελομένη τὸν ἔλεον αὐτῶν καὶ τὴν συγγνώμην διὰ τὴν σφετέραν ἀδικίαν ὑποχειρίους πεποίηκε τοῖς ἐχθροῖς.
And he said that this would be clear to them too, if they formed a correct judgment about their present circumstances; for they must not think it hard if they were ordered to suffer or do or give anything, but rather consider it unexpected if any clemency should be granted to them, since fortune, having stripped them of pity and pardon because of their own wrongdoing, had made them subject to their enemies.
§15.17.7ταῦτα δʼ εἰπὼν ἔλεγε τὰ φιλάνθρωπα τὰ διδόμενα, καὶ πάλιν ἃ δέον ἦν ὑπομένειν αὐτούς.
Having said this, he stated the concessions that were being granted, and on the other hand, what they would have to submit to.