§V"Δεντάτῳ κατὰ ζῆλον ἀρετῆς εἵπετο νεων λογάδων πλῆθος ὀκτακοσίων, ἐπὶ πάντα τὰ ἔργα ἕτοιμοι.
Out of a zeal for virtue, a multitude of eight hundred selected young men followed Dentatus, ready for all undertakings.
καὶ βαρὺς ἦν τῇ βουλῇ παρὰ τὰς ἐκκλησίας. "
And he was a burden to the Senate during the assemblies.
§VI"ὅτι Κελτῶν Σενόνων πολὺ πλῆθος Τυρρηνοῖς συνεμάχουν κατὰ Ῥωμαίων.
A great multitude of the Senonian Celts were allied with the Etruscans against the Romans.
Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ ἐς τὰς Σενόνων πόλεις ἐπρέσβευον, καὶ ἐνεκάλουν ὅτι ὄντες ἔνσπονδοι μισθοφοροῦσι κατὰ Ῥωμαίων.
The Romans sent ambassadors to the cities of the Senones, and complained that, although they were under treaty, they were serving as mercenaries against the Romans.
τούσδε τοὺς πρέσβεις Βριτόμαρις μετὰ τῶν κηρυκείων καὶ τῆς ἱερᾶς στολῆς κατέτεμεν ἐς πολλὰ καὶ διέρριψεν, ἐγκαλῶν ὅτι αὐτοῦ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν Τυρρηνίᾳ πολεμῶν ἀνῄρητο ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων.
These ambassadors Britomaris cut into many pieces and scattered, despite their heralds' staffs and sacred clothing, charging that his father had been killed by the Romans while fighting in Etruria.
Κορνήλιος δὲ ὁ ὕπατος τοῦ μύσους ἐν ὁδῷ πυθόμενος τὰ μὲν Τυρρηνῶν εἴασεν, ἐς δὲ τὰς Σενόνων πόλεις συντόνῳ σπουδῇ διὰ Σαβίνων καὶ Πικεντίνων ἐσβαλὼν πάντα καθῄρει καὶ ἐνεπίμπρη, καὶ τὰς μὲν γυναῖκας καὶ τὰ παιδία ἠνδραποδίζετο, τοὺς δὲ ἡβῶντας πάντας ἔκτεινε, πλὴν Βριτομάριος, ὃν δεινῶς αἰκισάμενος ἦγεν ἐς τὸν θρίαμβον.
The consul Cornelius, learning of the impious crime on his way, left the affairs of the Etruscans aside, and having invaded the cities of the Senones with intense haste through the lands of the Sabines and Picentines, demolished and burned everything; and he enslaved the women and children, and killed all the young men, except Britomaris, whom he led in his triumph after terribly torturing him.
οἱ δὲ Σενόνων, ὅσοι ἦσαν ἐν Τυρρηνίᾳ, πυθόμενοι ἀνῃρῆσθαι, Τυρρηνοὺς ἦγον ἐπὶ Ῥώμης.
Those of the Senones who were in Etruria, learning that their homeland had been destroyed, led the Etruscans against Rome.
καὶ πολλῶν μεταξὺ γενομένων οἱ Σένονες, οὔτε πατρίδας ἔχοντες ἐς ἃς διαφύγωσιν, ὀργιζόμενοί τε τῶν γεγονότων, ἐνέπιπτον τῷ Δομιτίῳ καὶ διεφθάρησαν πολλοί.
And after many battles in between, the Senones, having no homeland to flee to, and being enraged by what had happened, fell upon Domitius and many were destroyed.
τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν σφᾶς αὐτοὺς διεχρῶντο μανικῶς.
The remainder madly killed themselves.
καὶ δίκη μὲν ἥδε παρανομίας ἐς πρέσβεις ἐγένετο Σένοσιν. "
And this was the justice that befell the Senones for their lawless crime against the ambassadors.
§VII"ὅτι Κορνήλιος ἐπὶ καταφράκτων δεκα νεῶν ἐθεᾶτο τὴν μεγάλην Ἑλλάδα, καί τις ἐν Τάραντι δημαγωγὸς Φιλόχαρις, αἰσχρῶς τε βεβιωκὼς καὶ παρὰ τοῦτο καλούμενος Θαΐς, παλαιῶν τοὺς Ταραντίνους ἀνεμίμνησκε συνθηκῶν, μὴ πλεῖν Ῥωμαίους πρόσω Λακινίας ἄκρας, παροξύνας τε ἔπεισεν ἐπαναχθῆναι τῷ Κορνηλίῳ.
Cornelius was observing Great Greece with ten decked ships, and a certain demagogue in Tarentum, Philocharis, who had lived a shameful life and was on this account called Thais, reminded the Tarentines of old treaties, that the Romans should not sail beyond the Lacinian cape, and having provoked them, persuaded them to set out against Cornelius.
καὶ τέσσαρας μὲν αὐτοῦ ναῦς κατέδυσαν οἱ Ταραντῖνοι, μίαν δὲ ἔλαβον αὐτοῖς ἀνδράσιν.
The Tarentines sank four of his ships, and took one with its crew.
ἔς τε Θουρίους ἐγκλήματα ποιούμενοι ὅτι Ἕλληνες ὄντες ἐπὶ Ῥωμαίους κατέφυγον ἀντὶ σφῶν, καὶ παρελθεῖν αὐτοὺς ἐπέκεινα αἴτιοι μάλιστα ἐγεγένηντο, τοὺς μὲν ἐπιφανεῖς αὐτῶν ἐξέβαλον, τὴν δὲ πόλιν διήρπασαν, καὶ τοὺς Ῥωμαίων φρουροὺς ὑποσπόνδους ἀφῆκαν.
And making accusations against the Thurians that, although they were Greeks, they had fled to the Romans for protection instead of themselves, and had been chiefly responsible for their coming beyond that point, they expelled their prominent men, plundered the city, and dismissed the Roman garrison under a truce.
Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ τούτων πυθόμενοι πρέσβεις ἐς Ταραντα πέμπουσι, τοὺς μὲν αἰχμαλώτους κελεύοντες, οὓς οὐ πολεμοῦντας ἀλλὰ θεωμένους ἔλαβον, ἀποδοῦναι, Θουρίων δʼ οὓς ἐξέβαλον, εἰς τὴν πόλιν καταγαγεῖν, ἅ τε διηρπάκεσαν αὐτούς, ἢ τὴν ζημίαν τῶν ἀπολομένων, ἀποτῖσαι, σφίσι δʼ ἐκδοῦναι τοὺς αἰτίους τῆς παρανομίας, εἰ Ῥωμαίων ἐθέλουσιν εἶναι φίλοι.
When the Romans heard of these things, they sent ambassadors to Tarentum, demanding that they return the prisoners, whom they had taken not while fighting but while observing, and that they restore to the city those of the Thurians whom they had expelled, and pay for what they had plundered, or pay the damage for what was lost, and deliver to them the authors of the lawlessness, if they wished to be friends of the Romans.
οἱ δὲ τοὺς πρέσβεις μόλις ποτὲ ἐπὶ τὸ κοινὸν ἐπήγαγον, καὶ ἐπελθόντας ἐχλεύαζον εἴ τι μὴ καλῶς ἑλληνίσειαν· ἔσκωπτον δὲ καὶ τὴν στολὴν αὐτῶν καὶ τὸ ἐπιπόρφυρον.
They brought the ambassadors before the assembly only with difficulty, and when they came forward, they mocked them if they did not speak Greek well; they also mocked their clothing and its purple border.
Φιλωνίδης δέ τις, ἀνὴρ γελοῖος καὶ φιλοσκώμμων, Ποστουμίῳ τῷ τῆς πρεσβείας ἡγουμένῳ προσελθὼν ἀπεστράφη τε, καὶ ἐπικύψας τὴν ἐσθῆτα ἀνεσύρατο τὴν ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ τοῦ πρεσβευτοῦ κατησχημόνησεν.
A certain Philonides, a ridiculous man and fond of mockery, approached Postumius, the leader of the embassy, turned around, bent over, pulled up his own garment, and behaved indecently toward the ambassador.
καὶ τὸ μὲν θέατρον ἔπαιζεν ὡς ἐπὶ γελοίῳ, Ποστούμιος δὲ προτείνας τὸ μεμολυσμένον,
ἐκπλυνεῖτε,
ἔφη,
τοῦτο αἵματι πολλῷ, τοιούτοις ἀρεσκόμενοι γέλωσιν. καὶ οὐδὲν τῶν Ταραντίνων ἀποκριναμένων ἀπῆλθον οἱ πρέσβεις.
The theater burst into laughter as if at a joke, but Postumius, holding out the soiled garment, said, 'You will wash this out with much blood, you who are pleased with such laughter.' And since the Tarentines made no answer, the ambassadors departed.
ὁ δὲ Ποστούμιος τὴν ὕβριν ἐκ τῆς ἐσθῆτος οὐκ ἀποπλύνας ἐπέδειξε Ῥωμαίοις, καὶ ὁ δῆμος ἀγανακτῶν Αἰμιλίῳ πολεμοῦντι Σαυνίταις ἐπέστειλε τὰ μὲν Σαυνιτῶν ἐν τῷ παρόντι ἐᾶν, εἰς δὲ τὴν Ταραντίνων εἰσβάλλειν, καὶ αὐτοὺς ἐφʼ οἷς ἠξίουν οἱ πρέσβεις ἐς διαλλαγὰς προκαλέσασθαι, ἂν δʼ ἀπειθῶσι, πολεμεῖν κατὰ κράτος.
Postumius, not washing the insult from his garment, showed it to the Romans, and the people, being indignant, ordered Aemilius, who was waging war against the Samnites, to leave the Samnite affairs for the present and invade the territory of the Tarentines, and to invite them to terms of reconciliation upon the conditions the ambassadors had demanded, but if they refused, to wage war with all their might.
ὁ μὲν δὴ τάδε προύτεινε τοῖς Ταραντίνοις, οἱ δὲ οὐκ ἐγέλων ἔτι τὴν στρατιὰν ὁρῶντες, ἀλλʼ ἐγίγνοντο ταῖς γνώμαις ἀγχώμαλοι, μέχρι τις ἀποροῦσι καὶ βουλευομένοις ἔφη, τὸ μὲν ἐκδοῦναί τινας ἤδη δεδουλωμένων εἶναι, τὸ δὲ πολεμεῖν μόνους ἐπισφαλές.
He accordingly proposed these terms to the Tarentines, and they no longer laughed when they saw the army, but became divided in their opinions, until someone said to them in their perplexity and debate: 'To deliver anyone up is already to be enslaved, and to wage war alone is hazardous.
εἰ δὲ καὶ τῆς ἐλεὺθερίας ἐγκρατῶς ἑξόμεθα καὶ πολεμήσομεν ἐξ ἴσου, Πύρρον ἐξ Ἠπείρου τὸν βασιλέα καλῶμεν, καὶ στρατηγὸν ἀποφήνωμεν τοῦδε τοῦ πολέμου. ὃ καὶ γέγονεν. "
But if we are to hold fast to our freedom and wage war on equal terms, let us call Pyrrhus, the king from Epirus, and declare him the general of this war.' And this is what happened.