§1.29.1inter haec iam praemissi Albam erant equites, qui multitudinem traducerent Romam.
Meanwhile, cavalry had already been sent ahead to Alba to transfer the multitude to Rome.
legiones deinde ductae ad diruendam urbem.
Then the legions were led there to demolish the city.
§1.29.2quae ubi intravere portas, non quidem fuit tumultus ille nec pavor, qualis captarum esse urbium solet, cum effractis portis stratisve ariete muris aut arce vi capta clamor hostilis et cursus per urbem armatorum omnia ferro flammaque miscet; §1.29.3sed silentium triste ac tacita maestitia ita defixit omnium animos, ut prae metu, quid relinquerent, quid secum ferrent, deficiente consilio rogitantesque alii alios nunc in liminibus starent, nunc errabundi domos suas ultimum illud visuri pervagarentur.
When they entered the gates, there was indeed none of that tumult or panic which is customary in captured cities, when, with the gates broken down or the walls leveled by battering rams or the citadel taken by storm, the hostile clamor and the rush of armed men through the city mix everything with fire and sword; but a sad silence and silent sorrow so paralyzed the minds of all that, through fear, losing their judgment as to what they should leave behind and what they should carry with them, and asking one another, they now stood on their thresholds, now wandered through their homes, which they were about to see for the very last time.
§1.29.4ut vero iam equitum clamor exire iubentium instabat, iam fragor tectorum, quae diruebantur, ultimis urbis partibus audiebatur pulvisque ex distantibus locis ortus velut nube inducta omnia inpleverat, raptim quibus quisque poterat elatis cum larem ac penates tectaque, in quibus natus quisque educatusque esset, relinquentes exirent,
But when now the shouts of the cavalry ordering them to depart pressed upon them, now the crash of the buildings which were being demolished was heard from the outermost parts of the city, and the dust rising from distant places had filled everything like an overspreading cloud, hastily snatching up whatever each one could, leaving behind their hearth-gods, their household gods, and the dwellings in which each had been born and brought up, they went forth.
§1.29.5iam continens agmen migrantium inpleverat vias, et conspectus aliorum mutua miseratione integrabat lacrimas, vocesque etiam miserabiles exaudiebantur mulierum praecipue, cum obsessa ab armatis templa augusta praeterirent ac velut captos relinquerent deos.
Already a continuous line of emigrants had filled the streets, and the sight of one another renewed their tears with mutual pity; and miserable cries were also heard, especially from the women, when they passed the august temples besieged by armed men and left their gods behind as if they were captives.
§1.29.6egressis urbe Albanis Romanus passim publica privataque omnia tecta adaequat solo, unaque hora quadringentorum annorum opus, quibus Alba steterat, excidio ac ruinis dedit; templis tamen deum — ita enim edictum ab rege fuerat — temperatum est.
When the Albans had departed from the city, the Roman leveled all public and private buildings everywhere with the ground, and in a single hour gave over to destruction and ruins the work of four hundred years, during which Alba had stood; yet the temples of the gods were spared, for so it had been decreed by the king.