§10.38.1sequitur hunc annum et consul insignis, L. Papirius Cursor, qua paterna gloria, qua sua, et bellum ingens victoriaque, quantam de Samnitibus nemo ad eam diem praeter L. Papirium, patrem consulis, pepererat.
This year is followed by a distinguished consul, Lucius Papirius Cursor, eminent both for his father's glory and for his own, and by a mighty war and a victory as great as no one except Lucius Papirius, the consul's father, had won over the Samnites up to that day.
§10.38.2et forte eodem conatu apparatuque omni opulentia insignium armorum bellum adornaverant et deorum etiam adhibuerant opes, ritu quodam sacramenti vetusto velut initiatis militibus.
And by chance, they had adorned the war with the same effort and preparation, with all the abundance of splendid arms, and had also employed the power of the gods, with the soldiers being as it were initiated by a certain ancient rite of oath.
dilectu per omne Samnium habito nova lege, §10.38.3ut, qui iuniorum non convenisset ad imperatorum edictum quique iniussu abisset, eius caput Iovi sacraretur, exercitus omnis Aquiloniam est indictus.
A levy having been held throughout all Samnium under a new law, to the effect that whoever of the younger men did not assemble at the generals' edict, or left without orders, his head should be devoted to Jupiter, the entire army was summoned to Aquilonia.
§10.38.4ad quadraginta milia militur, quod roboris in Samnio erat, convenerunt.
About forty thousand soldiers, which was the strength that was in Samnium, assembled.
§10.38.5ibi mediis fere castris locus est consaeptus cratibus pluteisque et linteis contectus, patens ducentos maxime pedes in omnis pariter partis.
There, almost in the middle of the camp, a place was enclosed with hurdles and breastworks and covered with linen cloths, extending at most two hundred feet in every direction equally.
§10.38.6ibi ex libro vetere linteo tecto sacrificatum, sacerdote Ovio Paccio quodam, homine magno natu, qui se id sacrum repetere adfirmabat ex vetusta Samnitium religione, qua quondam usi maiores eorum fuissent, cum adimendae Etruscis Capuae clandestinum cepissent consilium.
There a sacrifice was performed from an old linen-covered book, the priest being a certain Ovius Paccius, a man of advanced age, who asserted that he was reclaiming that rite from the ancient religion of the Samnites, which their ancestors had once used when they had formed a secret plan to take Capua from the Etruscans.
§10.38.7sacrificio perfecto per viatorem imperator acciri iubebat nobilissimum quemque genere factisque; singuli introducebantur.
The sacrifice having been completed, the general ordered all the most noble in birth and deeds to be summoned by an officer; they were introduced one by one.
§10.38.8erat cum alius apparatus sacri, qui perfundere religione animum posset, tum in loco circa omni contecto arae in medio victimaeque circa caesae et circumstantes centuriones strictis gladiis.
There was not only other preparation of the sacred rite which could steep the mind in religious awe, but also in the place covered all around, there were altars in the middle, victims slain around them, and centurions standing about with drawn swords.
§10.38.9admovebatur altaribus magis ut victima quam ut sacri particeps adigebaturque iure iurando, quae visa auditaque in eo loco essett, §10.38.10non enuntiaturum.
He was brought to the altars more like a victim than a participant in the sacred rite, and was bound by an oath that what he had seen and heard in that place he would not reveal.
dein iurare cogebant diro quodam carmine in execrationem capitis familiaeque et stirpis conposito, nisi isset in proelium, quo imperatores duxissent, et si aut ipse ex acie fugisset aut, si quem fugientem vidisset, non extemplo occidisset.
Then they compelled him to swear with a certain dreadful formula composed for the cursing of his person, his family, and his race, unless he went into battle where the generals led, and if either he himself fled from the battle-line or, if he saw anyone fleeing, did not immediately kill him.
§10.38.11id primo quidam abnuentes iuraturos se obtruncati circa altaria sunt, iacentes deinde inter stragem victimarum documento ceteris fuere, ne abnuerent.
Some who refused this at first and would not swear were slaughtered around the altars; lying then among the slaughter of the victims, they served as a warning to the rest not to refuse.
§10.38.12primoribus Samnitium ea detestatione obstrictis decem nominati ab imperatore; eis dictum, ut vir virum legerent, donec sedecim milium numerum confecissent.
When the leading men of the Samnites had been bound by that curse, ten were named by the general; they were told to choose man by man until they had made up the number of sixteen thousand.
ea legio linteata ab integumento consaepti, in quo sacrata nobilitas erat, appellata est; his arma insignia data et cristatae galeae, ut inter ceteros eminerent.
This was called the 'linen legion' from the covering of the enclosure in which the consecrated nobility had been; to these distinguished arms and crested helmets were given, so that they might stand out among the rest.
paulo plus viginti milium alius exercitus fuit §10.38.13nec corporum specie nec gloria belli nec apparatu linteatae legioni dispar.
There was another army of a little over twenty thousand, not inferior to the linen legion in the appearance of their bodies, nor in the glory of war, nor in equipment.
hic hominum numerus, quod roboris erat, ad Aquiloniam consedit.
This number of men, which was the strength, encamped at Aquilonia.