§10.39.1consules profecti ab urbe, prior Sp. Carvilius, cui veteres legiones, quas M. Atilius, superioris anni consul, in agro Interamnati reliquerat, decretae erant.
The consuls set out from the city, first Spurius Carvilius, to whom the old legions, which Marcus Atilius, consul of the previous year, had left in the territory of Interamna, had been assigned.
§10.39.2cum eis in Samnium profectus, dum hostes operati superstitionibus concilia secreta agunt, Amiternum oppidum de Samnitibus vi cepit.
Setting out with them into Samnium, while the enemy, occupied with their superstitions, were holding secret councils, he took the town of Amiternum from the Samnites by force.
§10.39.3caesa ibi milia hominum duo ferme atque octingenti, capta quattuor milia ducenti septuaginta.
About two thousand eight hundred men were slain there, and four thousand two hundred and seventy were captured.
§10.39.4Papirius novo exercitu — ita enim decretum erat — scripto Duroniam urbem expugnavit.
Papirius, with a newly enlisted army—for so it had been decreed—stormed the city of Duronia.
minus quam collega cepit hominum, plus aliquanto occidit; praeda opulenta utrobique est parta.
He took fewer men than his colleague, but killed somewhat more; rich booty was acquired on both sides.
inde pervagati Samnium consules, §10.39.5maxime depopulato Atinate agro, Carvilius ad Cominium, Papirius ad Aquiloniam, ubi summa rei Samnitium erat, pervenit.
From there, the consuls, having traversed Samnium, especially after devastating the territory of Atina, Carvilius arrived at Cominium, and Papirius at Aquilonia, where the main strength of the Samnites was.
§10.39.6ibi aliquamdiu nec cessatum ab armis est neque naviter pugnatum; lacessendo quietos, resistentibus cedendo comminandoque magis quam inferendo pugnam dies absumebatur.
There, for some time, there was neither a cessation of arms nor active fighting; by provoking the quiet, yielding to those who resisted, and threatening rather than delivering battle, the day was consumed.
§10.39.7quodcumque inciperetur remittereturque, omnium rerum, etiam parvarum, eventus perferebatur in dies.
Whatever was begun or broken off, the outcome of all things, even small ones, was reported daily.
altera Romana castra, quae viginti milium spatio aberant, et absentis collegae consilia omnibus gerendis intererant rebus, intentiorque Carvilius, quo maiore discrimine res vertebatur, in Aquiloniam quam ad Cominium, quod obsidebat, erat.
The other Roman camp, which was twenty miles away, and the plans of the absent colleague were involved in the conduct of all affairs; and Carvilius, as the crisis took a more critical turn, was more intent on Aquilonia than on Cominium, which he was besieging.
L. Papirius, §10.39.8iam per omnia ad dimicandum satis paratus, nuntium ad collegam mittit sibi in animo esse postero die, si per auspicia liceret, confligere cum hoste; §10.39.9opus esse et illum, quanta maxuma vi posset, Cominium oppugnare, ne quid laxamenti sit Samnitibus ad subsidia Aquiloniam mittenda.
Lucius Papirius, now sufficiently prepared in all respects for a conflict, sent a messenger to his colleague to say that he intended to engage with the enemy on the following day, if the auspices permitted; it was necessary that he too should attack Cominium with the greatest possible force, so that there would be no leisure for the Samnites to send reinforcements to Aquilonia.
§10.39.10diem ad proficiscendum nuntius habuit; nocte rediit, adprobare collegam consulta referens.
The messenger had the day for his journey; he returned at night, reporting that his colleague approved of the plans.
Papirius nuntio misso extemplo contionem habuit; §10.39.11multa de universo genere belli, multa de praesenti hostium apparatu, vana magis specie quam efficaci ad eventum, disseruit: §10.39.12non enim cristas vulnera facere, et per picta atque aurata scuta transire Romanum pilum, et candore tunicarum fulgentem aciem, ubi res ferro geratur, cruentari.
Papirius, having dispatched the messenger, immediately held an assembly; he spoke much on the general nature of the war, much on the present equipment of the enemy, which was more in vain show than effective for the result: for crests did not inflict wounds, and the Roman javelin passed through painted and gilded shields, and a battle-line glittering with the whiteness of tunics would be stained with blood when the business was carried on with steel.
§10.39.13auream olim atque argentean Samnitium aciem a parente suo occidione occisam spoliaque ea honestiora victori hosti quam ipsis arma fuisse.
Once before, a golden and silver battle-line of the Samnites had been utterly destroyed by his father, and those spoils had been more honorable to the victorious enemy than the arms themselves had been to them.
§10.39.14datum hoc forsan nomini familiaeque suae, ut adversus maximos conatus Samnitium opponerentur duces spoliaque ea referrent, quae insignia publicis etiam locis decorandis essent.
It was granted perhaps to his name and family that generals should be opposed to the greatest efforts of the Samnites, and should bring back those spoils which were distinguished even for decorating public places.
§10.39.15deos inmortales cumiratos adesse propter totiens petita foedera, totiens rupta, tur, si qua coniectura mentis divinae sit, nulli umquam exercitui fuisse infestiores, §10.39.16quam qui nefando sacro mixta hominum pecudumque caede respersus, ancipiti deum irae devotus, hinc foederum cum Romanis ictorum testes deos, §10.39.17hinc iuris iurandi adversus foedera suscepti execrationes horrens, invitus iuraverit, oderit sacramentum, uno tempore deos, cives, hostes metuat.
The immortal gods were present in anger on account of treaties so often sought and so often broken; and if there was any conjecture of the divine mind, they had never been more hostile to any army than to that which, defiled by a dreadful rite with the mingled slaughter of men and beasts, and devoted to the double wrath of the gods, fearing on one hand the gods who were witnesses of the treaties struck with the Romans, and on the other hand the curses of the oath taken against the treaties, had sworn unwillingly, hated the oath, and feared at one and the same time the gods, their citizens, and the enemy.