§21.44.1quocumque circumtuli oculos, plena omnia video animorum ac roboris, veteranum peditem, generosissimarum gentium equites frenatos infrenatosque, §21.44.2vos socios fidelissimos fortissimosque, vos Carthaginienses cum pro patria tum ob iram iustissimam pugnaturos.
Wherever I turn my eyes, I see everything full of courage and strength: veteran infantry, the bridled and unbridled cavalry of the most noble nations, you, our most faithful and brave allies, and you, Carthaginians, who are going to fight both for your country and from a most just anger.
§21.44.3inferimus bellum infestisque signis descendimus in Italiam, tanto audacius fortiusque pugnaturi quam hostis, quanto maior spes, maior est animus inferentis vim quam arcentis.
We are carrying war into Italy and descending with hostile standards, destined to fight with an audacity and courage as much greater than the enemy’s, as the hope and spirit of him who offers violence is greater than of him who repels it.
accendit praeterea §21.44.4et stimulat animos dolor iniuria indignitas.
Besides, grief, injury, and indignity inflame and stimulate our minds.
ad supplicium depoposcerunt me ducem primum, deinde vos omnes, qui Saguntum oppugnassetis; deditos ultimis cruciatibus adfecturi fuerunt.
First, they demanded me, your leader, for punishment, and then all of you who had besieged Saguntum; had we been surrendered, they were going to inflict upon us the ultimate tortures.
§21.44.5crudelissima ac superbissima gens sua omnia suique arbitrii facit.
This most cruel and arrogant nation makes everything its own and subject to its own will.
cum quibus bellum, cum quibus pacem habeamus, se modum inponere aequum censet.
It thinks it right that it should prescribe with whom we are to have war, and with whom peace.
circumscribit includitque nos terminis montium fluminumque, quos non excedamus, neque eos, quos statuit, terminos observat.
It circumscribes and shuts us in by boundaries of mountains and rivers which we may not cross, yet it does not observe those boundaries which it has itself established.
§21.44.6“ne transieris Hiberum; ne quid rei tibi sit cum Saguntinis. ” “nusquam te vestigio moveris!”
"Do not cross the Ebro; have nothing to do with the Saguntines." "Do not move a step from where you are!" Is it not enough that you have taken away Sicily and Sardinia, my most ancient provinces?
§21.44.7parum est, quod veterrimas provincias meas Siciliam ac Sardiniam ademisti? adimis etiam Hispanias? et, inde si decessero, in Africam transcendes.
Are you taking away the Spains as well? And, if I withdraw from there, will you cross into Africa?
transcendes autem? transcendisse dico; duos consules huius anni, unum in Africam, alterum in Hispaniam miserunt.
Will you cross, do I say? Nay, I say they have already crossed; they have sent the two consuls of this year, one to Africa, the other to Spain.
nihil usquam nobis relictum est, nisi quod armis vindicarimus.
Nothing is left to us anywhere, except what we shall vindicate by arms.
§21.44.8illis timidis et ignavis esse licet, qui respectum habent, quos sua terra suus ager per tuta ac pacata itinera fugientes accipient: vobis necesse est fortibus viris esse et omnibus inter victoriam mortemque certa desperatione abruptis aut vincere aut, si fortuna dubitabit, in proelio potius quam in fuga mortem oppetere.
Those may be timid and inactive who have something to look back upon, whom their own land and their own fields will receive as they flee through safe and peaceful ways; but you must be brave men, and, having broken off all middle courses between victory and death with a resolved despair, you must either conquer or, if fortune should waver, meet death in battle rather than in flight.
§21.44.9si hoc bene fixum omnibus destinatumque animo est, iterum dicam, vicistis: nullum contemptu mortis telum ad vincendum homini ab dis immortalibus acrius datum est. ”
If this is well fixed and resolved in the minds of you all, I will say it again, you have conquered; no sharper weapon has been given by the immortal gods to man for conquering than the contempt of death.”