§22.12.1dictator exercitu consulis accepto a Fulvio Flacco legato per agrum Sabinum Tibur, quo diem ad conveniendum edixerat novis militibus, venit.
The dictator, having received the consul's army from the legate Fulvius Flaccus, came through the Sabine territory to Tibur, where he had appointed a day for the new soldiers to assemble.
§22.12.2inde Praeneste ac transversis limitibus in viam Latinam est egressus, unde itineribus summa cum cura exploratis ad hostem ducit, nullo loco, nisi quantum necessitas cogeret, fortunae se commissurus.
From there he marched to Praeneste, and, striking across country into the Latin Way, led his army toward the enemy after having reconnoitered the routes with the utmost care, determined not to commit himself to fortune in any place, except so far as necessity should compel him.
§22.12.3quo primum die haud procul Arpis in conspectu hostium posuit castra, nulla mora facta, quin Poenus educeret in aciem copiamque pugnandi faceret.
On the very first day he pitched his camp in sight of the enemy, not far from Arpi, nor was there any delay on the part of the Carthaginian in leading out his forces into line of battle and offering an opportunity of fighting.
§22.12.4sed ubi quieta omnia apud hostes nec castra ullo tumultu mota videt, increpans quidem, victos tandem Martios animos Romanis debellatumque et concessum propalam de virtute ac gloria esse, in castra rediit; §22.12.5ceterum tacita cura animum incessit, quod cum duce haudquaquam Flamini Sempronique simili futura sibi res esset ac tum demum edocti malis Romani parem Hannibali ducem quaesissent.
But when he saw that all was quiet among the enemy and that their camp was not moved by any tumult, he returned to his camp, taunting them indeed that the warlike spirit of the Romans was at last broken, that the war was over, and that they had openly yielded in point of valor and glory; yet a silent anxiety came over his mind, because he would have to do with a commander by no means like Flaminius and Sempronius, and that the Romans, having at last been taught by their disasters, had sought a general equal to Hannibal.
§22.12.6et prudentiam quidem dictatoris extemplo timuit; constantiam hauddum expertus agitare ac temptare animum movendo crebro castra populandoque in oculis eius agros sociorum coepit; §22.12.7et modo citato agmine ex conspectu abibat, modo repente in aliquo flexu viae, si excipere degressum in aequum posset, occultus subsistebat.
And indeed he immediately feared the prudence of the dictator; though, not having yet experienced his constancy, he began to provoke and try his temper by frequently moving his camp and laying waste the lands of the allies before his eyes; and at one time he would march away rapidly out of sight, at another time he would suddenly halt in ambush at some bend of the road, if he might surprise him descending into the plain.
§22.12.8Fabius per loca alta agmen ducebat modico ab hoste intervallo, ut neque omitteret eum neque congrederetur.
Fabius led his army along the high grounds at a moderate distance from the enemy, so that he neither lost sight of him nor engaged him.
castris, nisi quantum usus necessarii cogerent, tenebatur miles; pabulum et ligna nec pauci petebant nec passim; §22.12.9equitum levisque armaturae statio conposita instructaque in subitos tumultus et suo militi tuta omnia et infesta effusis hostium populatoribus praebebat; §22.12.10neque universo periculo summa rerum committebatur et parva momenta levium certaminum ex tuto coeptorum finitimoque receptu adsuefaciebant territum pristinis cladibus militem minus iam tandem aut virtutis aut fortunae paenitere suae.
The soldiers were kept within the camp, except so far as necessary duties required; foraging and wood-gathering were not performed by a few, nor in a scattered manner; a picket of cavalry and light-armed troops, stationed and drawn up against sudden alarms, rendered everything safe for their own soldiers and dangerous for the scattered plunderers of the enemy; nor was the supreme issue committed to a general hazard, and the small successes of slight skirmishes, begun from a safe position with a retreat close at hand, accustomed the soldiers, who had been terrified by their former defeats, at last to be less dissatisfied with either their own valor or fortune.
§22.12.11sed non Hannibalem magis infestum tam sanis consiliis habebat quam magistrum equitum, qui nihil aliud, quam quod impar erat imperio, morae ad rem publicam praecipitandam habebat.
But he did not find Hannibal a more bitter enemy to such wise counsels than the master of the horse, who had no other obstacle to plunging the state into ruin than that he was unequal to the supreme command.
ferox rapidusque consiliis ac lingua inmodicus primo inter paucos, dein propalam in vulgus pro cunctatore segnem, §22.12.12pro cauto timidum, adfingens vicina virtutibus vitia, compellabat premendoque superiorem, quae pessima ars nimis prosperis multorum successibus crevit, sese extollebat.
Impetuous and headlong in his counsels, and unrestrained in his language, he at first among a few, and then openly among the common soldiers, began to call him sluggish instead of deliberate, and cowardly instead of cautious, attributing to him the vices that border on virtues, and sought to exalt himself by depressing his superior—a most mischievous practice which has grown through the overly prosperous success of many.