§22.14.1ut vero, postquam ad Vulturnum flumen castra sunt posita, exurebatur amoenissimus Italiae ager villaeque passim incendiis fumabant, per iuga Massici montis Fabio ducente, tum prope de integro seditio accensa;
But indeed, after the camp was pitched at the Vulturnus river, and while the most delightful territory of Italy was being burned and villas were smoking everywhere with fires, as they marched along the ridges of Mount Massicus under the lead of Fabius, then almost afresh the mutiny was kindled.
§22.14.2quieverant enim per paucos dies, quia, cum celerius solito ductum agmen esset, festinari ad prohibendam populationibus Campaniam crediderant.
For they had remained quiet for a few days because, since the march had been conducted more rapidly than usual, they had believed that haste was being made to prevent Campania from being plundered.
ut vero in extrema iuga Massici montis ventum est, §22.14.3et hostes sub oculis erant Falerni agri colonorumque Sinuessae tecta urentes nec ulla erat mentio pugnae, §22.14.4“spectatum huc” inquit Minucius “ut ad rem fruendam oculis, sociorum caedes et incendia, venimus? nec, si nullius alterius nos, ne civium quidem horum pudet, quos Sinuessam colonos patres nostri miserunt, ut ab Samnite hoste tuta haec ora esset,
But when they actually came to the furthest ridges of Mount Massicus, and the enemy were before their eyes, burning the houses of the Falernian territory and of the colonists of Sinuessa, and there was no mention of battle, Minucius said: "Have we come here to watch, as if to enjoy a spectacle with our eyes, the slaughter and burning of our allies?
§22.14.5quam nunc non vicinus Samnis urit, sed Poenus advena, ab extremis orbis terrarum terminis nostra cunctatione et socordia iam huc progressus?
And even if we feel shame before no one else, do we not feel shame even before these citizens, whom our fathers sent as colonists to Sinuessa, so that this coast might be safe from the Samnite enemy, which now not the neighboring Samnite burns, but the Carthaginian stranger, who from the furthest boundaries of the earth, through our hesitation and sloth, has now advanced to this place?
§22.14.6tantum pro degeneramus a patribus nostris, ut, praeter quam oram illi Punicas vagari classes dedecus esse imperii sui duxerint, eam nunc plenam hostium Numidarumque ac Maurorum iam factam videamus.
Have we degenerated so much from our fathers that, whereas they considered it a disgrace to their empire for Carthaginian fleets to wander near that coast, we now see it actually filled with enemies, Numidians and Moors?
§22.14.7qui modo Saguntum oppugnari indignando non homines tantum sed foedera et deos ciebamus, scandentem moenia Romanae coloniae Hannibalem quieti spectamus.
We who just now, expressing indignation at the siege of Saguntum, called upon not only men but treaties and gods, now quietly watch Hannibal scaling the walls of a Roman colony.
§22.14.8fumus ex incendiis villarum agrorumque in oculos atque ora venit; strepunt aures clamoribus plorantium sociorum, saepius nostram quam deorum invocantium opem: nos hic pecorum modo per aestivos saltus deviasque callis exercitum ducimus conditi nubibus silvisque.
The smoke from the burning of villas and fields comes into our eyes and faces; our ears ring with the cries of our weeping allies, who invoke our aid more often than that of the gods: yet we here, like cattle, lead our army through summer pastures and out-of-the-way paths, hidden by clouds and forests.
§22.14.9si hoc modo peragrando cacumina saltusque M. Furius recipere a Gallis urbem voluisset, quo hic novus Camillus, nobis dictator unicus in rebus adfectis quaesitus, Italiam ab Hannibale recuperare parat, §22.14.10Gallorum Roma esset, quam vereor ne sic cunctantibus nobis Hannibali ac Poenis totiens servaverint maiores nostri.
If Marcus Furius had wished to recover the city from the Gauls by wandering over summits and passes in this manner, in which this new Camillus, sought by us as our sole dictator in our ruined fortunes, prepares to recover Italy from Hannibal, Rome would belong to the Gauls; and I fear lest, while we hesitate in this way, our ancestors may have saved it so many times only for Hannibal and the Carthaginians.
§22.14.11sed vir ac vere Romanus, quo die dictatorem eum ex auctoritate patrum iussuque populi dictum Veios allatum est, cum esset satis altum Ianiculum, ubi sedens prospectaret hostem, descendit in aequum atque illo ipso die media in urbe, qua nunc busta Gallica sunt, et postero die citra Gabios cecidit Gallorum legiones.
But that man, a true Roman, on the day when the news that he had been declared dictator by the authority of the senate and the order of the people was brought to Veii, although Janiculum was high enough for him to sit and watch the enemy, descended into the plain, and on that very day in the middle of the city, where the Gallic graves now are, and on the next day this side of Gabii, he cut to pieces the legions of the Gauls.
§22.14.12quid? post multos annos cum ad Furculas Caudinas ab Samnite hoste sub iugum missi sumus, utrum tandem L. Papirius Cursor iuga Samni perlustrando an Luceriam premendo obsidendoque et lacessendo victorem hostem depulsum ab Romanis cervicibus iugum superbo Samniti inposuit?
What? Many years later, when we were sent under the yoke by the Samnite enemy at the Caudine Forks, did Lucius Papirius Cursor, by traversing the ridges of Samnium, or rather by pressing, besieging, and harassing the victorious enemy at Luceria, remove the yoke from Roman necks and impose it upon the proud Samnite?
§22.14.13modo C. Lutatio quae alia res quam celeritas victoriam dedit, quod postero die, quam hostem vidit, classem gravem commeatibus, impeditam suomet ipsam instrumento atque adparatu, oppressit?
Just recently, what else than speed gave victory to Gaius Lutatius, who, on the day after he saw the enemy, overwhelmed their fleet, heavy with provisions and encumbered by its own gear and apparatus?
§22.14.14stultitia est sedendo aut votis debellari credere posse: arma capias oportet et descendas in aequum et vir cum viro congrediaris; audendo atque agendo res Romana crevit, non his segnibus consiliis, quae timidi cauta vocant. ” §22.14.15haec velut contionanti Minucio circumfundebatur tribunorum equitumque Romanorum multitude, et ad aures quoque militum dicta ferocia evolvebantur: ac si militaris suffragi res esset, hauddubie ferebant Minucium Fabio ducem praelaturos.
It is folly to believe that war can be finished by sitting still or by prayers: you must take up arms and descend into the plain and meet man to man; the Roman state grew by daring and doing, not by these sluggish counsels which the timid call cautious." A multitude of tribunes and Roman knights crowded around Minucius as he was, as it were, delivering an assembly speech, and his fierce words also reached the ears of the soldiers; and if it had been a matter of military vote, they would undoubtedly have chosen Minucius as commander over Fabius.