§22.29.1tum Fabius primo clamore paventium audito, dein conspecta procul turbata acie “ita est,” inquit “celerius quam timui deprendit fortuna temeritatem. §22.29.2Fabio aequatus imperio Hannibalem et virtute et fortuna superiorem videt.
Then Fabius, having first heard the cry of those in panic, and then having seen from afar the troubled battle line, said, "So it is; fortune has caught rashness more quickly than I feared. He who was made equal in command to Fabius sees Hannibal superior both in valor and in fortune.
sed aliud iurgandi suscensendique tempus erit; nunc signa extra vallum proferte: victoriam hosti extorqueamus, confessionem erroris civibus. ” §22.29.3iam magna ex parte caesis aliis, aliis circumspectantibus fugam Fabiana se acies repente velut caelo demissa ad auxilium ostendit. §22.29.4itaque priusquam ad coniectum teli veniret aut manum consereret, et suos a fuga effusa et ab nimis feroci pugna hostis continuit.
But there will be another time for chiding and being angry; now bring the standards forth outside the rampart: let us wrest victory from the enemy, and a confession of error from our fellow-citizens." When already some had been slain for the most part, and others were looking around for flight, the Fabians' line of battle suddenly showed itself for assistance, as if sent down from heaven. Therefore, before it came within throw of a missile or joined hand-to-hand fight, it both restrained its own men from headlong flight and the enemy from too fierce a fight.
qui solutis ordinibus vage dissipati erant, undique confugerunt ad integram aciem; qui plures simul terga dederant, §22.29.5conversi in hostem volventesque orbem nunc sensim referre pedem, nunc conglobati restare.
Those who, their ranks broken, had been scattered far and wide, fled from all sides to the untouched line; those who in larger numbers together had turned their backs, having turned against the enemy and forming a circle, now retreated step by step, now stood their ground in a mass.
ac iam prope una acies facta erat victi atque integri exercitus inferebantque signa in hostem, §22.29.6cum Poenus receptui cecinit, palam ferente Hannibale ab se Minucium, se ab Fabio victum. §22.29.7ita per variam fortunam diei maiore parte exacta cum in castra reditum esset, §22.29.8Minucius convocatis militibus “saepe ego” inquit “audivi, milites, eum primum esse virum, qui ipse consulat, quid in rem sit, secundum eum, qui bene monenti oboediat; qui nec ipse consulere nec alteri parere sciat, eum extremi ingenii esse. §22.29.9nobis quoniam prima animi ingeniique negata sors est, secundam ac mediam teneamus et, dum imperare discimus, parere prudenti in animum inducamus. §22.29.10castra cum Fabio iungamus: ad praetorium eius signa cum tulerimus, ubi ego eum parentem appellavero, quod beneficio eius erga nos ac maiestate eius dignum est, §22.29.11vos, milites, eos, quorum vos modo arma ac dexterae texerunt, patronos salutabitis, et, si nihil aliud, gratorum certe nobis animorum gloriam dies hic dederit. ”
And now almost one single battle line had been formed of the defeated and the untouched army, and they were bearing the standards against the enemy, when the Carthaginian sounded the retreat, Hannibal openly declaring that Minucius had been beaten by him, but he himself by Fabius. Thus, the greater part of the day having been spent in varying fortune, when they had returned to the camp, Minucius, having called the soldiers together, said: "I have often heard, soldiers, that he is the first-rate man who himself determines what is advantageous; he is second-rate who obeys one who advises well; but he who knows neither how to determine for himself nor how to obey another, is of the lowest intellect. Since the first lot of mind and intellect has been denied to us, let us hold the second and middle one, and, while we learn to command, let us resolve in our mind to obey the prudent man. Let us join our camp with Fabius: when we have carried our standards to his headquarters, where I shall address him as parent—which is worthy of his benefit toward us and of his dignity— you, soldiers, shall salute as patrons those whose arms and right hands just now protected you, and, if nothing else, this day will surely have given us the glory of grateful minds."