§22.38.1dilectu perfecto consules paucos morati dies, dum ab sociis ac nomine Latino venirent milites.
When the levy was completed, the consuls delayed a few days, until the soldiers from the allies and the Latin name should arrive.
§22.38.2tun quod numquam antea factum erat, iure iurando ab tribunis militum adacti milites; §22.38.3nam ad eam diem nihil praeter sacramentum fuerat, iussu consulum conventuros neque iniussu abituros, et ubi ad decuriatum aut centuriatum convenissent, sua voluntate ipsi inter sese decuriati equites, §22.38.4centuriati pedites coniurabant sese fugae atque formidinis ergo non abituros neque ex ordine recessuros nisi teli sumendi aut aptandi et aut hostis feriendi aut civis servandi causa. §22.38.5id ex voluntario inter ipsos foedere ad tribunos ac legitimam iuris iurandi adactionem translatum.
Then, what had never been done before, the soldiers were bound by an oath by the military tribunes; for up to that day, there had been nothing except the military oath (sacramentum), that they would assemble by order of the consuls and not depart without orders, and when they had assembled into their decuries or centuries, the cavalrymen, organized into decuries, and the infantrymen, organized into centuries, would voluntarily swear among themselves that they would not depart for the sake of flight or fear, nor retreat from the ranks, except for the purpose of taking up or preparing a weapon, and either striking an enemy or saving a fellow citizen. This was transferred from a voluntary agreement among themselves to the tribunes and the formal administration of the oath.
§22.38.6contiones priusquam ab urbe signa moverentur, consulis Varronis multae ac feroces fuere, denuntiantis bellum arcessitum in Italiam ab nobilibus mansurumque in visceribus rei publicae, si plures Fabios imperatores haberet, se, quo die hostem vidisset, perfecturum.
Before the standards were moved from the city, the speeches of the consul Varro were numerous and fierce, declaring that the war had been brought into Italy by the nobles and would remain in the very bowels of the republic if it had more generals like Fabius, and that he would finish it on the day he saw the enemy.
§22.38.7collegae eius Pauli una, §22.38.8pridie quam ab urbe proficisceretur, contio fuit, verior quam gratior populo, qua nihil inclementer in Varronem dictum nisi id modo, mirari se, §22.38.9qui dux, priusquam aut suum aut hostium exercitum, locorum situm, naturam regionis nosset iam nunc togatus in urbe sciret, §22.38.10quae sibi agenda armato forent, et diem quoque praedicere posset, qua cum hoste signis collatis esset dimicaturus: §22.38.11se, quae consilia magis res dent hominibus quam homines rebus ea ante tempus inmatura non praecepturum; optare, ut, quae caute ac consulte gesta essent, satis prospere evenirent; §22.38.12temeritatem, praeterquam quod stulta sit infelicem etiam ad id locorum fuisse.
His colleague Paulus had only one speech, on the day before he set out from the city, which was more truthful than pleasing to the people, in which nothing harsh was said against Varro except only this, that he wondered how any leader, before he knew either his own or the enemy's army, the situation of the places, or the nature of the region, could already know now, while still wearing the toga in the city, what he would have to do when armed, and could even predict the day on which he would fight the enemy with standards joined: for his part, he would not prematurely anticipate, before the time, those plans which circumstances give to men rather than men to circumstances; he hoped that what had been done cautiously and deliberately would turn out successfully enough; rashness, besides being foolish, had also been unfortunate up to this point.
§22.38.13sua sponte apparebat tuta celeribus consiliis praepositurum, et, quo id constantius perseveraret, Q. Fabius Maximus sic eum proficiscentem adlocutus fertur:
By his own accord, it was clear that he would prefer safe counsels to swift ones, and so that he might persist in this more resolutely, Quintus Fabius Maximus is said to have addressed him as he set out as follows: