§22.60.1ubi is finem fecit, extemplo ab ea turba, quae in comitio erat, clamor flebilis est sublatus, manusque ad curiam tendebant orantes, ut sibi liberos, fratres, cognatos redderent.
When he made an end, immediately a tearful cry was raised by that crowd which was in the comitium, and they stretched out their hands toward the senate house, praying that they would restore to them their children, brothers, and kinsmen.
§22.60.2feminas quoque metus ac necessitas in foro turbae virorum inmiscuerat.
Fear and necessity had also mingled the women in the forum with the crowd of men.
senatus summotis arbitris consuli coeptus.
The senate began to be consulted, after the spectators had been removed.
§22.60.3ibi cum sententiis variaretur, et alii redimendos de publico, alii nullam publice inpensam faciendam nec prohibendos ex privato redimi, §22.60.4si quibus argentum in praesentia deesset, dandam ex aerario pecuniam mutuam praedibusque ac praediis cavendum populo censerent, §22.60.5tum T. Manlius Torquatus, priscae ac nimis durae, ut plerisque videatur, severitatis, interrogatus sententiam ita locutus fertur: §22.60.6“si tantummodo postulassent legati pro iis, qui in hostium potestate sunt, ut redimerentur, sine ullius insectatione eorum brevi sententiam peregissem;
There, while opinions varied, and some thought that they should be ransomed at public expense, others that no public expense should be made, but that they should not be prohibited from being ransomed from private funds, and that, if money was lacking to any at present, loan money should be given from the treasury, and security should be given to the state by sureties and estates, then Titus Manlius Torquatus, a man of ancient and, as it seems to most, too harsh severity, being asked his opinion, is reported to have spoken thus: "If the envoys had only petitioned on behalf of those who are in the power of the enemy, that they might be ransomed, I would have completed my opinion in brief without censure of any of them; for what else was there than that you should be admonished to preserve the custom handed down by your fathers as a necessary example for military discipline?
§22.60.7quid enim aliud quam admonendi essetis, ut morem traditum a patribus necessario ad rem militarem exemplo servaretis? nunc autem, cum prope gloriati sint, quod se hostibus dediderint, praeferrique non captis modo in acie ab hostibus sed etiam iis, qui Venusiam Canusiumque pervenerunt, atque ipsi C. Terentio consuli aequum censuerint, nihil vos eorum, patres conscripti, quae illic acta sunt, ignorare patiar.
But now, since they have almost boasted of having surrendered themselves to the enemy, and have thought it right that they should be preferred not only to those captured in battle by the enemy, but also to those who reached Venusia and Canusium, and even to the consul Gaius Terentius himself, I will suffer you to be ignorant of nothing, conscript fathers, of what was done there.
§22.60.8atque utinam haec, quae apud vos acturus sum, Canusii apud ipsum exercitum agerem, optimum testem ignaviae cuiusque et virtutis, aut unus hic saltem adesset P. Sempronius, quem si isti ducem secuti essent, milites hodie in castris Romanis, non captivi in hostium potestate essent.
And would that I were discussing these things, which I am about to discuss before you, at Canusium in the presence of the army itself, the best witness of each man's cowardice and courage, or at least that this one man, Publius Sempronius, were present, whom if they had followed as leader, they would today be soldiers in a Roman camp, not prisoners in the power of the enemy.
§22.60.9sed cum, fessis pugnando hostibus, tum victoria laetis et ipsis plerisque regressis in castra sua, noctem ad erumpendum liberam habuissent, et septem milia armatorum hominum erumpere etiam per confertos hostes possent, neque per se ipsi id facere conati sunt neque alium sequi voluerunt.
But when, since the enemy were exhausted by fighting and then joyful with victory, and most of them indeed had returned to their camp, they had a night free for breaking through, and seven thousand armed men could break through even through the dense ranks of the enemy, they neither attempted to do this by themselves nor wished to follow another.
§22.60.10nocte prope tota P. Sempronius Tuditanus non destitit monere, adhortari eos, dum paucitas hostium circa castra sineret, dum quies ac silentium esset, dum nox inceptum tegere posset, se ducem sequerentur: ante lucem pervenire in tuta loca, in sociorum urbes posse.
During almost the entire night, Publius Sempronius Tuditanus did not cease to advise and exhort them, while the small number of the enemy around the camp permitted, while there was quiet and silence, while the night could cover their undertaking, to follow him as leader: that they could reach safe places, the cities of the allies, before dawn.
§22.60.11si, ut avorum memoria P. Decius tribunus militum in Samnio, si, ut nobis adulescentibus priore Punico bello Calpurnius Flamma trecentis voluntariis, cum ad tumulum eos capiendum situm inter medios duceret hostis, dixit: “Moriamur, milites, §22.60.12et morte nostra eripiamus ex obsidione circumventas legiones,” si hoc P. Sempronius diceret, nec viros equidem nec Romanos vos ducerem, si nemo tantae virtutis extitisset comes.
If, as in the memory of our grandfathers the military tribune Publius Decius did in Samnium, if, as when we were youths in the first Punic War Calpurnius Flamma said to three hundred volunteers when he was leading them to capture a hill situated in the midst of the enemy: 'Let us die, soldiers, and by our death let us rescue the surrounded legions from siege,' if Publius Sempronius had said this, indeed I would not have considered you either men or Romans, if no companion of such great courage had stood forth.
§22.60.13viam non ad gloriam magis quam ad salutem ferentem demonstrat; reduces in patriam ad parentis, ad coniuges ac liberos facit.
He shows a path leading not to glory more than to safety; he makes you return to your country, to your parents, to your wives and children.
ut servemini, deest vobis animus:
That you may be saved, courage is lacking to you."