§22.8.1priusquam satis certa consilia essent, repens alia nuntiatur clades, quattuor milia equitum cum C. Centenio propraetore missa ad collegam ab Servilio consule in Umbria, quo post pugnam ad Trasumennum auditam averterant iter, ab Hannibale circumventa.
Before sufficiently certain plans could be formed, another sudden defeat was reported: that four thousand cavalry, sent under the propraetor Gaius Centenius to his colleague by the consul Servilius into Umbria, to which they had turned their course after hearing of the battle at Trasumennus, had been surrounded by Hannibal.
eius rei fama varie homines affecit:
The news of this event affected people in various ways.
§22.8.2pars occupatis maiore aegritudine animis levem ex comparatione priorum ducere recentem equitum iacturam; §22.8.3pars non id, quod acciderat, per se aestimare, sed, ut in affecto corpore quamvis levis causa magis quam in valido gravior sentiretur, §22.8.4ita tum aegrae et adfectae civitati quodcumque adversi incideret, non rerum magnitudine sed viribus extenuatis, quae nihil, quod adgrauaret pati possent, aestimandum esse.
One part, their minds being occupied with a greater sorrow, considered the recent loss of the cavalry light in comparison with the previous defeats; another part did not estimate what had happened by itself, but, just as in an afflicted body any cause, however slight, is felt more than a heavier one in a healthy body, so they thought that for the city, then sick and afflicted, whatever adversity befell must be estimated not by the magnitude of the event, but by its exhausted strength, which could bear nothing that would add to its burden.
§22.8.5itaque ad remedium iam diu neque desideratum nec adhibitum, dictatorem dicendum, civitas confugit.
Therefore the state resorted to a remedy now for a long time neither desired nor employed, the appointment of a dictator.
et quia et consul aberat a quo uno dici posse videbatur, nec per occupatam armis Punicis Italiam facile erat aut nuntium aut litteras mitti, §22.8.6quod numquam ante eam diem factum erat, dictatorem populus creavit Q. Fabium Maximum et magistrum equitum M. Minucium Rufum; §22.8.7iisque negotium abi senatu datum, ut muros turresque urbis firmarent et praesidia disponerent, quibus locis videretur, pontesque rescinderent fluminum: pro urbe ac penatibus dimicandum esse, quando Italiam tueri nequissent.
And because both the consul was absent, by whom alone it was seen that one could be appointed, and it was not easy for either a messenger or letters to be sent through an Italy occupied by Punic arms, what had never been done before that day, the people created Quintus Fabius Maximus dictator, and Marcus Minucius Rufus master of the horse; and to them the task was assigned by the senate that they should strengthen the walls and towers of the city, and dispose guards in whatever places seemed fit, and break down the bridges of the rivers: they must fight for the city and their household gods, since they had been unable to defend Italy.