§23.13.1cum id nescire Mago diceret, “nihil facilius scitu est” inquit.
When Mago said that he did not know this, he said, "Nothing is easier to know.
“ecquos legatos ad Hannibalem Romani miserunt de pace? ecquam denique mentionem pacis Romae factam esse adlatum ad vos est?” §23.13.2cum id quoque negasset, “Bellum igitur” inquit “tam integrum habemus, quam habuimus, qua die Hannibal in Italiam est transgressus.
Have the Romans sent any envoys to Hannibal concerning peace? Or finally, has any report been brought to you that mention of peace has been made at Rome?" When he had denied this as well, Hanno said, "We have, therefore, a war as intact as we had on the day Hannibal crossed into Italy.
§23.13.3quam varia victoria priore Punico bello fuerit plerique, qui meminerimus, supersumus.
Most of us who remember how variable victory was in the former Punic War are still alive.
numquam terra marique magis prosperae res nostrae visae sunt, quam ante consules C. Lutatium et A. Postumium fuerunt: Lutatio §23.13.4et Postumio consulibus devicti ad Aegates insulas sumus.
Never on land and sea did our prospects seem more prosperous than they were before the consulship of Gaius Lutatius and Aulus Postumius; under the consulship of Lutatius and Postumius we were utterly defeated at the Aegates Islands.
quod si, id quod di omen avertant,, nunc quoque fortuna aliquid variaverit, tum pacem speratis, cum vincemur, quam nunc, cum vincimus, dat nemo?
But if—may the gods avert the omen— now too fortune should shift in some way, do you expect peace then, when we are being defeated, which no one offers now when we are winning?
§23.13.5ego, si quis de pace consulet seu ferenda hostibus seu accipienda, habeo, quid sententiae dicam; si de iis, quae Mago postulat, refertis, nec victoribus mitti attinere puto et frustrantibus nos falsa atque inani spe multo minus censeo mittenda esse. ” §23.13.6haud multos movit Hannonis oratio; nam et simultas cum familia Barcina leviorem auctorem faciebat, et occupati animi praesenti laetitia nihil, quo vanius fieret gaudium suum, auribus admittebant, debellatumque mox fore, si adniti paulum voluissent, rebantur.
As for me, if anyone consults about peace, whether it is to be offered to the enemy or accepted, I have my opinion to give; but if you are making a motion concerning those things which Mago demands, I think it is of no concern to send them to victors, and much less do I think they should be sent to those who are deceiving us with a false and empty hope." Hanno's speech moved not many; for both his feud with the Barcine family made his authority less influential, and their minds, occupied with the present joy, would admit nothing to their ears by which their joy might be diminished, and they believed that the war would soon be finished if they were willing to make a little effort.
§23.13.7itaque ingenti consensu fit senatus consultum, ut Hannibali quattuor milia Numidarum in supplementum mitterentur et quadraginta elephanti et argenti talenta * §23.13.8dictatorque cum Magone in Hispaniam praemissus est ad conducenda viginti milia peditum, quattuor equitum, quibus exercitus, qui in Italia quique in Hispania erant, supplerentur.
Therefore, with immense consensus, a decree of the senate was made that four thousand Numidians, forty elephants, and * talents of silver should be sent to Hannibal as reinforcements, and a dictator was sent ahead with Mago into Spain to hire twenty thousand infantry and four thousand cavalry, with which the armies that were in Italy and in Spain might be reinforced.