§23.14.1ceterum haec, ut in secundis rebus, segniter otioseque gesta; Romanos praeter insitam industriam animis fortuna etiam cunctari prohibebat.
But these matters, as is usual in prosperous times, were carried out sluggishly and lazily; as for the Romans, besides their inborn industry, fortune also prevented them in their minds from delaying.
nam nec consul ulli rei, §23.14.2quae per eum agenda esset, deerat, et dictator M. Iunius Pera rebus divinis perfectis latoque, ut solet, ad populum, ut equum escendere liceret, praeter duas urbanas legiones, quae principio anni a consulibus conscriptae fuerant, et servorum dilectum cohortesque ex agro Piceno et Gallico collectas ad ultimum prope desperatae rei publicae auxilium, §23.14.3cum honesta utilibus cedunt, descendit edixitque, qui capitalem fraudem ausi quique pecuniae iudicati in vinculis essent, qui eorum apud se milites fierent, eos noxa pecuniaque sese exsolvi iussurum.
For neither was the consul lacking in any matter which had to be done by him, and the dictator Marcus Junius Pera, having completed the religious rites and having proposed to the people, as is customary, a bill that he might be permitted to mount a horse, in addition to the two city legions which had been enlisted by the consuls at the beginning of the year, and the levy of slaves, and the cohorts collected from the Picene and Gallic territory, to the almost last resource of a desperate state, descended, when honorable things yield to useful ones, and proclaimed that, of those who were in chains having dared a capital crime or having been condemned for debt, whoever of them became soldiers under him, he would order them to be released from their guilt and debt.
§23.14.4ea sex milia hominum Gallicis spoliis, quae triumpho C. Flamini tralata erant, armavit, itaque cum viginti quinque milibus armatorum ab urbe proficiscitur.
These six thousand men he armed with Gallic spoils which had been carried in the triumph of Gaius Flaminius, and so he set out from the city with twenty-five thousand armed men.
§23.14.5Hannibal Capua recepta cum iterum Neapolitanorum animos partim spe partim metu nequiquam temptasset, §23.14.6in agrum Nolanum exercitum traducit, ut non hostiliter statim, quia non desperabat voluntariam deditionem, ita, si morarentur spem, nihil eorum, quae pati aut timere possent, praetermissurus.
Hannibal, after Capua had been received, when he had again in vain tempted the minds of the Neapolitans partly by hope, partly by fear, led his army into the territory of Nola, intending not to act hostilely at once, because he did not despair of a voluntary surrender, yet, if they should delay his hope, he was not going to omit any of those things which they might suffer or fear.
§23.14.7senatus, ac maxime primores eius, in societate Romana cum fide perstare; plebs novarum, ut solet, rerum atque Hannibalis tota esse metumque agrorum populationis et patienda in obsidione multa gravia indignaque proponere animo.
The senate, and especially its chief men, persisted with fidelity in the Roman alliance; the common people, as is usual, were entirely for a revolution and for Hannibal, and pictured in their minds the fear of the devastation of their fields and the many heavy and unworthy things to be suffered in a siege.
neque auctores defectionis deerant.
Nor were there lacking promoters of defection.
§23.14.8itaque ubi senatum metus cepit, si propalam tenderent, resisti multitudini concitatae non posse, obsecundando dilationem mali inveniunt.
Therefore, when fear seized the senate that, if they should hold out openly, the excited multitude could not be resisted, they found a delay of the evil by complying.
§23.14.9placere enim sibi defectionem ad Hannibalem simulant; quibus autem condicionibus in foedus amicitiamque novam transeant, parum constare.
For they pretended that a defection to Hannibal was pleasing to them; but under what conditions they should pass into a new treaty and friendship was not sufficiently clear.
§23.14.10ita spatio sumpto legatos propere ad praetorem Romanum Marcellum Claudium, qui Casilini cum exercitu erat, mittunt docentque, quanto in discrimine sit Nolana res: agrum Hannibalis esse et Poenorum, urbem extemplo futuram, ni subveniatur; §23.14.11concedendo plebei senatum, ubi velint, defecturos se, ne deficere praefestinarent, effecisse.
Having thus gained time, they quickly sent envoys to the Roman praetor Claudius Marcellus, who was at Casilinum with his army, and informed him in how great a crisis the state of Nola was: that the fields belonged to Hannibal and the Carthaginians, and that the city would immediately be theirs unless help were brought; and that the senate, by conceding to the plebeians that they would defect whenever they wished, had brought it about that they did not hasten to defect.
§23.14.12Marcellus conlaudatis Nolanis eadem simulatione extrahi rem in suum adventum iussit, interim celari, quae secum acta essent, spemque omnem auxilii Romani.
Marcellus, having highly praised the Nolans, ordered that the matter be spun out under the same pretense until his arrival, and that in the meantime what had been transacted with him, as well as all hope of Roman aid, should be kept secret.
§23.14.13ipse a Casilino Caiatiam petit atque inde Volturno amni traiecto per agrum Saticulanum Trebianumque super Suessulam per montis Nolam pervenit.
He himself proceeded from Casilinum to Caiatia, and thence, having crossed the river Volturnus, went through the territory of Saticula and Trebia, and over the mountains above Suessula, and arrived at Nola.