§23.42.1itaque extemplo legati ad Hannibalem missi simul ex utraque gente ita Poenum adlocuti sunt: §23.42.2“hostes populi Romani, Hannibal, fuimus primum per nos ipsi, quoad nostra arma, nostrae vires nos tutari poterant.
Therefore, envoys were immediately sent to Hannibal from both nations at the same time, and they addressed the Carthaginian as follows: "Hannibal, we were at first enemies of the Roman people on our own account, as long as our own arms and our own strength could protect us.
postquam iis parum fidebamus, Pyrrho regi nos adiunximus; §23.42.3a quo relicti pacem necessariam accepimus, fuimusque in ea per annos prope quinquaginta ad id tempus, quo tu in Italiam venisti. §23.42.4tua nos non magis virtus fortunaque quam unica comitas ac benignitas erga cives nostros, quos captos nobis remisisti, ita conciliavit tibi, ut te salvo atque incolumi amico non modo populum Romanum sed ne deos quidem iratos, si fas est dici, timeremus. §23.42.5at hercule non solum incolumi et victore sed praesente te, cum ploratum prope coniugum ac liberorum nostrorum exaudire et flagrantia tecta posses conspicere, ita sumus aliquotiens hac aestate devastati, ut M. Marcellus, non Hannibal vicisse ad Cannas videatur, glorienturque Romani te ad unum modo ictum vigentem velut aculeo misso torpere. §23.42.6per annos centum cum populo Romano bellum gessimus nullo externo adiuti nec duce nec exercitu, nisi quod per biennium Pyrrhus nostro magis milite suas auxit vires quam suis viribus nos defendit. §23.42.7non ego secundis rebus nostris gloriabor duos consules ac duos consulares exercitus ab nobis sub iugum missos, et si qua alia aut laeta aut gloriosa nobis evenerunt. §23.42.8quae aspera adversaque tunc acciderunt, minore indignatione referre possumus, quam quae hodie eveniunt. §23.42.9magni dictatores cum magistris equitum, bini consules cum binis consularibus exercitibus ingrediebantur finis nostros; ante explorato et subsidiis positis et sub signis ad populandum ducebant: §23.42.10nunc propraetoris unius et parvi ad tuendam Nolam praesidii praeda sumus; iam ne manipulatim quidem sed latronum modo percursant totis finibus nostris neglegentius, quam si in Romano vagarentur agro. §23.42.11causa autem haec est, quod neque tu defendis et nostra iuventus, quae, si domi esset, tutaretur, omnis sub signis militat tuis. §23.42.12nec te nec exercitum tuum norim, nisi, a quo tot acies Romanas fusas stratasque esse sciam, ei facile esse ducam opprimere populatores nostros vagos sine signis palatos, quo quemque trahit quamvis vana praedae spes. §23.42.13Numidarum paucorum illi quidem praeda erunt praesidiumque miseris simul nobis et Nolae ademeris, si modo, quos, ut socios haberes, dignos duxisti, haud indignos iudicas, quos in fidem receptos tuearis. ”
After we had little confidence in them, we joined ourselves to King Pyrrhus; abandoned by him, we accepted a necessary peace, and we remained in it for nearly fifty years, up to the time when you came into Italy. Your courage and fortune, no more than your extraordinary kindness and generosity toward our citizens, whom you sent back to us after they were captured, so won us over to you that, as long as you were safe and sound as our friend, we feared not only not the Roman people but not even the angry gods, if it is lawful to say so. But, by Hercules, not only while you are unharmed and victorious, but even while you are present, when you could almost hear the weeping of our wives and children and behold our burning homes, we have been so devastated several times this summer that Marcus Marcellus, not Hannibal, seems to have conquered at Cannae, and the Romans boast that you, vigorous only for a single blow, are now numb, as if you had discharged your sting. For a hundred years we waged war with the Roman people, aided by no foreign general or army, except that for two years Pyrrhus rather increased his own strength with our soldiers than defended us with his own. I will not boast of our former successes—that two consuls and two consular armies were sent under the yoke by us, and whatever other joyful or glorious things happened to us. The harsh and adverse things that befell us then, we can relate with less indignation than those which are happening today. Great dictators with their masters of horse, and pairs of consuls with pairs of consular armies used to enter our territories; they would lead them to plunder only after scouting beforehand, placing reserves, and under their standards. Now, we are the prey of a single propraetor and of a small garrison intended to guard Nola; now, not even in maniples, but after the manner of robbers, they overrun our entire territory with less care than if they were wandering in Roman land. And the cause of this is that you do not defend us, and our youth, who, if they were at home, would protect us, are all serving under your standards. I should know neither you nor your army, unless I deemed it easy for him, by whom I know so many Roman armies have been routed and stretched on the field, to crush our wandering plunderers, who are scattered without standards, wherever any hope of booty, however vain, attracts each of them. They will indeed be the prey of a few Numidians, and you will at the same time take away the garrison from Nola and relieve us miserable people of our distress, if only you do not judge those whom you thought worthy to have as allies, unworthy to be defended once received into your protection."