§23.48.1quieta inde stativa fuere, ac retro etiam consul movit castra, ut sementem Campani facerent, nec ante violavit agrum Campanum, quam iam altae in segetibus herbae pabulum praebere poterant.
Thereafter the permanent camp was quiet, and the consul even moved his camp back so that the Campanians might do their sowing; nor did he violate the Campanian land before the grass in the grainfields, already high, was able to provide forage.
§23.48.2id convexit in Claudiana castra super Suessulam ibique hiberna aedificavit.
This he carried into the Claudian camp above Suessula, and built winter quarters there.
M. Claudio proconsuli imperavit, ut retento Nolae necessario ad tuendam urbem praesidio ceteros milites dimitteret Romam, ne oneri sociis et sumptui rei publicae essent.
He commanded the proconsul M. Claudius to dismiss the remaining soldiers to Rome, keeping at Nola only the guard necessary to defend the city, so that they might not be a burden to the allies and an expense to the state.
§23.48.3et Ti. Gracchus, a Cumis Luceriam in Apuliam legiones cum duxisset, M. Valerium inde praetorem Brundisium cum eo quem Luceriae habuerat exercitum misit tuerique oram agri Sallentini et providere, quod ad Philippum bellumque Macedonicum attineret, iussit.
And Tiberius Gracchus, when he had led his legions from Cumae to Luceria in Apulia, sent the praetor M. Valerius from there to Brundisium with the army he had had at Luceria, and ordered him to guard the coast of the Sallentine territory and to look out for what pertained to Philip and the Macedonian war.
§23.48.4exitu aestatis eius qua haec gesta perscripsimus, litterae a P. et Cn. Scipionibus venerunt, quantas quamque prosperas in Hispania res gessissent; sed pecuniam in stipendium vestimentaque et frumentum exercitui et sociis navalibus omnia deesse.
At the close of that summer in which we have described these events, letters arrived from Publius and Gnaeus Scipio, stating what great and successful deeds they had performed in Spain, but that money for pay, clothing, and grain for the army and the naval allies, everything was lacking.
§23.48.5quod ad stipendium attineat, si aerarium inops sit, se aliquam rationem inituros, quo modo ab Hispanis sumant; cetera utique ab Roma mittenda esse, nec aliter aut exercitum aut provinciam teneri posse.
As for the pay, if the treasury were destitute, they would find some way to obtain it from the Spaniards; but the other things must by all means be sent from Rome, and otherwise neither the army nor the province could be held.
§23.48.6litteris recitatis nemo omnium erat, quin et vera scribi et postulari aequa fateretur; sed occurrebat animis, quantos exercitus terrestris navalisque tuerentur, quantaque nova classis mox paranda esset, si bellum Macedonicum moveretur: §23.48.7Siciliam ac Sardiniam, quae ante bellum vectigales fuissent, vix praesides provinciarum exercitus alere; tributo sumptus suppeditari; §23.48.8ceterum ipsum tributum conferentium numerum tantis exercituum stragibus et ad Trasumennum lacum et ad Cannas inminutum; qui superessent pauci, si multiplici gravarentur stipendio, alia perituros peste.
After the letters were read, there was no one who did not confess both that the truth was written and that the demands were fair; but it occurred to their minds what great land and sea forces they were supporting, and how great a new fleet must soon be prepared if a Macedonian war should be started: that Sicily and Sardinia, which before the war had been tributary, could scarcely support the armies of their provincial governors, and that the expenses were supplied by the tribute; furthermore, that the very number of those paying the tribute had been diminished by such great slaughters of the armies both at Lake Trasimene and at Cannae; and that if the few who survived were burdened with a manifold tax, they would perish by another plague.
§23.48.9itaque nisi fide staret res publica, opibus non staturam.
And so, unless the state stood by credit, it would not stand by resources.
§23.48.10prodeundum in contionem Fulvio praetori esse, indicandas populo publicas necessitates cohortandosque, qui redempturis auxissent patrimonia, ut rei publicae, §23.48.11ex qua crevissent, tempus commodarent conducerentque ea lege praebenda, quae ad exercitum Hispaniensem opus essent, ut, cum pecunia in aerario esset, iis primis solveretur.
They resolved that the praetor Fulvius must go before the assembly, point out the public necessities to the people, and exhort those who had increased their private fortunes by public contracts, that to the state, from which they had grown, they should grant time, and contract to supply the things needed for the Spanish army on the condition that, when there should be money in the treasury, they should be the first to be paid.
§23.48.12haec praetor in contione edixit, quoque die vestimenta ac frumentum Hispaniensi exercitui praebenda, quaeque alia opus essent navalibus sociis, esset locaturus.
The praetor proclaimed these things in the assembly, and announced on what day he would let the contracts for supplying clothing and grain to the Spanish army, and whatever else was needed for the naval allies.