§23.5.1horum parentes cognatique aegre pervicerunt, ut legati ad consulem Romanum mitterentur.
The parents and kinsmen of these men with difficulty carried their point that ambassadors should be sent to the Roman consul.
ii nondum Canusium profectum, sed Venusiae cum paucis ac semiermibus consulem invenerunt, quam poterat maxime miserabilem bonis sociis, superbis atque infidelibus, ut erant Campani, spernendum.
They found the consul, who had not yet set out for Canusium, but was at Venusia with a few and half-armed men, in a state as pitiable as possible to good allies, but to be despised by proud and faithless ones, such as the Campanians were.
§23.5.2et auxit rerum suarum suique contemptum consul nimis detegendo cladem nudandoque.
And the consul increased the contempt for his own situation and for himself by revealing and laying bare the disaster too much.
§23.5.3nam cum legati aegre ferre senatum populumque Campanum adversi quicquam evenisse Romanis nuntiassent pollicerenturque omnia, quae ad bellum opus essent, §23.5.4“morem magis” inquit “loquendi cum sociis servastis, Campani, iubentes, quae opus essent ad bellum, imperare, quam conuenienter ad praesentem fortunae nostrae status locuti estis.
For when the ambassadors had reported that the senate and people of Campania were grieved that any adversity had befallen the Romans, and promised everything that was needed for the war, he said, "Campanians, you have observed rather the custom of speaking with allies, by bidding us command what is needed for the war, than spoken in a manner suitable to the present state of our fortune.
quid enim nobis ad Cannas relictum est,
For what has been left to us at Cannae, so that, because we have something, we should wish that which is lacking to be supplied by our allies?
§23.5.5ut, quia aliquid habeamus, id, quod deest, expleri ab sociis velimus? pedites vobis imperemus, tamquam equites habeamus? pecuniam deesse dicamus, tamquam ea tantum desit?
Shall we requisition infantry from you, as if we had cavalry? Shall we say that money is lacking, as if that alone were lacking?
§23.5.6nihil ne quod suppleremus quidem, nobis reliquit fortuna.
Fortune has left us nothing even to supply.
legiones equitatus arma signa equi virique pecunia commeatus aut in acie aut binis postero die amissis castris perierunt.
The legions, cavalry, arms, standards, horses and men, money, and provisions have perished either in the battle or in the loss of the two camps on the following day.
§23.5.7itaque non iuvetis nos in bello oportet, Campani, sed paene bellum pro nobis suscipiatis.
Therefore, Campanians, you ought not to help us in the war, but almost undertake the war on our behalf.
§23.5.8veniat in mentem, ut trepidos quondam maiores vestros intra moenia compulsos nec Samnitem modo hostem sed etiam Sidicinum paventis, receptos in fidem ad Saticulam defenderimus coeptumque propter vos cum Samnitibus bellum per centum prope annos variante fortuna eventum tulerimus.
Let it come to your mind how we once defended your trembling ancestors, driven within their walls and fearing not only the Samnite enemy but also the Sidicinian, having received them into our protection at Saticula, and how we bore the outcome of the war with the Samnites, begun on your account, for nearly a hundred years with varying fortune.
§23.5.9adicite ad haec, quod foedus aequum deditis, quod leges vestras, quod ad extremum, id quod ante Cannensem certe cladem maximum fuit, civitatem nostram magnae parti vestrum dedimus communicavimusque vobiscum.
Add to this that we gave an equal treaty to you when surrendered, that we left you your own laws, and finally, what was certainly the greatest thing before the disaster of Cannae, that we gave our citizenship to a great part of you and shared it with you.
§23.5.10itaque communem vos hanc cladem, quae accepta est, credere, Campani, oportet, communem patriam tuendam arbitrari esse.
Therefore, Campanians, you ought to believe this disaster which has been sustained is common, and to think that our common fatherland is to be defended.
§23.5.11non cum Samnite aut Etrusco res est, ut, quod a nobis ablatum sit, in Italia tamen imperium maneat; Poenus hostis, ne Africae quidem indigena, ab ultimis terrarum oris, freto Oceani Herculisque columnis, expertem omnis iuris et condicionis et linguae prope humanae militem trahit.
Our business is not with a Samnite or an Etruscan, so that, though the empire should be taken from us, it would yet remain in Italy; a Carthaginian enemy, not even a native of Africa, drags soldiers from the furthest limits of the earth, from the strait of the Ocean and the Pillars of Hercules, devoid of all law, condition, and almost of human speech.
§23.5.12hunc natura et moribus inmitem ferumque insuper dux ipse efferavit pontibus ac molibus ex humanorum corporum strue faciendis et, quod proloqui etiam piget, vesci corporibus humanis docendo.
These men, cruel and savage by nature and customs, the general himself has furthermore made wilder by building bridges and mounds from piles of human bodies, and, what it even pains me to speak out, by teaching them to feed on human bodies.
§23.5.13his infandis pastos epulis, quas contingere etiam nefas sit, videre atque habere dominos et ex Africa et a Carthagine iura petere et Italiam Numidarum ac Maurorum pati provinciam esse, cui non, genito modo in Italia, detestabile sit?
To see and have as masters those fed on these unspeakable feasts, which it would be a sin even to touch, and to seek laws from Africa and Carthage, and to suffer Italy to be a province of Numidians and Moors, to whom, provided only he was born in Italy, would this not be detestable?
§23.5.14pulchrum erit, Campani, prolapsum clade Romanorum imperium vestra fide, vestris viribus retentum ac recuperatum esse.
It will be a glorious thing, Campanians, that the Roman empire, collapsed by disaster, has been retained and recovered by your loyalty and your strength.
§23.5.15triginta milia peditum, quattuor equitum arbitror ex Campania scribi posse; iam pecuniae adfatim est frumentique.
I think thirty thousand infantry and four thousand cavalry can be enlisted from Campania; now there is abundance of money and grain.
si parem fortunae vestrae fidem habetis, nec Hannibal se vicisse sentiet nec Romani victos esse. ”
If you have a loyalty equal to your fortune, neither will Hannibal feel that he has conquered, nor the Romans that they have been conquered."