§23.6.1Ab hac oratione consulis dimissis redeuntibusque domum legatis unus ex iis, Vibius Virrius, tempus venisse ait, quo Campani non agrum solum ab Romanis quondam per iniuriam ademptum recuperare, sed imperio etiam Italiae potiri possint: §23.6.2foedus enim cum Hannibale quibus velint legibus facturos; neque controversiam fore, quin, cum ipse confecto bello Hannibal victor in Africam decedat exercitumque deportet, Italiae imperium Campanis relinquatur.
After this speech of the consul, the ambassadors having been dismissed and returning home, one of them, Vibius Virrius, said that the time had come when the Campanians could not only recover the land formerly taken from them by the Romans through injustice, but also gain possession of the empire of Italy: for they would make a treaty with Hannibal on whatever terms they wished; and there would be no doubt that, when Hannibal himself, as victor after the conclusion of the war, should depart for Africa and withdraw his army, the empire of Italy would be left to the Campanians.
§23.6.3haec Virrio loquenti adsensi omnes ita renuntiant legationem, uti deletum omnibus videretur nomen Romanum.
All agreeing with Virrius as he spoke thus, they reported the embassy in such a manner that the Roman name seemed to everyone to be blotted out.
§23.6.4extemplo plebs ad defectionem ac pars maior senatus spectare; §23.6.5extracta tamen auctoritatibus seniorum per paucos dies est res.
Immediately the populace and the greater part of the senate began to look toward defection; the matter, however, was delayed for a few days by the authority of the elders.
postremo vincit sententia plurium, ut iidem legati, qui ad consulem Romanum ierant, ad Hannibalem mitterentur.
At last, the opinion of the majority prevailed, that the same ambassadors who had gone to the Roman consul should be sent to Hannibal.
§23.6.6quo priusquam iretur certumque defectionis consilium esset, Romam legatos missos a Campanis in quibusdam annalibus invenio postulantes, ut alter consul Campanus fieret, si rem Romanam adiuvari vellent; §23.6.7indignatione orta summoveri a curia iussos esse missumque lictorem, qui ex urbe educeret eos atque eo die manere extra finis Romanos iuberet.
Before they went there, and before the plan of defection was fixed, I find in certain annals that ambassadors were sent by the Campanians to Rome, demanding that one of the two consuls should be a Campanian, if they wished the Roman state to be helped; and that, indignation having arisen, they were ordered to be removed from the senate-house, and a lictor was sent to lead them out of the city and order them to remain outside the Roman territory on that day.
quia nimis compar Latinorum quondam postulatio erat, §23.6.8Coeliusque et alii id haud sine causa praetermiserant scriptores, ponere pro certo sum veritus.
Because this demand was too similar to the former demand of the Latins, and because Coelius and other writers had not without reason omitted it, I have been afraid to set it down as certain.