§23.7.1legati ad Hannibalem venerunt pacemque cum eo condicionibus his fecerunt, ne quis imperator magistratusve Poenorum ius ullum in civem Campanum haberet, neve civis Campanus invitus militaret munusve faceret; §23.7.2ut suae leges, sui magistratus Capuae essent; ut trecentos ex Romanis captivis Poenus daret Campanis, quos ipsi elegissent, cum quibus equitum Campanorum, qui in Sicilia stipendia facerent, permutatio fieret. §23.7.3haec pacta; illa insuper, quam quae pacta erant, facinora Campani ediderunt: nam praefectos socium civisque Romanos alios, partim aliquo militiae munere occupatos partim privatis negotiis inplicitos, plebs repente omnis conprehensos velut custodiae causa balneis includi iussit, ubi fervore atque aestu anima interclusa foedum in modum expirarunt.
\nThe ambassadors came to Hannibal and made peace with him on these conditions: that no general or magistrate of the Carthaginians should have any jurisdiction over a Campanian citizen, and that no Campanian citizen should serve in the military or perform any public duty against his will;\n\nthat their own laws and their own magistrates should be at Capua; that the Carthaginian should give to the Campanians three hundred of the Roman captives, whom they themselves should choose, with whom an exchange should be made for the Campanian horsemen who were serving in Sicily.\n\nThese things were agreed upon; in addition to what had been agreed, the Campanians committed the following atrocities: for all the populace suddenly ordered the prefects of the allies and other Roman citizens, some occupied with some military duty and others involved in private business, to be seized and, as if for the sake of custody, shut up in the baths, where, their breath being cut off by the heat and steam, they expired in a horrible manner.
ea ne fierent neu legatio mitteretur ad Poenum, §23.7.4summa ope Decius Magius, vir, cui ad summam auctoritatem nihil praeter sanam civium mentem defuit, restiterat. §23.7.5ut vero praesidium mitti ab Hannibale audivit, Pyrrhi superbam dominationem miserabilemque Tarentinorum servitutem exempla referens, primo, ne reciperetur praesidium, §23.7.6palam vociferatus est, deinde, ut receptum aut eiceretur aut, si malum facinus, quod a vetustissimis sociis consanguineisque defecissent, forti ac memorabili facinore purgare vellent, ut interfecto Punico praesidio restituerent Romanis se. §23.7.7haec — nec enim occulta agebantur — cum relata Hannibali essent, primo misit, qui vocarent Magium ad sese in castra; deinde, cum is ferociter negasset se iturum, nec enim Hannibali ius esse in civem Campanum, concitatus ira Poenus conprehendi hominem vinctumque adtrahi ad sese iussit. §23.7.8veritus deinde, ne quid inter vim tumultus atque ex concitatione animorum inconsulti certaminis oreretur, ipse, praemisso nuntio ad Marium Blossium praetorem Campanum postero die se Capuae futurum, proficiscitur e castris cum modico praesidio. §23.7.9Marius contione advocata edicit, ut frequentes cum coniugibus ac liberis obviam irent Hannibali.
Lest these things should be done, and lest an embassy should be sent to the Carthaginian,\n\nDecius Magius, a man to whom nothing was wanting for the highest authority except a sound mind of the citizens, had resisted with all his might.\n\nBut when he heard that a garrison was being sent by Hannibal, citing the haughty rule of Pyrrhus and the miserable servitude of the Tarentines as examples, he first, lest the garrison should be received,\n\nopenly cried out, then, that if received it should either be expelled, or, if they wished to expiate the evil deed of having defected from their oldest allies and kinsmen by a brave and memorable deed, they should kill the Carthaginian garrison and restore themselves to the Romans.\n\nWhen these things—for they were not done in secret—had been reported to Hannibal, he first sent men to summon Magius to him in the camp; then, when he fiercely denied that he would go, saying that Hannibal had no right over a Campanian citizen, the Carthaginian, excited with anger, ordered the man to be seized and dragged bound to him.\n\nFearing then lest some tumult might arise during the violence and some rash conflict from the excitement of minds, he himself, having sent a messenger ahead to Marius Blossius, the Campanian praetor, that he would be at Capua on the following day, set out from the camp with a moderate escort.\n\nMarius, having called an assembly, ordered that they should go in crowds with their wives and children to meet Hannibal.
ab universis id non oboedienter modo sed enixe, favore etiam volgi et studio visendi tot iam victoriis clarum imperatorem, factum est. §23.7.10Decius Magius nec obviam egressus est nec, quo timorem aliquem ex conscientia significare posset, privato se tenuit: in foro cum filio clientibusque paucis otiose inambulavit trepidante tota civitate ad excipiendum Poenum visendumque. §23.7.11Hannibal ingressus urbem senatum extemplo postulat, precantibusque inde primoribus Campanorum, ne quid eo die seriae rei gereret diemque et ipse adventu suo festum laetus ac libens celebraret, quamquam praeceps ingenio in iram erat, §23.7.12tamen, ne quid in principio negaret, visenda urbe magnam partem diei consumpsit.
This was done by all not only obediently but eagerly, with the favor of the populace and their enthusiasm to see a general already famous for so many victories.\n\nDecius Magius neither went out to meet him, nor, in a way by which he might show any fear from a guilty conscience, did he keep himself at home: he walked at leisure in the forum with his son and a few clients, while the whole state was in a flutter to receive and see the Carthaginian.\n\nHannibal, having entered the city, immediately demanded the senate; and when the chief men of the Campanians then entreated him not to conduct any serious business on that day, and that he himself, glad and willing, should celebrate a day made festive by his arrival, although he was by nature headlong into anger,\n\nyet, lest he should deny anything in the beginning, he spent a large part of the day in seeing the city.