§26.12.1ceterum non quantum Romanis pertinaciae ad premendam obsidione Capuam fuit, tantum ad defendendam Hannibali.
However, Hannibal did not possess as much persistence for defending Capua as the Romans had for pressing it with a siege.
§26.12.2namque per Samnium et Lucanos in Bruttium agrum ad fretum ac Regium eo cursu contendit, ut prope repentino adventu incautos oppresserit.
For he hastened his course through Samnium and the Lucanians into the Bruttian territory towards the strait and Rhegium with such speed, that he overwhelmed them off their guard by his almost sudden arrival.
§26.12.3Capua etsi nihilo segnius obsessa per eos dies fuerat, tamen adventum Flacci sensit, et admiratio orta est non simul regressum Hannibalem.
Although Capua had been besieged no less vigorously during those days, yet it perceived the arrival of Flaccus, and wonder arose that Hannibal had not returned at the same time.
§26.12.4inde per conloquia intellexerunt relictos se desertosque et spem Capuae retinendae deploratam apud Poenos esse.
Thence through conferences they understood that they had been left behind and deserted, and that the hope of retaining Capua was given up for lost among the Carthaginians.
§26.12.5accessit edictum proconsulis ex senatus consulto propositum vulgatumque apud hostis, ut qui civis Campanus ante certam diem transisset, sine fraude esset.
Added to this was the edict of the proconsul, published and spread among the enemy in accordance with a decree of the senate, to the effect that any Campanian citizen who should go over before a fixed day should be exempt from punishment.
§26.12.6nec ulla facta est transitio metu magis eos quam fide continente, quia maiora in defectione deliquerant, quam quibus ignosci posset.
Nor did any defection take place, as fear rather than loyalty held them back, because they had committed greater offenses in their rebellion than could be forgiven.
§26.12.7ceterum quem ad modum nemo private consilio ad hostem transibat, ita nihil salutare in medium consulebatur.
But just as no one went over to the enemy by private counsel, so no salutary measure was deliberated for the common good.
§26.12.8nobilitas rem publicam deseruerant neque in senatum cogi poterant; in magistratu erat, qui non sibi honorem adiecisset, sed indignitate sua vim ac ius magistratui, quem gerebat, dempsisset; §26.12.9iam ne in foro quidem aut publico loco principum quisquam apparebat, domibus inclusi patriae occasum cum suo exitio in dies expectabant; §26.12.10summa curae omnis in Bostarem Hannonemque, praefectos praesidii Punici, versa erat, suo, non sociorum periculo sollicitos.
The nobility had abandoned the state and could not be assembled into the senate; in the magistracy was one who had not added honor to himself, but by his own unworthiness had stripped the power and authority from the magistracy which he held; Now not even in the forum or in any public place did any of the leading men appear; shut up in their houses, they expected from day to day the downfall of their country along with their own destruction; The whole of the care had turned upon Bostar and Hanno, the commanders of the Carthaginian garrison, who were anxious for their own danger, not that of their allies.
§26.12.11ii conscriptis ad Hannibalem litteris non libere modo sed etiam aspere, quibus non Capuam solam traditam in manum hostibus, sed se quoque et praesidium in omnis cruciatus proditos incusabant: §26.12.12abisse eum in Bruttios velut avertentem sese, ne Capua in oculis eius caperetur; at hercule Romanos ne oppugnatione quidem urbis Romanae abstrahi a Capua obsidenda potuisse: §26.12.13tanto constantiorem inimicum Romanum quam amicum Poenum esse.
They, having written a letter to Hannibal not only frankly but even harshly, in which they accused him that not Capua alone had been delivered into the hands of the enemy, but that they also and the garrison had been betrayed to every kind of torture: that he had departed into the Bruttian country as if turning away his eyes, lest Capua should be captured before his eyes; but, by Hercules, the Romans could not be drawn away from besieging Capua even by the attack on the city of Rome: that the Roman enemy was by so much more steadfast than the Carthaginian friend.
si redeat Capuam bellumque omne eo vertat, et se et Campanos paratos eruptioni fore.
If he should return to Capua and turn the whole war thither, both themselves and the Campanians would be ready for a sally.
§26.12.14non cum Reginis neque Tarentinis bellum gesturos transisse Alpis; ubi Romanae legiones sint, ibi et Carthaginiensium exercitus debere esse.
They had not crossed the Alps to wage war with the people of Rhegium or Tarentum; where the Roman legions were, there also the Carthaginian army ought to be.
sic ad Cannas, sic ad Trasumennum rem bene gestam coeundo conferundoque cum hoste castra, fortunam temptando.
Thus at Cannae, thus at Trasumennus, matters had been successfully conducted by meeting the enemy, by pitching camps close together, and by trying fortune.
§26.12.15in hanc sententiam litterae conscriptae Numidis proposita mercede eam professis operam dantur.
A letter written to this effect was given to some Numidians, who had undertaken the task on the promise of a reward.
ii specie transfugarum cum ad Flaccum in castra venissent, ut inde tempore capto abirent, famesque, quae iam diu Capuae erat, nulli non probabilem causam transitionis faceret, §26.12.16mulier repente Campana in castra venit, scortum transfugarum unius, indicatque imperatori Romano Numidas fraude composita transisse litterasque ad Hannibalem ferre:
When they had come into the camp to Flaccus under the guise of deserters, intending to depart thence when an opportunity was seized, and when the famine, which had now for a long time been at Capua, made the cause of their defection probable to everyone, suddenly a Campanian woman came into the camp, the mistress of one of the deserters, and disclosed to the Roman commander that the Numidians had gone over under a prearranged plot and were carrying a letter to Hannibal.
§26.12.17id unum ex iis, qui sibi rem aperuisset, arguere sese paratam esse.
She declared that she was prepared to convict the one among them who had revealed the matter to her.
productus primo satis constanter ignorare se mulierem simulabat; paulatim dein convictus veris, cum tormenta posci et parari videret, §26.12.18fassus id ita esse, litteraeque prolatae et additum etiam indicio, §26.12.19quod celabatur, et alios specie transfugarum Numidas vagari in castris Romanis.
The man, when brought forward, at first with sufficient firmness pretended that he did not know the woman; but gradually, convicted by the truth when he saw the instruments of torture being demanded and prepared, he confessed that it was so, and the letter was produced, and there was also added to the disclosure which was being concealed, that other Numidians under the guise of deserters were wandering about in the Roman camp.
ii supra septuaginta comprensi et cum transfugis novis mulcati virgis manibusque praecisis Capuam rediguntur.
More than seventy of them were seized, and along with the new deserters, having been beaten with rods and had their hands cut off, they were driven back to Capua.
conspectum tam triste supplicium fregit animos Campanorum.
The sight of so grim a punishment broke the spirits of the Campanians.