§26.15.1de supplicio Campani senatus haudquaquam inter Fulvium Claudiumque conveniebat: facilis impetrandae veniae Claudius, Fulvio durior sententia erat.
Regarding the punishment of the Campanian senate, there was by no means agreement between Fulvius and Claudius; Claudius was inclined to grant pardon, while Fulvius held a harsher opinion.
§26.15.2itaque Appius Romam ad senatum arbitrium eius rei totum reiciebat:
And so Appius referred the entire decision of this matter back to the senate at Rome.
§26.15.3percunctandi etiam aequum esse potestatem fieri patribus, num communicassent consilia cum aliquis sociorum Latini nominis, et num ope eorum in bello forent adiuti.
He also argued that it was fair that the fathers should have the opportunity of questioning whether they had shared their plans with any of the allies of the Latin name, and whether they had been aided by their help in the war.
§26.15.4id vero minime committendum esse Fulvius dicere, ut sollicitarentur criminibus dubiis sociorum fidelium animi et subicerentur indicibus, quis neque quid dicerent neque quid facerent, quicquam umquam pensi fuisset; itaque se eam quaestionem oppressurum extincturumque.
But Fulvius declared that this must by no means be allowed—that the minds of faithful allies should be disturbed by doubtful charges and subjected to informants, to whom what they said or what they did had never been of any consequence; therefore, he would suppress and extinguish that inquiry.
§26.15.5ab hoc sermone cum digressi essent, et Appius quamvis ferociter loquentem collegam non dubitaret tamen litteras super tanta re ab Roma expectaturum, Fulvius, §26.15.6ne id ipsum impedimentum incepto foret, dimittens praetorium tribunis militum ac praefectis socium imperavit, uti duobus milibus equitum delectis denuntiarent, ut ad tertiam bucinam praesto essent.
When they had departed from this conversation, and Appius did not doubt that his colleague, however fiercely he spoke, would nevertheless await letters from Rome on such an important matter, Fulvius, lest that very thing should be an obstacle to his undertaking, dismissing the praetorium, ordered the military tribunes and prefects of the allies to command two thousand selected horsemen to be ready at the third trumpet-call.
§26.15.7cum hoc equitatu nocte Teanum profectus prima luce portam intravit atque in forum perrexit; concursuque ad primum equitum ingressum facto magistratum Sidicinum citari iussit imperavitque, ut produceret Campanos, quos in custodia haberet.
Having set out for Teanum in the night with this cavalry, he entered the gate at dawn and proceeded to the forum; and a crowd having gathered at the first entry of the horsemen, he ordered the Sidicine magistrate to be summoned and commanded him to produce the Campanians whom he had in custody.
§26.15.8producti omnes virgisque caesi ac securi percussi.
All those who had been brought out were scourged with rods and beheaded with the axe.
inde citato equo Cales percurrit; ubi cum in tribunali consedisset productique Campani deligarentur ad palum, eques citus ab Roma venit litterasque a C. Calpurnio praetore Fulvio et senatus consultum tradit.
Thence at a gallop he rode through to Cales; where, when he had taken his seat on the tribunal and the Campanians who had been produced were being bound to the stake, a swift horseman came from Rome and handed to Fulvius letters from the praetor Gaius Calpurnius and the decree of the senate.
§26.15.9murmur ab tribunali totam contionem pervasit, differri rem integram ad patres de Campanis.
A whisper spread from the tribunal through the whole assembly, that the matter concerning the Campanians was referred undecided to the fathers.
et Fulvius id ita esse ratus acceptas litteras neque resolutas cum in gremio reposuisset, praeconi imperavit, ut lictorem lege agere iuberet.
And Fulvius, thinking that this was indeed so, put the received letters, unopened, into his bosom, and ordered the herald to command the lictor to execute the law.
ita de iis quoque, qui Calibus erant, sumptum supplicium.
Thus punishment was inflicted also on those who were at Cales.
§26.15.10tum litterae lectae senatusque consultum serum ad impediendam rem actam, quae summa ope adproperata erat, ne impediri posset.
Then the letters and the decree of the senate were read, too late to prevent what had already been done, which had been hastened with the greatest effort so that it could not be prevented.
§26.15.11consurgentem iam Fulvium Taurea Vibellius Campanus, per mediam vadens turbar, nomine inclamavit et, cum mirabundus, quidnam sese vellet, §26.15.12resedisset Flaccus, “me quoque” inquit “iube occidi, ut gloriari possis multo fortiorem, quam ipse es, virum abs te occisum esse. ” §26.15.13cum Flaccus negaret profecto satis compotem mentis esse, modo prohiberi etiam se, si id vellet, senatus consulto diceret, §26.15.14tum Vibellius “quando quidem” inquit “capta patria, propinquis amicisque amissis, cum ipse manu mea coniugem liberosque interfecerim, ne quid indigni paterentur, mihi ne mortis quidem copia eadem est, quae his civibus meis, petatur a virtute invisae huius vitae vindicta. ” §26.15.15atque ita gladio, quem veste texerat, per adversum pectus transfixus ante pedes imperatoris moribundus procubuit.
As Fulvius was already rising, Taurea Vibellius, a Campanian, making his way through the midst of the crowd, called him by name; and when Flaccus, wondering what on earth he wanted, had sat down again, Vibellius said, "Order me also to be slain, so that you may boast that a far braver man than you yourself are has been put to death by you." When Flaccus replied that he was surely not in his right mind, and said that he was moreover prevented by the decree of the senate, even if he wished it, then Vibellius said, "Since indeed my country is captured, my relations and friends lost, and since I myself have with my own hand slain my wife and children so that they might suffer nothing unworthy, and since not even the same opportunity of death as these citizens of mine is granted to me, let vengeance for this hated life be sought from courage." And so, pierced through the breast with a sword which he had concealed under his garment, he fell dying before the feet of the commander.