§26.18.1inter haec Hispaniae populi nec qui post cladem acceptam defecerant redibant ad Romanos, nec ulli novi deficiebant.
Meanwhile, the peoples of Spain neither returned to the Romans—those who had defected after the defeat had been received—nor did any new ones defect.
§26.18.2et Romae senatui populoque post receptam Capuam non Italiae iam maior quam Hispaniae cura erat.
And at Rome, for the senate and the people after the recovery of Capua, the care for Italy was now not greater than that for Spain.
et exercitum augeri et imperatorem mitti placebat.
And it was resolved both that the army should be increased and that a commander should be sent.
§26.18.3nec tam, quem mitterent, satis constabat, quam illud, ubi duo summi imperatores intra dies triginta cecidissent, qui in locum duorum succederet, extraordinaria cura deligendum esse.
Nor was it so much clear whom they should send, as that, where two supreme commanders had fallen within thirty days, the one who should succeed to the place of the two had to be selected with extraordinary care.
§26.18.4cum alii alium nominarent, postremum eo decursum est, ut proconsuli creando in Hispaniam comitia haberentur; diemque comitiis consules edixerunt.
While some were naming one person and others another, they finally resorted to this, that comitia should be held for creating a proconsul for Spain; and the consuls proclaimed the day for the comitia.
§26.18.5primo expectaverant, ut, qui se tanto imperio dignos crederent, nomina profiterentur.
At first they had expected that those who believed themselves worthy of so great a command would declare their names.
quae ut destituta expectatio est, redintegratus luctus acceptae cladis desideriumque imperatorum amissorum.
When this expectation was frustrated, the grief for the defeat received and the longing for the lost commanders were renewed.
§26.18.6maesta itaque civitas, prope inops consilii, comitiorum die tamen in campum descendit; atque in magistratus versi circumspectant ora principum aliorum alios intuentium fremuntque adeo perditas res desperatumque de re publica esse, ut nemo audeat in Hispaniam imperium accipere, §26.18.7cum subito P. Cornelius, P. Cornelii, qui in Hispania ceciderat, filius, quattuor et viginti ferme annos natus, professus se petere in superiore, unde conspici posset, loco constitit.
Therefore the sorrowful state, almost helpless for counsel, nevertheless on the day of the comitia went down to the Campus; and turning toward the magistrates, they looked around at the faces of the leading men who were gazing at one another, and they muttered that affairs were so ruined and the commonwealth so despaired of that no one dared to accept the command in Spain, when suddenly Publius Cornelius, son of the Publius Cornelius who had fallen in Spain, about twenty-four years old, having declared that he was a candidate, stood in a higher place from which he could be seen.
§26.18.8in quem postquam omnium ora conversa sunt clamore ac favore ominati extemplo sunt felix faustumque imperium.
After the faces of all were turned toward him, they immediately, with a shout and favor, augured a happy and auspicious command.
§26.18.9iussi deinde inire suffragium ad unum omnes non centuriae modo sed etiam homines P. Scipioni imperium esse in Hispania iusserunt.
Then ordered to cast their votes, all to a man, not only the centuries but even individual men, ordered that Publius Scipio should have the command in Spain.
§26.18.10ceterum post rem actam, ut iam resederat impetus animorum: ardorque, silentium subito ortum et tacita cogitatio quidnam egissent? nonne favor plus valuisset quam ratio?
But after the business was done, as the impulse and ardor of their minds had already subsided, a sudden silence arose and a silent reflection on what on earth they had done: had not favor prevailed more than reason?
§26.18.11aetatis maxime paenitebat; quidam fortunam etiam domus horrebant nomenque ex funestis duabus familiis in eas provincias, ubi inter sepulcra patris patruique res gerendae essent, proficiscentis.
They repented most of his age; some also dreaded the fortune of his house and the name of one setting out from two afflicted families into those provinces where his operations had to be conducted between the graves of his father and uncle.